M. F. McKnight (1923–2010)

After graduating from Cotton Center High School at the age of 16, he enrolled in Abilene Christian College where he earned a degree in Business Administration in 1943.

In the 1950s, while he was still farming, he began to be asked to preach in some of the small communities on the plains including Edmundson, Hale Center, and Plainview. In 1960 he got off the tractor and into the pulpit full-time at the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, TX. He has also held full-time ministry positions in Kaufman, Mexia, and Dublin, TX. During his years of church leadership, he has served as pulpit minister, education director, youth minister, deacon, and elder.

In 1970 he began an evangelical work teaching Personal Work Training Schools that took him to preach in all but two of the 50 states, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, Europe and Canada.

He made a filmstrip to illustrate "First Century Christianity Today" and hosted a "Journey to Eternity" series on local television. He has published three books: Vestibules of Heaven (a collection of sermons on the Christian home), Organized Personal Work (a training manual), and a brief history of his life. For over 50 years Mid personally supported the Lord's work in Malawi.