Death: Reality Check

Volume 2 - Issue 4
Death: Reality Check


On Sunday April 1, 2007, I (Mike) lost one of my best friends, Joe Murphy who was 34 years old. He was diagnosed with a rare cancer called “Leiomyosarcoma” (4 out of 1,000,000 people). Joe was a groomsman at our wedding just seven and a half months before his death. At the time of our wedding, he didn’t even know about the cancer.


Joe is the first person in my age group that I have been personally a part of his life at his death. This gave me a new perspective and urgency for ministry. I think too often in my life, I take for granted that there is always tomorrow.

According to “The World Factbook” put out by the CIA, just over 150,000 people die each day in this world. The world might say that Joe’s life was cut short. The reality is that God has a timeline for us all. We just don’t know how long or short that timeline is.

Joe grew up in the church and knew what it meant to be a Christian. But faced with his death, I began to wonder, how many of the other 150,000 that day
didn’t know what it meant to be a Christian? I wept over Joe’s death. But do I weep for those who don’t know Christ? I don’t think I have ever wept over those who have never received Christ as their Lord and Savior. We are all guaranteed that we will die and we each face this decision.

I have a passion to reach the lost of this world, and with Joe’s death, that passion has become more exposed and has evoked a greater urgency.

The question now becomes, “What do I do with this?” My desire is to be involved in people's lives and to see that they know Christ. When Leslie and I report to Keynote, we will get the opportunity to prepare our staff to do that. In our own personal lives, we desire to build relationships to be able to share through our lives and our words, what it means to be a Christian.


Meet our department teams
Mike and Leslie’s role will be to serve in the Keynote office once they have all their monthly funds raised. They will support the activities and administration of Keynote’s evangelistic artists who partner with strategic ministries to see that people are won to Christ, built up in their faith, and sent out to do the same.




Mike will serve in the Human Resource Department/team.










Leslie will serve in the Staff Development Department/team.







Prayer Requests:

• Pray that we would seize every opportunity to share Christ with people in our day-to-day lives.
• Pray that we would celebrate the small things in life along the way.
• Praise God that He has victory over sin and death through the resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ and He offers forgiveness for us as a result.