Some of my first memories were my Mom reading to us before nap time each day. Most of the stories were Bible stories and God’s creation. Every Sunday was church day as we attended Gallman BC. This was one day we didn’t do many chores plus we got to go somewhere. Being raised back then there was always something to do. We worked in the fields, milked cows, had pigs to care for, just a lot of work and not much time for anything else. So I really enjoyed being able to go to church.
At church, there were many people that taught me in Sunday School, took time with me. I could name each one that invested in me at Gallman BC. In the fifth grade many of the Bible stories that Mom had read to us when I was little, Sunday School lessons that were taught, Bro. Wheeler’s sermons and life itself started to become real to me and were coming together. I felt this deep love for the Scripture, it seemed like I couldn’t read or learn enough about God’s word. As I look back now, I realize that the Holy Spirit was drawing me to the Lord. As Bro. Wheeler was preaching on a particular Sunday, I asked Jesus to come into my heart, I understood that I was a sinner and He is the answer. That was the day that Jesus Christ became my Lord and Savior! Joy entered my heart that day to change me forever!
But it was in Junior High School that I was pulled away from the church by wanting to be like my “friends”. I found other things to do instead of being in Church. We didn’t do so-called bad things but it was just enough to be pulled away from what I loved. High School and college were all about sports so that’s what I substituted for being in God’s word.
My life began to change when I met a pretty girl from Edwards. We married a year later and at that time Sally and I were given a wedding shower at New Zion. My commitment to my marriage was rock solid, but something was missing. Only when we got back into God’s Word, being with God’s people, and only then did I realize what was missing was the love of the Scripture, which then God’s Word came into our marriage. New Zion welcomed us with open arms, I asked God for forgiveness for the times I turned from Him. Sally gave her life to Christ in 1993 and we both begin serving Him which has been great for us, for others and for our marriage as well.
Like our marriage, our love for each other and our love for the Gospel became stronger and stronger, God has taught us to be content and humble with His blessings no matter what life throws at us. He has allowed us to raise three children and to travel to many places around the world, to teach and invest the Gospel in other children from different cultures and nations. I thank God for placing Sally and me together, for allowing us to serve Him, His people here at New Zion and the means to serve many others outside our church family plus that eternal joy and peace that He has freely given us!
Gallatians 6:9-10
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers”
We love y’all!! G3
Boo Selman
I was born here in Copiah County; one of four children raised in a small community called Gatesville. My dad was a farmer and we all like to work alongside him. Our little church was walking distance from our home and we were in church every time the doors were open. Some of the best times I had were at church. I enjoyed Sunday school, singing, and fellowship. But when the pastor starting preaching, I didn’t think he was talking to me, so I would always stack a couple of Hymnal books up, lay my head on them and fall asleep.
When I was ten years old, we had a visiting pastor come for a Revival. When he spoke about Jesus and what he did, to follow his father’s command and die on a cross for my sins. The dots started connecting in my mind. Finally, all the times my Sunday school teachers talk about God’s love and promises were coming alive in my heart. At the end of the week, I felt led by the Holy Spirit to talk to my parents about my salvation. I walked the church aisle and told the visiting pastor I wanted to be saved. I guess for me, at the age of 10, I had done everything I needed to do to serve God.
As my teen years came, I thought I could juggle my life between serving God and hanging out with my friends. Go and do what the world does and still come back to Sunday school and love Jesus. The Bible talks about how you can not serve two masters because you will love one and hate the other. At the age of 16, I met my best friend in High school, Marcia, who would one day be my future wife. For us dating and learning about each other was wonderful. Going with her to her church and bringing her to my home church was something we enjoyed doing.
In my second year of college, we had a surprise guest speaker come and speak at my home church. It was the same pastor that spoke at our revival when I walked the aisle at the age of ten. He had had a couple of heart attacks and could not speak as loud as he used to. But the love of Jesus was still in the words he spoke. As I sat there on the back-roll listening to him, tears fell making a puddle on the floor below me. Why? How did I get so far away from God? Not from my outward appearance, but the personal relationship I had with my Lord and Savior.
Jesus has always been there, wanting to be in every part of my life. I was treating him like something you can hold and use when you wanted to then later put him up on a shelf out of the way. I walked the aisle the second time in my life that day knowing that there was a lot more God had for me to do. One thing I did know, the Holy Spirit will always be with me whatever I do and go.
After me and Marcia married, we began our lives together. I felt I could bring any and all my problems to Christ and ask him and know he would make our problems right. Life is good. I couldn’t believe how anybody can do the struggles of work, pay bills and raise a family without the presence of Christ in their lives.
Then our second child Doug was born and his first night was spent in the NICU unit. The doctors said he will have problems growing up. For me, I took those problems to my Lord and savior and prayed just like I had done before. I was confident he would make things right for our son. I would soon find out through the tests done on Doug that he will not be normal. I had learned that sometimes God will, isn’t always the way we want it to be. I had to learn that God wanted me and Marcia to go on a different path and raise a “Special Needs Child”. This is when I have prayed and hurt the hardest. Looking back, I can see God’s hand was in every part of my everyday life. Sometimes life on this earth will not be what you would want. But the more we grow in Christ the more he will show us his ways.
I have learned that Christ wants a personal relationship with each of us. He will always take you as far as he wants you to go. And he will always provide for what you will need. And He will always have something for you to do. I never thought that one day I could go overseas and be a short time missionary. But in 2011 God placed me and Marcia in Malaysia to serve in a small village there. On one of those mornings I spoke and gave my testimony about Christ and what He means to me.
Carl Merchant
As a child, I wasn’t taken to church regularly, maybe bible school a couple of times. My parents started going to church and carrying us, kids when I was 10. We started attending Doty Springs BC in Attala County. A part-time church that had church on the 3rd and 5th Sunday of the month. We lived in Pearl, MS but was up there every weekend. In my early teens, I really felt the Holy Spirit working on me. Jesus was calling me to salvation, but I fought it very well and didn’t “walk the aisle.” Those week-long revivals were really hard for me not to answer the call. But I still resisted.
I and Donnia got married in 1969 and moved to Ethel, MS. We started going to church and finally “walked the aisle” when she joined the church, I got baptized, but just got wet. I still hadn’t given my heart to Jesus. Maybe 10 years later we had stopped going to church and the local pastor came by visiting and invited me to church. I really liked the church and the people. Those 10 years I was a good guy-good ole boy-good fellow and all that. But I was lost as the worst offender ever. When I was 30 I accepted Christ as my savior. I praise God for saving me, and I thank Him for New Zion Church. I have grown so much here. I thank all my fellow believers for showing us so much love.
Sincerely, Billy Tierce
Growing up I didn’t go to church a whole lot but went occasionally here or there with friends or when my uncle would ask me to go. When I was 12, I ended up going to a church camp with Springs of Praise one summer. I gave my life to Christ that summer and wanted to live for Him. After that, I still went to church on occasion but by the age of 18, I wasn’t going just weeks without going to church, I was now going years and I was definitely no longer living for Him in any way. At the age of 24, I married Lindsay and we started to visit New Zion from time to time. After Kayla was born we went more frequently, eventually joining the church. I became a prime example of somebody that was playing church during this time. I would be there every Sunday to get that “feel-good feeling” and the rest of the time I would live how I wanted to live, with no change in my life except on Sunday morning when I would put my “church mask” on.
Then on Memorial Day weekend of 2010, Lindsay had left deer camp to attend church, but I didn’t want to go so I stayed back with friends drinking and riding four-wheelers. It was later that afternoon that I got on the road to get back to the camp, going a faster route to beat the rain. I remember turning on the road that leads to the camp and the next thing I remember it’s almost a month later and I am in a hospital bed at Methodist Rehab with a brain injury and a broken jaw. Lindsay told me that I had a wreck and hit a deer, but because of the brain injury, I really couldn’t process what had happened or how bad it really was. I remember trying to get out of bed to go to the bathroom one day and ended up falling on the floor, realizing I couldn’t walk on my own. After about 2 weeks of therapy, they got me back walking again so I could go home and continue physical therapy near the house. After months at home, I slowly began to process stuff a little better. Later on, as I started thinking more clearly I remember Lindsay asking me if I had died that night if I thought I would have gone to heaven or hell. After hearing everybody’s stories of what happened that night and Lindsay telling me how I coded several times on the way to the hospital, it became clear to me how close I really came to dying.
In my mind as long as I said I believed in Jesus I thought I was good and I could get more serious about it when I got older. Looking back now there is no doubt I would have gone to hell that night. I wasn’t living for God but instead living for myself. God used that night and my recovery period to realign my heart and priorities with His. At the time, going through all of this with Lindsay being pregnant and not knowing my future as far as being able to work and how long the healing process would take, it was definitely the hardest time in my life. God showed me through how He can use times like this for His glory. Looking back now, it seemed to be the worst thing that I could ever go thru, but now I see it was the best thing that ever happened to me. It brought me closer to God, closer to my wife, made me a better father, and changed my life. The Lord really humbled me through this and opened my eyes in so many ways.
I thank God often for letting me live that night and allowing me to not only see Peyton be born but to still be in both of my daughter’s lives. I could have died that night, been brain dead, or even disabled, but I thank God all the time for His mercy on me that night. Sometimes God has to use circumstances and situations to open our eyes and wake us up, and that’s just what He did that night. I am so thankful God gave me another chance to not only live physically but also to live for Him.
Joey Woodrow
I grew up as an only child in a loving Christian home. As far back as I can remember, we were always involved with activities at church. My father was a deacon, and my mother was an active participant with the ladies’ ministries. We never missed an opportunity to be a part of the Church, whether it was a revival, visitation, regular services or missions. It was understood that if the Church was gathering, we were to be there. No questions asked.
I grew up as an only child in a loving Christian home. As far back as I can remember, we were always involved with activities at church. My father was a deacon, and my mother was an active participant with the ladies’ ministries. We never missed an opportunity to be a part of the Church, whether it was a revival, visitation, regular services or missions. It was understood that if the Church was gathering, we were to be there. No questions asked.
At one of those events, when I was 9, I remember hearing the pastor talk about sin, my sin, and my need for salvation, so I, along with my parents, went and visited with him after the service. He walked me through the gospel, and I prayed to receive Christ as my savior. I didn’t fully understand salvation, but I knew it was something I needed.
A couple of years later when I was 11, a good friend of mine got sick and ended up having to go to the hospital. He went through numerous tests and doctors diagnosed him with cancer. About 7 months later, just days before his 12th birthday, he passed away and it really hit me hard. How was it possible that someone that young could die? I was confused and struggled for several months with depression.
A few months later, I remember as clear as if it was yesterday, I had recently moved up to the youth group and was sitting alone in the youth room waiting for Sunday School to start. I felt an oppressive weight on me and I almost couldn’t breathe. The fear of death hit me full in the face. That is when I got real with God and asked Him to save me. Immediately a peace fell over me, unlike anything I had ever felt before. I knew at that moment that salvation was real and that I had it.
I have had many ups and downs since then. I have been a warrior for Christ at times and I have brought shame to Him at other times. Through it all, He has been faithful, even when I wasn’t. Praise be to Him that His grace is sufficient to cover all of my weaknesses (2 Cor. 12:9).
Tony Leach
When I was young maybe around 12-13 years old, I made my profession of faith not knowing what that even looked like or felt like other than what my parents had taught me and what I had learned through the church. I felt a tug at my heart, and I responded to that by giving my life to Christ. I have always grown up in church, and I am very thankful for that. It instilled the roots of my faith in me at a young age so that when I did stumble in my teenage and young adult life, I always knew something was wrong about what I was doing or had done. But during those adolescent years and young adult life, I decided that I would start living for myself because it was more fun and less convicting for me when I did something wrong. I was comfortable! And that’s right where the enemy wanted me. I had it in my mind that my sin wasn’t as bad as someone else’s sin because I didn’t do it as bad as they did. And I also went to church on occasion to justify it in my mind. As years went by of doing the same routine; which was playing church and doing what I wanted, I started feeling convicted about what I was doing. But I continued in my sin. It wasn’t till I met my now wife Hannah that I realized the sin I was in and how important it was to keep her that I stopped bathing in my sin and start bathing in Christ’s love and mercy which is what he was showing me all this time! He loved me enough as bad of shape I was in to meet this Beautiful God-fearing girl of my dreams! I give God all the glory and praise for sending her to me. He knew what I needed at the exact moment in my life when I was questioning the sin I was in. Since the day we met, I knew to keep this girl that God has sent to me; I needed to straighten up. It did not happen overnight, and she realized that and has had plenty of patience with me. Then after we were married, I was still dealing with an issue in my/our life. A SIN! It was a sin that no one knew about and that I could hide very well. Then she confronted me one night about that sin. I knew at that moment, God was going to fix something in our relationship that I had been longing for and that I was never going to find satisfaction through this sin. I confessed my sin to her and God. God has given us a new flame in our relationship that has not burnt out; that feels so much better, and that is keeping Christ first in our marriage. He is what we need to succeed in our marriage and our lives, and he is still on his throne. I give God all the Glory, honor, and praise for what he has done and is doing in my life. God is still at work!
Sam Drew
I have lived my whole life in Crystal Springs. My parents didn’t go to church. The only time I would go was if they took me and dropped me off, if I stayed with my grandmother on Saturday nights or if my uncle and aunt would take me. We moved to where my parents currently live when I was 9 years old. I quickly learned the ways of the neighborhood kids – stealing cigarettes, cussing and trying to drink alcohol every chance we got. Around the age of 12, I went to a Hell’s Flames – Heavens Gates type of event at Highland BC. There I made a profession of faith out of fear of going to hell instead of doing it for a love for Christ. Not too long after that, the fear of hell was weakening, and I wanted to be with my friends who were partying and doing other things that looked like fun. By the age of 15, I was well on my way to becoming a full-blown alcoholic. Everything I did involved alcohol. When I was 16 one of my friends was killed in an alcohol-involved accident. This should have opened my eyes, but I tried covering up the pain by drinking more. I constantly felt regret for the life I was living and would pray and ask for forgiveness but the next day I would do it all over again. I knew and felt that there was more to life than this, but I had no idea how to live any other way.
At the age of 21, I met my wife, Tiffany where I was working. She started working there, trying to make ends meet for her and her daughter. She immediately caught my eye and not long after that, we started dating. About two years later we bought a house and moved in together. We lived together for about four years before we were married. These were tough years for us. Neither of us was living for the Lord. We were both living for things of the world and continually trying to gain more and more. It took me almost losing Tiffany and Alyssa for me to realize how much I loved them both and that I needed to get my life straightened out.
A year after we were married, we had Brayden. Life was going right for us, but there was still something missing in our lives. We would go to church some with Tiffany’s mom, but there wasn’t any real growth there for me. Alyssa was of youth age at the time, and she was going to NZ with some of her friends. At first, we would drop her off and leave. After a while, we started visiting. During this time, I saw the happiness, joy, spiritual knowledge, confidence, and contentment of worldly objects within the spiritually mature men of the church and knew this was missing in my life. During our time at NZ, these men of God invested in me and took me in to help me grow in the Lord. I realized that the fear of hell is not why I should make a profession of faith, but genuine love and relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For a couple of years, I felt like I needed to rededicate my life to Christ, and that happened at a men’s conference in Georgia. There have been struggles since then, but for the most part, I haven’t looked back. I am trying to live my life as a Christian example for my wife and children. Some of the men at NZ know the model and influence they have been for me. Others may not, but I thank every man of God at NZ for praying for me, investing in me and living their life as an example for me to see the way a true Christian should live.
Duane Johnson
My earliest memories of going to church are of Pilgrims Rest Baptist Church with my family. Bro. Pat Bufkin was the Pastor at that time. Even though I was young, I still remember listening to Bro. Pat preach. I could tell that he loved the Lord and how much people respected him. At that time, Bro. Webb and Mrs. Louise was also going to Pilgrims Rest. I remember playing with their son Justin on Sundays. Back then, we didn’t attend church every time the doors were open, but seeds were planted.
My friends and I grew up riding the creek, fishing, and building death traps to pull behind the four-wheelers that often got us hurt. Most of the time, our last thought was going to church. We had a few bad influences around us, and we made a wrong decision on more than a few occasions. From sneaking a beer out of a cooler to see what it tasted like, to coming across old dirty magazines. Many seeds were planted in my life…
My family moved out to the New Zion community before I was old enough to be in the youth group. Things started to change after we started attending New Zion. I began to hang out with friends that I had not gone to school with. These friends knew all the bible stories better than me and knew where all the books in the bible were. I felt like I would never be like them. I started to enjoy going to church the more and more I went. I remember when it was time to move up to the youth, I knew that I would be in there with kids a lot older, It was intimidating at first. I remember my dad telling me how much fun it would be and encouraging me to go. Dale Young was the youth pastor at this time, and he just welcomed me in and made me feel like I belonged there.
One night we all loaded up in the church van and went to a Heaven’s Gates Hell’s Flames event. I had never been to anything like that before. After it was over, there was a card to fill out, asking if you wanted to accept Jesus. I wanted to accept Jesus, but I felt like I was being influenced by the fact that a lot of my friends had already made that decision. I did not understand yet what it meant to have a relationship with Jesus. I had always thought it was a one and done choice, so I felt that I was good to go at that point. I had friends that were supporting me, and I went to church and youth events, camps, and concerts, but I still had not made the connection with a real relationship with Jesus. That all changed on one of our last youth trips before graduating, on a trip to Eagle Rock in Tennessee. Everything about the trip seemed different. I could feel God moving in my quiet times that week. I knew that I had neglected that closeness and devotion to Christ, as He had devoted to me. I rededicated my life to Jesus that week with a new understanding and relationship with Him. It felt so great to be so close to God during this time.
I finished high school and started college, but I did not keep up my side of the relationship with the Lord. I allowed myself to begin to slip away from being close to God. I was not holding up my end of the relationship and not only did my walk with Christ suffer but so did my other relationships. The bad seeds of my past that I thought would not hurt me, or anyone else started to grow. The way I treated the person I was dating was a result of the sin that I experienced way back before I truly knew Jesus. I did not know how to treat this person with the respect they deserved, and we broke up. I was devastated by this, and instead of running toward Jesus, I ran from Him and my actions. I went through a string of bad breakups and felt like I didn’t deserve Christ’s love at this point in my life. One of those bad breakups was with my now amazing wife. She truly shows me grace every day. I don’t deserve the love she shows me.
After leaving college, I got a job with Kuhlman Electric traveling all over the United States. I worked somewhere different every day of the week. I had new friends with this new job that liked to party and hang out all the time. On the weekends I was home, those friends were more important than making it to church. I would sleep in on Sundays and do what I wanted. This went on for so long that when I did go to church, new members did not know me. (But while I was running God had a plan.) New Zion had changed. Bro. Webb became the pastor and just having that connection from Pilgrims Rest had me attend more Sundays than before. Jess and Dru came in to lead the youth, and the atmosphere was changing. Even though I felt God tugging at my heart, I felt so unworthy of His love and forgiveness. However, His plans are bigger than any wall I could try and build. Elizabeth and I reconnected and started dating again. While I was still traveling most of the year, she began to attend New Zion. She grew up in Forest with Jess, so there was another connection. God’s plan had never changed. The pieces of that plan were coming together. She fell in love with New Zion and knew she wanted to be a part of the church family. She urged me to go every time I was home. The tugging on my heart grew stronger. Jess started doing men’s activities, and he started getting me out of my comfort zone. I learned so much through his ministry at New Zion. He often challenged me to get in the word and share in a small group, both of which I never thought I could do. When I asked Elizabeth to marry me, Bro. Webb was there to guide us through those steps of our lives. He knew how important it was for us to have a Christ-centered marriage from the start.
God had me where he wanted me at this point. The urge I had to run from God was no longer there. I wanted that relationship with Jesus back that I had before I started running. I wanted to feel that closeness to Him like before. Jesus had never left me, but I left Him. Had it not been for His plan and putting people in my life to invest in me and show me what I was missing out on I would not be where I am in my walk with the Lord now. This change took time; it was not overnight. Through many different people and different opportunities, my walk with the Lord has grown since fixing my relationship with Him. The investment that so many in the church have given in my walk strengthens that relationship every day. The DTR and small groups have made a difference in how I feel about sharing in what God is doing not only in my life but in others lives as well. He is still working on me day in and day out. It is not easy for me; I must work at staying out of God’s way so that He can get the glory. If you have a hang-up about something or are not willing to trust His plan, God has a way of getting you over that. I thought I would never go on mission trips, but He has sent me to Haiti twice. I always thought there was no way I would lead a class or give my testimony, but God has helped me to do both. God will put you in situations to show you that you need to trust in Him.
Andy Jackson
I grew up in a home where verbal, physical, and substance abuse was prevalent. At the age of 14, I started to rebel against my parents. I became pregnant at the age of 15. The months leading up to and after the birth of my daughter were dark months for me. I was lonely. Confused. Hopeless. I felt worthless. Dirty. Rejected. I could go on…After other failed relationships when Alyssa was two years old, I met my husband, Duane. After dating for two years, we moved in together. We lived together for four years before we became married. And a year later we had our son, Brayden. This was a tough time for Duane and me. We fought and argued all the time. Our life was centered around friends and drinking which lead to other things that were not good in our relationship.
When Alyssa became youth age, some of her friends invited her to NZBC. Their parents would pick her up for church and every now and then I would drop her off. After doing that for some time I realized I needed to be with my daughter, so our family started going to NZBC. (I believe God started working in my heart during this time, but I didn’t know that then.) That following summer I attended a youth camp with Alyssa after trying to find every excuse not to go. The verse for that week was:
Revelation 3:3 – Remember therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
Having not grown up in church and had VERY little exposure to the Bible, I didn’t understand what that verse meant, but I knew something was missing in my life. A friend of mine prayed with me before we left for home. A few weeks later, I gave my life to Christ. At 3o years old my eyes were opened to what Christ had done for me. God loved me when I didn’t even know Him. He loved me in my sin then and He loves me in my sin today. He has changed my heart and I am trying to live my life by His standard – the Bible. This is not easy, and I am not perfect in this, but I am trying. I truly believe that being a part of a church family is what has helped me in my relationship with the Lord. The church holds me accountable. It has helped me grow in and is helping me to understand His Word better. This is something that I never got outside of the church. I see the importance of being the church.
Looking back, I understand now why God gave me a child in my sin at such a young age. God uses people and our circumstances to bring us to Him. For us to know Him and to depend on Him and He did just that with Alyssa.
Forever His.
Tiffany Johnson
Like so many people who think that they are the real deal Christian, I accepted Christ at a young age (10) and felt that I was fine from then on. I went to church with my family regularly, and when I was older, I even started teaching Sunday School and holding church offices. I did this all because it was expected of me by my family and friends. I did not realize how cold my walk with Jesus was. I was not on fire for the Lord at all. I even looked for excuses to get out of church projects. Astonishingly, it took a prisoner to bring me to my knees. I was working for the Sheriff’s department and was the Jail Administrator. One morning I was going over the arrest reports from the previous day, and one woman’s story caught my eye. She was a repeat offender who landed in jail regularly. I pulled her records from Copiah and surrounding counties and counted her arrests. She was 40 years of age and arrested 44 times. I was disturbed, but let it go and went about my work, but the Holy Spirit had other plans for me.
The rest of the day, I couldn’t get this woman off my mind. The next day, I had her brought to my office. She was usually a very respectful person after she detoxed from whatever she was on, drugs or alcohol. She would even beg for work to do to help pass the time. I asked her if she had ever thought about getting help for her problems. She said yes, but didn’t know what to do. I asked her if she would let me help her. Tears came to her eyes, and she said that no one had ever cared enough before to ask her that. Well, that did it for me. Right there in the Sheriff’s department, I grabbed her hand and hit my knees. I asked the Lord to forgive me for turning a blind eye to all the need around me.
Long story short, I got her charges dropped and got a commitment hearing for her. She went into the necessary treatment and even asked for an aftercare program. A counselor called me and said that “Sarah” had put me down as her next of kin. That touched my heart also. She did well, and we kept in touch for a long time. She even got her children back. She died about five years later from problems caused by her past, but not before getting her kids back and accepting the Lord. God can use anything to achieve His ends, and He taught me a valuable lesson – Faith without works is cold and unfruitful.
I never want to go back to my previous walk. Our Lord deserves the fire.
Shirley Givens
I grew up going to church with one parent, my mom. When my grandmother passed away that quickly went to no parents. I was “that kid” that was being dropped off every time the doors were open. Coming from a household where prayer was nonexistent made me want more. But more of what?? I found out what that was during one summer at VBS. At age 11 I was saved. I really didn’t understand what that meant until I became way older. While I was in high school, I got up one Sunday morning to go to church and was asked: “what I did so bad on a Saturday night that I needed to go to church?” Needless to say, Satan was having a field day in our home. I finally just quit going to church altogether.
I had one person during high school keeping me on the right path. “Miss” Nena treated me like I was her daughter and kept me doing what I loved, dancing and being around little children. My freshman year at Colin I met my husband, Kent. We started attending his family church. We were married in 2007. A few years later, in 2010, we had a little boy Kyle. We both wanted him to grow up in a church, and we both knew we needed that structure in our marriage. In 2011 our marriage hit rock bottom. Divorce was mentioned a lot from me. But something kept telling me to stay, it was worth fighting for. The morning after our “rock bottom” I took my husband to church. Our pastor joined us and convinced us we could work it out if we gave it to God. We both needed the Lord and boy was He at work! My heart wasn’t totally devoted to my husband as a wife before this point. I put my son, work, washing clothes etc. in front of him. After I decided in my heart, it was until death do us part that’s really when things got better. A couple of our friends Lindsay Woodrow and Elizabeth Jackson kept inviting us to New Zion Baptist Church. We finally decided as a couple it was time for us to find a church we needed to be in and Kyle was going to be raised in a Christian household. After only a couple of Sunday school lessons and sermons, we both knew New Zion was where we were meant to be! The songs took me back to my youth days and I knew I was home where I belonged. That rock bottom was the light I needed to change my ways and admit I had a lot of faults. I’m not perfect by any means, but tomorrow I can always do better. Our marriage is a work in progress and so am I. The Lord can bring you out of the dark in many different ways. The 2×4 I was hit with wasn’t fun but I’m thankful for God restoring my marriage to its fullest. God gets ALL the GLORY.
Lacey Johnson
“At the age of 12, I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. Growing up as a child I did not attend church regularly, maybe 2 or 3 times a year and my parents did not raise me in the Word. The only people that I had in my life that would continually point me back to God were my grandmother and grandfather. I remember on that day at the age of 12, hearing the gospel for the first time and it being presented in such a way that I knew at that moment I needed Him. My heart was beating out of my chest as I didn’t say a word to my mom or dad and simply walked up to the front to the preacher. At that moment I was broken because I knew I was a sinner and I needed the Savior. After experiencing that moment of salvation and then professing my faith in Him through baptism, I ended up drifting away from the faith. See as I mentioned I was not raised in a family that put God first, I owned a Bible but I never opened it, and my parents did not consistently take us to church.
For the next 15 years of my life, I slowly began to drift away from God. I started to live life the way I wanted to, living for myself, living for the things of this world and eventually seeking to numb the pain I was feeling in my heart with things that I felt would honestly satisfy me or make me feel loved and accepted. Every choice I made left me empty, longing for something to feel the void that I had in my heart and life. I would experience conviction from the Holy Spirit when I would sin, but eventually, I was living a life of compromise to the point I no longer sensed any conviction for what I was doing. During this time, the Lord was constantly pursuing me and trying to draw me back to Himself. I remember in college being invited to attend a worship service, so a few of my friends and I went. At that moment we were all so heavily convicted over the choices we were making that we wept the entire service. We were broken, I was broken, yet I continued to pursue the life I wanted to live. Again God would use events or circumstances to reveal Himself and reveal His love for me. I honestly believe God brings us through periods like this to really open our eyes and show us that He is the only One who can truly satisfy us…
After 15 years, the Lord finally brought me to my knees, and at that moment I realized that what I was missing this entire time was a real relationship with Him. I had asked Him to come into my heart, but I never really allowed Him to dwell there and I never allowed Him to be Lord over my life. During this time, I began to discover that what I lacked in my life and the reason my life felt like it had no purpose and meaning was that I had not surrendered my life to Him. As I begin to seek hard after the Lord, He began to reveal through the truth of His Word what it means to abide in Him, what it means to allow Him to prune me (cleanse me and remove that sin that was weighing me down), and what it means to let go and allow God to have His way in my heart and life.
See God desires a relationship with us, and it’s in that relationship with Him that we experience true satisfaction, the purpose God intended for our lives from the beginning, and it’s there we begin to see God do His greatest work, transforming and changing our hearts to become more in line with His. God’s desire is for us to bring Him honor and glory with our lives and the byproduct of that is the fruit He is allowed to produce in us. I discovered that God isn’t going to force us to have a relationship with Him nor force us to bring Him glory, but what God desires is to show us through His loving pursuit of us that He is the only One who can truly satisfy the longings of our heart and that He can do miraculous things when we simply let go and let Him be Lord over our lives. See it wasn’t until this moment, 15 years after I accepted Him that I finally discovered that I was created with a longing for Him, a longing that can only be satisfied through a real relationship with Him. He also showed me that despite my past, despite my mistakes, He wanted to use me to make His Name known and it’s not by anything I do or will ever do, but simply by what He can do and has done in my heart and life. He also showed me that to abide in Him I had to commit to spending time with Him, spend time in His Word and spend time talking to Him in prayer. I can honestly say I no longer desire to live for the things of this world, but instead, the desire to live for Him and live to make His Name known. Since I began to allow Him to have His way in my heart and life, He’s literally changed my heart to desire what He desires, to love the way He loves, and my greatest desire is for the Lord to be glorified through what He is doing and will continue to do in my heart and life.
Lindsay Woodrow
“I had a great childhood, two wonderful parents and two older brothers that I wanted to emulate (most of the time). My family loves the outdoors and sports, and I became a very competitive kid. I wanted to be the best at whatever I attempted to do. This mindset led to frustration and, anger issues, bullying of other people, all to make myself seem superior. My life took a drastic turn for the better when I became a Christian at the age of 14. God began to teach me, and He began to reshape my life to be passionate about Him and the things he cares about. I think for the first time I began to care about other people instead of just caring for myself. God was crucifying my attempts to be the best at everything, and all the baggage that came with that, and He was raising up determination and passion for his kingdom within my heart. I began to understand what it means to walk by the spirit of God and over the course of a few years I could tell that God was changing me. I began learning more about God’s Word, and I felt that God was calling me to something more. During summer youth camp I surrendered to God and simply told Him whatever doors he opened that I would walk through them. Not long after that commitment to God a sweet lady who was faithful to pray for me, asked me if I would lead a bible study for young kids at an apartment complex one day after school. I really didn’t desire to do it, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her no. She gave me the Bible story of Shadrach, Meshach, and
All Glory to God!
Bro. Jess
“To give God glory” (G3)…that is my purpose for living. At least it should be. I, by no means, have always done that. Neither did Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Noah, David….. and that is very comforting to me to know that our patriarchs messed up and He loved them anyway in spite of their sin nature. And He used them in His redemptive plan to ultimately restore me through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I don’t deserve that kind of love but ‘I desire it’! And because of His grace and mercy, I am loved by my Heavenly Father and have been adopted as a son!
After making a profession of faith and being baptized in 1968, I was surrounded over the years by men and women of faith at home, New Zion, mentors in professional school, godly men and women from FBC Jackson and of course by Laurie who is my best friend, faithful warrior, and lover that shares that same goal…to give You glory. I have learned that making a profession of faith was only the beginning of my journey of faith. My journey provided many choices along the way and those choices have grown my faith. I have learned that God keeps His promises. My faith today is much stronger and battle-tested than it was 10, 25, even 50 years ago. I have learned that having “purpose and meaning” provided by the Holy Spirit brings more satisfaction and contentment than anything in this world ever could. It lasts forever!
I have learned that to know God’s will for me I must want to know His will for my life, pray and seek His truth with all of me, be willing to obey and follow where He leads, and be alert to see where He is working then join Him in His work in His timing. And now I get to bask in His goodness of watching that same faith grow and mature in our children and eventually our grandchildren.
My journey continues……
Albert Singletary
I grew up in church and I am grateful for the investment of the Gospel in my life at an early age by those faithful saints. I recall as a child making a commitment to the Lord for salvation. It was a heartfelt faith but it was faith with little to no understanding of what it meant to be a follower of Christ. As a teenager, I went my own way and faith had little impact on my choices. I had seen a lot of hypocrisy in my life. Church on Sunday and partying the rest of the week and I didn’t want anything to do with that. My life was centered around me. I loved my family but partying and selfish activity shaped my life and actions.
Years later when working offshore a man named Wayne Verret began witnessing to me. I told him I knew all about Jesus and that I had grown up in church. He didn’t give up on me and he continued to share the love of Christ with me. He never talked much about church but rather the amazing Love that God has for each of us. I struggled with this truth. I knew my heart and my actions and I didn’t understand how God could ever love me. One night in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico (January 1987) I fully surrendered my heart, my life to Jesus. I recall telling Him that I was nothing but all that I was I would freely give to Him if He would have me. I remember calling my wife the next morning and telling her what had happened in my life. I remember going home and telling the church. My life has not been the same since that moment so many years ago.
Some have asked me if I was saved when I was a child or if that moment was when I was saved. It might surprise you to hear me say I am not sure. My decision as a child was heartfelt and genuine but I always refer to that moment as my salvation because I have never doubted my relationship with Jesus since that moment.
Never in my wildest dreams could I have ever foreseen what God’s plan for my life would look like. I still stand in amazement each and every day that He would love me and save me. God’s grace offered to me through Christ has transformed everything about me. I have not been perfect by any means in that journey of faith but I have strived to simply be faithful. I define success in my life in very simple terms. I want to love my wife as Christ loved the church, I want my children and grandchildren to see me simply as a man of God and I want to hear my Savior say well done thy good and faithful servant.
All to His Glory.
Bro. Webb Armstrong