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Christine Wise Lanyon

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Biographical Introduction

C. Pat Lanyon

The Daily Prayer Notebook was inspired by my Lord Jesus after making some choices that were hard for me and required much patience. Here is my story...

The initial stands for "Charles," but since I was never called by that while growing up; I now use the initial. My real middle name is "Patrick," but, again, I was not consistently called that either. The names mean respectfully: manly, and fatherly. Living up to them I've found to be roles of a life long challenge that has taken me a good while to really fulfill.

I was born in Denver, CO in December, 1952, and grew up in a suburb, Lakewood, there until my third year of college. In that year, 1973, I transferred from the Denver Extension of the University of Colorado to Bob Jones University, in Greenville, SC.

This was the result of a summer 1972 decision to be sure of my salvation by calling on the Lord to save me. Being saved is so important, I wrote a personal tract explaining how one believes in God for salvation in 1996 which personally invites my readers how to find the same assurance I got that year which changed the rest of my life. It was also the result of spiritual growth following my decision on Easter Sunday to be Scripturally baptized. My first tract, written in 1980 at TTU, makes salvation and growth clear in short word and sentences: "Have You Ever Asked Yourself This Question?"

Years in Chattanooga

Following my three and one half years at BJU, I decided to attend a semester of graduate school at Tennessee Temple, where my brother was a student in the University there. I spent some 6 years there getting a  Bachelor of Divinity degree in English Bible. There I met the man who is now my Pastor, Bim Rowley. As fellow students we came to know each other, and when he announced intentions to come to East Hartford for church planting, I was interested.

I was raised in what is now called an "independent, fundamental Baptist church," but as I grew up I observed all churches and religions change. As I studied the Bible about life I realized that it is a most amazing Book. Most amazing of all was the fact that although men retranslate it, the truths in it are literally unchanging! I have therefore decided to base what I believe about religion and spiritual knowledge on it alone.

Writing of the Notebook

It was there at Temple Baptist Seminary in 1977 I began a regimen of daily Bible Reading, prayer, jogging and witnessing all before breakfast and classes began. I began to think about praying and a model for it. You see, while at Bob Jones University, I heard about Clyde Narimore's suggested method of Prayer ACTS, an acrostic: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Petition. One day it dawned upon me God gave a better manner in which to pray: 'the Lord's Prayer' as we commonly call it. I began to develop it those early mornings on 3x5 cards. It was not until later when I was called by God to help plant Truth Baptist Church in 1980 that it actually was set into type so it could be printed and given out to others.

Move to Connecticut

After graduation at Tennessee Temple, I moved to East Hartford on August 26, 1983, where I came to serve the Living God first, and second, to attend and assist, in any way I could, Truth Baptist Church. While at school in Chattanooga I had worked part time doing janitorial work, something I have always loved to do. In Connecticut I was able to get a floor maintenance job at a Windsor nursing home. After about two years, I tried some other types of work, only to find out that my real vocational ability was in cleaning. At the same time I got a job at what was then Combustion Engineering. God strongly encouraged me through friends to try starting my own cleaning business part time.

Start of Glory Cleaning Service

Though I heard that most businesses do not last more than 2 or 3 years, the Lord helped me to stay in business. By October, that year, I believed He would help me if I went full time. The day I did was marked by the October 1987 Stock Market crash. I realized that God is able to help in any circumstances if a man's heart is humble toward Him.

Marriage in the Works!

About February the next year, God had been preparing a missionary friend I had known since 1977 to consider me seriously for marriage. That year I had made the difficult decision to stay in Chattanooga even though I was really tired of school. In the middle of 2 summer school sessions, Evangelist Dr. Ron Comfort came to Chattanooga to preach for the TTU annual Mid-summer Revival. Having just come from the Philippines that year on his first evangelism abroad from the US, Dr. Comfort asked the student body if they had simply "volunteered" to become a missionary. Having fought God's will most of my time at BJU, I made another life changing decision on July 20, 1977: I became willing to become a missionary should God so enable me to do so. Within the next few weeks I began meeting many missionaries and praying for them in their difficult work. One of those missionaries I met in August that year in "Foreign Missions Fellowship" (an after supper on campus prayer meeting for students) was Christine Wise. Little did I know that 10 years later I would be married to her!

In order for anything like this to happen, I would need the help of employees. I took the steps necessary to begin legally employing people, though I felt very inexperienced.

The next few months actually did develop into a courtship. Miss Christine Wise, a fifteen year veteran missionary school teacher in the Bahamas, and Turks & Caicos Islands, was willing to come to Connecticut. She arrived June 30, 1988, shivering from the cool Canadian air that made New Englander's refreshed from the warm days of summer's heat that year. But inside she was very warm and beautiful to one who had hardly known her except through correspondence.

We were married on August 13, 1988 after 5 receptions-- 1) her mom's neighbors wanted to receive her, 2) a small church nearby also gave a reception, then 3) her sending church served a ready-made two and a half week's notice wedding and reception 30 minutes away from her home. Our fourth reception was in Colorado at my parent's church, and our fifth, of course was in south Windsor at Truth Baptist. Christine has truly an enviable heritage in the way she has lived her life, for she has 15 fabulous years of God-serving memories, and now everything she could have thought she missed by contentedly serving God not distracted by dating and courtship. She now has all: a husband, two children, a real home of her own, and an excellent church with opportunities to serve and pray for missionaries she's know all her life. Also see How I Was Married.

Business

I have expanded my business in a conservative way by adding Carpet Cleaning Services to all my office and residential Janitorial customers served since starting Glory Cleaning Service in 1987. We use our time to serve the Lord at Truth Baptist, home school our boys using the excellent academic program of Bob Jones University Press: Home Sat and BJLinc, and clean for our customers now (2006) for 19 years in Connecticut.

The Dash Between the Lines

I am truly humbled to think that God could so patiently love and prepare for me such rich blessings. My notebook has taught me that waiting on God in prayer makes me more willing to do His will and thus, makes Him willing to give His favor. In conclusion I refer you to the life testimony of Eric Liddell, a young man born in the early 1900's in Scotland who made an indelible mark in earth's historic pages. His full story is found written in the book, Pure Gold, by David McCasland, and available in a dvd format at www.dhp.org (Discovery House Publishers, Day of Discovery, Radio Bible Class) The challenge of his life to all of us is to make the greatest dash between our birth and death dates.

New Discipleship Lessons

We are currently discovering a vital and dynamically rewarding journey through a book entitled, Changed Into His Image by James Berg, published by Bob Jones University Press.

It is being used by our church for our newly reorganized "Adult Bible Fellowship" -- a new name given to what most would previously call Adult Sunday School Classes. I would thoroughly recommend it and all of Jim Berg's books available at www.changedintohisimage.com . Mr. Berg has included not only the links to purchase this study guide/book, but has also included mp3 audio files of messages he preached at Bob Jones University introducing the books he's written, and also PowerPoint (tm) Presentation files well prepared to be used also as other study helps. We encourage you to take this book seriously and make the investment of money to purchase it and then the investment of time to read it and then the courage of heart to heed it by personal choices to practice what is written in it. Also I recommend you purchase: Eric Liddell DVD $~16.00.