CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORES

For fifteen years my wife and owned a Christian Bookstore, The Master's Shoppe in Bessemer, AL.  It was one of the richest experiencs of our lives.  What a ministry opportunity.

Sad to say, the following was proven  true:

Victor V Bryditzki "The $elling Of Je$u$: The Confessions of a Christian Bookstore Owner"(Chick Publications:1985)

At $1 (AU) this book was way overpriced but I decided to buy it for the following quote ...........

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Who Comes In And What Do They Buy? Surveys indicate that less than 10% of active church members ever enter a Christian bookstore. ... Actual sales figures show the following scale of popularity among the items offered in the store. Topping the list are cards and small gifts, mostly cheap jewelry. Next comes what is called "Jesus junk" items like trinkets, bumper stickers, decals, and toys and plastic prizes for sunday School. Next comes the latest craze book on "666", giving the month and day of Jesus' return, or the latest out-of-body testimonials, and a number of end-time (mis)interpretations. Next to these are records and cassettes, skimmed milk devotionals, and low-fat study guides. At the end come Bibles, reference books, Church History and other serious works. When I opened the store, I actually thought the sequence wouold be the other way around! Of the 10% of church members who go to Bible bookstores, only 1% (of the 10%) ever purchase serious books. That means 99% (of the 10%) are staisfied with trinkets or shallow or erroneous writings. I am also told that of the Christian reading public, 85% are women. That boggles my mind and confuses my arithmetic. (I have nothing against women; I just wish that men would read too.) p.73

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Replace "records and cassttes" with "cds and dvds" and nothing seems to have changed since 1985!

FEELINGS

FEELINGS

 

The words if a song by that title say…..

 

“Feelings, nothing more than feelings
Trying to forget my feelings…….

Teardrops rolling down on my face
Trying to forget my feelings …..”

 

Feelings are real. Feelings are good, unless they control us.

As a Believer, the words written by Martin Luther have been a great source of comfort and strength for me:

   

"Feelings come and feelings go, 
And feelings are deceiving; 
My warrant is the Word of God-- 
Naught else is worth believing. 

Though all my heart should feel condemned 
For want of some sweet token, 
There is One greater than my heart 
Whose Word cannot be broken. 

I'll trust in God's unchanging Word 
Till soul and body sever, 
For, though all things shall pass away, 
HIS WORD SHALL STAND FOREVER!" 
— Martin Luther

 I have been depressed.  Who hasn’t?  I realize that the depression I have experienced in the past is nothing compared to what you may be going through.  It’s sort of like ‘Puppy Love’; it’s real to the puppy.  The question is:  what do we do about it?   Ignore it and maybe it will go away?  Talk about?  That seems to help some.  Medicate it?  That too will help temporarily until the cure becomes worse than the problem.

 As a Child of the King, the only answer, I believe, is to put it in the proper perspective. God loves me! That is a fact.  There is nothing I can ever do to make Him love me any more and there is nothing I can do that will make Him love me any less.  HE LOVES ME!  Period.  I know that because of the promises of His Word.

 I must keep the order straight:

         FACT......FAITH......FEELINGS

 Do Not Depend on Feelings 

The promise of God's Word, the Bible -- not our feelings -- is our authority. The Christian lives by faith (trust) in the trustworthiness of God Himself and His Word. If I understand the Fact of God's Word, have Faith in it, Feelings will follow.

Do any of the following words describe your feelings?

 

Dignity/ Respect/Self-Worth Ashamed Beaten down Cut down Criticized Dehumanized Disrespected Embarrassed Humiliated Inferior Insulted Invalidated Labeled Lectured to Mocked Offended Put down Resentful Ridiculed Stereotyped Teased Underestimated

Freedom/Control Bossed around Controlled Imprisoned Inhibited Forced Manipulated Obligated Over-controlled Over-ruled Powerless Pressured Restricted Suffocated Trapped

Love/Connection/ Importance Abandoned Alone Brushed off Confused Disapproved of Discouraged Ignored Insignificant Invisible Left out Lonely Misunderstood Neglected Rejected Uncared about Unheard Unknown Unimportant Uninformed Unloved Unsupported Unwanted

Justice Accused Cheated Falsely accused Guilt-tripped Interrogated Judged Lied about Lied to Misled Punished Robbed

Safety Abused Afraid Attacked Defensive Frightened Insecure Intimidated Over-protected Scared Terrified Threatened Under-protected Unsafe Violated

Trust Cynical Guarded Skeptical Suspicious Untrusted Untrusting

 Read Martin Luther’s words again! 

Maxand Carolyn Fiftieth Anniversary

HOW OLD AM I?

---

How old am I ? 

 

Stay with this -- the answer is at the end.   

One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about current events. 
The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general. 

The Grandfather replied, 'Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:

 

'   television

'    penicillin 

'    polio shots

'    frozen foods

'    Xerox

'    contact lenses

'    Frisbees and 

'    the pill

There were no:

'   credit cards 

'    laser beams  

'    ball-point pens

Man had not invented:

'    pantyhose

'   air conditioners

'    dishwashers

'    clothes dryers

'    and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and 

'    man hadn't yet walked on the moon 

Your Grandmother and I got married first, . . And then lived together. 

Every family had a father and a mother. 

Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, 'Sir'.

And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, 'Sir.' 

We were before gay-rights, computer-dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy. 

Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.  

We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions. 

Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege. 

We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.  

Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.  

Draft dodgers were people who closed their front doors when the evening breeze started.  

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.  

We listened to the Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios.  

And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.  

If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan ' on it, it was junk  

The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam.  

Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of. 

We had 5 & 10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents. 

Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel. 

And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards. 

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600, . . . But who could afford one?

 

Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.  

In my day: 

'   'grass' was mowed, 

'    'coke' was a cold drink, 

'   'pot' was something your mother cooked in and 

'  'rock music' was your grandmother's lullaby.  

'   'Aids' were helpers in the Principal's office,  

'   ' chip' meant a piece of wood, 

'    'hardware' was found in a hardware store and 

'     'software' wasn't even a word.

 

And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.   No wonder people call us 'old and confused' and say there is a generation gap . . .  And how old do you think I am? 

I bet you have this old man in mind . . . you are in for a shock! 

Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.   



Are you ready????? 


This man would be only 59 years old!!!! 

p.s.  Being older than that, I could add a bunch of other things to this list.  Max

PARENTS WISH

February 19, 2009

 Today is the birthday of our youngest, Jimmy Max “Jim” Youngblood Jr. He is forty three.  Now I’m feeling older.

Carolyn and I along with Virginia and Debbie met him at Top China Buffet in Hoover for lunch.  This was impromtu. We tried to reach Kathy to join us.  We had a great lunch and a good-time together for an hour or more.  For those who do not know, we have four children, Virginia, Kathyrn, Deborah and Jimmy.

 Jimmy went back to work and I rode along with the others as they shopped.  We left the house at ll: 30 AM and returned home about 4:00 PM.  Those kinds of trips make me tired but it was worth it.

 My sister, Sarah Pauline “Polly” Youngblood Klaesen, called me yesterday.  We had a long enjoyable conversation.  If you have an extra car or computer she could sure use both.  She hit a deer with her car and totaled it.  Her computer crashed. 

 She told me that out other sister, Patricia “Pat” Ann Youngblood Gann, had moved in with her daughter Suzanne. She recently had knee surgery.

 A friend sent me a video called “Parents Wish.  It is set to the music of Josh Groban singing “You Raise Me Up”.  Carolyn and I watched it.  We both felt a little sad but grateful for our four children.  Each one of them takes care of us and shows their love in different ways.

 I realized, ‘Hey, that’s me’.  I’ll be seventy-five this year.

Above all I believe that God is in control of all that happens to you and to me. I don’t always understand why things happen as they do or when they do, but with Job I say, “Yea tho’ He slay me, yet will I trust Him."

 Click below:

 http://parentswish.com/site01/big.html

Dadgum, I just clicked on it again to make sure it worked and tears welled up. Sorry bout that.   Max

 

MAX'S MUSINGS

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Once again I feel the need to write something.  What I have posted on my blogs primarily is stuff I copied from other sources; stuff that interests me.  I am discovering that writing is very hard work.  I admire those who seem to do it so easily though I know they too have worked very hard to get thoughts into words.

I have been preaching for more than fifty years but have written manuscripts of my messages very few times.  Writing a manuscript is very laborious.  A good outline will suffice in my opinion.

Looks like the stimulus package will pass today.  I fear the final results. I hope I am proven wrong.  I t could hurt a lot of people that it was designed to help.

In college I had a very difficult time with foreign languages.  I finally figured out that I somehow had failed to learn English grammer.  If you don’t know the English language, your writing attempts will be messy.  Who cares?   I’ll just be messy.

One thing for sure, they won’t be long and boring.  Just boring.

NEED TO BE PROPPED UP?

Every time I am asked to pray, I think of the old deacon who always prayed, 'Lord, prop us up on our leanin' side.' After hearing him pray that prayer many times, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently.  He answered, 'Well sir, you see, it's like this... I got an old barn out back. It's been there a long time; it's withstood a lot of weather; it's gone through a lot of storms, and it's stood for many years.  It's still standing. But one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit.  So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn't fall. Then I got to thinking about that and how much I was like that old barn. I've been around a long time. I've withstood a lot of life's storms. I've withstood a lot  Of bad weather in life, I've withstood a lot of hard times, and I'm still standing too. But I find myself leaning to one side from time to t ime, so I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side, 'cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning at times. Sometimes we get to leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, leaning toward cussing, leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn't . So we need to pray, 'Lord, prop us up on our leaning side, so we willstand straight and tall again, to glorify the Lord.'' ************* This is very cool!

If you stare at this barn for a second you will see who will help us stand straight and tall again. 

 

DIGITAL TV

THIS HAS BUGGED ME!  NOT ONLY HAS IT BEEN IN PLACE FOR  5  YEARS, WE HAVE BEEN BOMBARDED WITH THE REMINDERS FOR OVER A YEAR EVERY DAY AND WHAT SEEMS LIKE EVERY HOUR.  MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN VOUCHERS HAVE ALREADY BEEN DISTRIBUTED AND NOW 650 MILLION MORE.  I CAN UNDERSTAND POOR.  

STUPID IS A DIFFERENT STORY.

THE FOLLOWING IS COPIED:

Listening to the sage words of the wise one, Congress has stepped up and voted heed the Obama Administration’s council and delay the proposed digital TV transition. Original scheduled for next week, the digital TV transition in the United States would shut off most analog broadcast signals (except those from stations that are so small they can’t afford to make the switchover) and go completely digital. The plan, which has been in place for several years and prompted a multi-million dollar ad and voucher campaign to help viewers make the switch, drew concern from the incoming administration as there are still thousands of people waiting for digital converter vouchers and no money to pay for them. It seems that the free $40 voucher, which is meant to help absorb the cost of a digital to analog converter box, was so popular that the entire program funding was depleted with a month to go, leaving thousands in the lurch until the more then 40% of unused vouchers were recycled and reprocessed for redistribution. And that’s where the perceived problem came. 

Fearing widespread anger and not being able to access any television – especially in the event of an emergency – President Obama requested a delay to June 12, so that Congress could appropriate more funds (650 million dollars more) for vouchers and allow TV viewers more time to get on board with the change. Frankly, it may be due to the new President not wanting the masses to miss the first hundred days of his Presidency and the change he’s promised to bring. But with the mess that the proposed stimulus/pork package is making, Obama may wish he’d turned the signal off as scheduled.

I mean, this program has been in place for well over 5 years. How ready do you have to be? Still, users now have until early summer to get their boxes if they have an antenna. The switchover will not effect those using cable or satellite TV.

LITTLE PEOPLE

I rear-ended a car this morning. So, there we were alongside the road

and slowly the other driver got out of his car. You know how sometimes you just get soooo stressed and little things just seem funny?

Yeah, well I couldn't believe it... he was a DWARF!!!

He stormed over to my car, looked up at me, and shouted, 'I AM NOT HAPPY!'

So, I looked down at him and said, 'Well, then which one are you?'

And then the fight started...

Sam, Bessie, Me, Guy, Sammy, Pat, Polly

Joyce Youngblood sent me this photo. I did not have this one.

Backrow (L to R):Guy, Sam, Bessie, Max

Frontrow (L to R):Polly, Pat, Sammy

AGING AND AGE

George Carlin's Views on Aging Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions. 'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. 'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!! But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed? You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone. But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would! So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40,REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60. You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday! You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30 ; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST 92.' Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!' May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!! HOW TO STAY YOUNG 1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them.' 2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. 3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's name is Alzheimer's. 4. Enjoy the simple things. 5. Laugh often, long and loud . Laugh until you gasp for breath. 6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive. 7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music,plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge. 8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help. 9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is. 10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

First Grade Children

A 1st grade school teacher presented each child in her classroom the 1st half of a well-known proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb.

While reading, keep in mind that these are first-graders, 6-year-olds, because the last one is a classic!

1. Don't change horses

until they stop running.

2. Strike while the

bug is close.

3. It's always darkest before

Daylight Saving Time.

4. Never underestimate the power of

termites.

5. You can lead a horse to water but

How?

6. Don't bite the hand that

looks dirty.

7. No news is

impossible

8. A miss is as good as a

Mr.

9. You can't teach an old dog new

Math

10. If you lie down with dogs, you'll

stink in the morning.

11. Love all, trust

Me.

12. The pen is mightier than the

pigs.

13. An idle mind is

the best way to relax.

14. Where there's smoke there's

pollution.

15. Happy the bride who

gets all the presents.

16. A penny saved is

not much.

17. Two's company, three's

the Musketeers.

18. Don't put off till tomorrow what

you put on to go to bed.

19. Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and

You have to blow your nose.

20. There are none so blind as

Stevie Wonder.

21. Children should be seen and not

spanked or grounded.

22. If at first you don't succeed

get new batteries.

23. You get out of something only what you

See in the picture on the box

24. When the blind lead the blind

get out of the way.

25. A bird in the hand

is going to poop on you.

And the WINNER and last one!

26. Better late than

Pregnant !

OUT OF THE HOSPITAL

Today I got out of the hospital.  I had only been in the hospital two days but it seemed more like two weeks.  I had a few 'incidents"over this past weekend that I finally thought might ought to be checked out, so this past Tuesday (1/27/09) I called my doctor; he was out of town.  His nurse told me to go to the emergency room and tell them that my doctor wanted me to have a cat scan of my head (I had about a half dozen 'incidents' that could be interpreted as stroke symptoms).

I have a few complaints.  When I went into the hospital I felt great.

 When I got out two days later, I was very tired and suffering from loss of sleep.

Another problem with this hospital: they are selfish.  They refuse to share information with each other.  The first thing they do is ask you an endless number of questions including what all of your ancestors back to the Civil War died from.  (Some of them died from bullet  or bayonet  wounds).  Everytime you see somebody new they ask you the same questions again.  Why can't they share with each other what they already know?

One good thing though. I am pretty sure they are going to get together and throw me a surprise birthday party; at least 50 people asked me my birthday.

I LIKE COFFEE

Recently I read an article earlier about 'why I don't like coffee'.  So this is  about why I do like coffee.  I remember as a kid when my parents let me 'taste'   coffee.  They drank it black.  I was hooked.  I tried it with cream, sugar, etc.; black is best.

I drank it through high school and college.  When I was working (in or out of the office) I would drink it all day.  I knew some coffee tasted better but I had no idea why, and didn't really care.

My mother used to boil coffee on top of the stove (ground coffee dumped in a pan of boiling water).  She then strained it to drink.  No matter how well you strained it, it still and dregs in the bottom of the cup, but was good.

At some point we graduated to a stove top percolator, then to an electric.  We had really arrived when we got a Dripolator.  We have, I guess, tried every method of making coffee.  I liked the 'french press', but too inconvenient.  At home we have settled on the drip method of making coffee.  For good everyday coffee, EightO'Clock Columbian is hard to beat.  Pure Kona would have to be my favorite but too expensive.  Buying whole bean coffee and doing our grinding on a daily basis seems to work best.

I like to visit Coffee Shoppes.  My daughter, Virginia, was the manager of the first 'Barnie's' at the Galleria in Hoover.  I guess that's when I became more serious about coffee and began to understand the differences between various types and blends.

I do not care for Starbuck's 'burned' coffee.  Maybe that's because I prefer coffee black and I noticed that most folks add all kinds of stuff to it.  I would rather have Espresso than Starbucks regular blend.  Recently at Starbucks I tried their new Pikes Place Blend; it is very smooth. Pikes Place  I understand is in Seattle and is where Starbucks began.

ESTATE PLANNING

Dave was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business.

When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a wife with which to share his fortune.

One evening at an investment meeting he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away. "I may look like just an ordinary man," he said to her, "but in just a few years, my father will die, and I'll inherit 20 million dollars."

Impressed, the woman obtained his business card and three days later, she became his stepmother.

Women are so much better at estate planning than men. --

Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher

http://jmm.aaa.net.au/ (20,000 articles 4000 humor)

Funny Jokes and Pics - http://funnyjokesnpics.blogspot.com/

UP

Lovers of the English language might enjoy this. It is yet another example of why people learning English have trouble with the language. Learning the nuances of English makes it a difficult language. (But then, that's probably true of many languages).

There is a two-letter word in English that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is 'UP'. It is listed in the dictionary as being used as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for re-election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.

At other times the little word has a real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.

And this up is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.

We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now ......... my time is UP, so time to shut UP!

Oh...one more thing: What is the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night? U P

Now I'll shut up :-)

(Stolen from John Mark Ministries-see link above.

SUCCESS

“Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm” 

Winston Churchill

YOUR HEART

ARE YOU CRAZY?

The Bathtub Test

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the Director how do You determine whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.

"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient, and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."

"No." said the Director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?"

Editorial about Leroy Yarbrough

Yarbrough's life revolved around ministry of music

By Sara Inés Calderón - Express-News

Harold Leroy Yarbrough lived a life of music.

As a child he played the organ at his future father-in-law's church in Rome, Ga., before he began dating Edwyna, his wife of 52 years, at 15. Later in his life his daughter Melody Macaulay recalled that he would sit down at a piano and play any song his granddaughters would ask him for.

And yet Macaulay said music will not be the saddest reminder of Yarbrough's passing on Christmas: the kind words he always had for loved ones will be missed the most.

“Even to the very end, he barely could talk, but would say ‘I love you,'” she said.

Yarbrough, who preferred to be called “Leroy,” died on Christmas after a yearlong battle with lymphoma, Macaulay said. Her father first manifested symptoms last Christmas and was diagnosed in February, she said.

Yarbrough rose from organ player to directing organ players after he received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Baylor University and became the director of the Baylor Religious Hour Choir.

He later did his doctoral studies in choral conducting at the University of Texas at Austin before he earned his doctorate in music education from Louisiana State University. He also served 21 years as chairman of the division of church music and professor of choral conducting and music theory at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Yarbrough worked in San Antonio at the Trinity Baptist Church as minister of music for a total of 13 years — though not consecutively — and in 2008 Yarbrough retired from First Presbyterian Church after working as the music minister for 11 years.

While working, Yarbrough's wife said he performed in 29 states, 30 countries and made more than 50 recordings and often traveled with his family.

“He took us all over the world, we've had a wonderful life together,” she said.

Edwyna said she would remember her husband as a positive, funny, fair, good-natured and caring person who was her best friend.

“My biggest problem was being without my other half, which is who he is,” she said.

Macaulay, Yarbrough's daughter, said she would remember her father for his love of history, traveling, reading and Mexican food, especially enchiladas, and his great affection, not only for his family, but also for his two sons-in-law, who loved him like a father. Her father was the type of person who was interested in everyone and never met a stranger, she said.

“He always made people feel they were important and special,” Macaulay said.