"Go West, Young Man!" . . . The Great American "Wild" West, 20th anniversary (1991-2011) . . . U.S. national parks--Glacier, Big Bend, Olympic . . . 19th-century frontier missionaries

This month (June 2011) marks the 20th anniversary of the fulfillment of my boyhood dream of leaving the east coast of West Hartford, Connecticut, for the Great American "Wild" West.

I am so thankful for the geographic change as it was used of God to change my life forever. To God be the glory for placing the desire (Psalm 37:4) and giving me the courage to heed the call to "Go West, Young Man!"

It was as a struggling 20-year-old University of Hartford student that I went west for the first time during the summer of 1991.

After working in the hotel/restaurant industry in three national parks--Glacier National Park (Montana), Big Bend National Park (Texas) and Olympic National Park (Washington) --I settled in Port Angeles, Clallam County, Washington, in 1992. Except for six school years of Bible college and seminary in Canada (1994-2000) and the last two years in Israel (May 2009-June 2011), I have mostly lived in Port Angeles--the "gateway" town to Olympic National Park and where the park headquarters are located--ever since.

Upon taking Amtrak trains "Lake Shore Limited" (New York City to Chicago) and "Empire Builder" (Chicago to East Glacier, Montana), I worked the summer of 1991 as a security guard at the historic, 214-room Many Glacier Hotel (built 1915) in Glacier National Park.

It was the best summer of my (pre-Christian) life in one of America's "sacred cathedrals."

The scenery of Montana's Rocky Mountains combined with the North American and international tourists and 150 co-workers I met--including co-worker and special friend Stephanie B. Freedman from Marblehead, Massachusetts (now Sara Mizrahi of Jerusalem, Israel)--made for an unforgettable summer. It was my first solo time away from home (Connecticut), thus adding to the adventure.

After Montana, I worked for seven months (October 1991-April 1992) as a hotel receptionist at Chisos Mountains Lodge in west Texas' Big Bend National Park. My hiring via a brief phone interview came after I quit my studies at the University of Hartford a month after the 1991 fall semester had begun. Quitting my studies was a big financial risk as I had free tuition because my mother worked at the expensive private university. Four of my five older siblings had graduated from the university while conveniently living at home only four miles from the school. My life of risk taking and "going against the grain" had begun.

In May 1992, I began what turned out to be my first of nine summers (1992-97, 1999-2001) as a seasonal waiter at the historic, 52-room Lake Crescent Lodge (built 1916) in Olympic National Park. Soon after arriving at Olympic, I attended my first-ever Evangelical Protestant church at Independent Bible Church (IBC) in Port Angeles, Washington (pop. 20,000).

Six months later, in mid-October 1992 and when 21.5-years-old, I became "born again" (John 3:3, 7 and 1 Peter 1:23 in the New Testament) in a Lake Crescent Lodge employee dormitory room. On November 1, 1992, I was baptized by water immersion at IBC by associate pastor Mike Chinn.

Some resources that have helped me appreciate more the Great American "Wild" West--and its 19th-century frontier missionaries--have been the below items.

Most of these same resources were used in my organizing the October 31, 2004, event "Go West, Young Man! A Tribute to Lewis & Clark and the Western Pioneer Missionaries that Followed." Sponsored by the Pensinsula College Christian Student Fellowship (where I served as founding advisor, 2002-09), the 2-hour Port Angeles, Washington, event saw about 200 in attendance. For a free video of the event, contact UCM.

+ DVD (1996), "The West," 8-part documentary series by PBS's Ken Burns and Stephen Ives . . . "journey through a boundless landscape where myth, vision and dream seem to shape to historical reality"

+ DVD (1997), "Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery," documentary series by PBS's Ken Burns

+ DVD (2009), "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," 6-episode documentary series by PBS's Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan

+ DVD (2008), "Great Lodges of the National Parks," documentary series by PBS

+ Music CDs by Montana's David Walburn, especially his albums "Lewis & Clark: West for America" (1999) and "Montana: Life Under the Big Sky" (2002). . . "captures the songs of Montana and Glacier National Park like no other artist. Whether historical ballads, love songs or personal tunes, David's Montana Music flows easy, like a cool mountain stream" . . . every summer, Walburn performs live shows six nights a week at Glacier Park's Many Glacier Hotel 

+ Book (1971), Bible in Pocket, Gun in Hand: The Story of Frontier Religion by Ross Phares (Bison Books)

+ Encyclopedia (1998), The New Encyclopedia of the American West by editor Howard R. Lamar (Yale University Press)

+ Book (1997), Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose (Simon and Schuster)

+ Book (4 volumes, 1931-46), Religion on the American Frontier, 1783-1850 (Baptists, Congregationalists, Methodists, Presbyterians) by William Warren Sweet (1881-1959) (University of Chicago Press)

+ Museums, National Museum of the American Indian (part of Smithsonian Institution) in Washington, D.C., and New York City . . . and Jefferson National Expansion Memorial's Museum of Westward Expansion (and the adjacent Gateway Arch), St. Louis, Missouri

"Eastward I go only by force; but westward I go free. . . .

I must walk toward Oregon, and not toward Europe."

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), Walking (1862)

40th birthday . . . "40" in the Bible . . . celebrating with Sar-El (Volunteers For Israel) on IDF Army base

Today I celebrate my 40th birthday. I was born in the U.S. on Tuesday, May 18, 1971.

Amazing and hard to believe in light of the first 21.5 years (1971 - October 1992) that were filled with deep spiritual darkness, hopelessness and despair.

Along with King David after the Lord made a historic covenant with him, so with similar conviction I say,

Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house/family, that You have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in your sight, O God.
2 Samuel 7:18-19 (also 1 Chronicles 17:16-17)

While I do not believe in biblical numerology or gematria, nonetheless some major events in the Bible occurred in 40 days, 40 weeks and 40 years. The list includes the Israelites' 40 years of wandering in the desert and the Lord Jesus Christ's 40 days of fasting while being tempted by the devil and prior to beginning his public ministry. For some of the many occurrences of the number 40 in the Bible, click here and here.

Please join with me in praying for Divine guidance as this striving uncommon Christian begins a 5th decade of living today. After a 25-month sabbatical/pilgrimage/ministry venture in Israel (May 8, 2009 - July 5, 2011), I return to my native United States in early July.

As I "number my days" that I may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:2), I do so with eager anticipation and expectation as I discover/learn for the first time what the Sovereign Lord has already decreed from "before time began" (in eternity past, Titus 1:2; cf. Psalm 5:3, Psalm 139:16). Concerning my near and distant future, what I know not now I shall know hereafter/later (John 13:7).

I will be celebrating my 40th birthday by doing a third "tour of duty" with Sar-El: The National Project for Volunteers For Israel.

The first two "tours" were in May 2009 (3 weeks) and February 2011 (2 weeks) on a base in northern Israel on the Lebanon border. This "tour of duty" (3 weeks) will be on a base in the Negev desert near Beersheba and about 15 miles from the Gaza Strip. Next month (June 2011), I plan to do a fourth and final "tour of duty" (2 weeks) on a base in northern Israel near Nazareth and Tiberias.

An affiliate of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Sar-El volunteers do non-combat civilian ("jobnik") work on an IDF base alongside and under the direction of the soldiers.

The 5-day, 40-hour work week (Sunday-Thursday) is mainly in the logistical, maintaining, catering, supply and medical services. 

In the evenings, there are various activities and educational presentations on such topics as the Hebrew language, Israel's history, Jewish holidays and traditions, and social and political issues in Israel.‏ Also, there are two Sar-El sponsored site-seeing trips for every 3-week program.

Since its beginning in 1982 (during the First Lebanon War [Operation Peace for the Galilee]) and through the end of 2010, over 125,000 international volunteers have participated with Sar-El. Last year (2010), 3,367 volunteered, with the most being from France (1,098) and the U.S. (1,045), and with 559 being non-Jewish (mostly Evangelical Protestant Christians), and with most being under the age of 25 (1,655).

Volunteers For Israel is the U.S.-based non-profit organization responsible for recruiting Americans to Sar-El. VFI seeks to "promote solidarity and goodwill among Israelis, American Jews and other friends of Israel."

While most of my pacifist and Christian pacifist (anti-war, anti-violence) friends may not agree with my non-combat military and political involvement with Israel, I politely remind them that members of the Islamic terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah are not very nice people. Israel is not a perfect democracy, but it is the only one in the Middle East and a "work in progress." With the continuance of anti-Semitism in the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere, I believe Israel has the right to exist and defend itself against her enemies.

Also, my love does not discriminate between Jew and Arab (of whom I have friends on both sides), for both need to hear and respond by faith to the "gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24) as it is found in the Messiah for both Jews and Gentiles, the Lord Jesus Christ:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek/Gentile. Romans 1:16

Cretans and Arabs--we hear them speaking [on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended] in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. Acts 2:11

Via YouTube and produced by the IDF Film Unit, here is a 5-minute video about Sar-El:

Easter 2011 in Jerusalem . . . The Garden Tomb . . . "He is not here; for He is risen, as He said" (Matthew 28:6)

This Easter/Resurrection Sunday, I will be attending the sunrise worship service at Jerusalem's Garden Tomb.

In addition to the 4th-century Church of the Holy Sepulchre within the walled Old City of Jerusalem, The Garden Tomb is a possible (though less likely) location of the burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Both locations claim to be adjacent to Calvary/Golgotha where Christ was crucified.

An oasis of calmness in the midst of a tension-filled and Muslim-dominated East Jerusalem, The Garden Tomb is popular with Evangelical Protestant pilgrims visiting The Holy Land.

Entitled "The Garden Tomb: Where Jesus Rose Again?", here is a 5-minute news video from CBN.com (April 1, 2010):

Uncommon Christian Ministries wishes you a blessed and Christ-focused Easter 2011. "None but Christ ~ All for Christ" (UCM's motto).

The Lord Jesus Christ, "declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:4). 

UPDATE:

Here is the video of the 1 hour, 15 minute worship service, recorded and broadcasted live by CBN.com on April 24, 2011:

James Brainerd Taylor, 210th anniversary . . . J.B.T. at findagrave.com . . . J.B.T. book review in New England Historical Association News

In honor of the 210th anniversary of the birth of James Brainerd Taylor (born April 15, 1801), Uncommon Christian Ministries is pleased to announce that a photo of J. B. Taylor's gravestone has been online since September 8, 2008.

Grave Memorial No. 29657825 at findagrave.com correctly records the inscription found on the gravestone located at Hampden-Sydney College Church's Presbyterian cemetery in Prince Edward County, Virginia:

James B. Taylor.
Of Middle Haddam, Conn.
A Preacher of the Gospel.
Died in this County.
At the house of his friend
Doctor Rice [John Holt Rice, 1777-1831].
On the 29th of March, 1829.
In the 28th year of his age [actually, 17 days shy of his 28th birthday].

Reader, his epitaph is,
what he would have yours to be.
A sinner saved by grace.

There also exists an obelisk (memorial monument/stone) to J. B. Taylor in the Taylor Family burial plot at Union Hill Cemetery in rural Middle Haddam, Connecticut.

Ten years ago, on April 15, 2001, it was fitting that the bicentennial anniversary of J. B. Taylor's birth fell on Easter/Resurrection Sunday. Though once well known among mid-to-late 19th-century American and European Christians, it is nice to see the American evangelist's "uncommon Christian" life and ministry being resurrected in the early 21st century via books and the Internet, including the free online (Google Books) editions of the two memoirs published on him in the 1830's.

Also, a book review of An Uncommon Christian: James Brainerd Taylor, Forgotten Evangelist in America's Second Great Awakening (University Press of America, 2008) appears on page 16 in the 24-page spring 2011 newsletter (Vol. 37, No. 1) of the New England Historical Association (est. 1965).

The review is by Dr. Leslie P. Fairfield, Professor Emeritus of Church History, Trinity School of Ministry: An Evangelical Anglican Seminary (est. 1975), Ambridge, Pennsylvania. In it, Prof. Fairfield states in his closing paragraph,

Francis Kyle has written a thorough, careful, balanced biography of this evangelical saint, so influential in mid-19th century America and so little known today. Based on exhaustive research in the relevant sources, this book offers a grass-roots view of New England revivalism in the 1820's, as the foundations of the antebellum "Evangelical Empire" were being laid. Readers interested in early New England and undergraduate studies of American religion should find this work accessible, interesting and useful.

Regarding the review's author, the first-ever issue of Trinity Journal for Theology and Ministry (Fall 2007, Vol. 1) was devoted to "Anglicanism, Past and Future: Studies in Honor of the Rev. Dr. Leslie P. Fairfield." Prof. Fairfield (B.A., Princeton; Ph.D., Harvard) is the author of John Bale [1495-1563]: Mythmaker for the English Reformation (2006) and--among other online and print articles--"The Trinity and Postmodern Evangelism" (The Anglican Quarterly, Fall 2010).

May today's church, seminary and university be instructed and challenged upon learning about the Princeton University and Yale Seminary-trained Taylor and his advocacy for uncommon Christianity--"eminently holy, self-denying, cross-bearing, Bible, everyday" Christianity.

Mary Jane Gardner (1956-2011), uncommon Christian Bible translator . . . victim of terrorism, Jerusalem bus stop bombing (March 23, 2011)

The wrong place at the wrong time.

Yet God is sovereign with not even birds (sparrows) falling to the ground outside of the Father's will (Matthew 10:27-31).

Scottish Bible translator Mary Jane Gardner is the second Christian (Evangelical Protestant) in 3 months to be the victim of Palestinian terrorism.

Of the 50 or so innocent bystanders who were injured by a bomb at a crowded 3:00 p.m. Jerusalem bus stop on March 23, 2011, the 55-year-old Gardner was the only person who died. On her day off from school, she was walking by the bus stop in order to have lunch with an Irish friend who had just arrived in the city with a tour group. Though not a suicide bombing, it was the first bus bombing in The Eternal City since 2004 and the Second Intifada.

Gardner was a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators since 1986. She served in a remote area of Togo, West Africa, for 20 years, and helped complete the New Testament translation into the Ife tribal language in 2009. A short-term student studying biblical Hebrew at Hebrew University's Rothberg International School, the never-married Gardner was preparing herself to go back to the Togo tribesmen this summer in order to translate the Old Testament into Ife.

After arriving in Jerusalem in January 2011, she lived at the Home for Bible Translators and Scholars in Mevaseret Zion, a suburb of Jerusalem. Gardner also frequented Yad Hashmona, a Finnish Christian moshav in the Judean Hills near Jerusalem.

Born in Nairobi, Kenya, and the daughter (oldest of five children) of British missionary parents, she was a graduate of St. Andrews University (Class of 1977) in Scotland. A biographical summary of Gardner's life is available at Wycliffe Bible Translators' U.K. blog--click here.

As posted last month on this blog, on December 18, 2010, Christine Luken died of a stabbing attack by Palestinian terrorists while hiking just south of Jerusalem. An American Christian and lover of the Jewish people, the 44-year-old Luken worked in the U.K. office of the Church's Ministry among the Jewish People (CMJ). Since June 2009, I have been volunteering with CMJ Israel's Christ Church Guest House in Jerusalem.

Here are some news articles on the Jerusalem bus stop bombing and death of the "uncommon Christian" Bible translator Mary Jane Gardner:

+ Woman killed in Israel bus bombing remembered

CBN.com, April 4, 2011 . . . includes this 3.5 minute news video:

+ Mary Gardner, 1955-2011
Wycliffe Bible Translators blog (U.K.), March 28, 2011
(full biography)

+ Friends of Jerusalem bombing victim grapple with her loss: Bible translator Mary Jane Gardner "longed to give other people the same access to the scriptures" that she had enjoyed
Jerusalem Post (Israel), March 31, 2011

+ Terror bombing in Jerusalem
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, March 23, 2011

+ Scottish Bible translator killed by Jerusalem bus bomb
The Telegraph (U.K.), March 24, 2011

+ Jerusalem bus bomb victim was British Bible translator studying Hebrew
The Guardian (U.K.), March 24, 2011

+ Jerusalem bus bomb: Mary Gardner's family pay tribute
BBC News (U.K.), March 24, 2011

+ Distraught parents of Bible scholar killed in Jerusalem bomb blast pay tribute to "very special" daughter
Daily Mail (U.K.), March 25, 2011

+ Prayers tribute for Scot killed in Jerusalem
Herald Scotland (U.K.), March 26, 2011

Kristine Luken (1966-2010), uncommon Christian lover of the Jewish people and Israel . . . Kay Wilson, survivor of attempted murder . . . CMJ Israel, U.K., U.S.

Kristine Luken

Since June 2009, I have served as a volunteer at Christ Church Guest House in Jerusalem's Old City. I will remain here until this summer.

Christ Church is the oldest Protestant church in the Middle East. Built in 1849, the church was founded by the Church's Ministry among the Jewish People (est. 1809, formerly called the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews). With founders such as British church leaders William Wilberforce (1759-1833) and Charles Simeon (1759-1836), CMJ remains today an Anglican (Church of England) missionary society in the Evangelical Protestant tradition. Christ Church is a member of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (est. June 2008).

The world of CMJ was shocked to learn of the December 18, 2010, murder of one of its newest staff members. Kristine Luken was stabbed to death by two Muslim terrorists from the West Bank/Palestinian territories while hiking with a friend in the Jerusalem Forest southwest of the city.

A 44-year-old American Christian with a love for the Jewish people and Israel, Kristine worked for CMJ's U.K. office since 2009. I had met her briefly when she visited Jerusalem's Christ Church a year ago (winter 2009-10). A graduate of Virginia's George Mason University (Class of 1988), the non-Jewish/Gentile uncommon Christian Kristine had resigned from her comfortable 15-year federal government job in Washington, D.C., in order to serve the Lord in full-time vocational ministry, first at Patrick Henry College in Virginia, then with CMJ U.K. Click here to read her obituary.

Kay Wilson

The brutal and senseless murder made front-page news in the Israeli media (see below links), as well as international headlines. A month after the murder, the Israeli police announced 13 arrests. The 13 Muslim men were members of a Palestinian terrorist group that formed in 2009. Miraculously, Kristine's hiking companion, the 46-year-old British-born Israeli Kay Wilson, survived the attack of 12 stab wounds, helped police in locating the attackers, and lived to tell about it (see below links to her interviews). Kay is the main educator/tour guide for CMJ Israel's Shoresh Study Tours.

Please join me in praying that the Luken family be comforted by the Divine Comforter during their time of loss, and that the Lord will be glorified in this tragic death (John 11:4). Also, consider giving to the Kristine Luken Memorial Fund via CMJ's U.K., U.S. or Israel office. Pray for Kay Wilson, too, as she heals both physically and psychologically.

SOME NEWS LINKS

+ Slain U.S. tourist was a spiritual Christian with deep ties to Israel, say friends
Haaretz, December 20, 2010

+ "Street smarts" saved wounded victim: Messianic Judaism community "in shock"; praying for recovery of tour guide stabbed in brutal attack
Jerusalem Post, December 20, 2010

+ Last message of American stabbed to death hiking in Israel : "Remember to search out the goodness of God in the face of tragedy"
Daily Mail (U.K.), December 21, 2010

+ 100 gather at memorial service for Kristine Luken
Jerusalem Post, December 24, 2010

+ Family and friends remember murdered Notts missionary worker
This Is Nottingham (U.K.), January 13, 2011

+ 13 arrested in terror cell behind US's hiker's death
Jerusalem Post, January 26, 2011

+ "What a waste, I'm 46 years old and I'm being murdered" (interview with Kay Wilson)
Jerusalem Post, January 27, 2011

+ Survivor of stabbing attack that killed friend recalls "unimaginable barbarism" (interview with Kay Wilson)
Haaretz, January 27, 2011

Kristine Luken memorial service.
Holy Trinity Church. Southwell, U.K.
January 12, 2011.

Kristine Luken memorial service.
Christ Church. Jerusalem, Israel.
December 23, 2010.

Raymond Berry, uncommon Christian Pro Football Hall of Famer . . . "Receiving Fundamentals" DVD . . . childhood memories, mid-1980's New England Patriots

With the 2011 NFL playoffs upon us and Super Bowl XLV (45) next month (February 6), this is a good time to announce the recent DVD release of "Raymond Berry: Receiving Fundamentals."

An Uncommon Christian

The man featured in the 2-DVD set, Raymond Berry (born 1933, Corpus Christi, Texas), is not only one of the greatest wide receivers in the history of the National Football League, a former NFL head coach and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but he also has been a committed "uncommon" Christian since 1960. In the online article "More to Life than Football" (January 27, 2002), Berry stated,

I stand on Jeremiah 9:23-24:

"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord" (NKJV).

In this passage God tells us where life is and where it is not. God’s priority is that we have a relationship with Him. I found a relationship with God more than 40 years ago and it is still going on.

Another online article, "Raymond Berry: Hands of Glue, Transformed Heart," is equally edifying in that it points the reader to Berry's and our only hope in this life and in the life to come, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. Click here to read the article from the September 2009 newsletter of Spirit of Grace Ministries (McKinney, Texas).

Long retired and with 9 grandchildren, Berry now lives in Murfreesboro, Tenn. His son Mark is a Presbyterian (PCA) missionary in Lima, Peru--click here to watch a video of Mark's church-planting ministry.

"Raymond Berry: Receiving Fundamentals" DVD

Concerning the instructional DVDs for the football player or coach or Berry fan, current Indianapolis Colts All-Pro quarterback Peyton Manning stated, "Every receiver will benefit from Raymond Berry's route and receiving techniques."

According to the producers, the DVDs are "an educational, entertaining and inspirational way to learn the essence of the wide receiver position." Here is an excerpt from the DVDs:

Click here for the December 10, 2010, news release of the DVD set. Also, visit RaymondBerry.com to purchase the $29.95 set.

Pro Football Hall of Famer (Class of 1973)

As the main wide receiver (1955-67) for the famed Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas, Berry caught a then-record 631 passes for 9,275 yards and 68 touchdowns in his 13-year career.

A perfectionist, Berry fumbled the football only once during his entire playing career.

Both Berry and Unitas played in the NFL's "Greatest Game Ever Played," the 1958 NFL championship game versus the New York Giants at Yankee Stadium (December 28, 1958). A good read is Mark Bowden's book The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008).

Click here for a full biography on Berry via Wikipedia.org, here for a tribute to him from his alma mater of Southern Methodist University (SMU), here for his page on the Texas Sports Hall of Fame website (Class of 1974), and here for his Pro Football Hall of Fame page.

Among the many YouTube videos on the football legend, a unique and funny one is his November 9, 1958, appearance on the popular TV show (1950-67) "What's My Line":

Childhood Memories, New England Patriots . . . mid-1980s, Connecticut

When Berry was the head coach of the NFL's New England Patriots (1984-89), I used to correspond with him through letters/fan mail. 

When the letter writing began just prior to the 1985-86 season--the season the Patriots appeared in Super Bowl XX against the Chicago Bears (of which January 26, 2011, is the 25th anniversary)--I was a spiritually lost 14-year-old living in West Hartford, Connecticut.

The letter writing hobby was followed-up by periodic in-person visits to the Patriots training camp in Smithfield, R.I., and to some Patriots games in Foxborough, Mass.

In 2001, I donated to Canton, Ohio's Pro Football Hall of Fame archives the many letters and autographs I received from Berry, as well as his signed football cards and signed book he sent me, Raymond Berry's Complete Guide to Coaching Pass Receivers (Parker Pub. Co., 1982).

I also donated the letters and autographs I received from some of the 1950's and '60's Colts players and head coach who knew Berry and who were fellow members of the of Hall of Fame, namely, head coach Weeb Ewbank (Class of 1978), quarterback Johnny Unitas (Class of 1979), and running back Lenny Moore (Class of 1975). In his hand-written letter, Moore shared about his and Berry's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Though not a member of the Hall of Fame, also donated was a 1986 letter from Don Shinnick, a former Colts teammate of Berry's and fellow Christian. Shinnick served as a Patriots assistant coach (linebackers) under Berry.

Additionally, the dozen or so letters I received from Berry's boss at the time, Patriots founder and then-owner (1959-88) William "Billy" H. Sullivan, Jr., were gratefully received by the Hall of Fame archives department. 

To my teenage delight, Mr. Sullivan at one point gave me his home phone number in order for me to call him and set up an appointment to meet him in his Sullivan Stadium office prior to a Patriots game. With my parents, I took him up on the offer during the 1986-87 season.

Thanks for the memories, Mr. Berry.

With you, and by His sovereign grace,
I glory in the fact that the one and only
true God "understands and knows me."


Jeremiah 9:23-24

UPDATE

After sending the now 78-year-old Raymond Berry a printed copy of this blog post, I received a letter in response.

With the letter, Berry also enclosed an autographed football card of his that has on it, "Raymond Berry, Baltimore Colts 1955-1967, Hall of Fame 1973." 

On the back of the card, Berry explains how his Baltimore Colts teammate Don Shinnick (1935-2004) led Berry to placing his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. After their playing days were over in the 1960's, Berry hired Shinnick as his linebackers coach when Berry was head coach of the New England Patriots (1984-89).

In the November 9, 2011, letter, Berry wrote of the success he hopes the new DVD will have and how the DVD came about. The Hall of Famer wrote,

As a brother in Christ, you may be interested to know how this DVD ever came to be. I was coaching with the Cowboys (Tom Landry) in 1968 and 1969. In January 1970, the Lord spoke clearly to me one Saturday afternoon: 'Quit your job--finish that film.'

Well, it took another 30 years but Berry finally made the film. Better late than never. I am so glad he made the DVD for the sake of the future generations of football wide receivers who can learn from his knowledge and experience of the position.

Berry also wrote in his closing remarks,

By the way, the Lord turned my attention to the Jews and Israel when I was a Babe in Christ [New Testament, 1 Peter 2:2]. He put a love for them in my heart.

Berry writes this as I had just spent 26 months of sabbatical/pilgrimage/ministry in Israel, May 2009 to June 2011.

NOTE: 

On December 29, 2011, the NFL announced that Berry will participate in the Vince Lombardi Trophy ceremony at the conclusion of Super Bowl XLVI. Berry will carry the trophy to the stage and deliver it to Commissioner Roger Goodell who will present it to the Super Bowl champion. The ceremony will be televised live by NBC at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, February 5, 2012. 

ALSO:

As an aside, Robert Kraft, the Jewish philanthropist and owner (1994- ) of the NFL's New England Patriots, began the Israel Football League (Kraft Family IFL) in 2005. The Jerusalem-area teams play at Kraft Family Stadium, the same stadium that hosts the annual Israel Bowl (2008- ).

IFL games can be heard in English and online for free on Israel Sports Radio. The season runs November to March.

After the NFL season is over, Kraft normally visits Israel where he has a business. Some past and present Patriots players often accompany him on the trip, including Pro Football Hall of Famer (Class of 2008) Andre Tippett who converted to Judaism during his playing days (1982-93).

When living in Jerusalem, I saw Kraft, Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick and others during the Kraft delegation's visit to Kraft Family Stadium in March 2011.