Beyond Sunday
Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the Podcast that takes you deeper into the Word of God throughout your week, with your Host Pastor Lee Day.
It's Time to Inspire, Uplift, and dig deeper. Beyond Sunday starts now!
Beyond Sunday
From Addiction To Redemption
Some stories grab you by the collar because they don’t pretend. Jim Mitchell’s journey spirals through addiction and near disaster, and turns on a single midnight prayer that changed everything. A tired man staring at the ceiling, asking God for help—and waking up set free.
We walk through the dominoes that fell before the breakthrough: a praying mother, and a girlfriend named Sharon who met Jesus while watching a Christian TV broadcast. Her whole presence shifted. No sermons at home, no ultimatums—just a new peace that stirred Jim’s hunger for something real. Then came the night of too much liquor and cocaine, and the clarity that his story would end early if something didn’t give. He cried out, felt a warmth move from head to toe, and slept. By morning, the cravings were gone. A smoker since thirteen, he forgot he even smoked. The profanity he leaned on vanished like it had never lived in his mouth.
But grace doesn’t stop at a feeling; it asks for alignment. Premarital counseling forced hard choices. Jim moved out, honored God, and married Sharon as soon as they could make it right. He followed conviction into the practical, smashing a massive vinyl collection so the chains that held him wouldn’t land on someone else. Along the way he became the friend who prays, the steady servant at Christ Family Outreach, and the man who believes God still answers—because he’s seen it, again and again.
If you need a reason to hope, this conversation offers more than inspiration; it offers a map: living witnesses, humble repentance, obedient steps, and a Savior who still frees people from addiction, shame, and stale identities. Listen, share with someone who needs courage, and if the story meets you where you are, subscribe, leave a review, and tell us what chain you’re asking God to break next.
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Be On Sunday. I'm your host, Pastor Lee Day, and I pastor Christ Family Outreach Church located in Amelia, Virginia. And today we have someone on the show. This is his very first time ever making an appearance. He is a very dear friend of mine, a true brother in the Lord Jesus Christ. He lived a life of rebellion, drunkenness, drug abuse, lust, and adultery. He had two failed marriages, but I'm just here to say that Jesus Christ stepped into his life and intervened one night when he called upon his name for help. Jim Mitchell is on the show today. And if you've never heard this testimony before, hold on tight and stay tuned in because I believe that God Almighty is going to use this episode to encourage you, my friends. And it will remind you today just how faithful our Heavenly Father is. Brother Jim Mitchell, thanks you for coming in. How are you doing, my brother? I am blessed, healthy, and highly favored. Yes, yes, yes. In his righteous right hand and the apple of his eye, my brother. Amen. We've been friends for a long time. We've been brothers in the Lord for a really long time. We've traveled together. We've been places together. We've got so many different memories together. Some of my favorite times have in ministry have been with you. And uh man, I'll never forget that trip, just God-ordained trip, where it was Holy Spirit-led, going through the mountains and the valleys of the grand state of Tennessee, brother. And matter of fact, one of the most powerful worship times I ever had was in that car coming back with you. And if you remember it, we've talked about it quite a bit since then. It was but by the grace of God that we made it back, man, because it was like we were just riding through a glory cloud, wasn't it? Well, we weren't driving, somebody else was.
SPEAKER_01:Amen, brother.
SPEAKER_02:The Holy Spirit. Amen, brother. The Holy Spirit was leading the vehicle that that evening, man. Amen. In your testimony, Jim, you you said the following. We're gonna jump right into it. That the blood of Jesus Christ that he shed for you on the cross washed away all your sins. And that night you called out to him. And this is the verse that you put in there, 1 Peter chapter 1, 3 through 4. And 1 Peter 1, 3 through 4 says this Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Now remember, folks, let me just explain this before I hand it off to you, Jim. Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. Amen. And that's punishment for our sins, for our filthiness, uh, for our wicked ways that we're living and partaking in the world. Jim, what does that verse mean to you? Because I've heard I've heard your testimony before. I've I've watched you walk it out. I've, you know, every day we live, we're adding on to our testimony. Amen. What does this verse mean for you? How did God show you his mercy early on in life?
SPEAKER_00:Well, early on in life, um I grew up with without a father. Uh my dad came back from World War II Um pretty messed up. And uh, long story short, he uh committed suicide when I was about nine years old. So I grew up without a father, but I had a very loving mother, and uh she was born again, saved, and uh she always took me to church, and um I never forgot it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, praise God. So she she really put instilled the roots, the word of God in you absolutely put you on the right path. Yeah. Um, let's jump forward. Your wife Sharon accepted Jesus before you did. Yes. And when she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior as King of her life, you guys were not married yet. No, um, you had been living together for seven years, but not married. And we're gonna get into that a little bit later on in the testimony. But one fall night in 1989, Sharon was watching Christian television and an evangelistic group of men called the Power Team. Yeah. And there may be some people listening that are old enough to know what the power team is. Uh, I know what the power team is because they came through our school one year doing ministry and and and sharing the gospel. But but explain to the listeners, brother Jim, for those that do not know what the power team was all about, just give a quick synopsis of what the power team was and what they did.
SPEAKER_00:The power team was uh a group of men. Um they were pretty big guys. Uh they had a ministry where they went around to different churches and and places where did venues. Um those guys were something else. Uh they were they were the kind of guys that that put on a show for, you know, they'd break cinder blocks over their head. Extremely strong, man. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:We're talking about like dudes that just lived in the gym. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they did. You could tell. Yeah. I I remember them taking, remember back in the day, I don't know that they make them anymore, the yellow phone books. And they would take the phone book. Rip the phone book up. Rip them. Almost three inches thick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just rip them right right down the street.
SPEAKER_00:I can't even get my mail open now, let alone a phone.
SPEAKER_02:That night, that night, the power team, they they go on to preach a powerful message.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And at the end of it, Sharon gave her life to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Here she was, Brother Jim. She's not saved at the time, but she's tuned in to Christian television. Uh, she feels led that night to just turn it on the channel. She's watching it. She listens to the gospel presentation given from the power team, and she accepts Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. Although you didn't jump on the train quite so quickly. No. However, after a few days, maybe even a week or two, your testimony states that you began to see a difference in Sharon. Explain what that looked like and why.
SPEAKER_00:Well, she was um not that she was a bad person, of course, before, but uh there was there was just something about her. She had a glow about her. Um her attitude had changed, her countenance had changed. Truly saved. And uh, yeah, truly saved. Um when she watched the Power Team guys, um, she told me later on, she said, they told me about my life right in front of me on TV. And that's that's what that's what did it.
SPEAKER_02:Only God.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Only God. So you begin to just see a light about her. That's the light of Christ. Yes. Uh that that is the the the pressures and anxieties, the weight of the world falling off of her because she's got her faith in Jesus, a new countenance, as you mentioned. So so there's a new joy there. The word of God says new joy comes in the morning. Amen. So so she's a new creature. That's right. You know, she she's saved, she's a new creature, and you're taking notice to this.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Uh now, now this is where things begin to get very interesting for you, my brother, because days before Sharon got saved, y'all had gotten invited to a party. I know the testimony, I know how it goes, so I'm just gonna let the listeners know this wasn't a Christian party. No, it wasn't. So it in your testimony, you said that it was a very large party, definitely not a faith-filled party. Nope. But you guys went because you'd been invited, and that night you had too much to drink.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm sure you remember too much of everything, and uh, not just alcohol.
SPEAKER_02:Tell us what happened and what you put into your body because you believe you almost died that night. There was there was some liquor, some cocaine.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:What's going on? What's going on at that place?
SPEAKER_00:Uh liquor, cocaine, any th any kind of drug you can think of. Um at that time, I was not afraid to put a needle in my arm. Uh, I don't know whether I did that that night or not, but uh I've after that after that night, I I knew something bad was really, really gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah. If you didn't get it together, it it might be coming to an end. This exact thing. Your your your book may be wrapping up. Yeah. Yeah. Your testimony goes on to say that you continued to see a drastic change in Sharon's life. And you knew if you continued to live the life of drinking and drugging that you were gonna die.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Uh, but it was the change that you saw in Sharon's life that was drawing you, Jim, to consider living a life walking with God. Yeah. First Peter 3:1 says this likewise, wives be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be one without a word by the conduct of their wives.
SPEAKER_00:Isn't that true?
SPEAKER_02:And I think that's so powerful. That's exactly what you went through with with your with Sharon. Uh, brother Jim, speak to speak to the wife that's listening right now. Speak to the husband that's listening right now. Maybe they're going to church, but their spouse is not. Share with that person how important it is that they're going to church, but their spouse is not. Share how important it is for that type of person to not give up, but to continue to love God and live a godly life so that their spouse can see the change in them.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you you pretty much said it all right there. I mean, it's extremely important that if you're married or even have a uh boyfriend or girlfriend, and uh you're saved and they're not. Uh, it is extremely important to live a Christ-like life in front of them so they can see what Christ is like. Because that's what's going to attract them.
SPEAKER_02:That's exactly right. More than words, more than an invitation. It's okay to invite someone to church, right? But but man, be careful hounding it over their head. Just what the word is telling us there is just live it out. Let them see the fruit. You know what I mean? Let them see the fruit of what God is doing in you and how He's changing your life. Let them see that I know people that started coming to church, Brother Jim, because they saw the benefits and the fruits going on in their spouse's life. And they're like, I I I gotta go check this out. I I gotta see if this is this is real or not. What's going on inside that church? That's right. Not long after that party, your entire life is getting ready to change.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And one night you're laying in the bed by yourself, uh, you leaned up against the headboard, and and you ask God for help. Yeah. Take us, walk us through that night. Share what happened.
SPEAKER_00:That night, uh, this was back in I think either August or September of 1989. So it's uh it was been a long time ago, but praise the Lord for it. Um I was sitting up in bed and was feeling really, really bad from all the you know, all the drinking and smoking and and you know, smoked almost two packs of cigarettes a day. The drug all of it was just catching up to me. And I saw this change that was in Sharon, and I I I wanted some of that because I I know that I needed a change and I really didn't have anywhere else to turn for the to to change.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um I had a brother and his wife that got saved about a year before I did. And um, they were praying for me.
SPEAKER_02:My mother was praying for me. So you're kind of the holdout.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And and maybe there's people listening right now, they're the holdout. They're they're that last one that just needs to hit their knees and accept Jesus.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm laying there in bed and um really just just I guess you could say, just feeling strung out. I laid there and I thought about everything that you know my mom had tried to teach me and what my brother and and his wife were were trying to show me. And I just I just looked up into the ceiling, you know, I I didn't even know what a sinner's prayer was. And to tell you the truth, um I don't recall a whole lot of that conversation that I was having with that ceiling.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But um I know that I did look up and I said, God, if you're really there, if your word is what it says that it is, I need your help.
SPEAKER_02:Praise God. Amen. Amen. And that was the night that changed everything. Boy, did it. In your testimony, you said that after years of drug and alcohol abuse, your body had gotten worn down. And that night talking to God, uh, you you were done. Yeah, you were done. You you felt like you were dying, and by the next morning, you woke up and you felt like a brand new man. And I'm just gonna say only God can do that. Share with the listeners what happened that night when you're looking up into the ceiling and you're just saying, God, if you're there and if your word is what it says it is, I need you to come and I need you to save me. Share with them what happened that you felt go through your body. Share that experience.
SPEAKER_00:I was laying there and uh I just finished talking to the Lord. I didn't, you know, nothing scripted, didn't know what to say. I was just just pouring my heart out to him. And uh I was sitting up in the bed and I was just quiet for I don't know, maybe a few seconds or a minute. And something happened that's kind of hard to explain. But I was laying there and I felt this warmth in the top of my head. Um I kind of relate it to, you know, if you go to the hospital and you get something like a CAT scan and they that that light scans over top of you. Well, that's what it what I kind of felt like. I felt this warmth, and it started at the very top of my head, and I literally felt it go all the way through my body. Come on, man. Praise God down my legs, and I felt it leave the tip of my toes. Right at your toes. Yep. I felt it leave how it left.
SPEAKER_02:Literally felt it leave the tip of your toes.
SPEAKER_00:Now I know it was the oil of the Holy Spirit. Yeah, yeah. But I didn't know what it was. But you know, after that, I don't remember anything. I wish I could because I'd love to tell you about it, but I don't. I laid down in the bed, I went to sleep, slept well, uh, got up the next morning, uh I think it was a Monday morning, and I went to work. I was uh delivering tires for a tire warehouse, and I went to work and I really felt really pretty good.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And I went out to the warehouse to Which was not the normal for you if I could just break in for a minute and say No, it's not. Yeah, you you've you've had a complete transformation, and it hadn't even registered for you yet. I mean, you're you're just getting up like, okay, well, new time. Time to go to work.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:All right. So so so walk us through that.
SPEAKER_00:You go to the warehouse. I go to the warehouse, and I'm out there pulling tires for my order, and uh one of the guys was standing at uh at one of the bay doors, and the bay doors opened, and he lit up a cigarette. And I stopped and I looked at him for a second, and it reminded me that I smoked.
SPEAKER_02:That's powerful.
SPEAKER_00:Now, I smoke, I got saved at 32. I've been smoking since I was 13 years old.
SPEAKER_02:Smoking cigarettes since 13. Yeah. That night in your room, you were 32 years old. Yeah. You wake up the next day completely healed. You go into work, you left your cigarettes on your nightstand, you go into work, not even thinking about smoking a cigarette, riding down the road, get to work, not even thinking about taking a smoke break. No. Walk through there, smell a man smoking a cigarette. I see him smoking a cigarette. And then for the very first time, you remembered you smoked.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And when I remembered that I smoked, it was like a childhood memory. Just like it was, you know, years ago. I get home that evening from work. Cigarettes and lighter are still sitting by the bed on the light stand. Hallelujah. I didn't ask for cigarettes to be taken from me. I didn't ask for that. I just asked for some help. Yeah, come on, brother.
SPEAKER_02:And he did it. And he did it. More than what you even thought you needed. Oh, he cleaned my clock. I'm telling you. Come on, man. I mean, isn't that something he's dealing with an addict? So he gets rid of all addiction so that you don't have any weakness to pull you back down into any of the addiction. Yeah. I mean, so here we've got not only did God heal you, brother Jim, from the drug abuse, from the alcohol abuse, not only did he remove the cigarettes, and there's more than that. I mean, somebody say there's more. I mean, praise God, brother. It ain't over yet. I'm still living more. This thing gets deeper. Not only did God remove all that, he removed filthy language from your mouth. Yeah. You you said in your testimony, it's as if you had never known those dirty words that you used to use. I mean, what a healing. They weren't even there anymore. Complete restoration. There was none there to use.
SPEAKER_00:Come on, man. I you could make a brother want to get up, run around his table. And you know, I just want to say that for years, since my mom sent me to vacation Bible school and tried to get me to church. And even though I was living a really bad life, I never did like to hear the God, God's name in vain. Yeah. I never liked to hear it. I never used it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And uh I remember, I'll tell you this real quick. We were building a new garage at our house and had an electrician over there wiring it. And I had just got saved. I mean, I had been saved two weeks. Uh-huh. And I walked out there to see what he was doing, and he was on the ladder and he said a couple of curse words. And I looked up at him and I said, Sir, I really don't appreciate that kind of language. And if you're going to be working here at my house, I really would appreciate it if you wouldn't do that again. Amen. He stopped for a second. He looked down at me and he says, You know, son, you're right.
SPEAKER_02:Wow. Come on. Praise God. Praise the Lord. Hey, look, all it took was just speaking up. Yeah. Think about how much more could be changed in our lives if we just speak up. Absolutely. We just got to go in faith. God will provide the rest, He'll open the door. We just got to step out in faith. That's what you did that day with that contractor. Yeah. He thought about it and said, you know what? You're right. There's no harm in not doing this. Let me just let me just honor this man and his home and his property. Now that you and Sharon were both walking in a relationship with Jesus, praise God. Hallelujah. Amen. Explain what happened next because y'all were living together, but not married. So now we're going to dive into that because y'all go talk to a pastor, right? Yeah, oh yeah. Okay, so y'all go talk to the pastor. The pastor lets y'all know what.
SPEAKER_00:We went to uh it was like a marriage counseling thing because we wanted to get married. And um he was talking to Sharon and he said, Sharon, have you ever been married before? She said, Yeah, I got married when I was 16. And uh he said, so all of that's resolved, right? And she said, Oh yeah. He said, So you've got a divorce and all that's fine. She said, No, we never got divorced. And uh the man's name was Scott Harding. I love it, brother. He's gone to be with the Lord now, but he looked at us and he said, Well, this is this is a whole different story here. Yeah, he said, you two under God's law, she's still married. Yeah, Jim, you can't kiss her, you can't hold her hand, you can't live together. Yeah. Now we've been together seven years and bought a house together. At this point. At this point. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And so I'm sure that that that's probably like a a huge sledgehammer just coming down on your head. Like, whoa, wait a minute. Say what? Yeah. Huh? Say what? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So eventually I had to move out of my house at 30 some years old, move into mom's house, sleep on a fold-out couch bed in the in the basement. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Not not truthfully, was mom like, praise the Lord, hallelujah. Come on back home, baby. Come on back home.
SPEAKER_00:No, that's not how it was. She it was okay with her. She knew I was doing the right thing because I had to honor God. That's right. Amen, bro. I had to honor God. Amen. Amen. Even after seven years of living together, we bought a house. Yeah. It's it's time to start all over again.
SPEAKER_02:My life verse, you know this. 1 Samuel 230. God says, For those who honor me, I will honor in return. And that's what y'all chose to do in that moment of your lives. It could have been extremely easy to just stay and do what you were doing and share and work that divorce out and get through everything. But y'all chose to honor God in the process. Yes, we do. And I believe that's one of the reasons, uh, along with your great faith, that God answers your prayers when you pray. Because I have seen God answer time and time again. It's one of the reasons I go to you when I have prayer requests so many times in my life, because I know that when I ask you to pray, you're gonna hit your knees and you're really gonna do it. You are truly go pray. You are a prayer warrior, and um you've honored the Lord, and he has honored you in return. So, so Sharon gets this straight. Yep. You guys end up getting married as fast as we could. Got married on December 23rd, two days before Christmas. Man had to get back in his own home. That's right. Brother Jim, I know that uh in your party days, you used to collect the vinyl records. Oh, yeah. Probably a lot of people. Well, you know, I was gonna say there's a lot of people listening that may not know what a vinyl is, but vinyl's coming back into style now. You know, even Christian artists are that's old school CDs. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Even even Christian artists are are putting music on vinyls now. Yeah, you know, it's it's it's a big thing happening. Uh, but you used to crit uh collect the vinyl records. Share with the listeners how many you had at one point. What at your pinnacle of having vinyls? How many did you have?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I probably had, you know, I never really counted them, but it was quite a collection. I probably had at least 500. At least. At least at a minimum. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:All right. So so walk us through this. I I I love this part of the testimony, especially. You get saved and you begin to get convicted on things. Yeah. And you know that those vinyls got to go. Yeah. They can't stay. I didn't want them to go, but the Holy Spirit said they had to go. That's right. That's right. So I remember you you get it, you get a hammer and you go sit out on the deck, tell everybody what's going on.
SPEAKER_00:God said they had to go, and I said, All right, well, I'll I'll load them up in the car or truck, whatever it is, and I'll take them to the dump. Yeah. Holy Spirit says, nope, you're not gonna take them to the dump.
SPEAKER_02:That's right.
SPEAKER_00:And we had this little conversation.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, why not? Because if you take them to the dump and you put them in the dumpster, somebody's gonna see them. Yeah, and then they're gonna get them, and that those chains are gonna be chaining them down. That's right. Just someone else in the same bondage that you just got out of. That's right. Yeah. So I said, okay, well, I guess I just need to destroy them then, don't I? And he said, Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So stacks and stacks went out. And we had a really nice deck at the house we lived on, had a nice cover roof over it, and I sat out on that deck with all these stacks of record albums around me, and I took them out one by one and with a hammer. I pounded it with a hammer, put it back in a jacket, and threw it in one of those big rollaround dumpsters. And I filled that dumpster up to overflow, and it was so heavy I couldn't even hardly move it. Come on, man. But that's when they went to the dump.
SPEAKER_02:I wonder what the neighbors were thinking. I don't know. I really didn't care. Now, where was Sharon at on this? I mean, what was her thought process when all this was going on? Getting to your mind. She was just sitting back and watching God work. Amen. Amen. All from an unsaved woman tuning into a Christian television channel, listening to the power team, watching them rip up phone books and concrete cinder blocks, and but then after they get your attention, they're preaching Jesus Christ. Yeah. Isn't that really what we're supposed to do, brother? We're supposed to get people's attention and then share Jesus. Amen. You know, and that's what it's all about. And look how it has changed your life. I mean, it's just absolutely, absolutely amazing. Now you're walking with God, as is your wife Sharon. You guys are both attending CFO, you're both serving in ministries, you've seen so many different prayers answered, you've witnessed so many different miracles take place and these these but God moments. There's no turning back now, is it, brother?
SPEAKER_00:Well, as uh Peter said, Lord, where else shall we go? There's nothing to turn back to.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. We've shared that verse with one another so many times. I know. So where else should I go? You know, that's right. I mean, it's just in that particular part uh of of the scripture, Jesus was giving a teaching, and it was hard for the people to understand. And it says that many of even uh the his followers turned and walked away from him, you know, and and the the apostles are still standing there, you know, and and and Jesus presents that that question are are they gonna leave two? He said, You're not gonna leave two, are you? Yeah, yeah. Isn't that something? Peter says, Lord, where are we gonna go? There's no nowhere else, and no one else to follow, you know. No, you're the Christ. So that's one thing that I've always loved about you from day one when when I first met you. You're you're sold out in your faith. And we're we're not perfect people, but uh what what has always attracted me to you and what made me want you in my circle of friends is that you're you're not turning back no matter what happens. No, God forbid the the the absolute worst thing could happen in your life, God forbid, but I know you're not turning back because I know that you're storing up your treasure, not here on earth, but in heaven. There's that old saying that we have we'll we'll when we leave each other, we'll see each other here, there, or in the air. Amen. You know, and and and see you there or in the air. You you know where your final destination is. Amen. And and and you're not turning back. You know, I remember the very first time we met each other. And you were, I still have that forward pickup truck, and we were standing at the back of that forward pickup truck, and there was a little snag on my bumper on the on the plastic cover piece that the grip plate. And that thing was just holding on, flapping when I'd ride down the road, and and I'd left it there because I just couldn't see pulling it off and having a missing chunk on the back of that bumper. You're a car man. I love them. You're a vehicle man. Oh, yeah. And I and you look down, never forget it. You look down at that little piece, and I had been saving, uh, just been hanging off air for probably a year close to it, maybe a little more. Yeah. And you look down and you said, Man, what's that thing doing hanging hanging there like that? You ripped that, grabbed it, and ripped it off, completely tore it off. I think I pulled out a knife and cut it off or something. I'm like, you know, what is this guy doing ripping my bumper off? I've been saving that. You know what I'm saying? You gotta have a clean ride, man. But hey, but I remember, I remember leaving there that day thinking, man, that's a genuine guy, that's a genuine guy, man. I I love that brother. And I'm gonna tell you, he has he has kept us together for many, many years. And I and and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. I've I've just been so grateful to God placing you in my life, brother. And I love it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it was such a blessing to uh to be at CFO in the early days. To to serve all these years and you know, served under you as associate pastor for seven years. Yes, you did. Yes, you did. Um what a blessing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. And starting.
SPEAKER_00:That's not a good enough word, but I that's that's what I have. So you were you were our very first cameraman. Yeah. Yeah. Our very first cameraman. Yeah, I wasn't coming there too long, and uh man, you had such a good word. I said, we gotta get this on recorded some kind of way. Praise be to God. Praise be to God. Yeah, started in 2009. And has gone on in your world since, brother.
SPEAKER_02:And I have them all. Just so grateful for you being faithful to do that. My friends, let me just let me just end with this right here. Jim Mitchell is a real live person living in Amelia, Virginia, attending, as we just mentioned, CFO Church, Christ Family Outreach, every Sunday morning. You're gonna find him there, living and loving the Lord. And he would love to, I'm sure, share more of his testimony with you and even pray for you personally. Am I safe in saying that, Jim? If someone wanted to come in and just introduce themselves to us. Absolutely. Um, he would he will pray for you. He will love on you in the name of the Lord if you wanted to meet him andor his wife, Sharon. Uh, there's so much more to add to this. We've just kind of really glazed over the larger parts of this testimony here today, but uh 30 minutes has flown by and it's only felt like five when you're sitting at the table with. I can't believe it. Yeah, we've been 30 minutes. Already, brother. When you when you when you're sitting at a table with a real friend, you know, uh, it just happens so fast. So I'm I encourage people to come on out and just just visit church and also visit Jim and Sharon and and and just say hello and and put a put a face to the name. Let's pray. Amen. Father, I'm so grateful for this opportunity to have sat around this table with a dear brother. Lord, I I thank you so much that you have ministered to Sharon, and therefore my brother Jim was able to see the light and you ministered to him, and then you brought us all together, and we're serving you together under the same roof. And I'm just so grateful for that. Odds are there's some people listening right now that they've got they've got some sin in their life, they got some heavy, heavy bondages that are holding them down, and they say, you know, if God could do that for that man, I know God can do it for me. And that is the absolute truth. If you would just cry out to the Lord, and and and like my brother Jim just said, he didn't know, he didn't know exactly what to say or how to say it, or even exactly who he was, who he was talking to. But God, if you're real and your word is what it says it is, I need your help. And so if that's your heart's desire, if you need help, if you're tired of doing it all on your own, I encourage you just to say a prayer like this Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. And I know that I need to repent of my sins. I need to turn from the evil ways that I am living. Yes. I'm asking you, Lord, to come into my life, forgive me of my sins and save my soul. I recognize, Lord Jesus, that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven. You paid the ultimate sacrifice. Come into my life now, Lord. Fill me with the power of your Holy Spirit. Anoint my life and favor me greatly. Honor me as I honor you in the name and the blood of Jesus Christ. All God's people said together, my friends, amen, amen, and amen. Amen. Brother Jim, as always, it's been an honor and a privilege. An honor for me. Absolute pleasure. Thanks for having me down. Amen, brother. We're going to have to do it again. We'll do it. We'll have to do it again. Until next time, everybody, continue to faithfully serve the Lord. Stay in his word and remain constant in prayer. God bless.
