Celebrating Papa

During the weekend of January 19-20, my grandfather, Rev. Gene Horton (aka: Papa) and the Rio Hondo Baptist Church will be celebrating his 40th anniversary as pastor there. Our entire family will be together along with many friends from around the country, gathering to celebrate all that God has done in him and through him over the last 40 years. I have been sharing with a few friends recently what a huge milestone this is and how eager I am to be a part of this time with my grandfather. There is no way that we will ever be able to count this side of eternity the impact that his faithfulness in ministry at the Rio Hondo Baptist Church has had around the world.
Papa is the most faithful prayer warrior that I know, and I believe the secret to God's blessing over the longevity of his ministry and the secret to the well-being of our family has been the hours he spends calling our names out before the Lord. It's an incredible thing to know with all my heart that there has not been a single day of my life that Papa has not prayed for me, specifically, by name, with specific petitions. I am utterly convinced that much of who I am today and the ministry that God has allowed me to have is due in huge part to those prayers on my behalf.
So, I've been thinking a lot about how in the world I am going to do my part to express to Papa how thankful I am for his life and ministry and demonstrate (at least in part) the impact it's had on me. That's where you come in. Because so much of who I am comes from his influence in my life, if you've been touched or impacted in anyway by me, you're also part of his legacy.
What I want to do for Papa is collect from you any stories, quotes, thoughts about scripture or Christian living, etc., that you've have heard from me. I'd love it if you can think of things I've told you specifically about him over the time we've been friends, but even if it's just something memorable you've learned from me, it probably originated with him in some way, shape, or form.
I know the celebration is still a couple of months off, but I'd love to start assembling this special project very soon. So, please, take a minute or two even now to stop and send me your thoughts about this.
40 years ago, Papa was a 33 year old man, married with 3 kids. He had seen the Rio Grande Valley devastated by hurricane Beulah and felt compelled to move there and minister to the people there. I don't think he had any clue what God would do over the next 40 years, that his children and their spouses and their children and now, even his great-grandchildren would call Rio Hondo home. I don't think we'll ever know how many people have heard and responded to his simple presentations of the gospel week in and week out, from his pulpit and through his weekly television broadcasts. How I pray that we'd be so faithful.