This recent Crosstalk article is the last to be written by Ron Lucas, who is retiring from the role as Crosstalk correspondent on the advent of his 90th birthday.
We are very grateful to Ron, for his unswerving loyalty in providing the weekly Crosstalk article for the Market Drayton Advertiser, which we also feature on our Ashley Methodist Church home page. Ron has a true gift, being able to summarise our 10.30am Sunday service in such an approachable way. Each article provides notes on the hymns and readings and a succinct resume of the sermon preached. The website has archived every report and it provides a tremendous record of the worship carried out at Ashley, amplified beyond our four walls. We know that many in the Market Drayton community look forward to reading the printed Crosstalk column, and others check it out online too: it connects those who can’t make it to a church every week with our church family, and we are grateful to them for responding to this outreach .
The addition of Ron’s weekly Crosstalk column ensures Ashley’s website content remains fresh and relevant. This not only boosts our online “findability”, but also gives our online visitors a clear indication of what goes on at our church in an accessible and readable way. Several people who joined over recent years said they had checked out our website before coming along for the first time, and it is testament to Ron’s articles that they saw a true glimpse of our church worship life, and liked what they saw.
This picture of Ron was taken recently when he was awarded his 60 Years certificate of local preaching. It is this background of leading services for so many years that has given Ron the skill and insight to record our weekly worship, and he will be a difficult act to follow. Ron will have to get used to sitting through a service without a pen and notebook in hand! We are grateful to Gerry Maxwell for rising to the occasion and pledging to keep up the Crosstalk ministry.
Thank you Ron, from the whole church and from your Crosstalk readers out there too.
Guy Chatburn
Circuit Steward