We warmly welcome Chuck and Natalie to the Spring Meadows family. We hope you enjoy this letter Chuck has written for us to help us get to know him and his wonderful family a little bit better:
Welcome to the Spring Meadows website,
I want to take some time to introduce myself. My name is Chuck Morris and I am the new preaching minister for Spring Meadows. I grew up in the small town of Amory, Mississippi. I am the youngest son of two educators (a superintendent and a librarian). As a high school student, I was a very randomly involved student—from plays to playing football, from all-state band and state FBLA competitions, from musicals to managing the baseball team, from honor choir to Spanish Club. I had a love for all things and all people. I loved being involved and I also adopted my mother’s philosophy that “the more involved, the less likely to get into trouble.”
I went to Freed-Hardeman University in the fall of 1991 with plans of becoming a physician. During the summers, I worked in the surgery suite of the local hospital, umpired baseball games, and spent time with family. During my third summer of college, I was blessed to be a part of a medical mission campaign to Honduras. It was during this trip that my desire to be a physician gently was redirected toward a passion for the mission of the Great Physician. I returned to school and finished my Biology degree and added a Bible Missions degree as well. I later would complete a Masters in Ministry at FHU.
During my time at FHU, I met the wonderful Natalie Berry. We sat together in chemistry class. Our chemistry professor, Dr. Gene Hibbett said he always suspected there was more chemistry happening than just what he was teaching. We married in May of 1995.
We spent the first 11 years of ministry in Savannah, TN working with the great families of the Savannah Church of Christ (also known as the Walmart church – ask me). It was a wonderful season. In the summer of 2006, we began a work in youth ministry with a new church plant north of Jackson, TN at the Crosswinds Church of Christ. During this season, I also began working with Jackson Christian School as a Bible teacher, coach, and Director of Spiritual Life.
After 10 years, we left the youth ministry at Crosswinds to begin preaching for the West Dyersburg Church. We have been with the wonderful family there for the past five and a half years.
Since my first trip to Honduras almost 30 years ago, I’ve returned to the mission field over thirty times. Most of those trips have been focused on training young men in church leadership and preaching. I serve on the board of the Nicaragua Christian School and have taken groups to Nicaragua on many occasions. I am excited about the opportunities that we will have together to do the Lord’s work abroad as well as here locally.
Natalie and I have been blessed with three amazingly bright, talented, and loving daughters. God surprised us with the gift of twins. Katie and Claire are 23 years old now and are in Occupational Therapy school in Memphis. Our youngest, Mia, will be a freshman at Freed-Hardeman this fall. To the young parents who are wondering if you will survive, we are here for you. We’d love to help and be glad to talk.
Words cannot begin to describe how excited we are about this new season of ministry. We love the Church. Around the world, we have found the most amazing people in God’s family. We have experienced the deepest love and support from our brothers and sisters in Christ. We have seen the amazing grace of God transform lives in incredible ways. As we have seen His Faithfulness in the past, we believe that the best days of the Spring Meadows family are in our future. We pray that God will use this church as an instrument for reaching the lost and hurting of this generation. God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” Ephesians 3:20