June 2003

June Blessings to You!

Wedding Bells, UFO’s and Small Town Chapels. Another wonderful month of ministry and family Joy (literally). We’re excited to share with you the details of the Barton-Barton wedding, but first, some other great events of the past month.

Roswell, NM - After I returned from assisting in the Space Shuttle recovery project, Melva and I traveled to a wonderful church in Roswell, NM. Grace Community Church was established 5 years ago and just added their 1100th member. I was given the privilege of sharing with their advanced “team” members. I shared on evangelism and disciple making. While there, Melva and I toured Carlsbad Caverns, an amazing display of God’s handiwork, and of course, the Roswell UFO Museum.

Pitkin, CO - On Memorial Day Sunday I had the blessing of speaking to 30 or so folks in the Pitkin Community Church. I have spoken almost annually in this mountain church since the early 70’s and love to share with them the great news of Jesus Christ.

College Ministry - This summer I’m continuing my ministry training sessions with several young adults. Each week that I’m in town we meet and discuss God’s plan for leadership. Two of our students are on their way to Spain to minister with Campus Crusade’s Athletes in Action, others are helping in Christian camps and still others in Fellowship of Christian Athlete conferences. Your support allows us to train and support them!

More Music - When we finished recording our “Songs From the Fire” album (including “Amazing Grace-Cowboy Style”, “Be Thou My Vision”, “As the Deer” and 10 others), we had a number of great songs left over. Songs like “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go”, “Little is Much”, and “Life’s Mountain Railroad.”

After deliberation, we decided to put them on an album as well. This will make our third album. This album has no name yet (“The Leftovers” just doesn’t sound right.!). We’re going to have to wait a while for finances before we can distribute it. We also put together an album this fall with several local praise groups (“High on That Mountain”) which we are using as a fund raiser to help the local food bank and Salvation Army.

At the end of “Suppertime”, a song on our “Songs from the Fire” album, we have a narration by our dear friend, Coach Dan Stavely. Dan introduced me to the song when I first started leading music at FCA conferences over 30 years ago. Shortly after recording the song, 90-year-old Dan went to be with Jesus and they played the song at his services. We were so blessed to have his help on this project. Let us know if you’d like a copy of any of the albums or call (970-641-3583) for more details. We don’t charge for the albums. Any donations are greatly appreciated and go to the ministry.

Joy and Stephen’s wedding! Barton marries Barton! After an “accidental” meeting through the internet, 2 years ago, Joy married Stephen Barton June 7th. A man who “just happened” to be her age, training for ministry, and with the same name as her brother. The wedding was well attended and honored Christ in every way. We had a wonderful time with friends, family and loved ones from all over. The couple is honeymooning and then heading to England at the end of the month where Stephen works and attends Bible school by extension. They would like to thank everyone for their prayers, cards and gifts.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Joy and Stephen as they begin married life in England and for Rick as he ministers on fires and in churches. Please pray for all our college students as they serve around the world, and please pray for the ministry finances. They are low right now and I haven’t been able to go on fires for the past several weeks.

All in all, it’s a wonderful time to know the Lord. As Melva and I celebrate our 32nd wedding anniversary (yes we were married when we were 8), we are overwhelmed with gratitude for how God has blessed us. A big part of that blessing is knowing you. Thank you for your love, prayers and support. We love you.

Rick and Melva