Central Illinoisans?

[mrversatile48]

Hey dudes/dudettes!

My fiancee is in Decatur - "The Pride of the Prairie" - I'm waiting 4 a USA work visa 2 come help her church & maybe the proposed new regional TV/radio station they need 10,000 signatures for, to get FCA licence: have you signed it yet?

Lake Decatur is shaped very like the British Isles - (so Leah's just west of Bangor/Caernarvon, if that means anything over there!) - 1 of her sister's in Mt Zion - (which will confuse Israelis no end, as she has a friend in Mt Carmel too..shakin' my Boody, en route to St Louis, is more my level!)

I hope to help a mobile unit cover events all over the Midwest, & do voice-overs, as I'm an ex-pro mimic: they have this theory that some folk will say, "Can I be interviewed by that Liverpool guy with all the voices?"

(Either that or throw me in Lake Michigan with concrete overshoes, huh?)

An alternative is Leah & I doing a catering franchise @ major festivals in the Midwest

So..who wants donuts?

Huh?

Any of you go to "Urbana '03" in December? Or listen to K-LOVE?

Maybe the new Ohio US-wide music station, replacing Praise TV can use me too...

I made an A3 size map of Central Illinois - I must put pins in you guys, huh?

Later, 'Gator..in Decatur!

Ian

 

[R.E.Taet]

I am from a corn field near Tremont IL, which is by Pekin which is by Peoria.

Our mascot is the Turkey. Go Turks!!! Every year we put on the Turkey Festival and eat our mascot.

Hey, its better than Morton IL, their mascot is the Potter. I guess they make a lot of pots over there.

And its better than Pekin's old mascot. It used to be a racial epithet for a Asian person. A few years back they were forced to change it. Pekin is a racist place, booo pekin. Nothing good seems to come out of there.

 

[Salsa_1960]

I grew up in Danville and Quincy. I graduated from ISU in Normal. (Live in Iowa now). Don't like Quincy High's team mascot at all. (The Blue Devils).

 

[princess heart]

"Can I be interviewed by that Liverpool guy with all the voices?"

Can I be first?

Yeah, I live in Decatur, Soybean Captial of the World, Pride of the Prairie... almost neighbor to some of you all . . .

 

[mrversatile48]

Stay tuned to this channel, y'all..Princess Heart & I might just have romantic news for y'all in the next 1/2 hours..

By the way, she says there's just been no news @ progress on the 10,000 signatures needed for FCA Licence for that new Christian radio/TV station to go out of Oreana via the old Channel 12's 1100 ft high tower

She emailed both "Decatur Churches On The Internet" & Glad Tidings AoG, Airport Rd, days ago, but no word

Is the project shelved?

Ian

 

[mrversatile48]

My USA fiancee Leah & I have just learnt we will be able to fix a UK wedding & have our honeymoon @ either "Easter People" or "Spring Harvest": do pray for guidance on details for that, & our future ministry together

We may well run a donut franchise with Christian music in Central Illinois & maybe similar catering concessions at Midwest Festivals & events, as well as maybe helping make Christian radio/TV programs

God bless!

Ian

 

[Amandine]

Awesome you guys! I'm from Mason City which is halfway between Pekin (Boo ) in the North and Springfield to the South. The principal of the high school I went to is from Tremont. My mom used to live in Decatur, and I go to school in Urbana.
It's a small small world
-Catherine

 

[Apologetics_Chris]

I am from Mattoon!

 

[princess heart]

My USA fiancee Leah & I have just learnt we will be able to fix a UK wedding & have our honeymoon @ either "Easter People" or "Spring Harvest": do pray for guidance on details for that, & our future ministry together

We may well run a donut franchise with Christian music in Central Illinois & maybe similar catering concessions at Midwest Festivals & events, as well as maybe helping make Christian radio/TV programs

God bless!

Ian

<<-- Me blushing...
Hi Ian...
I would just like to add my request for prayer to Ian's. It is way past time to eliminate all those miles and all that water between us! I am sure that one or both of us will be adding updates as our plans unfold. Thanks so much for your prayers, they are appreciated more than you know....
Leah

 

[mrversatile48]

Just got 1 minute to say hi to Catherine - good to contact a future near neighbour!

Later, 'Gator...

in Decatur!?

Ian

 

[mrversatile48]

Awesome you guys! I'm from Mason City which is halfway between Pekin (Boo ) in the North and Springfield to the South. The principal of the high school I went to is from Tremont. My mom used to live in Decatur, and I go to school in Urbana.
It's a small small world
-Catherine

I was in a hurry last time here

Did you go to that big holiday conference, Urbana '03, Catherine?

Only just saw your surname: you aren't related to a Dave Brickell from Lancashire, UK, who worked in Birkenhead Inland Revenue Valuation Office in the late 1960s?

UK Inland Revenue is like US's good ole IRS

Which neatly brings me to the dastardly deed they just did to Leah: she has just learnt that she won't get anything like as much tax rebate to come to that UK Easter event!

Altogether...

B-O-O-O-O!!!!!!

God turns all things for our good: praying about her 4-generation family, all in Illinois, it's better if I move there as soon as I can

So, y'all keep praying for a US work visa for me, OK?

God bless!

Ian

 

[R.E.Taet]

My aunt Karen teaches music in either Champaign or Urbana at a high school. Maybe you know her? I was born in Urbana.

 

[Amandine]

Did you go to that big holiday conference, Urbana '03, Catherine?

Nope..didn't really know what it was like and it didn't seem to be my kind of crowd. I guess some attendees lived in my dorm room though

Only just saw your surname: you aren't related to a Dave Brickell from Lancashire, UK, who worked in Birkenhead Inland Revenue Valuation Office in the late 1960s?

Uh..don't think so. But wouldn't it be awesome if it was? Brickell is a really uncommon name in the United States. I've never met anyone who had it apart from my family members. From what I've seen there's two branches...the rich one that founded Miami, and then my Scotch-Irish working class po folk

God turns all things for our good: praying about her 4-generation family, all in Illinois, it's better if I move there as soon as I can

So, y'all keep praying for a US work visa for me, OK?

God bless!

Ian

Okay! God bless you
-Catherine

 

[Godz Marine]

Did you go to that big holiday conference, Urbana '03

Urbana '03 Missionary Conference. Attendance was around 27,000 this year, which doesn't include the 1000 plus volunteers. I work for the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (Quad and Illini routes should be quite familiar to Catherine!) which moves the attendees from dorms and hotels to the various conference/lecture halls around the University of Illinois, including the Assembly Hall.

I have witnessed many an attendee who comes searching for the will of God for their lives and leave with a very clear vision of that will. It is overwhemling to see so many people with the fire to reach the world for Christ gathered in one spot. From December 26th to January 1st the campus of the University of Illinois is bathed in the glory of the Lord.

The attendees make quite an impression upon our drivers. I remember two conferences ago when I was a driver, a young man had no sooner boarded my bus upon his arrival to Urbana, I knew by the Spirit he was going to witness to me. After he finished sharing I knew why God had him share with me. It was quite obvious it was his first time ever to share the gospel and after he shared I asked him if this was so. He said it was and that he was trembling the whole time. I got to share with him about the boldness to share the word that the Holy Spirit gives us with the infilling. He said he would "check it out" in the scriptures. By no coincidence I run across this young man on "depature night" (imagine the exodus of the Jews LOL!!) He looked like a different person. He told me that the scripture I had shared with him kept welling up in his heart and when mingled with teachings of the conference, speaking with friends and aquaintances, he prayed for God to fill him with the Holy Spirit and was! He also shared that the night prior he and a couple of others walked around the U of I campus and led 6 people to the Lord! God is Good!

Heres looking forward to the next conference!

 

[mrversatile48]

Yo Marine!

Awesome story, man: God bless Urbana, & all who reach out with the Word of life!

Links in neatly with this Christian email I got just now @ Decatur double whammy:-

By Bill Ellis
Special to ASSIST News Service

SCOTT DEPOT, WV (ANS) -- February is a bit unusual in 2004. Being &#8220;leap year&#8221; means that it has 29 days which happens every four years. The first Sunday was also the first day of the month which gives us a rare five Sundays in the shortest month of the year.

February is celebrated as &#8220;Black History Month&#8221;, a time when we honor some of the great African-American leaders of our nation. During the first week of the month I again watched the powerful and penetrating story of slavery called &#8220;ROOTS&#8221;.

It staggers my mind to think that there was once slavery in our nation and that it continues to exist in so many places in today&#8217;s world including Africa. The long, long history of slavery is not a credit to the human race.

Slavery is generally thought of as &#8220;forced labor&#8221;, being in bondage and captivity. Longinus called it &#8220;A prison for the soul, a public dungeon.&#8221; Servants have some choice in the matter, especially if they are regarded as housekeepers, cooks, butlers, or attendants.

Booker Taliaferro Washington, 1856-1915, born in slavery, became one of the greatest reformers, educators, scientists, and writers in the history of America. He once lived and taught at Malden, West Virginia, a town less than 30 miles from where I live and famous because of its salt mines and most famous citizen. Among the great lessons he taught and left us in his books is this one: &#8220;I shall allow no man to belittle my soul by making me hate him.&#8221; He founded the great Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and through his work there left the world a lasting legacy.

It was never my privilege to meet Martin Luther King, Jr., though I did meet and was on the program with his wife, Coretta Scott King, in an area-wide meeting in Decatur, Illinois. Many of my friends knew him well and worked closely with him. One such friend is James Earl Massey, universally recognized as one of the great preachers of the modern era. He was the speaker for a series of Lenten Services sponsored by the Decatur Area Council of Churches the week following King&#8217;s death on Thursday, April 4, 1968. I was an active participant in those services during one of the most traumatic weeks in our nation&#8217;s history. We were thankful to have a preacher in our city who could speak from his broken heart to ours and to give a strong word of comfort, assurance, and wisdom to our community.

Writing years later in his autobiography, "Aspects of My Pilgrimage", published in 2002 by the Anderson University Press, Dr. Massey said: &#8220; . . . I did not go to Atlanta. I reasoned that I could best honor King&#8217;s memory and our friendship by staying and serving that week in Decatur where racial troubles had mounted.&#8221;

Massey was interviewed on a radio talk show in Decatur on the day of the funeral for Martin Luther King. He would liked to have been present with his friends. Memories of blessed and happy times with King raced through his mind as he watched the televised event alone in his hotel room. But he was not alone. He felt the comforting presence of the Lord both he and his fallen brother, Martin, had served.

Martin Luther King was one of the most dominant, polished, effective, and influential public speakers I ever heard. To this day I appreciate hearing his powerful messages.

It was on April 3, 1968, the evening before his assassination, that King gave an address in Birmingham, Alabama, in which he said: &#8220;I just want to do God&#8217;s will. And He&#8217;s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I&#8217;ve looked over, and I&#8217;ve seen the Promised Land . . . &#8220;

Many times, somewhere in the world, I have been surrounded by people whose skin was in various shades of brown and black. I was in a decided minority. I was totally dependent on them. Not once did they ever fail me. I experienced their love, respect, and benevolent concern. They were practicing what we have called &#8220;The Golden Rule&#8221; and know so little about. Jesus put it this way: &#8220;And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise&#8221; (Luke 6:31 NKJ).

There is so much we can learn from each other if we can trust each other. If you have any intention of living in God&#8217;s heaven someday it would be a good idea to learn to live here with others who may be a little different from us -- whoever &#8220;us&#8221; may be.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was really blown away, last week, when Leah played me a CD over the phone, of her big, black pastor, Cleveland Bradfield, singing: phenomenal voice!

God bless!

Ian

 

[mrversatile48]

Catherine

I forgot to say that Dave Brickell was definitely of Irish/Scottish blood, but spoke with a Lancashire accent, as he'd never lived in Ireland or Scotland: his family had been in NW England for generations

Ain't seen him since '71: he'd be in his late '70s now - he was @ 5'10", slim, with dark hair, big brown eyes, strong chin & the classic high cheekbones & kinda uneven grin that are hallmarks of the Irish - (in case that suggests family traits)

I seem to recall he had USA family, as I have cousins in US/Canada/Oz/New Zealand from 1920s/30s migrations who lost touch with the old homeland decades ago

The most fascinating thing I noticed was that a certain member of the US Govt definitely has our family nose & forehead: very distinctive!


I won't name him, as I seem to recall forum rules here forbid giving surnames?


God bless!

Ian

 

[princess heart]

Yo Marine!

Awesome story, man: God bless Urbana, & all who reach out with the Word of life!

Links in neatly with this Christian email I got just now @ Decatur double whammy:-

Decatur where racial troubles had mounted.”

God is calling for reconcilliation....

There is so much we can learn from each other if we can trust each other. If you have any intention of living in God’s heaven someday it would be a good idea to learn to live here with others who may be a little different from us -- whoever “us” may be.

I was is a joint worship service years ago between the all white church I then attended and an all African American congregation. My pastor told the congregation that if they didn't like worshipping with someone who was a different race then they sure weren't going to like heaven. Their pastor said that black and white didn't matter cause we all look the same color to God... RED!! cause we are all covered in the blood of Jesus...

I was really blown away, last week, when Leah played me a CD over the phone, of her big, black pastor, Cleveland Bradfield, singing: phenomenal voice!
God bless!

Ian

Yes, Pastor Cleve can SING... So can his wife Ilry (say Eerie) and they are planning a some concert dates in the area, I will keep you posted on that because they really are good. They both are totally sold out to Jesus and the annointing power of God is heavy on them and you will NOT be sorry if you take advantage of a chance to hear them sing! (Patience, Ian, you will get to hear them soon in person, I have faith!)

It was really important to me when I went looking for a new church home that it not be a segregated congregation. I feel like I belong here when I have NEVER felt welcomed and loved by a church family before and these folks will NOT ever let me go... Praise Jesus for that!

In Him...
Leah

 

[pmarquette]

Is anyone from Central Illinois. Give me some feedback. Carlinville area maybe?

Live 30 miles north ..... Auburn , IL.
Abundant Life Church

 

[pmarquette]

Former Galesburger here

Worked with Nate Davis last couple of summers

His dad is the WWTP operator in Galesburg ,

Nate is in Peoria , at Bradley Univ. and working

for CMT Eng. part time

 

[pmarquette]

Yo!
Not Carlinville though...isn't that Southern?
-Catherine

Mason City ?

Do you know Joe , Mike , and Dan Burris ?

Mike & Dan work with me in Springfield IL
at CMT Engineers ...