I had a great visit recently with Marty Claiborne, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Texarkana, TX. Marty’s heart to serve the members of Hillcrest piqued my interest.
For instance, the day we met, Marty had already taken one of his members to Shreveport, LA that day for a radiation treatment. He explained that the man’s closest family member lived in Kansas. When the man was diagnosed with cancer, Marty was right by his side and told him not to worry about transportation for his cancer treatments.
So, Marty has committed to provide rides to Shreveport for the man’s 31 days of radiation. What a heart of service!
I was also intrigued by Marty’s testimony. God had given him a desire to pastor at an early age. However, Marty tried to avoid pastoring by going into the Navy. One day at sea, he was called into the captain’s quarters where he was assigned an assistant chaplaincy role.
After his time with the Navy, Marty still neglected the desire to pastor. His next excuse was the fact that he was single. God took care of that too. It wasn’t long before Marty met his future wife, Keri.
Soon, Marty surrendered to preach, and the rest is history!
I enjoyed spending time with Marty and pray for God’s greatest blessing on their ministry at Hillcrest.