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Pastor's Message

Greetings     From         The             Pastor	Pastor Don Ransford
It is our joy to serve our Lord Jesus Christ at Farmersburg United Methodist Church. God is calling each of us to serve Him in many ways. At Farmersburg we are becoming tuned in to the Holy Spirit to hear what He has for us to know. Our prayer is that we will become the humble, obedient people that God can use to bring glory to His Name and increase His Kingdom here on earth.

 
 
 
 

Don's Story

To get to this point, God has let me wander through various things over my life and yet has been preparing me for this time in our lives. God uses all of our experiences to shape us, as Mordecai told Esther, "for such a time as this".   I accepted the Lord and was baptized in December of 1963 at the Fairbanks Missionary Baptist Church.  (That's right, a Baptist church!)   I did not stay as close to the Lord as I should have.  College kept me busy and, as so often happens, I just slipped away from church and a closer walk with Jesus.      I remember a day that has since come to show me how God can orchestrate things in our lives.  It was just after my high school graduation and we were in the field (my dad was a farmer).  My mother brought lunch to us and she began to talk to me about her favorite subject that year...me going to college.  I wanted to farm and hadn't ruled out college, but was not eagerly seeking to go.  As she talked with me about it, I made a deal with her...to get off the subject I think...the next day it rained I would go to Terre Haute and check at Indiana State about enrolling.  Well, as you can imagine by now, it rained the very next day!       My life then took a far different turn than I had imagined.  The greatest blessing from my college days was meeting Jenny.  I know God destines people to cross our paths and He has given to me this angel to guide our family and instill in our children tremendous values.  It is this point in my life that has brought the greatest changes.  A life that I now cannot even imagine without her or the two wonderful children He gave to us.     I began teaching in 1971 at Union High School in Dugger, Indiana.  I still had this dream to farm and after 5 years of teaching, it was fulfilled.  I began raising hogs full time.  This was not, however, one of my wiser moves.  I realize now it was for me that I farmed, not the Lord.  He allows us enough rope to "hang" ourselves and awaken in a literal Prodigal son pigpen.  This dream of farming was not what I was meant to do, but the Lord allowed it to happen to bring me further along in my journey.       I had always been interested in photography and when the farming was not going well, He moved me into another avenue of opportunity, a portrait and wedding photographer.  I soon realized that I needed additional volume and sought out a venture into school pictures.  A local yearbook advisor suggested that I check with an established school picture company.  Some years prior to this God allowed me to see a plastic mug and at my sister-in-law's house from Indiana School Pictures.  I remembered that it had a toll-free number on it.  I also remember that when our daughter Jackie was in Kindergarten, Indiana School Pictures had taken her school pictures and they were the best that I had seen.  So, I contacted them and began a seven year career with them.       After about six years I began to get restless.  The travel and sales aspect of the job were wearing on me.  I remember driving down US 41 south of Vincennes and had a conversation with God about what He wanted from me.  I said, "do you want me to be a minister?"  But, my thoughts went to how much seminary would cost and not provide for my family.  So I kept thinking, what else am I qualified to do?  Teaching came to my mind.  After all, I was in schools every day and had longed for daily contact with the same people instead of a new school each day.      I had an expired Indiana Teaching license and a desire to teach.  I went to the Office of Teaching Certification at Indiana State University and explained my situation.  I was informed that I could be grandfathered in under a soon to expire bulletin.  I filled out the necessary paperwork and had a new teaching license.  Now all I needed was a job.  That spring, I began taking my replacement at Indiana School Pictures around to meet the school officials and get him acquainted with the area.  We were visiting the Linton-Stockton Elementary principal and I introduced my replacement.  He asked what I planned to do.  I said I was hopeful to get back into teaching.  He asked what I taught and I told him science.  He said they had an opening in the Junior High.  Well, as you can also guess, I got the job.        It was during the Fall of 1992 that I was asked to go on a Walk to Emmaus weekend.  It was a weekend that God used to bring me further along to the knowledge of what He had planned for me.  We were attending Kingsley UMC at the time.  I was Sunday School Superintendent.  Kingsley was part of a 3-point charge with Merom UMC and Graysville UMC making up the rest of the charge.  At that time there was another person serving as an Associate Pastor speaking on alternate weekends at either Merom or Graysville.  I became the Associate Pastor for Graysville UMC.  It was a great place to start preaching.  Loving people who were very supportive and Loved Jesus. In 1996 the opportunity came along to come to Ebenezer.  It has been a joy and a privilege to serve God and these wonderful people.