A Closer Walk, by Mississippi Christian Living

Rick Courtney, Nathan Stamper, Rev. Reginald Buckley, and Brent Leach serve God in law offices, baseball fields, sanctuaries and living rooms. They recently sat down with MCL Editor Katie Eubanks Ginn to talk about their careers, their wives, their greatest spiritual influences, and the biggest lessons God has taught them along the way. 

Ivan Parke and his parents moved from India to America when he was little, and now he's a college professor, published author, husband and father. He and his wife, Mary Ann, know exactly Who paved the way for them - through marriage, parenting, job changes, and some suffering along the way. 

Ole Miss Baseball Hitting Coach Mike Clement (part of last year's College World Series win) and his wife, Amanda, talk about their journey from College Station, Texas, where they met, to "The Velvet Ditch" of Oxford, Mississippi - a place so comfortable it's hard to leave. They might be at home in Oxford, but spiritually, "We're not called to a place of comfort," Mike says. 

For the fourth year in a row, MCL has taken nominations for Christian Leaders of the Year. This year the five selected leaders met together for a group interview with MCL Editor Katie Eubanks. The conversation was as impactful as anything you’d hear at a leadership conference! Our 2022 Christian Leaders of the Year are:

• Angela Carson, founder, Pine Grove Association and Carson Consulting
• Jonathan Lancaster, chief financial officer, We Will Go
• Matt Nalker, executive director, The Arc Mississippi
• Preston Crowe, counseling pastor and director of The Center for Hope and Healing, Broadmoor Baptist Church
• Tom Washburn, minister to senior adults, First Baptist Jackson

Dr. Cathie Phillippi is a married, churchgoing doctor with three kids. But she isn’t perfect. “I think people see this put-together person … with all the things,” she says. “But I often still kind of feel like a fly on the wall." As a troubled adolescent with a broken home, she rejected God - but He did not reject her. Through a godly grandmother, a scholarship, and genuine believers, Jesus pursued Cathie and changed her heart.

Clint and Terri Herring are a successful real estate developer and pro-life lobbyist respectively, with 3 sons, 11 grandchildren, and lots to look forward to. But once they were teenage newlyweds, journeying across the country for a new life that would challenge them in ways they did not expect. 

Mart had a home, a family, and a job he loved, but he lost it all due to his alcoholism. Finally, after stints in several rehab facilities and even the Mississippi State Hospital, "God did for me what I couldn't do for myself," he says. Nearly a year after getting sober, he started dating Holly, his now wife. Listen as they recount God's faithfulness and their hopes for the future.

Deryll Stegall of Stegall Imagery has shot nearly 100 MCL magazine covers over the years. Get to know him and his wife, Sherry, who blended their families after they both experienced divorce - and hear what they've learned about finding happiness and making marriage work. 

Roosevelt & Shay Greenwood had already endured their share of trials when Roosevelt was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer in 2016. But God worked a miracle, and not only has Roosevelt lived more than 3 years longer than expected, but his cancer is now "asleep." Listen as he and Shay share how God has made them #GreenwoodStrong.

Meredith & Joel Travelstead are an OB/GYN and a CPA in northeast Jackson. They share with Katie about marriage, family, and how God has used the "spiritual wrestling matches" in their lives to strengthen their faith in Christ.