Remembering A Father In The Law

Last Friday I was with my four-year old son on our first camping trip when I received the message that my dear friend and mentor Tyler Makepeace had gone to be with His Lord and Savior.  Being Father’s day weekend, I realized for the first time how Tyler had in many respects been a father in the law to me.  When I first met him at a Christian Legal Society Conference a number of years ago, he shared his vision for Courtside Ministries with me and how he believed, even as an attorney in Colorado Springs, that the people of Chicago would be enormously blessed by a ministry devoted to praying for those coming in and out of their courts—particularly the busiest criminal court in America at 26th and California where Al Capone often appeared and where on any given day you can sit in on one of 10-12 murder trials.  So he asked me to pray with him for God to bring Courtside to Chicago, and God did.  God did and is still doing abundantly more than Tyler, I, and others asked or imagined he would do here.  In just a year and a half’s time, Courtside Ministries has prayed for thousands of people, led hundreds of people to or back to the Lord and into local churches, and has expanded to four different courthouses in the Chicagoland area alone.  I am so glad Tyler was able to witness the fruition of the seeds he faithfully planted.  I still remember the child-like joy with which he shared the news that Courtside is now operating in California, Indiana, Illinois and Colorado and looking at opportunities at 23 other courthouses across the country and even in few other countries.   

I will miss him, his words of encouragement and wisdom, and his fighting spirit.  But I will remember him with each testimony we receive from the Courtside tables, like the man last week who said to our prayer volunteers as he was leaving the courthouse, "you saved a soul today."

 I am so glad Tyler now has a front row seat to watch the ripple effects of the good work he started.  Before he left us, he encouraged us to share his story with others, so please take a quick moment to hear him in his own words.

And if you would like to support his ministry or see it come to a courthouse near you, please feel free to contact me or visit our website at: http://courtsideministries.org/

And in honor of how Tyler led his life, and because the rest of us have a lot of wonderful work to do, I leave you with this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7UY8inmKHU

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Cor. 15:58