This is the 40th year that Baptist Press Senior Editor Art Toalston (www.arttoalston.com) has been a professional journalist. He has written thousands of articles. I have seen his byline – his name in print – many times.
In the media room of the 2016 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Mo, we sat near each other and became acquainted.
Together we made a bit of Art’s personal history.
This is the first radio interview Art Toalston ever recalls doing!
Art, a quiet man, has become “on fire” in his heart for his midlife discovery of personal Scripture memory and meditation!
In memorizing scripture – repeating the words many times — comes “built in “ meditation of the scripture being memorized.
We talk about it. He encourages others to join him in the excitement of it, regardless of ages … since he began at age 50.
From www.arttoalston.com we read his uplifting and impacting statement:
“I have been memorizing Scripture since around 2000, stirred to do so by a speaker at church. I started with the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23, and have since focused on several new passages a year, about 75 in all, ranging from one verse to multiple verses. When they have slipped from memory, I have re-memorized them, repeating the process numerous times. As various realizations came to mind during times of prayer, I wrote down as many as I could, yearning to share these gleanings with others. While new birth began an extraordinary transformation of my life when I trusted Christ in my early twenties, each Scripture now is making my relationship to God all the more wondrous and purposeful.”
And also on www.arttoalston.com … in a desire for Art to see others have the kind of joy that Scripture and Meditation that is his …
“Now there are two books on prayer and meditation by Art Toalston, senior editor of Baptist Press:
When I Meditate: Recovering a Key Facet of Prayer
and now – Meditation & Morality: Praying for a Better Way
* When I Meditate points to Scripture as a key source of prayer and meditation for optimum transformation of our lives by Jesus through God’s Holy Spirit.
* Meditation & Morality can be a gracious gift book for any friend, co-worker, neighbor or relative facing moral challenges, yet it also can be a source of reflection for any of us who struggle with spots of immorality in our lives…. ”
Both books – available at eBookIt.com (http://bit.ly/WhenIMeditate & http://bit.ly/Meditation-Morality) Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other online sites – can nurture a reader’s intimacy with Scripture and with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Both books also can introduce a yearning soul to Jesus.
Go to @arttoalston on Twitter for regular reflections on prayer, meditation, and Scripture (and other gleanings); toalston4prayer on Facebook; and arttoalston.com on the Internet. I’m happy to visit on the phone, 615-438-3332; email, arttoalston@gmail.com.”