Hello, Graceland Family! We are honored to be able to speak to you today. My name is Bill Hinton, and I am humbled and blessed to be considered to be an Elder.

Carrie and I have been married for 43 years this August. We have 2 daughters, Megan and Allison. Megan is our oldest daughter and is married to Jeff Shaffer. Both of them serve on staff at First Baptist Church of Forsyth, Missouri. They have 2 daughters, Jackie, who is 10, and Ellie, who is 8. Allison is our youngest daughter who works at Christian Academy of Indiana as a three-year-old pre-school teacher.

I desire to be an Elder because of my love for Jesus and His people. I know that an Elder gives so much of his time to serve, lead, protect, teach, shepherd, pray, and model Jesus before others. I was striving to do this while I was a Deacon for 15 years and would love to continue to do this as an Elder.

In 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Paul writes out the qualifications of an Overseer, or Elder. I take these very seriously. Even though I am not perfect, I strive to live a blameless and pure life. To do this, I get my strength from Jesus Christ by reading His word and praying. It is very important for me to be self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, gentle, not quarrelsome, and not greedy.

I am thankful for my wife, Carrie, who has served by my side in my ministry. I love her with all of my heart. Together, by the grace of God, we have raised our daughters to believe, serve, and follow Jesus. They still do today, even in their careers.

We are thankful for Jesus taking our place on the cross. We owe Him everything. We are thankful for Him giving us our precious family and our wonderful church family here at Graceland.

We joined Graceland in March of 2000. Since then, I have grown tremendously in my faith. I have a greater burden for the lost than ever before. I give credit to our current pastors for how they have challenged me to mature in Christ. I am very thankful for our church, which leads people to Jesus and is making disciples who love, obey, and tell others about Jesus. Let’s continue together to put Jesus first in our lives for our neighbors.

Sincerely, Bill Hinton