Response

Ok,    I'll finally answer the questions. But not in too much detail I only have so much time. LOL Over time we have had e-mails sent on our ministries website, and now recently through my My space page. We have answered a few, but I guess it's time to go into a little more detail.

Most of the people on my myspace page know me from years ago, some I still see , and some I just talk to .First, I consider everyone to be my friend. Secondly, that's why I started the myspace page anyways, because I was looking for an old friend Desiree' who I had a dream about and couldn't find.

Well about 10 years ago Glenn and I got married.We grew up on opposite sides of the crick.  It was a small wedding, in the church and town, that I grew up in on Mount Rd. in Beechwood Park.We had a big reception in Lenni @ the Lenni Fire Hall.  Glenn was from Lenni and was raised Catholic, he attended St. Francis De Sales. Neither one of us was raised  with a strong Christian up bringing, Glenn had some formal Religious training, but was a not Christian. I knew about Jesus but did not understand much about him.At the time we married,  I was still mad at God for taking my Mom away from me. And was flirting with Atheism.

The first two years of marriage were rocky. I didn't understand how to be a wife, and he wasn't to sure about the husband thing either. Both of us coming from broken home's , our ideas on marriage were dis-jointed, to say the least. We almost were divorced by our first anniversary, and were separated for a while.

Not knowing the Lord personally, I cried out to him for us to get back together . Within 2 weeks Glenn and I were back together, I gave up a lot, but we working things out. Within a few months I was pregnant with Susie Lynn. I was excited to be having a baby , but, oh I have never ever been so sick in my life. I was so sick I had made over 3 trips to the hospital ,almost lost the baby 3 times, had a nurse come to the house, and a pump running into my leg , pumping medicine into me 24 hours a day to try to get me stop throwing up. I developed a hole in my stomach and could not eat . It was so bad, I would lick the salt off of pretzels just to have something in my stomach that I could keep in me. At that point in time I felt I was becoming a burden on everyone. Glenn was working all night , and trying to run the house, and take care of Anthony. I just could not even get out of bed. He put a microwave and fridge in the bedroom, so while he was at work Anthony could heat his supper up.

A friend Glenn worked with gave him a Bible a while back, and when Glenn was rearranging the room for the fridge he put it on the headboard of our bed. I picked  it up one night and was reading it. I came across a passage " For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son , that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16 . I pondered on this verse, threw up again, and read on. I remember thinking there must really be a God , and he really does Love me, why else would he send his son to die for me. I don't know anyone else that would do that for me. Anyways, I told God that I really did believe that he was real, and I was sorry for not always believing that he was real. I also told him I was tired of being sick. That  If he could  take me on to heaven. I would like that. I really couldn't live like this anymore.

Well, he must not have thought that was good idea, or I wouldn't be writing this. A day or two Dad came down and brought me to his house to stay for a while. While I was there I started to develop complications to the medicine they were pumping into my leg. I couldn't feel my legs, and they started to twitch uncontrollably. I called the Dr., this time I got a new doctor in the practice. She said that there might be a better medicine to try. She called it into the pharmacy in Aston. Someone picked up the medicine, and I took it. Later that night Lisa Bertrand showed up to visit. She said," I'm going to get dinner, I'll bring you back something. "I hadn't eaten in about a month. That night I ate ½ a sandwich which Lisa brought. I couldn't believe it. I kept it down. It was amazing. It was time to go back home then. I was a different person from that point on. The next Sunday I was out looking for some place to hear the word of God.

Things started to change,. No more did I want to do the things I used to do. Even the music I listened to made me cringe. There was a problem though, Glenn did not understand, and really didn't want to understand. I would go to church, he would go fishing. ( Nothing wrong with fishing). One day the preacher preached on how a wife could convert her husband just by the way she represented Christ. So I did not nag, or give him a hard time about his habits, hobbies, etc. etc.. I just studied my Bible and was trying to live the way I thought God wanted me too. It came time for me to have the baby, and something went wrong during my labor. Glenn and my Aunt Carol were in the room with me, and  the doctors ripped all the monitors off me , and rushed me into surgery. I was dying, and so was the baby. My heart rate dropped so low, they couldn't even put me under because they were afraid that I would not be able to handle it. As they were taking me from the delivery room to surgery I asked if Glenn could come, and they would not let him. The hallway was turning dark, then very light, then very dark. I started to fade in out. I screamed  out in the middle of the hall way "GOD< HELP ME, WE are not going to make it, I'm leaving , I'm leaving…" Within minutes they were cutting me open," WOW did that hurt." I told the doctor, " this really hurts", he said " you should feel some pressure ," But it really hurt bad . The epidural they had given me did not work. They immediately put a mask on my face, but I was still awake. I heard a baby cry and asked the doctor If it was mine, and he replied" yes, that's your baby." I praised the Lord. I couldn't believe she made it, and was glad I did too.

Glenn started to change after Susie was born. He started going to church,. He eventually believed and got saved. He fell in Love with Jesus, and his message of Salvation. That was about 6 years ago.

We were in West Virginia about 2 years ago. Glenn went up on the side of a mountain to pray. He got the call from the Lord to preach, and life has not been the same around here at the McKeown's since. LOL

So now you have the brief history, I'll answer your questions…

No, we do not belong to any denomination. We are JUST Christians, We actually call ourselves " BIBLE BELIEVERS",  instead of Christians most times. We are not a part any organized religion. We do not "go to church", the Bible say's , We are the church,  the spirit of God dwells within us.  

We believe the Gospel of Christ. We believe in being born-again. It's faith In Christ and not in a system, a program, or our deeds. It is JUST faith. The Bible say's that if we believe him, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins. No man can forgive our sins, just God, through faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation is a gift, therefore there is nothing that you can do to earn. No matter how good or bad ( for that matter) you are,  Christ's blood can be your attonment for sin.

For those, who say that we think we are better than everyone else, I have to say that you are wrong. I am still flesh , and still make plenty of mistakes…( Just ask my husband, I am sure he'll know of at least a few) lol

So, this is where we stand, I know there's some this will rub the wrong way, and I'm ok with that. We are used to it, we have been teased, mocked, dis-associated with, and shot at because we believe this. It only makes my faith stronger. This is who we are now. I like that verse that Paul says" I am persuaded that he able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." That day meaning "Judgment day" A day we will all have to face saved or not…

Because Glenn and I both, lived a life of sin, and mess for so long, we have a deep appreciation for those who are just like we were. That is a big part of Glenn's ministry. He's not your typical "preacher". And we are not your " Stuffy church going people." In fact we mostly run cross grain with most main stream Christians!

Anyway I hope that answers some of your questions, and If you have anymore feel free to ask…

Blessings, Margie