Brother Wayne and Barbara McNeill were true disciples of God serving the Lord. They spent most of their lives ministering to those who needed the love of the Lord and to Christians who welcomed continuous nurturing through the Word. They believed it was their duty to share the love of Christ with everyone. As they always said about the church, “Where Everybody is Somebody, and Jesus Christ is Lord.”

Wayne proudly served during World War II in the Army of the United States. After returning from the War, Wayne married Barbara and they had three daughters. They enjoyed a very happy and busy life where he served the Lord as a Deacon of Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Houston, Texas and Barbara ministered through the Women’s and Girl’s Auxiliary programs.

After retirement, Wayne and Barbara moved to Centerville, Texas. Although their intention was to retire and relax, they soon realized that with their life’s goal of leading people to the Lord, they found themselves in the midst of new and different ministry possibilities. Wayne was called by the Lord to be ordained as a Baptist minister and was called to be the pastor of Redland Baptist Church in Centerville, Texas. Barbara shared the ministry as the loving motivator.

Soon after leaving Redland, a group of local Baptist church people were led to Wayne by God to ask him to work with them and the Lord to form a new church. Following God’s direction, the new church was formed as North Creek Baptist Church and he served as the first pastor of North Creek in Centerville, Texas. After a brief period where this group conducted church in their home, the group began plans to construct a church building. He and Barbara performed the work of the Lord ministering to the people at North Creek and they touched many lives. They exhibited compassion, selflessness and generosity every day of their lives.

During his pastorate at North Creek, Brother Wayne also served the Lord with a group of the church’s men in a prison ministry at The Walls prison unit in Huntsville, TX. After leaving North Creek, he became the full-time Volunteer Chaplain at The Walls Unit. He touched the lives of many prison inmates and helped them have peace through their difficult times by presenting the Word of God and helped lead many of them to the Lord. He received the Governor’s Award twice for Volunteer Chaplain recognition. Barbara shared the prison ministry during the Wednesday night Chapel of Hope meetings. The prisoners referred to her lovingly as “Mama” and “The Rose among the Thorns.”

We, the three daughters of Wayne and Barbara, feel called to share their love for the Word of God and, thus, we share these precious handwritten sermons. We hope you will enjoy these sermons and may find some material you can use in your own sermons.