First Bible Study of the College Church at the Gate

We had our first service last night. We had student led music and Bible Study. You could really feel the Holy Spirit's anointing. Noah Oldham led the Bible Study on the Heart of David and Andy Rains led the music. The Holy Spirit used both of them to minister to all of us. It was exceptional. It is so refreshing to see student leaders wanting to take on the responsibility of leading worship. It is evenings like last night that make working with college students so rewarding.

"Incarnation: The Emerging Church at Christmas"

Can we fully grasp the concept of an Incarnational Savior and what that means while we are living in today's consumeristic society? This article by Ben Pattison in EmergingChurch.info asks some pointed questions that we should all be thinking about after Christmas. Do we truly celebrate the Savior's incarnation in a meaningful and biblical way? Read the article here.

Bible Study Tonight

Tonight we will kick off the College Church at the Gate Wednesday Night Bible Study. We'll be meeting at The Gate, located at 225 N. Monroe, Lebanon, Illinois. Bible Study will start at 8:00 and we will be studying the Heart of David. Sounds pretty inspiring! I can hardly wait to see how our first meeting goes.

A Tuesday Morning Snowstorm

We had a snowstorm pass through yesterday. Matthew and Bethany wer upset because they had to go to school while other school discticts around us had a snow day. Marilyn was out of school for the day becuase she works in another disctict. That really made them mad. It was a beautiful day and the snow didn't cause any problems for the commute.

An Icy Day in Belleville

Well, we had an ice storm blow through yesterday that left an inch of ice on the ground. I put some pictures on the Marshall Family Fotopage located here. Marilyn, Matthew, and Bethany thought it was great because they all had a snow day! I went off to work at 6:30 this morning and was one of the only ones there. We had a fire alarm at 9:00, and rather than stand in the parking lot for a half hour, I packed up my laptop and headed for home. I worked from home today. It was great! We are expecting about 4 inches of snow tonight, so we may have another snow day tomorrow! I hope!

Sunday Night Alive! Cancelled

Hey Everyone,

We had everything all planned for tonight, but the Lord reminded us that we aren't in control. We are only here for His pleasure. So we will be postponing tonight's first service for the College Church at the Gate in Lebanon and the Metro East Sunday Night Alive! Lord willing we will be picking up where we left on on February 8th at 7:30. Hopefully, you can all come and share the evening as we christen the McKendree ministry, encounter God in praise and worship, and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

We will be starting our Wednesday Night Collegiate Bible Study in Lebanon this week at 8:00 at the College Church at the Gate and we will be having our combined Gateway Community Church/College Church at the Gate Super Bowl Party next Sunday starting at 5:00pm (Go Panthers!). We hope to see you all there.

Take care and God bless you all. Your brother in Christ,

Rick Marshall

More Prep Work

Well, another day has gone by and we are a day closer to the College Church at the Gate being a reality. I spent most of this evening preparing for our first Sunday service this week. The Lord continues to open so many doors that I am really excited to see how he will work to have the St Louis Metro East explode for Christ! Praise the Lord!

Introducing the Marshall Family Fotopage

I added a fotopage today to the links off to the right of this post. It is also located here. I hope it helps you keep up with what is going on in our lives.

Moving Into the Digital Age

Well, after many years feeling like the world has passed us by, today we installed a cable modem. We have finally moved off of dialup and into a new world that will help us better minister to collegiates. Posting to Blogger and particularly posting to the fotopages on our collegiate websites now will be less than an all day event. Thank you Marilyn for finally saying yes to a Cable Modem. Thinking about going to a wireless internet connection next!

A Great Winter Day

Winter hasn't been too bad here in Southern Illinoins this year. Today the weather is warm (currently 46 degrees) and cloudy and we hava only had one snowstorm and a week of really cold weather so far. I went for a work out at the O'Fallon YMCA and ran into Craig Virgin. He was a long distance runner (10K and 5K I think) on the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Teams. He was one of the unfortunate people to be on the 1980 Olympic Team during the Moscow Olympics that we boycotted because of the war in Afghanistan. Kind of a strange turn of events that we are involved there now and now the Russians. But, 911 changed everything.

Anyhow Craig seems like a pretty nice guy and is one of the pillars of the town of Lebanon. He spent quyite a bit of time in Los Angeles for the 1984 Olympics, so we chatted about home for a while. Brought back some great memories.

My workout was pretty good and I need to make a commitment to continue to treat myself right. I have gained too much weight over the last few years and gotten completely out of shape. I need to begin treating my body again like the Temple of God that it is.