GUEST BLOGS: BIRTHDAY WISHES

TEACHING PASTOR JARRETT STEPHENS

60 years! Congratulations, Pastor. When I think about Jack Graham, I believe one word encapsulates your life and ministry: FAITHFUL. It truly is the testimony of your life. From receiving Christ as a small child in Arkansas to surrendering to the call of ministry as a teenager in Fort Worth, you have been an example of faithfulness to Christ all these years.

I’ve had the opportunity to watch you as a husband, father and now as a grandfather. You have always been so faithful to your family. Never have you allowed ministry responsibilities, speaking engagements or other outside opportunities sidetrack you from those who are most important to you. You made and kept them a priority in your life.

Finally, as I think about you as I know you best—the Pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church—I can say you are a faithful pastor. From your constency in the pulpit to your leadership in staff meetings behind closed doors to observing you place phone calls and minister to hurting members of our congregation, if I had to narrow down what I have witnessed and learned from you in my tenure here, it would be this value of faithfulness.

You have lived out the truth of 1 Peter 5:2-4: “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”

Congratulations, Pastor, on this, your 60th birthday. I pray that you have many, many more years to continue walking in faithfulness!

PRESTONWOOD NORTH CAMPUS PASTOR MARC RYLANDER

Today is an overly exciting day in the life of Prestonwood. Of course, we are in the heat of another PBC summer which means tons of life and activity for our church family. Life-changing reports are coming in from high school and junior high camps, buses of children are in Oklahoma at Camp WOW, summer Bible studies are in full swing, and this goes on an on. A red-shoe-wearing girl from Kansas said, “There’s no place like home.” And around here, there’s no place like Prestonwood.

However, today is not a special day because of the activities and opportunities we are experiencing as a church. Today is an exciting day because of the one whom God has so graciously called to orchestrate all of this holy chaos, our Pastor. Sixty years ago today, Tom and Emogene Graham and big brother, Bob, welcomed Jack Norman to their family, to Conway, Ark., and to the world. And over these 60 years, what a remarkable man this boy would become; what an amazing legacy he would live!

I’m especially grateful to join the countless many who will send birthday wishes to Jack Graham today. From the very first time I heard him preach—when I was a student home from Baylor visiting Prestonwood—through this past Sunday, I have heard a man committed to the Word of God and filled with the Spirit of God leading the people of God to a real relationship with the Son of God. Over many of those same years, I have had the sweet opportunity to see, privately and publically, the strong character of this man of God. My pastor, my mentor, and my friend is a gifted man with a hilarious sense of humor, a tender, tender heart (despite that tough exterior), and passion for life that is even bigger than his passion for the Texas Rangers. He is a strong husband and daddy, a lovingly pushover granddaddy, forever faithful pastor, and fiercely loyal friend.

My prayer for Pastor as he begins a new decade is from Haggai 2:9, “This temple is going to end up far better than it started out, a glorious beginning but an even more glorious finish.” (The Message) I believe with all my heart that his greatest days are before him, and I thank God that I have the joy of seeing this Word of God lived out as we journey together toward that promise.