Ray & Margi Starr

Ray and Margi Starr share about how partnership in ministry has been such a great blessing to their lives, their marriage, their relationships, and the church.

Chapters

• 0:00-5:00 Chapter 1: Cultivating Deep Roots in Church Community
  The importance of staying committed to a church community and building deep relationships over time.
• 5:00-10:00 Chapter 2: Adapting to Life's Seasons in Ministry
  Embracing different seasons of life and finding new ways to serve in the church.
• 10:00-15:00 Chapter 3: The Power of Prayer and Intimate Gatherings
  The significance of prayer and small group gatherings in nurturing faith and community.
• 15:00-19:28 Chapter 4: Listening to God and Continuous Prayer
  The importance of listening in prayer and maintaining a constant prayerful attitude

Transcript

Well, hello, friends. Welcome to the ML Podcast.

We're so glad that you're joining us here today.

Hey, listen, the purpose of this podcast is to highlight how people discover, connect, grow, and share through the story of their journey with Jesus.

And so we hope that today's story will provide you some encouragement and inspiration to live a life. centered on Jesus

And so today here in the in the podcast booth we have with us Ray and Margi Starr. Everybody say "hellllooooo Starrs". 

It's good to have you guys with us today.

Um Margi I it's so hard to see you because that microphone is like and the stand is right in your face and everything else right

It's right here it sure is 

I'm sorry you know just the fun that we get to have. 

Ray you're because you're taller it makes you you a little more visible

See, I want to make eye contact with you, Margi.

It's kind of hard to do that.

Well, friends, we're so glad that you took the time to come on in town and give us some opportunity to hear your story.

I know that your story is a good one, and I know that you guys have been around Maiden Lane for a while.

So just for the sake of anybody who is listening today who might not know you very well, tell us a little bit about how you came to become involved here at Maiden Lane Church.

Well, I'll begin since I was here before Margi.

My family moved to Springfield when I was in the sixth grade.

Okay.

And I've been attending here ever since, involved in the youth.

I eventually raised my family here, involved in the work of the church, and it's been a good life for me.

Okay.

So growing up in Maiden Lane, I know Joe's here as well, your brother Joe.

That's right.

All right.

And so Margi, how did you get here?

Well, I grew up in northern Indiana, actually.

But I have a lot of roots here in Springfield.

And when I was, you know, in my 20s, I hit a really hard patch in my life and things changed dramatically for me.

So I ended up moving to Springfield during that time.

Okay.

And as it was to be I ended up living in the basement of where my mother was living with my kids and it was shortly after then that a lot of events unfolded and I got to meet Ray.

Okay. She got to meet you.

I got to meet.

We were actually set up on a blind date.

Oh, all right.

And it was Vicki Ratliff, who still continues to be a good friend of ours.

She was co-teaching with Ray in Sunday School.

Okay.

And she tried to get us both to meet.

And neither one of us were interested in going out on any kind of date but she kind of wore me down.

And finally, I agreed to.

And then just four months later, we were married.

Gotcha. Gotcha.

So we held out for the best.

And the rest is history, as they say, right?

That's right.

So as you guys have journeyed along here at Maiden Lane, I know that you've been involved in various things throughout the years, but what are some ways that you're involved in the life of Maiden Lane Church, right now?

Well, currently, I'm Margi's assistant.

I refer to myself as her roadie.

You are her roadie.

You set her up every week very well.

I set her up for her technology stuff, and prior to that, it was carrying Phoebe around for many years.

Okay.

My guitar.

Yeah, because she can tell you about Educare and all that, but and we've taught together over the years, different classes and so forth.

So we've done a lot of mostly a lot of what we've done has been together.

Gotcha.

It's just kind of the way it works out for us.

Yeah.

Some good partnering together in ministry.

Absolutely.

Yes.

 Right.

When I first came to Maiden Lane, it was probably within the first couple years, I became the director at Educare.

Okay.

So that allowed me the opportunity to get to know a lot of people really quickly.

Yeah.

And like Ray said, he'd been here for many years, but I was new.

I was a brand new Christian, even though I had grown up in the church.

Yeah.

I didn't know Christ as my Savior.

So this was a whole new experience for me.

And it wasn't too long after I came here, besides being director at Educare, that I became involved in the teaching ministry.

Okay.

It was just teaching runs through my veins.

Yeah.

And so I was doing electives, Wednesday night things.

Yeah.

And that's continued throughout all these years.

It just looks a lot different now.

I teach a Sunday School class. I've been there for about seven and a half years.

So it's been mostly teaching, but we've been involved in the Grow Groups, the Connect Groups.

We were in the choir for years together.

And most of the things we've done have been together, whether he was setting up technology for me with teaching or, like he said, dragging my guitar around from place to place throughout this huge building.

So we've done a lot of things together.

Living Christmas tree.

Living Christmas tree.

I do remember seeing your face on the picture in the volunteer office, Margi, that's for sure.

Well, a little sidebar.

When Margi and I first got married, she was known as Ray Starr's wife.

And it wasn't long that I became known as Margi Starr's husband.

The roles have switched.

That's good. That's good.

So as you guys have followed Jesus, I know that life lessons come and faith lessons come.

So what is a lesson that God's teaching you right now?

I think one of the many lessons He's teaching me right now is to just, there's that phrase, bloom where you're planted.

When I first came to Maiden Lane, I didn't have much foundation in the Christian life.

But over all these years of serving here, those roots have grown deep.

Yeah.

And, you know, throughout our time here, you know, there's ups and downs.

There's good times, there's not so good times.

But we have found that just by staying the course, it has reaped tremendous blessings for us and benefits.

Our roots are really deep here.

And, unlike a lot of people, our grandchildren, our children all live away from us.

They're in different states all over the United States.

And that's been unfortunate at times.

Yeah.

But we've just decided to make Maiden Lane our family.

And so that's helped us to remain anchored.

It's given us a tremendous wealth of friendships right here at Maiden Lane that are as much as family as our own flesh and blood.

Yeah. Yeah.

I remember, I think when I shortly came in after I came to the Maiden Lane, I asked, I think it was you Margi about David and Debbie Starr.

I worked with Debbie when we were at Anderson.

So it was kind of cool to have that connection and be like, Oh, I, I got to watch myself.

People know who I, who I am from other people, but I kind of think, but yeah, I mean, yeah.

You guys are really good about building relationships here.

I noticed that after you've gotten set up for for Margi, Ray, you're always out and about drinking coffee, shooting the cuff with people.

You're really having a good time because I know that those relationships are super important to you.

Yeah, it's kind of teaching me, I guess, even at this time in life that, you know, as we get older, there are things we can't do that we used to do.

Yeah.

But it doesn't mean we can do nothing.

That's right.

And we can stay engaged.

Margi and I were talking earlier.

There's one word I've not found in the Bible yet, and that's retirement.

So we can retire from jobs and so forth, but, you know, we're always engaged in the kingdom work.

You know, whether we're even aware of it or not.

Yeah, yeah.

And another thing is never say never.

When I retired, quote, unquote, from Educare over 20 years ago, I never dreamed that I would be back there in any kind of capacity.

And as it is now, I've been drawn back into that ministry and to try to help kind of refresh it, relaunch it a little bit.

And I thought my days of using my guitar, Phoebe, with the children were long gone.

And here it was just a couple weeks ago.

There I am again doing it and thoroughly enjoying it.

You know, things look different.

My teaching ministry is still probably one of the most important things that I do.

But now the shift is, how do we raise up more disciples?

How do we mentor?

And we have people in our lives right now that we're just investing in them.

That's good.

Because they're the next generation and one of these days, we won't be able to do what we're doing now.

Right.

But that's okay, because we've prepared the soil and the people for what's to come.

Yep.

And it's going to be awesome.

Yeah, yeah.

When I was growing up here in the church, you know, it didn't take long before I realized that there were a lot of the older folks who really cared about me and prayed for me and were with me during the difficult times.

And of course, they were a lot older than me and now I'm one of the old guys, and I hope that I can bring hope to others who are younger.

The cycle has come back where somebody older invested in you.

Now that you're the older, the seasoned, as I like to say, you get to pour that seasoning on the other lives and the younger lives behind you.

So how has your marriage—I know you guys have talked about serving together -how has your marriage impacted, how is your marriage impacted by the lessons you're learning and ministry that you are serving?

How is that blessing you as a couple?

I think it's brought us even closer together, even year by year at each stage in life.

You know, we didn't have much of an empty nester period in our life because we cared for aging parents and so forth.

And actually, we had a couple of nieces that came to town and spent a couple of years with us from California.

So each period in our life has been a lesson, but it's drawn us closer together.

And, you know, we're at that place where we finish each other's sentences.

Yeah.

I can't imagine not having my partner with me, you know.

Yeah.

And I feel for those now who are living without their life partner because it makes a difference.

Yeah.

When you serve together.

Yeah.

Another little sidebar - we were both at different times in the past few years diagnosed with cancer.

So like we said, we do everything together.

Now, it's includes oncology visits and they know they schedule us together.

We go in there and have a great time with our, with our Christian doctor.

And you know, it could be a very difficult, challenging time, and sometimes it is, but you know someone's there for you.

And more than that, there's a lot of family here that is for each one of us.

And we have both put down really deep roots, and the foundation is there.

So, no matter what happens. and, you know, there are tough times ahead for all of us.

We're going to be okay.

Yeah. Yeah.

It's interesting as you guys have been talking about your marriage and your relationship and serving, if people would understand the value of that connectedness together for a purpose.

Yes.

And let's take out even God's purposes or any other purpose.

When you do that together, there's value in how that benefits your marriage.

And then when it's something for the kingdom, God then, I think he ultra-blesses it for that.

So how do you see, I mean, I know that Ray, being on the Board of Elders and Margi in terms of your leadership roles, you both are in places where you see ministry going on in the life of Maiden Lane.

So in this season of ministry at Maiden Lane, how do you see us as a church impacting the community the most?

I think this is the most important time for the church because the culture is getting all these different messages.

And we have the true message.

Yes.

And I think the culture today is starving for truth.

They're starving for authenticity.

And sometimes they just want to be seen.

They just want to be heard.

Yeah.

And I think probably one of the most valuable things we do is we're part of a Wednesday night prayer chapel.

Yeah.

And it's just a small group of people, but it may seem rather insignificant, but I think that's one of the most significant things that we do here.

We are seeing tremendous things happen during that time together and through that time together.

We've also part of an early morning, Wednesday morning, prayer call.

Okay.

And again, it's just a handful of people, but we've been doing that five and a half years.

And that is just a really big part of our lives because we both have really great quiet times individually.

We're very consistent with that.

But coming together with a small group of people, it's just magnified.

Yeah.

And that to me is much more important than teaching some big lesson with PowerPoint.

It's those intimate times that you're cultivating that relationship with one another, with the Lord, with our friends.

Yeah.

I just can't put a price tag on that.

And the other thing that probably is overlooked a lot is we've gone back to inviting people into our homes.

That's good.

And just practicing that gift of hospitality, it's not done as much anymore.

And it's a rare thing when you get a dinner invitation.

But we're finding that conversations around that table can be pretty significant and life-changing.

Yeah, absolutely.

And we're really finding value in the Connect Groups and in the Grow Groups because we're each involved in all of those.

And to see younger couples come along and, you know, it's kind of neat.

A couple of us old guys have met, meeting up with a couple of young fellows on Friday mornings.

That's good.

And we're learning from them as well as the other way around.

Yeah.

It works both ways.

I appreciate how you guys, you've thematically have said this a couple of times where it's involvement.

Yes, we're older, but we know that there's value in involvement.

And so whether it's ministry, whether it's lives, whether it's you fill in the blank, that example is one that I hope as people listen to this, that they're challenged to rise up.

And particularly, you know, Margi, you were talking about the prayer groups that you're a part of. 

Prayer is foundational for movement.

I mean, I don't believe anything happens in lives of people without God's people praying about it first.

And so we need to be super intentional about that.

So, you know, what words of wisdom would you share to anybody listening today about that importance of being actively praying in the life of the church?

It's so important.

And I think prayer is difficult because sometimes you don't get immediate answers.

We live in an instant world and we get frustrated if they don't have our order ready within five minutes.

But prayer takes time. It takes commitment.

And God usually changes us first is what we've found.

But in this world of technology, I mean, we're so grateful that we can do a podcast and that we can do PowerPoint and that we have all this wonderful technology, but the world lives behind screens and we are all craving connection even more.

And we need that. That's how God created us.

Yes.

And I think in our personal prayer life, too, it's so important to remember that a lot of the value in prayer is listening.

And I don't know about the rest of you, but I have to work at that to shut my brain down, you know, get away from my list.

Yeah.

Listen.

Yeah.

And there's some such great value in just listening.

Yeah.

I think your point is so well heard. I'm hearing it, Ray.

I mean, the truth of the matter is we don't do enough listening.

And so we miss out on what God wants to say to us because we're so busy.

Here it is, God.

Here's what I need.

Here's what's going on.

Here's what I'm praying for.

Oh, hey, see you later.

I've gotten to the place in my prayer life where I'll talk to God, I'm like, God, I've got to go do this real quick.

I'll be back.

Can you just hang out for a minute?

I'll be back.

And, you know, Peter tells us to pray without ceasing.

And so if we can get into this mode of being prayerful all the time versus just, okay, I've got the 7:30 time blocked out for you, Jesus, here we go.

That makes a world of difference, world of difference.

Some years ago, I went away on a prayer retreat with a friend for several days.

And it was probably one of the most life transformational experiences that I'd had.

And someone, when I came back, someone said, well, did God speak to you?

And I said, no, but He listened.

And I tried to listen to Him.

And within weeks, so many things unfolded in our lives that I can only attribute to that time set aside intentionally for Him.

Yeah.

 Well, Ray and Margi, thank you so much for joining us on the ML Podcast today.

Friends, if you don't know who Ray and Margi Starr are, you need to meet them.

And so here's where they always sit.

They are always in the pew right behind the pastors.

If you're looking at the stage, the front row and the left.

So they're always right there in between the two sections.

If they're not on vacation, that's where they're sitting.

Unless now that I've said this, they're going to pull a whopper on me and go sit somewhere else just to kind of get a different perspective.

But, we're so glad for your wisdom, your counsel.

Thanks for sharing with us today.

Appreciate you so much.

We appreciate you too.

Hey, y'all, Maiden Lane, we are so glad that you can listen to this kind of story and be challenged by it.

And honestly, we hope that you are challenged.

And so the next episode we drop, be listening for that, for another story of how God's been at work in the lives of people here at Maiden Lane.

Until next time, see ya.