People Profiles

Mark

So Last night, my first passenger was Mark, who needed to get to DFW Airport. Many of you may already know Mark. But, for those who do not, Mark is a member of my church and also the leader/teacher of my Sunday school class known as the Ragamuffins.

I can truly say my life changed when Mindy and I, along with our children, joined Broadway Baptist Church. All of our lives did. I never thought I would find a church where I felt fully accepted or fully respected, until Broadway. Last night Mark was describing when he and his wife Aubin found Broadway. He described a moment, being in the sanctuary for the first time for service, and having such a powerful spiritual feeling that connected them to the church. “There is no other place quite like Broadway Baptist Church.”

That is how Mindy and I felt the first time we attended Broadway. We instantly felt at home; like this is where we belong. And much of that is because of the wonderful friends we have made there, the immediate acceptance and love we received from everyone we met there. And, the incredible leadership in the church, including Mark and Aubin.

Mark is truly a kind and generous man. He doesn’t judge (unless you speak ill of the Baylor Bears:)) and he offers great leadership and support.

Thanks Mark for being a great leader, teacher, friend, and continually shining your light brightly so that others may find their way through the darkness.

Broadway Baptist Church is an incredible place of love, diversity, acceptance, and joy. Broadway challenges old ideology. It is unlike any church I have ever known or attended. And it is wonderful. Below is an excerpt from the last Ragamuffins weekly email that Mark sends out. He describes how the class got it’s name. Peace be with you.

#kindness #purposefulkindness #Whatawonderfulworld Broadway Baptist Church – Fort Worth

“Fellow Ragamuffins,

Aubin and I had the opportunity to share our story with a class at Brite Divinity School this week. In my portion I shared about our class and the wonderful community we have become. In sharing, I recalled the source of our class name, Brennan Manning’s The Ragamuffin Gospel. This is from Manning’s introduction.

The Ragamuffin Gospel was written for the bedraggled, beat-up and burnt-out.

It is for the sorely burdened who are still shifting the heavy suitcase from one hand to the other.

It is for the wobbly and weak-kneed who know they don’t have it altogether and are to proud to accept the hand-out of amazing grace

It is for the inconsistent, unsteady disciples whose cheese is falling off their cracker.

It is for poor, weak, sinful men and women with hereditary faults and limited talents.

It is for earthen vessels who shuffle along on feet of clay.

It is for the bent and the bruised who feel that their lives are a grave disappointment to God.

It is for smart people who know they are stupid and honest disciples who admit they are scalawags.

The Ragamuffin Gospel is a book I wrote for myself and anyone who has grown weary and discouraged along the Way.

[“The ragamuffin church is a place of promise and possibility, of adventure and discovery, a community of compassion on the move, strangers and exiles in a foreign land enroute to the heavenly Jerusalem. Ragamuffins are a pilgrim people who have checked into the hotel of earth overnight, bags unpacked and ready to go. Regrouping and retrenching, squatting and debating, are not their poses and postures.”]

This is the basis for our class. Thank you for who you are!!