JOHNNY'S TESTIMONY

   I am originally from Blackshear. I was raised in a good family, the youngest of five kids. My mom and dad were the best parents a person could ask for. We did not have material wealth, but we knew that we were loved. They always made sure that we were in Sunday School and worship every Sunday. At the age of eight, I walked down the aisle and told the preacher that I knew Jesus and wanted to join the church. I was baptized and believed that I was going to Heaven.

  Before I finished high school, I had many encounters with the law, most involved alcohol. It was so bad that on my graduation night, I had to have special permission to be there because of my probation. You see, at this point in my life, I could fit in with any crowd that I was around. If it was with a church group, I would be an angel. But if it was with my drinking friends, I would drink along with the best of them.

  I was a very immature eighteen-year-old when I got married. There was always pressure to do better so I could provide more and more material things. New houses, new cars, different jobs, different towns, more of this and more of that, and alcohol and drugs. Nothing could fill this void in my heart. All the things that I tried were only a temporary high. During all this time, I was going to church on a regular basis, thinking that I was saved. I tried many years to make the marriage work. Eventually, I began to drink a little more than socially. The divorce came in 1994.

  I had hit the low point of my life. I had lost the drive. I came very close to losing all the material things that I had worked so hard to acquire, including my home.

  Then my friend, Tom Davis, invited me to Emmanuel Baptist Church.  I had heard for several years that this Church was "different". When I walked in Emmanuel that first Sunday, January 1995, I knew that it was different. If you've never been there, you cannot imagine the love that flows in a congregation like that.

  It was here that I came to realize that I was not saved, that I didn't know Christ as my Savior. I know that God had put Emmanuel in my life as a road block. In July 1996, I went to the altar, and on my knees, I confessed that I was a sinner and asked for forgiveness, and asked Jesus Christ to come into my heart and help be to be a witness for Him and to share the gospel.

  In September 1996, I married my best friend, Glenda. She is truly a blessing from the Lord. She not only prays with me daily but she prays for me. She keeps me accountable in a good sort of way.

  In October 1996, I attended a "Promise Keepers" event in Jacksonville, Florida.  On Friday night, a minister gave the message, I don't remember him or the message, but I do remember one sentence. "God is not as much concerned with what you've done and where you've been, as He is with where you are right now and where you are going". I hope that you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. If you are not totally sure, call me. Don't put it off, do it today.

 In His Service:

Johnny

912-449-3041 or 912-449-3303

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