Finishing the Race

Jerry Halliburton, one of our elders, had been in the hospital for a couple of weeks and because of his unresponsiveness, his ventilator was removed on Sunday. When he continued to hold his own, we were hopeful and continued to pray fervently for a miracle but at 1:57pm on Tuesday a text from Judith came in that said, “Jerry is now celebrating in Heaven.”

He was a man I greatly admired for the way he finished the race! He was the epitome of the humble man of God that we talk about at TMC, as someone who kept taking next steps to grow in his faith and in the way he loved people!  He inspired me with not only the ways he served but in the  ways he combined his commitment to the truth of the bible as God’s Word with a heart of love and compassion AS IT SHOULD BE FOR ALL OF US!

His help in organizing Project Serve, (a ministry where we serve our Golden Acres community in practical ways),  was so instrumental that we probably wouldn’t have had  a second one without him!
Jerry had just started his second rotation as an elder having served previously in 2015-2017. After rotating off in 2017, we would approach Jerry each year about rejoining the eldership and his response was the same, “I’m happy to serve if you need me but I’d rather make room for the younger guys to step up.” Last Fall when we said, “We need you this year Jerry,” his response was, “It would be my pleasure to serve again.”
We had only two meetings and little did we know that February 22, would be his last. Our hope was to have Jerry around to help with the next building project but instead Jerry’s hope was fulfilled that he had placed in Jesus!
As a staff, we remind ourselves that we seldom know when someone is coming to the church for the first time or the last time and not being able to give someone the “good-bye” they deserve is hard.
Thank you Jerry for the nine years you blessed us at TMC and the many ways you inspired people to know, love, and serve Jesus!