Life began in Kansas City, but my folks got me to Texas as fast as they could! I grew up in Fort Worth, graduated from Ft. Worth Christian, then went to Harding University, Searcy, AR for my B.A. in Bible with minors in English and Greek. I worked from 1969-71 as campus evangelist for the Oxford Church of Christ, Oxford, MS and finished an M.A. in English. Sherrylee Johnson and I married on Easter Sunday 1971, then left for Germany to do mission work four months later.
We spent two years in Munich, learning the language and the culture and working with both a German and American church there. Then we moved with our mission partners to Hannover, where we planted a new church. Our three children Philip (74), Ben (76), and Emily (78) were all born in Hannover–as was most of the rest of our life! We LOVED our life and work in Germany and only came back to the States because of a sad missionary story that I won’t bore you with.
We returned in 1979, and I took a one-year temporary appointment as an English professor at Oklahoma Christian University, which lasted for twenty-four years. I finished my Ph.d in Humanities in 1987, taught German and Film Studies as well as literature and composition courses, and coached and refereed soccer as well.
Our commitment to missions continued even after returning, so we began immediately taking students from OC to Germany on short-term mission trips each summer, modest efforts which grew into the ministry we serve today, the Let’s Start Talking Ministry. In 2001, we made the decision to give up teaching, move to the DFW Metroplex and focus ourselves on our work with LST. (See the LST page for more information about the ministry.)
In 2016, Sherrylee and I retired from leading the Let’s Start Talking Ministry, but we have both continued to be as involved as the new leadership wants us to be. We both serve as board members, we are involved in creating new materials, and we fill gaps for both LST and FriendSpeak as needed.
Our children all married wonderful Christian people, and they share with us 9 grandchildren. Our lives are full of family, work, church, and ministry–which feels pretty coherent at the moment. God has blessed us richly.
What a pleasure it was to hear the Slater Sisters Sing together. I attended Midtown Church of Christ with them. I came to worship there after meeting my wife at OCC in 1975. You would remember her as Denise Roe. Sadly we lost Gladys, Jack and Denise between June of 2018 and September of 2020
I’m sorry to hear about Denise passing. I had missed that. The Jack Roe family was very special.
[…] of our lives. And this is good news. In fact I love this blog post from Christian Missionary, Mark Woodward. Mark likens the evolving church experience to how the consumption of coffee is rapidly changing […]
Hi, Mark! I am currently a student at Oklahoma Christian and have been browsing Christian blogs for work. I stumbled across yours and was absolutely thrilled to see you worked here and to see your involvement in LST! Please shoot me an e-mail, I’ve got a few questions for you!
nice
I have seen the work of Almighty God in you
Way to go! God is good!
I just received a copy of an audio cd: Listen to the Bible in One Hour It is really about 40 minutes long. It is excellent. A summary of the Bible from Gen to Rev. It occurred to me that people you study with might like to have a copy to listen to English being spoken. If you would like a copy of it, which you can reproduce or purchase for $50 per 100 ppd, I would be glad to mail a copy.
Ken Hargesheimer,minifarms@gmail.com
Thanks for thinking about LST, Ken. Sure, send me a copy.