itellthestory

Scott Emory

bburnett — Tue, 03 May 2011 17:55:00 +0000

I was raised in a Christian home, taught to pray and was fortunate enough to hear His praises sung daily. All of this still did not keep me from becoming saturated with alcohol, drugs, sex, music and the overall opposition to the desires of Christ until my early 20’s.

I was 22 years old, and after years of living in a life not involving Christ, I came to the realization that there was a hole in me that no amount of alcohol, drugs, sex, friendship, family, music or anything else was ever going to fill. I knew that I had to allow Christ into my life in order to fill that vacancy in my soul.

There’s no hole in my soul anymore. I understand that He has a purpose for my life that all of my previous living will one day be used to help someone else fill that void in their own life. I have found that reading the bible and communicating with God through prayer occupies that hole in my heart and fills it with joy.

Diane Young

bburnett — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:28:21 +0000

I grew up in a home without a father. When I was 8 months old my father was arrested for armed robbery. I tried to fill the void in my life with many things. None of them satisfied the longing in my heart.

One night when I was 21 years old I heard the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. I realized that night that what was missing in my life was not just a father but I needed a Savior. That night I placed my faith in Jesus as my personal Savior from my sins.

Ever since that night I have had joy, peace, and a purpose in my life. Jesus’ Father became my Father! Now the void in my life is filled with the Only One Who could fill it.

Terry Bostain

bburnett — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:51:28 +0000

Well this says to tell of your life before Christ. Well I didn’t know Christ till I was an adult, so that will be a little long…You see I was born to an atheist home, my mom and dad were divorced when I was only 2, so I was truly born into sin. Not my own of course but my life was not off to a good start and I only made it worse the older I got. Mom remarried to a man who was no more Christian than she was, but his family was and they tried to get me to church but I rejected it, because I didn’t feel like I belonged in his family because I was only his stepson. Even though he adopted me I never really felt like family. When I was about 10 there was a VBS at a local park and I joined in and wound up join the church they were from. Well without encouragement from home I wasn’t learning anything and therefore not growing in Christ. Anyway I eventually got baptized and saved without even knowing why or what I was doing. I think I did it because my friends were and I wanted to fit in. You see for me fitting in was a big thing because I was the school and neighborhood punching bag. I was picked on daily I had no friends all the way through school. Because of this I sought anything I could to make friends. This led me to stealing, drinking, drugs, and adultery. But it also led to more dangerous things. I developed a bad temper that most of the time I took out on inanimate objects, but occasionally it would come out on someone. Two occasions that come to mind, one was a fight with a kid at school that almost killed him, the other was my younger brother. According to my mom because I don’t recall what happened, I know it happened just don’t remember it, mom says that when my brother made me mad I got up walked across the room and picked him up by his throat and held him 2 feet off the floor till he was blue. My anger could have killed him but it wasn’t him I was mad at. I was mad at my life. When I was a freshman in school I made a move that would change my life forever, and I wish I could say it was finding Christ. One day a couple of friends and I went into my garage to get high sniffing gas, I got so high I passed out with my nose in the can. I should have died, but God stepped in and my two friends realized I was in trouble, even though they were just as high, and they pulled me to safety. When my mom found out what happened she assumed I was trying to kill myself. I wasn’t, I was just being stupid. But she freaked and had me committed. I spent six weeks in a hospital being evaluated. At the end of those six weeks I had to go before a review board to determine what they should do with me. They told my mother that I was suicidal with homicidal tendencies and should be locked away permanently; mind you I was just 15. Now that’s a heavy rap to lie on a kid. But mom took me home, now here’s the kicker to that story, I have never come close to killing neither myself, nor anyone else ever again, nor have I seen another psychiatrist since leaving the hospital. The next year I went to live with my stepfather in Ohio. While living there I was introduced to drinking and smoking dope. And my best friend and I broke into a bar and stole a bunch of alcohol. Its amazing I never had a record growing up. As a senior I joined the army, and this is where the hospital caught up with me. To join you take a physical, they didn’t catch it then but 8 months later on the day I was supposed to leave they did. The result, permanent medical rejection. Ouch, this was my dream, down the drain.

From here I moved in with my girlfriend who became pregnant shortly after. I stayed with her for one reason, my son. When he was about 1.5 I left her, met someone had an affair and she got pregnant. Well that didn’t work out and I went back to my first child’s mother. A couple of years later we had another child. I tried to make it work with her, but I cheated on her constantly. After a few years I just knew it would never work so I left. I met another woman and she wound up pregnant. In case you lost count at this point I’m at 4. Once again that didn’t work out either.

Shortly after the end of that I met my second wife. The one I married for love, but she didn’t. it lasted only a month before she asked me move out. I continued moving from relationship to relationship, never finding the one I should be with. Because of this I have one more son, he is 5 now. In 2000 I moved to a small town in Michigan where I soon joined a motorcycle club. To join you had to be a vet so I lied and came up with a military background. I spent 7yrs with them lying to people I called brothers, lying just to belong, lying just to fit in. Till I joined the club I never really knew what it meant to belong or be excepted for me, but I wasn’t really being excepted for me, they excepted my lie.

In 2008 I moved to Kentucky for my job, then in 2010 I moved to South Carolina also for my job. Not long after moving to Sc my son who worked with me went to a customer’s house and was witnessed to. But my son not ready for the message came home and passed it on to me, but I wasn’t ready either. A few weeks later I went to the same customer’s house, we started talking and soon discovered he had witnessed to my son. We continued to talk and he witnessed to me, we talked about bikes, and God, and church. I still wasn’t ready for the message but God was working hard on me. That customer gave me a new testament meant for bikers, in it was testimonies from bikers. Well one day while waiting for my supervisor at work I started reading those testimonies and before I knew it I had the desire to go to church. So that Sunday I did. I soon found myself seeking a permanent church and came to First North. I joined the first visit and have been on the right path ever since. But I needed more, one Sunday morning I was watching the testimony of Renee Hedgepath and was struck by how similar our stories were. While watching I was struck with a feeling in my chest to go down and give myself to Christ, this time for real. So I did, although I did not pray to receive Christ that day, a week later while doing a demonstration in E.E class Rev. Simone asked if id pray to receive Christ, while he thought it was a demonstration I took it serious and prayed then and there to receive Christ that was on 10/10/10. I was baptized on 11/7/10. Since receiving Christ I have been blessed many times over. I’ve been going through a lot of turmoil in my life, but the more I turn to God and Christ for help the more I’m blessed.

Since finding Christ I have found an inner peace, things that use to trouble me no longer do, I am more sensitive to things that I wasn’t before. I strive to learn all I can about God, and Christ. I strive to serve the Lord. My friends and family have seen a change in my attitude and beliefs. My friends at church see a man that wants to get as far from his past as he can and get as close to God and Christ as he can.

There are days I still wake thinking I don’t deserve Gods love but then I’m reminded of my favorite verse. 1st timothy 1:13 even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief, and this reminds me that I am worthy of Gods mercy.

Darren Stroud

bburnett — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:50:17 +0000

I feel very fortunate to grow up in “Mayberry”. My extended family consisted of cousins, aunts and uncles that lived within a 5 mile radius. My pastor lived next door. So when I say Mayberry, I mean Mayberry. Andy would be envious.

The doors of our church opened each Sunday mornings and nights followed by a Wednesday. Going to church at these times was as normal as brushing my teeth. I’ve never had a cavity by the way.

When I was 13, all of the sermons and lessons begin to stir inside me. I knew I was a sinner and I believed in Heaven. At the age of 13, I knew I needed to take the step what I had watched many do. I asked Jesus, to acknowledge me as one of his and open the door to heaven for me. I remember telling my dad I wanted to tell Pastor Pope of my decision. He and I rode for miles until we found him. It was a special day in our community. Everyone called everyone to let them know.

Life went on as normal. I was a good kid. Being in such a controlled environment, I didn’t have much room to go. High school was testy for me. I was introduced to alcohol and tried to fit in. I was called “farm boy” after 3 schools merged. Having to work all the time, I didn’t have time nor energy to play sports. This led to a gravitation to the “wild crowd”. I’m glad that 4 years went by quick. College came and wow, I didn’t realize how sheltered I was. I felt very different than the crowd. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the cars or the clothes. It was so much more than that. I realized I had a foundation and a place to go for peace that so many people wanted it but did not know where to look. I knew immediately that the world does not truly care. It was so evident. God got me through my college years.

Life now is not perfect but I still don’t have cavities and trying to teach my kids to brush their teeth regular. I am also trying to raise my boys on a routine of learning about the savior who saved their mom and me. It is a joy to hear your son Christopher say, “dad, I really cant wait to get to heaven. It’s a joy to see your son, Braxton go through the waters of baptism even though he is shivering from pain due to his eczema. When asked why, Dad-I want to show everyone I’m on God’s team”. My prayer is that Thomas, my youngest will realize that he too is a sinner like all men are and that there is only one way to heaven. I can’t wait to hear him say, I believe in Jesus as my savior.

When the world turns on my boys and they realize that true love only comes from one place (OUR CREATOR), They will always stay near the truth.

Jon Simone

bburnett — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 15:10:44 +0000

I was the owner of a large Automobile Agency. I had it all, I married my first love, I lived in a mansion on the ocean. I thought I was the king of Florida.

On May 24, 1997 I prayed to receive Christ. I had suffered my first wife divorcing me, my father’s death and the loss of my automobile dealership in a 60 day period. I attended Church, in Cape Coral, FL. That day I was born again and 2 weeks later baptized by immersion. 3 weeks later I was arrested on 13 counts of bank fraud. The total potential sentence was 315 years in prison. During the first week in jail I received a visit from former customers who were Christians. They explained that they had seen my arrest on the news and prayed for me at their church. The Lord inspired Mary and Joseph Vilbig to tell me that I was going to have 3 miracles occur. 1) That I would have a qualified lawyer. 2) That I would be released on bond. 3) That I was not going to go to prison for a long period of time and that the Lord had a new wife chosen for me. They went on to tell me that this new wife would be a godly woman and that she would wait for me while I was in prison. They added that she would help me learn the word of God and that we would marry upon my release. They continued to tell me that God had a special call on my life and that I would become a minister to the captives. I thought of this prophecy as wishful thinking. But It came to pass that I was appointed the chief public defender as my attorney, I was miraculously released on bond with no money, and I was led to FBC Indian Rocks. The first person I met when I entered the door was Jami. She was a greeter and Sunday school teacher. I met pastor Charlie Martin and he welcomed me without judging me.

After serving only 25 month’s in prison Jami did wait for me and we were married upon my release. The Prophesy “Came to Pass” Today I serve as Pastor of Prison Ministries and I have seen thousands of men and women receive Christ. I am happier than I ever could have imagined.

Rex Blanton

bburnett — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:47:28 +0000

I can’t remember a time I was not in church. Church is just what our family did. I was a good kid with a long string of Sunday school perfect attendance pins on my lapel. On the outside everything looked great. I was polite and didn’t get in trouble at school.

As I entered adolescence, I kept the good kid image of faithful church attendance but under those attendance pins my heart was turning away from what I had learned in Sunday School. My eyes had noticed girls and my heart became consumed by lust. I realized that I was living a lie and that I could not continue in my sin.

Passing the offering plate one Sunday night in a small mountain church my heart began to pound and my hands began to tremble so hard I thought I would drop the offering plate. At that moment I knew that the solution to my problem was to confess my sin to God and ask for forgiveness. As soon as I could, I put the plate in its place and hit my knees at the altar.

I would like to tell you that lust was never again a problem. Although I had confessed my sin and accepted the forgiveness of Christ, I continued to struggle with this secret sin.

As I became an adult, I found pornography and began an addiction that would plague me for the next 25 years. Continuing to work at serving Christ, I was fairly successful through periods of life, but would find myself falling to the addiction again and again.

A little over 7 years ago, I confessed my continued sin to the Lord, asked His forgiveness and repented. In the months to follow, I learned that I needed to have godly men hold me accountable according to James 5:16.

Now all of life is better! Jennifer and I recently celebrated 32 years of marriage and we are more in love than ever before. I have freedom that I never had before. There will always be temptation but God has promised that he will not allow me to be tempted beyond what I am able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that I may be able to bear it.

Staying close to the Lord through study of His Word, prayer and accountability make the difference between the old life of defeat and a new life of victory in Christ!

Makayla Meyer

bburnett — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:31:49 +0000

When I was in the 6th grade, I was gossiping and was hanging out with the wrong crowd. I thought my life was perfect. One day, I was at a car show in Georgia where I passed out. I soon found out that I was diabetic. I was really mad at God. I couldn’t believe that God did this to me. It kept getting worse. I couldn’t understand why this could have happened to me. I was fighting with my friends and missing out on school because of doctor appointments.

Around December a guest speaker that was a comedian came to the church. It was then that I realized why God allowed me to have diabetes and that I needed to get my life straight with the Him. I renewed my relationship with Him that night.

Since then I have been having my Quiet Time every chance I get and my diabetes is under control. Every time I wake up, God is the first thing on my mind. I have new friends and have been trying to start getting involve in church. Whenever I make a decision I say to myself “Would God be happy with me if I did this?” God help me get through junior high school and now God is helping me with my diabetes and homeschooling. I don’t know what I could have done without Him over the past two years.

Denise Garner Coffey

dmorris — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:36:24 +0000

I grew up in a home where I was raised in church. My father died when I was seven years old, and my mother was left to raise three children on her own. I was the oldest of the three. Due to her heartbreak over the loss of my father, my mother walked away from God and the church. My life changed as well in that I was left with many voids in my life, and I felt haunted by so many mixed emotions and feelings. I made a brief return back to church at the age of 12. It was then that I asked Jesus into my heart as my Lord and Savior and was baptized. I fell away from the Lord again, and it wasn’t until I entered my early 20’s that I came back to the Lord. Sadly, I didn’t take Him at His Word and believe the things I needed to believe. Instead I saw only reflections of my failures in the areas of school, finances, wrong relationships, and childhood losses. So I fell away again. Finally, in my 30’s, some significant changes came about in my life. Those changes brought about a whole new perception of God the Creator and Jesus the Savior. During this time I also married. In my second year of marriage I came to a point where I felt like my salvation was not settled. I had asked Jesus Christ into my life at the age of 12, but I wasn’t sure that I had really understood the decision I had made then. So I reconfirmed my faith in Him and settled the issue of salvation once and for all. This was the point in my life when I truly sought to make Him not just Savior, but Lord of my life as well. I had finally taken God at His Word.

I continued to grow in my walk with the Lord. During my fourth year of marriage, I was challenged to take God at His Word again and live out what Ephesians 5 says on marriage. Even though it was a struggle, I sought to put my husband as the head of our marriage. This was difficult to do because trust was a real struggle in my life, especially trust in men. The results were surprising – I found that by living out what God’s Word says on marriage I received a clearer picture of God’s love for me. It further proved that I could trust Him and know His Word is true. My husband and I have also trusted and found His Word to be true when it comes to what His Word says concerning finances. We have obeyed His command in Malachi 3:10 and lacked no necessity for our lives. When my flesh, the world, and the lies of Satan want me to see a different picture of God, as they so often try to get me to do, I reflect back on these ways God has shown Himself clearly. One final verse that has meant so much to me is Zeph.3:17. This is my favorite expression of God’s feelings towards me:

“The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

This Scripture describes the Lord Jesus who loves me and desires for all to seek after Him.

Ken Mayfield

dmorris — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:52:35 +0000

My earliest memories are of home where there were many struggles. My dad became an alcoholic when I was very young. His lifestyle included having numerous affairs, disappearing for days while drunk or with one of his many girlfriends. When he was at home, he was very abusive. Once when I was 9, he bent my mother’s hand backwards until he had broken every bone in her hand. He then laughed and mocked her saying that there was no way that she could drive herself to the hospital.

The summer that I turned 12 was one of the worst. By then, my dad had returned home for a few months but was still drinking heavily. Our car had been repossessed and we were living in a rented, run-down mobile home in Charlotte, N.C. My parents discovered that my mom was pregnant. Dad was not happy. On August 3rd, he came home and with slurred, drunken speech, announced that he wasn’t going to have another baby. He stated that he was going to take my mother into the bedroom and kill her. He began beating her and throwing her around the small trailer’s living room. When she was on the floor, he kicked her so forcefully that each kick thrust her body forward on the floor and then into the narrow hallway leading to the bedroom at the end of the hall. Afraid, I ran to my bedroom and grabbed a .410 gauge shotgun, a gift from the previous Christmas since I loved to hunt. As my dad passed the doorway, I told him to stop. Mom was still crumpled in the floor. Dad was holding her wrists, still kicking her with each step. I was in the corner of the room with the gun pointed at my dad. He dropped my mother’s wrists and walked toward me. The next thing I remember is seeing smoke roll from the end of the barrel of the gun, blood splatter everywhere, my dad grab his face and then fall forward on my feet. I ran from the room. In minutes many neighbors, the police, an ambulance and TV crews arrived.

My mom and I were taken to the Juvenile Division of the Mecklenburg County (Charlotte) Police Department. We sat in a room with two detectives for hours telling of past events with my dad and everything that led up to the incident that day. I was then asked to sign a statement saying that I understood that I was being charged with 1^st degree murder. Until that moment I didn’t realize that my dad was dead. That night I was released into my mom’s custody.

A couple of weeks later I returned and was introduced to a man named Rick Hulse. He asked about every detail of the day that dad died. I answered every question. After the meeting I was told that he was the prosecuting attorney and that he had determined that my actions were in self defense. He decided not to try the case in court and would drop the charge against me. It was a huge relief to hear the news, but this was the point where my life began to spiral out of control. Within months I had become an extremely rebellious teen. I began smoking and dabbling into drugs. My friends encouraged all the wrong things and I was headed in a deadly direction.

By the time I was 16, we had moved to Concord, N.C. The Youth Pastor from a local church began to visit me. He became like a big brother. One day he asked me to come to camp with the church youth group. This event changed my life. On the second night at camp, I responded to an altar call to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior. I felt I had nothing to offer. I was a rebellious, hard-headed 16 year old who had quit school in the 10^th grade. I remember the minister saying that God had a plan for my life - but how could He? I was a mess.

As the week at camp wore on, I felt the call of God very strongly on my life. I told God that I was His and that if He wanted to use me, do it. Through a series of what I know to be God’s amazing hand at work, I finished high school, then applied and was accepted at a Bible College. While I was in college, my youth pastor took a position as pastor at a church in Macon, Georgia. He asked me to come work with him. While there, I learned from him and his wife what a Godly marriage is and how a man should love and treat his bride.

Jumping forward to now, I know that God has been so faithful to me. He has allowed me to build and manage a network of Christian radio stations throughout the southeast. I have been married to a wonderful, Godly woman for nearly 25 years. We serve in ministry together. We have one child, Kellan. He is a junior at a Christian university. For the last five years He has allowed me to serve as one of the staff ministers at First Baptist North Spartanburg.

While I know that God has brought me a long way, I know that I am nothing without Him. I am so blessed and undeserving of the goodness that He has shown me.

Mary Lu Saylor

dmorris — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:36:16 +0000

My second marriage ended and I knew that I needed to be in church. I had wanted to go but my second husband didn’t want to. He felt his church had let him down in the past and didn’t want to try again. A friend of mine and I started going to church together. We were going to “shop around” for a church but settled on the first one we went to which was Oak Grove Baptist.

About a month after beginning to go to church Pastor Rufus Chaneyworth preached a very simple message entitled “God Is Love.” This was truly my breaking point. I felt God reaching down and telling me that it didn’t matter what I had done, that I was His child and would be forever as long as I accepted him. When I left the service I started crying and didn’t stop for a long time. I didn’t go up for the invitation that day, but I did the next Sunday.

Almost 8 years ago I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. He has taken me on a journey that has been indescribable. My friend who started going to church with me became my husband 2 years later. We have been able to serve in different church groups and even have been teachers! The Lord laid a burden on our hearts to change churches and he paved the way to FBNS, and we feel so very grateful in the way the Lord prepared us to serve. I can’t wait to see what the Lord wants from us next!