A SERVICE OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP
Giving Glory
and Thanks to God for the Life of
The Reverend Dr. Donald C. Patterson
December 27, 1998
The Reverend Mr. Kennedy Smartt
The Reverend Mr. Ed Norton
The Reverend Mr. John Kyle
The Reverend Mr. Kennedy Smartt:
…..Just a very personal word to each of you on behalf of the family. Thank you so much for being here. What a blessing your presence means. I also want to say, for those of you who have not had an opportunity to speak to the family…so many of you have had, but if you’re here and you have not had an opportunity to speak to the family, the family will remain here at the front after the service, and you will be able to speak to them at that time.
And then I want to say to you that our service tonight is not a service of grief. It is a service of joy and praise and thanksgiving, and we want you to have that in your heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that all glory will be brought to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I also want to make a commercial before the service starts, and that is that a special memorial fund has been established by Mission to The World for the Odessa Church Building Project. You can just identify gifts to Mission to The World for the Don Patterson Memorial Fund, and it will go to that cause.
Now let us hear the call to worship as I find it in the seventh chapter of the Revelation, beginning at verse 9:
“After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying,
‘Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.’
And all the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God, saying,
‘Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.’….
“Therefore are these before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple, and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.”
Amen.
Shall we bow together in prayer.
Our gracious Lord Jesus Christ, to Thee be all glory and praise, the Lamb for sinners slain. We do praise and thank You for the privilege of being in Your house to celebrate Your great salvation, to celebrate the glory of lives that have been lived for You, who have declared Your gospel to the ages, and who have come home and have received the welcome summons from the angels of God surrounding the throne. We praise You, Lord Jesus, that You shed Your blood for all of them and for us, and we praise You that You sent Your Holy Spirit to dwell in the heart of everyone who has ever believed in You. We praise You, Lord Jesus, that You have gone to prepare a place for every one of them, and that You promised to come again and receive each of them unto Yourself. Lord Jesus, we thank You that You have come for our brother, Don Patterson. You have finished his home, and You have received him unto Yourself, and he is with the saints in glory. And we give You praise and thanksgiving in Your great and holy name. Amen.
And now we are going to use the scriptural affirmation that you find in your bulletin, and I suggest that we stand. We’re going to read in unison the Twenty-third Psalm, and then we will join our voices in using the 358th hymn. Shall we stand together?
“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
The 358th hymn:
[Congregation sings: For All the Saints, Who from Their Labor Rest]
The Reverend Mr. Ed Norton:
We invite you to turn in your Bibles to II Timothy, chapter 2. If you’ve brought your Bibles, turn there; or, if you have the pew Bibles in front of you, you are certainly welcome to use those Bibles as well. We’ll be reading from portions of II Timothy 2.
“You, then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable men, who will also be qualified to teach others. Endure hardship with us like a good soldier for Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civil affairs; he wants to please his commanding officer. In a similar way, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.
[Verse 6]: “The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive his share of crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all of this.”
[Then, if you will turn over to verse 15]: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, and who handles correctly the word of truth.”
[And then again, in verse 20]: “In a large house there are articles not only for gold and silver, but also for wood and clay. Some are for noble purposes, and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument of noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master, and prepared to do any good work.”
[Verse 22]: “Flee from the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know that they produce quarrels.
[Verse 24]: “And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel. Instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.”
Indeed, this is the word of God.
Earlier this year…Jean asked me to take just a few moments during the course of this service and to say a few words in terms of my relationship with Don and my love for him, and what he had meant to me in the course of my life and the course of the ministry that the Lord has called me to.
And as I began to reflect in light of that, I thought about Don in terms of leadership. I thought about Don in terms of a man who has a heart and a love for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I thought about a man who has a heart for missions. And I thought about a man who had a heart for the church. Well, Jean told me I only had ten minutes! And so I thought, “I guess I just need to choose one of those.” And so for just a few moments let me talk to you about what I learned from Don Patterson in terms of leadership.
In II Timothy 2, when Paul uses this chain of metaphors to talk about what spiritual leadership is, he talked about that a leader is a teacher – “You have heard me say….” He talked about that a leader is a soldier, an athlete, a farmer. A leader is a workman; a leader is an article [or a vessel]. A leader is a servant [or a slave]. And each one of these words, as we hear these words coming together, it really strikes in the chambers of our own hearts images of sacrifice and labor, and service and hardship. And as we hear these words together, you hear these words in the light of that sacrifice and labor, and what you don’t hear is the glamour of the office.
You see, oftentimes in the ways and means of the world, how does leadership come? Well, leadership comes by way of seniority; sometimes leadership can be purchased with financial resources; leadership can be inherited through a family tree; or leadership can fall to those that are prosperous and successful. Sometimes, if you’re smart enough and if you have the natural talent, leadership can be doled out to you.
But, as I read II Timothy, and as I read the totality of Scripture, what I see is not what I’ve just mentioned. But what I see is leadership that is bound in the metaphors of being a soldier, an athlete, a farmer, a worker, a vessel, a servant, a slave, and a teacher. It does not speak of glamour, but it speaks of arduous spiritual work in the context of a great spiritual battle.
The requirements of leadership are spiritual character and integrity. The requirements to be a churchman in the church of Jesus Christ is a willingness to serve humbly, and is a willingness to love Christ with all of our hearts, soul, mind, and our strength; and is a willingness, by God’s grace and by the giving of the Holy Spirit, who enables us to do all things, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
We’re reminded of that example in Luke 9:23, where the disciples have been with Jesus, and Peter has just confessed in light of who the Savior is, and Jesus pulls them all together and He says, “Deny yourself; take up your cross and follow Me.” To deny yourself is to put to death your own personal agenda. To take up your cross is the willingness to be persecuted, the willingness to suffer because you love Jesus that much; the willingness to live without. And then, to follow Him is to understand how much He has loved us: with a never-ending electing love; a love that was formulated before time began; a love in which before the foundation of the world He knew us, He loved us, He chose us, and we would be a holy priesthood, a royal nation, holy and blameless. To understand that tremendous amount of love and then, in the light of that love, motivated by that love, compelled by that love, to follow the Savior in the course of that love to communicate that love to others.
A leader is one who leads. A leader is one who shepherds, and a shepherd is one who feeds; and he nurtures, and he comforts, and he corrects, and he protects. Let me share with you a principle, and then one or two closing comments.
Church leadership is never management, and it’s always ministry.
In the early 1980’s, on January 2, at 9:30 in the morning, I had my first meeting with Don Patterson. And he sat me down in the old office, and he said, “You know, Ed, one of the first things that you’re going to do is you’re going to go to Mexico for three weeks, and you’re going to live in the jungle and you’re going to take some senior high students with you.” And I said, “Oh, Don, I’m a Northeast Jackson type of guy. I don’t do missions.” Well, in that quick spiritual candor, he says, “Well, you do now!”
I could speak to you of a man who changed my life in the light of missions; a man who, because he got me interested in missions, he really enabled me to better understand the gospel. And because he got me interested in missions, I began to understand what vision was, and what ministry was, and what the Great Commission was. And because he got me interested in missions and the gospel, I began [though I’m not there yet] to get out of my self-centeredness, my pride, my unbelief, and myself, and to have the privilege of going to the world and to minister the only truth that there is: the truth of the gospel, and the truth of grace.
You see, Don was a shepherd, and Don was a leader. Remember those days when he would stand in that pulpit and he would take that little crooked finger of his, and he would preach the gospel and he would preach repentance, and he would preach the love of Christ and the love of the church? Do you remember Don? He’d be in his office 6:30 every morning having his devotions…writing to missionaries who were in great despair or in great trouble. Do you know why it is that most missionaries come home? Because of other missionaries. He knew that. And he ministered to them. His door was always open, and the door was always available. And if you ever needed anything, all you had to do was rap on the door, and he would say, “Come in.” And he would move the piles of clutter away, and he would lock in on the needs of your heart.
As I read II Timothy – teacher, soldier, farmer, athlete, workman, vessel, slave and servant – by the grace of God and by the Holy Spirit of God, that is indeed what Don longed to be about.
Jean asked me to share this verse, and then I will close. This is out of Psalm 78, verse 70:
“He chose David His servant, and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep, He brought him to be the shepherd of His people Jacob, and Israel his inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart, and with skillful hands he led them.”
I want you to notice something in verse 70. The psalmist does not say ‘He chose David as king.’ He does not say ‘He chose David the lawyer.’ He does not say ‘He chose David the great one.’ But the psalmist clearly says, “He chose David His servant.
Beloved, Don Patterson was a servant, and he loved you and he loved me, and he ministered to you and he ministered to me. And it’s all because of grace, and it’s all because of the gospel of Christ.
Notice one last phrase:
“And David shepherded them with integrity of heart, and with skillful hands he led them.”
And once again—and I know I’m bordering here on a eulogy, and I don’t want to do that, and I don’t want to bring glory to Don because I know that it’s by grace that man is saved, and it’s by the Spirit that man is enabled—but God in His sovereign grace gave to this precious covenantal community one of the most precious gifts other than the gospel itself: a man who would shepherd them with an integrity of heart, and a man who led them with skillful hands. Other than the gospel, is there a greater gift?
To God be the glory.
The Reverend Mr. John Kyle: Let us pray together.
Father, we are thankful tonight for the word that brother Ed Norton has brought for us concerning a servant-leader, and we believe that Don Patterson was a servant-leader. He served so many of us; he listened to so many of us; he counseled so many of us; he encouraged so many of us. And we’re thankful tonight that we can have this memorial service that we trust will bring honor to You, Lord Jesus, because of Your servant, Don. And we thank You tonight that in this prayer that we’re lifting up to You right now, that You’re making it very clear, Lord Jesus, and taking it to our heavenly Father. And we believe right now that Don is in Your presence, and we thank You for that fact. And it is a promise of the Scriptures that is true, and we claim it for each of us in this room who loves Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Now, this “Reminisce” on here is not a threat, because this could go on for hours! It will not. There are so many of you here who could better be filling my shoes tonight, who have experienced the ministry and the love of Jesus Christ through Don Patterson, and Jean, his dear wife. Tonight we just want to think a little bit about this man who had so many different shades of color, like a diamond being turned. If you will look later at the back of the bulletin, you’ll see that Don was – before there was a word “world Christian” – he was a world Christian. He attended four major Congresses on evangelism that were held around the world. He was one of the few people that went to Berlin in ’67, for instance; and then, later, to the Lausanne Congress, the great Congress that was sponsored by Billy Graham in Lausanne. (And he took me in tow to carry his baggage!) But Don Patterson was a man who was highly respected within the evangelical community around the world, and many of us don’t know that. But he introduced us to many of these people. Many of you here have met people through Don that he knew from Germany and from Norway, and different parts of the world.
Don Patterson was a world Christian before the word was even coined.
Don Patterson came with Jean to Manila to visit the missionaries in the Philippines on his way back, in 1967, from the Berlin Conference. And how well I remember that he not only visited us, but he went up to see his brother-in-law and his sister-in-law serving in the mountains, the Tabors, who are here this evening. But I remember so vividly: he wanted to be introduced to Manila. He had been there in World War II. He ended up all of his bombing raids, as a bombardier, coming all the way from the South Pacific to the Philippines. He loved the Philippines. But he said, “I want to go downtown and see what it looks like in Manila today.” So I had the only type of conveyance – a scooter. So I put Don in the back of the scooter and took him downtown in Manila. You can imagine what that might be like. And as we would go by the buses with the open windows, it was my way of being sure that everything was OK, was to, and don’t be offended, but this is real, to say, “Don’t spit! Don’t spit! Don’t spit!” And Don Patterson never forgot that! And when he came back to the McIlwain Memorial Presbyterian Church in Pensacola, he called up our home church, which was in Berkley, California, and talked to the missions chairman – a layman there – and said, “We’ve got to buy John Kyle and Lois a car!” And so that was my first experience of getting into the pocket of Don Patterson! But not the last…
The next experience I had with Don and Jean was going to the McIlwain Church, to the Theological Institute in August of 1969, when we came home on a furlough. Don did not like the beach. Jean loved the beach. And so Don said to me in the middle of the Conference, “We’ve got to get out of here. Let’s go to the beach.” And I thought, “Well, this really means business.” So we went to the beach, and we’re sitting on the beach in Pensacola, and he says, “John, I want to ask you one question. I want an honest answer. What would speed up the work of Wycliffe Bible Translators in the Philippines? One thing of importance…what would you say right now?” I said, “An airplane. Another airplane would speed the work of taking the Scriptures into the heart languages of these people all over the southern part and the northern part of the Philippines.” He said, “What would it cost?” And I’m a little poor at mathematics, and I said, “I think it would cost to buy an airplane and maybe to renovate it, $27,000…up to $36,000.” He said, “Let’s pray about it.” I can remember it clearly: he said, “Let’s pray about it.” So we bowed our heads there, sitting in the sand in Pensacola, and we prayed. Both of us prayed. Within a few weeks, he moved to First Presbyterian Church here in Jackson and became the pastor of this great church. And we moved at the same time, and moved into a house over here on Gillespie Avenue that was the Missions House that we occupied for a year. And that year I began to see Don Patterson move out in a new way, challenging people through the whole community – whether it was Baptist or whether it was Methodist, or whatever – that we should buy an airplane for Wycliffe to use in the Philippines. Well, to make the long story short, he came to the Philippines a year later, and dedicated The Spirit of Jackson.
I think my sharing of this is important because many of you participated in The Spirit of Jackson. It was dedicated first out at the airfield here in Jackson. Water was gathered from the Pearl River, and also eventually from the river that goes through Manila, and poured together. And Don Patterson came out with a layman from this church, and we introduced them to the Commanding General of the Philippine Air Force, and we took him to the President’s palace, and he was present when that plane was dedicated…that he’d worked so hard… with so many of you here in this church yet…and this community of Jackson, Mississippi. A year later, he was asked to go to Washington, D.C. (some don’t know this), and he was honored by the Ambassador of the Philippines with the Presidential Merit Medal, which was a very great honor.
Don Patterson was a man of many different characters and many different gifts, but a master preacher. He was my mentor before the word mentor was ever coined. I … if you think that I have occupied some positions of honor in our denomination, the PCA, or in other places, it is because of Don Patterson. Don Patterson told me, “You can do it!” and if I didn’t do it, something was wrong. “Trust the Lord…Trust the Lord…you can do it!” When he asked me, as the Chairman of the Committee of Mission to The World, to be the first Coordinator, I said, “I don’t think I could do that, Don.” He said, “You can do it if the Lord calls you.” And all the way along the line in my life since I’ve known Don Patterson, he has encouraged me in writing, by telephone, and with a hand on my shoulder to encourage me to get out and take the gospel out around the world.
Don Patterson…I don’t want to eulogize Don Patterson, but I want to say Don Patterson had an influence on literally millions of people. And in those years that he served as our Missions Pastor of Mission to The World (he and Jean), he touched the lives of not only our missionaries within our organization, but with sixty other organizations that we were married to through the cooperative agreement. Literally thousands of missionaries’ and leaders’ lives have been changed because of the ministry of Don and Jean Patterson. And so tonight I just want to give thanks in public to the fact of this ministry of Don Bray Patterson.
I also want to say in memory of his dear mother, who is long gone…. There were three brothers today at the graveside; there are two here now. One has gone on to Asia on a trip, but I want to give proper respect to Mrs. Patterson, who took these young men and raised them, gave them an education, and today they are alive standing by Jean. And we are thankful for that kind of a testimony of a Christian woman, who loved Christ enough when her husband died, a Scottish Presbyterian preacher, that she carried on. And God used her…the grace that He gave her to raise these boys…and Jean eventually was able to marry Don.
So thank you for coming tonight to honor Don Patterson, as well as the family and Jean, and to encourage them.
The Reverend Mr. Kennedy Smart:
In Romans chapter eight, I read the encouraging words that we all love so much:
“We know that all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren; moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.”
That is the story of Don Patterson’s spiritual pilgrimage: from being predestined to being glorified. Praise the Lord.
And then he goes on to say in verse 35:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, ‘For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
That is the security of those who put their trust in Jesus Christ, through the calling grace of the Holy Spirit. That’s the theology of our salvation, and the practical outworking of our salvation is found in the twelfth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans; and I was preaching on this chapter in Westminster Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina, just a year after Don, I believe, had been in the same church. Don and I very often did that. Don would preach, and they would say, “Well, who is the next best preacher?” and Don would say, “Kennedy Smartt,” and I would be invited, you see, and that way he kept me having an opportunity to preach. (I’m teasing when I say that about either one of us!) But when I was preaching on this text from Romans 12, it was at one of those moments when I had gone to Rock Hill with the word from Jean that Don was low, and she just didn’t know whether he would live through the weekend or not, and so forth. And I had this very much on my mind. And then I read this passage of Scripture in preparation for preaching it in Rock Hill, and I was startled by the fact that this passage of Scripture describes Don Patterson almost as perfectly as any biography that could be written about him. It magnifies the Lord Jesus, and magnifies His servant, Don Patterson; so, listen carefully as I read:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
That is exactly what he did. He presented his life as a living sacrifice to the Lord Jesus.
[He goes on to say:]
“And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
I can hear Don singing,
“Have Thine own way, Lord; have Thine own way; Thou art the potter, I am the
clay.
Mould me and make me after Thy will, While I am waiting, yielded and still.”
He presented his life to the Lord Jesus to do His will.
And he goes on to say:
“For I say through the grace given to me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man a measure of faith.”
There was a man who did not think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Now, most of us think of ourselves far more highly than we ought to think, but that was not true of Don Patterson. I read this passage of Scripture to Shelton Sanford, the pastor at Westminster Church in Rock Hill, and I said to Shelton - without giving him any hint of what I was thinking - I said, “Hear this, Shelton. Now who does this describe?” And right away he said, “Don Patterson.” And how true it is.
[Verse 4:]
“For as we
have many members in one body, and all members do not have the same office, so
we, being many, are one body in Christ,
and every one
members one of another.”
Don was a unifier. The very testimony that we have heard here that when they raised the money for The Spirit of Jackson, it was not just you Presbyterians, but it was other churches that got into that project, and we’re a part of it because Don had that special gift of pulling together different fragments and making one out of them.
[And then he says in verse 6:]
“Having then, gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy [in other words, preaching], let us preach according to the proportion of faith…”
Don had the gift of
preaching and teaching, and used them.
“…Or ministry [speaking of pastoral ministry]…”
What a great pastor!
Oh, I wish we had time to hear the testimony of all of you of the way Don
ministered to you as a pastor.
“…Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation…”
Do you remember the
time that he sat down with you and exhorted you about a matter in your life, or
perhaps an opportunity to visit the mission field, or to go as a missionary, or
to give for the support of a missionary? What a great exhorter!
“…Or he that ruleth, administer with diligence.”
In those early days of
the Presbyterian Church in America when we were just a lot of lost sheep without
a shepherd, a group of us met together and put together what we called a
Steering Committee. And we said, “Well, who will be our leader?” And there was
no question that Don Patterson was to serve as the Chairman of that Steering
Committee, because he had the gift of administration and he used it for the
glory of Christ.
“…Or he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness…”
Showing mercy is one thing, and showing it with cheerfulness… [chuckles]…is another thing! But Don had that special touch to show mercy with cheerfulness.
[Verse 9:]
“Let love be without insincerity...”
The word here is disemulation; I never did understand that word, but I understand insincerity.]
Don’s love was a sincere love, and everyone who knew Don knew what it was to be loved by Don and to feel that he or she was loved more than anyone else, because he had that gift and he used it.
“…Be kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another.”
Putting the other
person before himself…. In every service that I’ve ever been where Don was
closing the remarks, I was just overwhelmed by his gift to express thanks and
gratitude and appreciation to every single person who had had any part in the
success of that meeting, and to never leave anyone out, because he just was so
careful in being able to prefer others before himself.
“…Not slothful…”
Not lazy in business. Don Patterson didn’t have a lazy bone in his body. Even when he was so sick, so weak he could hardly get out of bed, he kept saying to Jean, “I’ve got so much to do. I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve got to make some telephone calls. I’ve got to go see some people.” He had his projects – primarily his Odessa Project – on his mind. I hope you’ll keep that on your mind.
“…Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instantly in prayer…”
Now tell me if you’ve ever known anyone who fulfilled that instruction of the Scriptures more perfectly than did Don Patterson in submission to the will of his Savior, the Lord Jesus. Don Patterson was a sinner saved by grace, but by grace he was a champion for God.
To all of us he was a leader and an example, as Ed has expressed it so perfectly. And he was anointed by God. As Mordecai said to Esther, “…for such a time as this.” He came to the kingdom for such a time as this. God used him to be a father of the Presbyterian Church in America, and oh! how he did love her! To be with John Kyle, primarily an architect for Mission to The World, and how God did use these two men in developing a mission organization that is the envy of the entire world evangelization enterprise.
And then, Don Patterson will be remembered by all of us as a man who was an encourager. He encouraged us to walk with God. He encouraged those who did not know Christ to give their hearts to Him. He encouraged us to pray.
Don and I roomed together at the General Assembly after our wives found out that it was not the best place for them to spend their time, and we prayed so much. And I want to say to you missionaries who are here: Your needs, your lives, your situations were always very heavy upon his heart, and he encouraged us to pray for you, and encouraged you to pray.
And he encouraged us to give – to give for world evangelization. And I do not want to face Don at the throne of grace in that time when perhaps I arrive at the fields of glory. I do not want to face Don and report on this service without being able to report to him that I urged you, if you have not already considered giving your life for world missions, please pray about the call of God to you about that. And if you have any funds whatsoever, if you can make any sacrifices whatsoever in order to set more funds aside for world evangelization and especially for that project in Odessa, please do so. Because Don is going to ask me if I was faithful to ask you to do that!
And how can we honor Don more and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ more than by singing the hymn that Don always wanted to close every Missions Conference with – the 55th hymn in your book, To God Be the Glory! And that’s our expression of praise. Now, after we have sung this hymn, we will remain standing, and Ed Norton is going to pronounce the Benediction, and then the choir is going to lead us in a response, and we’re going to do it.
Shall we stand and use
the 55th hymn?
[Congregation sings.]
The Reverend Mr. Norton:
Now may the people of God receive the benediction of God.
May the God of peace, who through the blood of eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will; and may He work in us that which is pleasing to Him through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
[Handel’s Hallelujah! sung by choir and congregation.]
A SERVICE OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP
Giving Glory
and Thanks to God for the Life of
The Reverend Dr. Donald C. Patterson
December 27, 1998
Donald Bray Patterson
Pastor of First Presbyterian Church 1969-1983
December 29, 1998
The Reverend Mr. Kennedy Smartt
The Reverend Mr. Ed Norton
The Reverend Mr. John Kyle
The Prelude
The Call to Worship Dr. Kennedy Smartt
The Prayer of Adoration and Invocation Dr. Smartt
The Scriptural Affirmation - Psalm 23
They Hymn No. 358 "For All the Saints"
The Reading of the Scriptures The Reverend Edward Norton
The Prayer The Reverend John Kyle
The Reminiscences Mr. Kyle
The Anthem - "How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place" - FPC Choir
The Memorial Sermon Dr. Smartt
The Hymn of Response No. 55 "To God Be The Glory"
The Benediction The Reverend Norton
The Choral Response
The Postlude