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Laborers Together Newsletter

Memphis School of Preaching

Alumni Association

“For we are laborers together with God. . .”

(1 Cor. 3:9)

Mike McDaniel, President Skip Andrews, Vice President

Larry Powers, Recording Secretary Keith A. Mosher Sr., TreasurerVolume 1, No. 2 June, 2006

Notes Of Appreciation ReceivedMike McDaniel

During our annual alumni associationdinner, we honored brother Anthony Hixsonwith the Alumnus of the Year award. Hewrote the following to the alumni association:

April 23, 2006“I would like to express my sincere

thanks to my fellow class mates of the MSOPwho nominated me to the alumnus of the year.I deeply regret not being able to attend theLectureship this year. I have alwaysconsidered the award of the alumnus of theyear to be one of great honor, and I alsoconsider it to be one of which I am trulyundeserving to have received. Nevertheless,thanks to all who thought of me to be worthyof such honor.

Anthony Hixson

Our Honorary Alumnus awards wentto two very worthy recipients, brother B. J.Clarke and sister Joanne Bradshaw. BrotherClarke’s remarks of gratitude were verytouching. Sister Bradshaw was also deeply

appreciative and wrote the following letter toeach of our alumni:

April 7, 2006My dear brothers,

I am humbled by the wonderful honoryou have given me. Although undeserved, itis deeply appreciated. As you know, theschool is dear to my heart, and associationwith it had been a great blessing. I am sograteful for the good men who have gone out,well prepared to “preach the word.” Thismust continue.

That you have considered me for thisspecial honor brings much joy. I shall try tolive so as to reflect the confidence you have inme.

To each of you I give my sincere andgenuine thanks. This is not adequate, but it isfrom the heart.

May God’s fondest blessings beshowered upon all of you.

Faithfully,Joanne Bradshaw

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News About The MSOP Web-siteMike McDaniel

We have been working to make someimprovements and updates to www.msop.org.Our thanks to brother Joey Davis for his goodassistance as our webmaster. We want toencourage all of our alumni to book-mark thesite as one of their favorites and to go to itregularly.

On the alumni page, we now have thenew officers of the alumni association listed.One nice feature is that you can click on anyof our names and send each of us an e-mail.Your e-mail will then be forwarded to ourrespective e-mail accounts.

Next you will see a list of documents.First is the Laborers Together Newsletter.When you select it, you will see our mastheadand the issues that are available for viewing.Select one, and it will appear in the form of apdf file. As I have said, this newsletter will beproduced at my discretion as I have the time.However, if you suspect that I may have sentone and you failed to receive it for somereason, just go to the web-site and see if a newone has been posted there. This may alsoserve those who do not have a computer. Theymay go to their local library and print out theircopy of this newsletter.

The next document is the Constitutionand By-laws of the Alumni Association.Following this is our Alumnus of the YearSelection Criteria. This document has beenupdated to acknowledge that brother RickLawson is chairman of this committee andincluded are all the members of the committeewhich are the award recipients beginning withbrother Melvin Hampton in 1989 andconcluding with brother Anthony Hixson in2006.

The last document in the list is thenewest. It is entitled: the Distinguished

Alumnus Award Selection Criteria. Thisaward will be bestowed for the first time nextyear. I encourage you to read the documentand to compare the differences between itscriteria and the criteria for the Alumnus of theyear award.

The last thing on our alumni page isour Personal Information Update. This featureis very important as it serves as a fast andeffective way for us to update our information.If either your address, phone number, or e-mail address changes, you may call the MSOPoffice or you may go to this link and make thechanges. I think it would be good for allalumni to do this just to make sure that theschool has your correct information inadvance of any Alumni Directory which maybe made. At the first mail-out of this

newsletter by e-mail attachment, some eighty

e-mails were returned! This is caused byneglecting to notifying the school of yourchange of address. I want to ask each

alumnus to please make sure your

information is updated and tell other alumni

to do the same.

If you speak to another alumnus whohas e-mail and who desires to receive thisnewsletter but has not received it, there is agood possibility that I have an invalid addressfor them that is coming back to me each timeI do a mail-out. Please have them e-mail metheir correct e-mail address.

On the Yokefellow page, we now havethe new masthead and the pdf of the MarchIssue which pertains to the new studentapartments. We are making good progresstoward the archiving of the Yokefellow in asmaller file that will be searchable.

One exciting addition is our newsearch engine. Notice the word “search” at

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the bottom of the left hand column of the mainpage. This engine will search the entire website. When the Yokefellow begins to bearchived including issues from past years, this

will make the web-site a great researchdestination for our alumni and others. Isn’tthat exciting? Bookmark www.msop.orgbecause it will soon become a favorite!

Reminders To Our Alumni

We Need Your Dues!

As a member of the alumniassociation, you have honorary dues of $25that need to be sent to MSOP and directed tobrother Keith Mosher who serves as ourtreasurer. Many have paid their dues but somehave neglected to do so for whatever reason.This goes to our alumni fund and gives us theresources to do what is needed. Please sendyours in today!

We Need Your Personal Illustrations!Brother Russell Kline is assisting with

a book project of sermon illustrations, basedon the personal experiences of the graduatesof the school. All alumni are encouraged towrite down any anecdotes from their personallives, which they have found useful inillustrating points of Scripture, and send themto him at 1810 Dundee Drive, Madisonville,Kentucky, 42431 o r by e-mail at

msop1989@yahoo.com.

We Need Your Brief Outlines!

Danny Butler is working on a bookproject involving brief outlines of 10 or 15minutes in length for use in nursing homes oron Wednesday evenings. Send it to: DannyButler, P.O. Box 112, Carbon Hill, AL 35549or to jdb@sonet.net.

We Need Your News!

If you have a birth announcement, aremoving, have had a death in the family, orhave an interest in our prayers for someone inyour family, please let us know.

We Need Your Prayers!

Please remember Tim (1997) andDawn Wilkins, whose daughter, Robin, ishospitalized at LeBonheur Children’s Hospitalin Memphis. Brother Wilkins preaches for theImboden, Arkansas Church of Christ.

A Request For Help From An Alumnus

Brother Douglas Hoff has written methe following note. I know nothing further,and if you are interested in helping the Hofffamily, please contact them for furtherinformation.

Brother McDaniel:

Thank you for the newsletter. Yes, I havesome news for an upcoming issue. A fewmonths ago my wife (Linda) was diagnosedwith a cancerous ovarian tumor. She had

surgery April 13 and healed well. She startschemotherapy May 17 and is currentlyscheduled for 6 treatments spaced 3 weeksapart. Unfortunately, we have no healthinsurance at present and the bills areoverwhelming. We moved last November 16and I had been looking into insurance butwhat I found initially was quite discouragingin terms of the cost and/or exclusions. Somesaid we were uninsurable because of existinghealth problems. Others told us it would be at

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least $900 - $1,100 per month. The churchdoes not pay for insurance so I could notafford that. We had been here only a fewmonths when we learned the bad news. Wewere still getting moved in and settled.

The hospital bill alone came to$13,376. The tests (CAT scans, ultrasounds,blood, X-rays), lab fees and charges from thesurgeon, radiologists, pathologists,anesthesiologists, etc. added about another$10,000. The estimate for the chemotherapy

is about $18,000 (excluding further tests anddoctor visits). Is there any way you couldpublish this? Could the alumni associationhelp with our financial needs? Any help,including prayers, is greatly appreciated.Douglas & Linda Hoff, (734) 782-9411[home], 24735 Huron River Drive,Rockwood, MI 48173-9767. Flat RockChurch of Christ, (734) 782-2886 [office],P.O. Box 12, Flat Rock, MI 48134-0012.

Birth Announcements

Congratulations to Jeff (2002) and

Jennifer Collet, upon the birth of theirdaughter, Nora Cathryn, born Friday, May 19.She was also welcomed by big sisters,Mackenzie and Larissa. Brother Colletpreachers for the Crown Point, Indiana Churchof Christ.

Congratulations to Patrick (1999) and

Abby Morrison, upon the birth of their son,Nathan Kade, born Wednesday, May 17. Hewas also welcomed by his siblings, Lydia andNoah. Brother Morrison preaches for theCleveland Church of Christ in Bankston,Alabama.

Student Apartments

I don’t know about you, but when Ilook at the blueprint on the next page, myimagination begins to wonder. Oh, wouldn’tit have been nice if I could lived in theseapartments in 1983-1985? Then, I look intothe eyes of the first year students, and Iconsider the fact that, Lord willing, they will!What an exciting prospect that is. What ablessing that will be for them and theirfamilies.

It is one thing to be told that theapartments are being built. It is another toactually see the blueprints and how they willbe constructed. Then a few days ago, I sawthe dump trucks and the bulldozers working.Brethren, the work has begun!

I ask, what can you do to help make ithappen? Can you give? Can you ask theelders where you are located to consider it?What about other congregations in the area?Can you help to organize a dinner in yourregion where the need could becommunicated? MSOP faculty members willbe glad to assist in this endeavor if such wouldbe possible in your area. They can makesuggestions as to how to proceed.

Brother Cates mentioned several daysago that this was a dream of brother Roy J.Hearn but that it had been delayed due to theurgent need to move the congregation andschool from Knight Arnold. How wonderfulit is to see it finally come to fruition!

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Blueprint Of Four Apartments In Unit A