Testimony

By Jack Fisher

One Journey 

My name is Jack and I was raised in the church in my youth but there was always that something in the back of the mind, an awareness of a need unfulfilled, an unknown about life or finding its purpose. By 1967 as I went off to college, I had pretty much given up on church and God. I was having a grand time banging on the drums and running wild with the college crowd. I won't get into all the details but I was surely not living a sanctified life. Later as I grew older, still exhibiting un_controlled, un_Christian behavior in my life, I would attend a church service every now and again and even professed to be a Christian. I was not a Christian nor did I really know what one was.

My wife Venus and I met missionaries Ben and Wendy McClure in Udon Thani, Thailand in the fall of 2002 and I began playing golf with Ben over the course of the year. He once asked me on the golf course what I would like in a church service. I replied that some good music and an uplifting message would be good. I did not suspect a thing! Like the good Christian pastor he is, Ben was taking a strategic approach in bringing a wayward brother to the Lord. Well, his method worked especially well on me. I began attending Bible studies at Ben and Wendy's home with Venus and son Wade in the spring of 2003. In a very short time (a couple of months perhaps) we became part of establishing a church, the new "International Christian Fellowship of Udon Thani". Soon thereafter we became members of the church worship team, Venus as a greeter and usher and me playing drums and singing. In February 2004, Venus and I were baptized in a ceremony next to Pastor Ben & Wendy's home. 

Somewhere in the midst of all of the Bible study and church planting, I gave my life to Christ and began to learn about the work of His Holy Spirit. Knowledge of the Holy Spirit was something of which I had never really been fully introduced. Quite suddenly I had a hunger for knowledge as I had never experienced in my life. I read the New Testament through twice and then read the Old Testament and then the New Testament again. As I began to read the Old Testament yet again, I approached Pastor Ben and asked if he knew of a correspondence program where I could gain in_depth knowledge of the scriptures. He suggested "Berean School of the Bible" and I immediately enrolled. Just last week, the school informed me that I had successfully completed the level of studies needed in being classified as a "Certified Minister". Hallelujah!

Venus, Wade and I now live in Bakersfield, California and are regulars at the First Assembly of God near our home. We serve as ushers, greeters and communion servers at the church, host Bible studies in our home on Monday and Friday evenings, and host rehearsals of the worship team for the church's Filipino service on Saturday evenings. I sometimes fill in as a teacher for Sunday school classes, sometimes as a drummer or guitarist in the Filipino service and we travel with the Junior Bible Quiz team in which Wade competes. I am continuing with my Berean studies and hope one day to progress to a level as an "Ordained Minister".

Our lives are now on a most interesting and rewarding journey with our Lord Jesus Christ. If you are not there yet, you really should be on a journey of your own with Christ. You don't know the true bountiful joy and fulfillment that awaits you upon making the decision to follow Jesus Christ. It is the only life worth living and on top of that, it is a life that will last for eternity!

May God bless you and may you find His way.