I woke up to a different world this morning......
apologize for the length of this
As much as maybe some people think I am open, maybe to open, :) about things - Just like you, I keep many things inside and private.
My mentor and friend Dr. Prentice Meador passed away this morning.
I am at a loss for words .... 3 days ago he was fine -
This man was so important to the core of my existence....
I heard him preach in Springfield, MO at a very young age.....and than as life went it's course.....I ended up in Dallas and later as a member of the Church that had just brought him aboard to be their pulpit minister.
Listening to him hit something in me, is sparked a desire to want to hear more, and it made my heart start to melt....
Memories are flooding my thoughts as I type...even though I was baptized as a young man, I felt called to do so again as I was really starting to understand what Christ's whole message was all about....I spoke with Prentice about this and how I wanted to do this again ................................later that month Prentice baptized me.
The next week, in his office he shared with me about who I really am and what life really is all about......I had never heard or maybe just listen to anyone that had reached inside my heart like that day.....
Not to long after, I met Rebecca.
She had gone to church with her family growing up and was a believer. But like me and different all together, was learning what this whole "God" thing meant...
Later that year Prentice baptized Rebecca. A few years later we would ask him to marry us.....
Dr. Meador and George Miller came to my work early on. The boom of the internet in 99 was just that ...booming - We sat in a conference room where I showed them how ministries were using the internet to stream their sermons and radio broadcasts over the net.
Even though all the tech talk he did not fully understand - he did "get" that by doing so the messages would go way beyond the four walls of the church and would be heard all over the world.
That "sale" was my third in my new role and the first church on Broadcast.com and by all stats, one of the first to ever to stream their services.
Seeing them on-line made me really happy...Prentice was receiving emails from various parts of the world where people were gathering around a laptop and listening to this Church in Dallas, Texas.....I was happy to help Prentice share his words with so many others...I mean if his messages were affecting me and all my faults ..........it would have to impact others...
Prentice made me feel important and at such a time I did not.
About once every 3 weeks I would meet with him or he would take me to lunch. I would share with him any ideas I had about how to grow the church or market his books or talks....He would share in my excitement and I felt like "for once" I was doing what I was called to do.......
thru these times together I got to hear his insight - his desires - his heart....
My preacher was now my friend.
More than I will share here - He reached out to me and worked on my behalf to accomplish many things - I knew he was so busy. Who was I for him to even take time away from people that were sick, helpless, and needing to hear from him. But he found the time and it filled a void in me that I thought was forever to be empty.
Looking out the window I see the sun on the trees and...... I see light. not darkness, but light
The light he shared with me and so many others
I think God honored him today - His wife, family, and friends, by his bed as he passed away on this morning. Not long years of suffering or pain....but fast and gentle.
Wish I could ask God "why"? He had just begun teaching Freshmen an entry level course on the bible.........................how often these past months I wished I could sit in that class....
I will do my best to honor him and celebrate the life I got to share in for awhile....
but I can't help but be........................sad.
I love you Prentice
Mark
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