Celebrating A Life Fully Lived, The Life of Rick Murrill

This past week the Cherish family lost one of our founders, Rick Murrill. Rick battled cancer with the same tenacity that he lived life and unfortunately for us, He is now with our Lord.

Rick has invested an untold numbers of hours into the people and ministry of Cherish Uganda through praying, working, counseling, strategizing and planning. The numbers of people, generations really, whose lives are changed and different due to Rick’s leadership and influence is immeasurable. He never sought any glory or credit, but put in his all in order to allow Cherish to truly impact Uganda for the Kingdom of God.

The village of Cherish was first named Akaloosa village, meaning a sweet and pleasing fragrance. There was a Muafu tree on the land at Cherish that gave off a sweet and pleasing fragrance. This tree was tall, strong and could be seen from all over the peninsula. Through some unfortunate circumstances this tree died. Despite the fact that this tree is not present anymore, Cherish continues to bring the sweet and pleasing fragrance of Jesus to all who come in contact with us. Rick was an instrumental part of the dream and genesis of that fragrance.

As a symbol of the sweet and pleasing legacy that Rick has left, and the picture of spiritual strength that he was, we are planting a new Muafu tree in the exact location of the old one. It will stand as a testament to who Rick was as a man of God, a leader, a visionary and a friend. It too will put out a sweet and pleasing fragrance that is very similar to who Rick was as a person. This new tree will truly stand as a memorial to the life and impact of Rick Murrill.

-Brent Phillips

Rick Murrill and his legacy has and is still being celebrated all over the world, at Hunter Christian Church in Australia, at CGI churches in the UK, in the US at Newsong Church, and through tree planting in Uganda. The next celebration will take place at Skylark Church on April 30th in Chelmsford. We are honored that, even during this time, the Murrill family is living a life beyond themselves, and asked for donations to Cherish rather than flowers at his memorial services. Our prayers and thoughts are with Bev and the Murrill family during this time as they come together to celebrate a life fully lived.