Greg's Testimony:
I was invited to Church in 1976; on that particular Sunday morning the Pastor spoke on Hell, he said if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior you would spend eternity in this place called Hell.
Several days later, I realized I did not want to spend eternity in Hell; I wanted to know how to spend eternity in heaven. So on July 4, 1976, at the end of the evening service I went forward and told the Pastor that if I died I would not go to heaven, but would spend eternity in Hell. I wanted to know how I could go to heaven, the Pastor and I knelt at the alter and he went through the plan of Salvation with me and showed me in the scriptures how to spend eternity in heaven, so on that fourth of July night I trusted Christ as my Savior.
I began to teach Jr. Church and then felt the call of God on my life to preach the gospel. My wife and I made plans to attend Arlington Baptist College. We spent several years there and then moved back to Kansas. I started working in the AWANA ministry teaching fourth and fifth grade boys, I took a position as bus director of 8 buses and 2 vans; I held Saturday morning challenges for the bus captains and wrote a small article in the Church bulletin.
I received a phone call from my brother-in-law who is a Pastor, he said a small group of people wanted to start a Church on the east side of town and he wanted us to be a part of it. I knew that my brother-in-law was going to need much encouragement and help, so my family and I began to attend and assist in this new ministry. I experienced the process of organizing a new Church and being a charter member of that Church.
When voted in as associate pastor I became more involved in the ministry. I had the opportunity to help set up, decorate for mission conferences, and spend time with the missionaries while they were at the conference. It was at a mission conference on “Faith Promise Sunday” when my wife and I felt that God was calling us to further our ministry and while waiting on God we moved to Springfield, Mo. to finish my education. While attending Mission Emphasis Week at the College, God began to speak to me about missions. During a Mission Conference at the Church where my wife and I attended God spoke to both of us and burdened our hearts deeply about being Missionaries. My wife and I took a Missions Survey Trip to Zambia in the summer of 2006, while there God made it very clear that He wanted us in Zambia after a young man began to beg us to come to his village and tell them about Jesus.
Janet's Testimony:
I started attending church at Temple Baptist Church in Hutchinson, KS, when I was 18 years old through an invitation of my older sister and her boyfriend. After attending a few times I went forward during the invitation in July of 1976 and for many years believed, I had made a profession of faith until the spring of 1980. My husband and I were attending Arlington Baptist College, in Arlington, TX. During a church service at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Arlington, TX, I realized that I could not remember ever actually praying the sinner’s prayer and though I remembered an emotional experience, I could not actually remember the details of that event. I decided at that time to go forward and erase any doubt that I was not saved. I did ask Christ to come into my heart and save me at that time and was later scripturally baptized.
I have attempted to serve God faithfully throughout the years and have served in many capacities. I have served in and taught Sunday School and Children's Church for age groups ranging from nursery age children through 6th Grade and have taught Sunday School for special needs adults. I have been involved in AWANA programs, teaching and training. I have worked in bus ministry as Captain, and maintained a route which included making weekly contacts. I have been involved in visitation programs and taken soul winning training in various churches. I have also been involved in building maintanence (janitorial) and decorating. I have been responsible for production and printing of weekly bulletins. I have also assisted and supported the various ministries my husband has been involved in. Of special interest was assisting in planning and decorating for Mission Conferences.
In March 2003 at a Mission Conference at our home church, my husband and I began to feel God was directing us to serve in a different capacity (my husband was currently serving as Associate Pastor). We surrendered at that time to follow God's leading, knowing the first place to start was to complete the training we had begun many years before at Arlington Baptist College. We continued to go through doors as God opened them preparing to move to Springfield, Mo in the fall of 2004. Upon entry at Baptist Bible College, my husband was told that we were probably too old to pursue full-time service as missionaries, so he began to prepare for a Pastoral Ministry. We continued to be very burdened for missions and when attending Mission Conferences the desire continued to grow stronger and we continued to feel God wanted us to go in that direction. In October 2005 in a Mission Conference, we surrendered to full-time Missions. We felt if God wanted to use us in that capacity, He would provide the way.
In the summer of 2006, we had the privilege of taking a survey trip to Zambia, Africa. It was a life changing experience! Seeing first hand, the devastation of poverty and illness, and the Godless existence of these people helped to reaffirm the commitment we had made to God. These people, though many are sick and hungry, need more than medicine and food; they need to know the one who can heal and nourish body and soul; Jesus Christ.
I am thankful for God’s calling upon my life. I count it a privilege and an honor to serve in whatever capacity He desires to use me; and I pray that He will in some small way be honored through my obedience.
