Life Fest at First Baptist Church

Jon Randles , left, speaks at Life Fest. Ellen and Brian Bittick, above, attend Monday's luncheon. At right, Glenn Parmelee, music minister, performs.

The First Baptist Church of Kilgore is holding Life Fest 08 which started Sunday and will run through Wednesday.

Jon Randles is the guest speaker who is giving a series of talks on "How to get the most out of Life." The public is invited.

Randles will speaking today at the Life Fest worship service at 6:45 p.m., tomorrow at a luncheon at First Baptist Church from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and again at 6:45 p.m.

Eddie Hilburn is the pastor at First Baptist Church.

Jon Randles is the founder and president of the Jon Randles Evangelistic Association and Randles, Inc., in Frisco. Through JREA, Randles is involved in evangelism, church growth conferences and evaluations, discipleship, student ministry, and missionary endeavors world wide through speaking engagements, books, and CDs.

He provides non-religious motivational concepts of excellence and success to universities, public and private secondary schools, government agency personnel, and private sector business and industry through speaking engagements and conferences, as well as books and CDs.

Randles said the message he wants to get out is not to give up and to accept change. "One of my favorite speaking engagements is at local churches just like First Baptist," said Randles.

Besides traveling all over the U.S. speaking, he has traveled to other countries. "I speak about the spiritual, as well as character-building and even economic development," said Randles.

Randles is also a sought-after speaker for motivating collegiate athletic teams including the football programs at the universities of Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, and Tulsa. As a speaker for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), he also regularly addresses FCA student camps and events that include national leadership camps.

Randles has also been the keynote speaker for state-wide collegiate retreats in Texas and Oklahoma. Other FCA events include hundreds of high school assemblies and rallies nationwide. He has also served as Worship Speaker for Glorietta and Ridgecrest Camps.

Randles has been called upon to address conventions of government agency personnel and private sector industry personnel on changing trends in society. One of his video presentations is used in a number of Texas counties to train Department of Human Resources em- ployees.

Prior to forming JREA, Randles was the pastor of Indiana Avenue Baptist Church in Lubbock.

Randles is a graduate of Hardin-Simmons University

1980), where he earned his BA in history. He received his M.Div. degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1986). He is also working toward a Ph.D. in history at Texas Tech University.