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Who was Marie Green?
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Who was Marie Green? She was David Green's mother, the mother of seven Green children. One of the children had died at birth, but the others had all grown up to become strong believers, thanks to their parents' godly witness. Three had gone into ministry, two were pastors' wives. One, David had gone into business for himself.
One morning during my commute to work, I was thinking and praying about two things- what would we name the new building and how would I ever adequately thank the Green family for their partnership. In my attempts to thank them in the past, they always responded, 'It was because of my mother's prayers' or 'My grandmother's prayers allow us to do this.' The Lord spoke clearly to me that morning, "This Center needs to reflect those values." And the name was clear: "The Marie Green Forum For Global Missions."
Over three decades, David's start-up corporation, Hobby Lobby, Had become a great business success story. David and his grown children strategically use the company's profits as their ministry-they pour the revenue into missionary outreaches Like Book Of Hope. Mart Green is also founder of Bearing Fruit Communications, a ministry centered on God's Word: he makes dramatic films that clearly demonstrate the power of the Word.
But it was his mother and grandmother Marie who instilled in each of her six children the importance of doing the Lord's work. Her prayer life, her attitude of compassion, her integrity and her desire to serve God had grounded each of her offspring in the fundamentals of Christ first, others second, self last.
Marie impacted the lives of her children by living a life of servant hood and grace that became her inspiration and example. Her daughter, Betty Bonham, says, "I think her goal and my Dad's goal was to live a godly life and be an example to us to help us six children grow up to be godly people. I never heard them state that as their goal, but by their example and their constant teaching, that's what they wanted more than anything else - to raise six godly children. Just as important as that to my mom was souls. She always wanted to win souls to Jesus."
Marie passed down her passion for soul- winning to her children. "Before I got married, I had set three goals for myself," David says. "I wanted to have a beautiful marriage; I wanted for my children to grow up to serve the Lord, and I wanted to be a business success. That worked well until the business became successful, my children were serving God, and Barbara and I had a great marriage. Then I thought, "That can't be all there is. I have to do more." And then the desire for soul-winning that I saw everyday in my mother became my desire. I decided I had to touch as many lives for the Lord as I could- just like Mom.
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Marie Green's life reflected the glory of the Lord.
Marie Green was a living demonstration of her motto, "Only one life - 'twill soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last." She modeled for her children and everyone in her life the love of Jesus and the importance of bring lost souls to Him. As she demonstrated soul-winning, generosity, integrity, compassion and a strong prayer life for her family, she also took on the beauty of 2 Corinthians 3:18, "So our faces are not covered. They show the bright glory of the Lord, as the Lord's Spirit makes us more and more like our Glorious Lord.
We gladly named the new ministry center in her honor, but I wanted to do more. The lessons Marie taught had benefited her own children in wonderful ways, and left a legacy and spiritual heritage for her grandchildren ... but surely her example and her words could benefit others, too. Her values will be instilled in the young people who train in the Forum to go around the world and serve in missions. |
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