God in My Story: Ray Jennings

A testimony from Ray Jennings.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to the Life Church Podcast, a place where the Word of God comes alive through scripture teaching and real stories of faith. Each episode, we dive deep into the Bible and share what God is doing in and through Life Church Windsboro, and we're going to hear powerful testimonies from people walking daily with Jesus. Whether you're seeking spiritual growth, encouragement, or a closer relationship with Christ, you're in the right place. No matter where you are on your journey, our prayer is that this podcast feeds your soul, strengthens your walk with Christ, and draws you closer to the heart of God. Let's get started. And welcome back to the podcast. Today I have the pleasure of sitting with Brother Ray Jennings and uh to hear a story of following God through the different seasons of his life. Uh he has a wonderful testimony of uh ministry involvement and being uh involved with church nine months before he was even born, as he said. And so I'm excited for y'all to be able to hear this episode in our series that we're calling God and My Story. Brother Ray, thank you for being here. Just will you introduce yourself to us for those that don't might not know much about you? Tell us about who you are and who you people are.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Uh I'm Ray Jennings. Most people know me by that name. I'm Charlie Ray Jennings Jr. Uh I'm married to Benice Wally Jennings. My parents were Charlie Ray and Bertie Mae Jennings. Uh have three children, a son, Chuck, and his wife Tony in Houston. Four grandchildren in Houston. I have a daughter that lives here in Winnsboro, and another daughter that lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Uh so we kind of scattered out. Never really planned on that, but it's what happened. Yeah. Um I made that comment that I'd been going to church since nine months before I was born. Because my parents were one of those that was there every time the doors opened. Um, sometimes when they didn't open, because we were janitors of the church for a while. When I was eight, nine, ten, I remember sweeping red dust on the wood floor, you know, red uh stuff to keep the dust down for the sweeping treatment. But uh in mopping some, it was uh big church, took us over half a day every Saturday to do it, but uh it was a labor of love. And of course, they was getting paid a stipend for it. And back in those days we needed that stipend. Um I was saved at Beth River Baptist Church, and I I don't really remember the exact age. I've been thinking about that partly because of this. I think it was somewhere between 1960 and 1965, because I remember the pastor that was there, and that was the years he was there. My salvation wasn't a big dramatic experience like a lot of people have, because like I said, I'd been going to church since nine months before I was born. It was just the next step in my evolution with God.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Yeah. I tell people when, you know, because I I come across that, and I'm I'm sort of the same way as that, you know, my I believe my salvation was just a part of the uh of my life because we were at church, involved in church. It was just a natural thing. And uh, but to me, that's no more miraculous than those, as I say, that went from the guttermost to the uttermost.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Because what a blessing that we have the opportunity to look back and to say that we've had a family that that was there and brought us and and and trained us in the right ways and that that sort of stuff, because there's so many that don't absolutely, and uh the world tends to like those uttermost to the uttermost.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

They they're a little more exciting and sure, and but I'm just tickled that I I am what I am. Yes, and I come up the way I come up. Uh in my early teens, I can remember, I could take you to the spot where I was. I was mowing a yard in front of the house, out about three foot from the side of the blacktop, and I with a push mower, and I felt a calling to the ministry. But I never told anybody about it. I just stuffed it down inside and left it there for a long, long time. My life would probably have been different if I'd done that, but I can't complain about the life that I've had and the way things have happened. Uh I had my first sermon that I preached was at Beth River Baptist on a youth Sunday. Yeah. And uh the pastor helped me prepare the message, and I was studied and looked at it and got everything lined up, and it took about four and a half or five minutes for me to say everything I had to say. And then the pastor got up and added to it a little bit and stretched it out a little. I told that story to the now pastor of uh Beth River uh two or three months ago, I saw him, and I mentioned that. And he said, Well, it's about time for you to come back. And he invited me back out a while a month or so ago when I preached two months.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

But it was interesting. I my I don't mean to interrupt, but just that my first, and I may have told the story already in another episode, but my first sermons experience was very similar. As I had, I forget how many notes of how many pages of notes that I had, but I I went through that in probably, like you said, about five or six minutes.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

I I think that's kind of typical because I've seen a lot of uh young people do that or first timers. It's just uh I was a very shy young young person. Uh when God got a hold of me the last time, he changed me. I become more outspoken. Yeah. I have more confidence in what I'm doing, what I say.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Um Yeah, my in my preaching, that's one thing, you know, especially as as a young man, when I was a young man, uh, you know, getting up to preach at church and you you're looking out at these people that have been sitting on these pews for years. And you're thinking, how do I what do I as a young man have to give these people? And and my only confidence has ever come from the word of God. Amen. You know, I'm not sure, I'm not brilliant enough, I'm not eloquent enough, and all I all all I had to do is all I have is the word of God to stand on. And so, you know, like you said, being I've I've that those fear of public speaking and and all that, you know, you get over that stuff realizing that you're not there doing your work, you're there doing the Lord's work.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

That's right, speaking his work. Right. Um thing I was talking about always about going to church when I was growing up. There were three boys, mom and daddy, and mama's mother lived next door to us, and she didn't drive or have a vehicle, so she always went to church with us. And I have a memory of daddy having the only vehicle we had was an old single cab pickup truck. And in the winter, all six of us would crowd into that thing some way or another. Yeah. I guess we were all smaller back then and a lot younger and children, you know. So during the summer we'd ride in the back, but in the winter we crowded up in there somehow or another, sat in each other's laps and all that. So but God has been good. He showed me his goodness early on. I saw mom and daddy go from just barely being able to make ends meet to to uh having the finances to do some stuff they wanted to do and to travel a little somewhat. But in uh 1973, January 19th, I married my wife, Benice. Uh kind of funny. My best friend's daddy introduced me to her. Oh, yeah. Or he he come, he said, Ray, you need to call her. I think y'all would get along good. And it did. We've got along good for 53 years now. I think that's right. 73. Yeah. Yep. For 53 years now. Uh a couple ups and downs, but nothing serious. Uh, we've always made things work. She's been there as my my helpmate, my source of strength a lot of times. Sometimes she kind of cracked twip and said, You boy, you better get right, you know. But she never put it that way, but that's kind of what was going on. Um is to tithe. Yeah. And that was something that was instilled in me. And uh the Baptist church early on, uh, 10%, that was God's first, and that was it. There wasn't no question about it. And I know for a lot of people it was. And when we got married, we we didn't go to church the first few months we were married, or or we went our separate way. She was Catholic when we got married. Really? And um I she I never pushed her. I let her do what she wanted to do, and after a period of time, I don't remember exactly how long, she started going to church with me. And then at a point, uh she was saved at Beth River Baptist Church, baptized, and just went forth from there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

But um so tithing's always been a part of y'all's uh uh relationship with the Lord. And uh, so why why why do you tell us why you think that's such an important thing?

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Well, there's there's been times in our marriage, in our lives, when it looked like the logical thing to do was to pay some debts and not tithe. But I have found that tithing always brings us to a point to where we can pay. If we if we tithe first, the rest of it just seemed to work out.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

That don't mean I wasn't out hustling and working and scrounging and trying to do things like that. But I I made the comment recently that regardless of what was going on, and we've had a few hard times, we've always tithed and we've always been faithful to God and to his church. Yeah, we've always gone to church, if at all possible. Uh, we never let the hard times push us away. We just felt the calling of God to follow through, to stay with him because we knew he'd stay with us. We just developed a faith early on. Um and he's he's blessed us. I've I've had uh things happen in my life that I'd never dreamed of would happen, and I took a direction that was kind of a surprise to me. Uh I started off uh uh doing basically manual labor. I was uh working at a bodlin plant, driving a truck, delivery truck, uh went to delivering freight for Thompson Trucking. And in 79 I I left to go help a friend of mine build a business. Three months later, that wasn't working real good, but I hadn't gave up on it. And I got a call from the then from the vice president of Thompson Trucking. They had grown enough, they decided they needed to start a dispatch department, Line Hall. He said, Ray, I want you to head that up. I didn't have any experience, but I said, Well, you think I can do that? Yes, I know you can. He just had a lot of confidence in my ability. And so I took the job over the objection of the director of operations, who was my immediate boss. The vice president out uh outvoted him and said, We're gonna do this. And it was a blessing, and me and that director developed a great relationship. God put us together. In fact, he was saved during that time. And he was a big, rough, half Indian rouser, you know. But he he came in one day and he told me, he said, Ray, I've I got my life right with God. And he had tears running down his cheek. And that was a blessing. Um, and that that was a management job that with where I come from and what I had done, I didn't expect. But uh it was interesting to say the least.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Um so during the time that you you said that you were in management, uh, I think somewhere in your notes that you kind of not not expecting to go in that direction, but you ended up in that. So during all that time, like was the idea that you were called to ministry floating around in your head and and not not a lot during that time.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Uh I become a deacon at the church, and I was just kind of moving forward, following uh just being involved. Kind of what kind of what happened, being involved. Uh in 1980, uh there was a deacon, some deacons come to the house, surprise me, and said that they wanted to uh uh license or ordain me to be a deacon. Yeah. And there was one other fella that was gonna do too. And uh my wife was expecting it was in the dead of winter. And we got all together and I went through a little testing and visiting with them. And uh we had our baby girl was born in July 81. And one of the the pastor's wife at the time said, Well, it's about time now we can have this deacon ceremony. I remember that. Uh but we had a it was interesting, and and I just felt God moving in my life. I knew that he was there, but I wasn't sure where things were going, but I was giving it my my best shot. And in '84, I guess maybe, I began to visit with some people who was in the faith movement. Um, it was a little different from what I was used to, but as I talked to them, I just felt the power of God working. I felt a drawing, let's put it that way. Yeah. God moving me in that direction. And I would hang around with them. Uh I would make an effort after work to go find somewhere that some of them were meeting up and having a Bible study or something.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

And I stayed where I was in the church, and my wife and I was discussing different things. But uh in 1986, well in 85 actually, I was in my recliner praying, you know, and uh seeking God, what to do, had been studying, had been listening to some of the great uh faith people, uh Kenneth Hagin, Bob Yandon was a great Bible teacher, and I just loved, I listened to him ten hours a week, probably. People would loan me as uh tapes.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yeah, it's not not it's not digital back then, right?

SPEAKER_00 17:48

It was taped. I had to go back and find the right word for what was going on back then. We didn't remember what they were called anymore, did we? And um, but I would listen and re-listen and just shut myself up in my room sometimes at night before we went to bed and and study and pray and seek God because I knew things were changing in my life. I didn't realize just how much. But it I was sitting in a recliner one Saturday evening, I think it was, uh praying and meditating, napping a little bit along the way too, naturally. And uh I heard the Lord say it's time to make a move. And he told me what church to go to, and he gave me a scripture, and it's this one that I've listed here, Psalms 118.6. The Lord is on my side, I will not fear. What can man do to me? That's right. And and that in different versions, that is the punctuation is different. One of them says, the Lord is on my side, I will not fear what man can do to me. You know, makes it a little different, but it still amounts to the same thing. And I said, Okay, Lord, I think, and and we discussed it as a family, and we weren't, we had a new preacher at the church, and we weren't real comfortable with him. It's just difference. And so first Sunday in January of 86, uh, we went to a different church. And when I walked in to that church that Sunday, I felt the power of God. It was like walking into the tabernacle or something, I presume. Um, when I was at Beth River, we had a youth group, and I was a little old, but I traveled with them some and helped with the equipment to set up the music, equipment, stuff. And many, many times I felt the power of God during their services. And it it made a mark on my life. And when I walked into that church that day, I felt that same thing. And I said, yes, yes, yes, Lord. And uh 1987 I felt the call to be ordained into the or licensed into the ministry, and a church licensed and ordained me, and I didn't know where it was going from there, and I um but we we kept growing, studying. Uh I was chasing ministers all over northeast Louisiana. Yeah. I'd get off work at 6 o'clock, drive to Lake Providence for a 7 o'clock meeting, get there about 7.20, 7:30, and then get home about 11 o'clock, do it two or three nights in a row just to get up there and hear Dave Roberson, because he was so anointed in the gifts of the Spirit and miracles were happening after he preached. And he stayed and paid attention to what was going on. And he spoke some things into my life. He spoke words into my life that affected me greatly.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

So looking back now, you you know that that you made the right decision, but certainly during those times there had to be some questioning. You know, you'd mentioned something where pretty not everybody was happy with the decisions that you made, and um when when we left the Baptist church and went to the faith church, charismatic, whatever we were, the the telephone book had us as uh they didn't say non denominational.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

It it was just uh a general category. Just you're just there, you're a church. And uh we laughed about that. But uh I kept seeking God, looking for for what he wanted to do in my life, and that's when I got licensed. And uh just kept growing.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Went to some Bible studies that the church was having that would last two or three hours sometimes, and we'd and then we may pray to two o'clock in the morning sometimes, just having uh a good worship time, the Holy Spirit moving. Uh I got baptized in the Holy Spirit during that time. Okay. Um, I remember one uh specific occasion that the pastor was praying for people, and I said, Well, I'm gonna go up and be prayed for. I don't know why. I just, and I walked up there and he laid hands on me to pray for me, and my whole body turned to electricity. It just felt like uh when I would be at granddaddy's and we'd take a green uh leaf or a stem and lay it on that hot wire that he had for his cows, and it would vibrate through you and electric. That's the way my body felt for about two hours. Wow. And uh that was quite an experience. I'm sure. And I've never quite felt that since. Yeah. Uh I've kind of sought for it, but it never has happened.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

But so there are a lot of a lot of things letting you know that you were in in the right place. In the right place. You know, life church is uh is such a I say melting pot of uh people coming from different places. You know, we we we have people at Life Church that from all that have come from other lots of different denomination uh backgrounds, uh religious traditions and and all. And I guess that's one thing I would like to bring out, you know, when you'd mentioned the the idea of changing from your your uh denomination to religious tradition, however you want to phrase that. It's because it you know, even when I I myself did, you know, uh when I when we first started coming to life church, it was kind of the thing, it's like, okay, is this gonna be okay? Like I didn't, I really didn't know how I was gonna all gonna work. Yeah. And uh and like you said, just in the same in the same situation where you went in, and it's like that first that you walked through the doors and you felt the spirit. And we were the same way with life church, you know, that we came and and uh and I knew it was gonna be different, and there were, you know, there were gonna be things uh that were different, but uh I knew it was right. And um, you know, that's I think it's such an important point to bring out because we do have so many people at Life Church that come from different backgrounds to say, you know, it might be different, but um the question is is is is do you feel the peace of God here? Do you feel the spirit moving? Absolutely. And uh, you know, we I I saw an interview or I was listening to another podcast or something, and the guy had mentioned about, you know, we have different, there are different types of churches, and we don't all agree on everything. That's right. But the question is, is are we doing what's most important, which is pointing to Jesus, pointing others to Jesus and lifting him?

SPEAKER_00 25:23

And see, you started off that with a uh statement or a question, and when we left the Baptist church and went to the uh faith church, charismatic, uh, we lost some friends. We had some people that uh thought that was the worst thing that could ever happen. Yeah. And of course, the uh denominational works were against the charismatics at the time because they that they were losing people right and left to them. Yeah. But that's that was part of my s our story. Um for and during that time I was still at Thompson Trucking in uh in 1989.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

Tell uh I have a just uh in and then I'm I'm interested now. I don't want to cut you off if if you were headed somewhere, but you mentioned um and here you have in 1987, you were ordained, and then it talks about four mission trips uh to Brazil, one to Mexico and one to India. Tell us tell us how you got involved with that.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

The church I was attending had a lady that was going on mission trips with a guy out of Georgia. He called himself Methodist, but he was pretty free in what he believed. And she taught me into going with them, and that was to Brazil, and that guy was from Brazil, and so I went down there four times. It was very interesting. I learned a lot. I spent time dealing with demonics and stuff that we don't deal with a lot up here. Uh face to face, sometimes people would manifest the spirit, the spirits.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Yeah, it's amazing to see some of the things that they deal with in other countries.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

It is, it is, and and and I learned a lot through that. I went to Mexico with the uh elders from the church. Uh the evangelists we had come through, had a ministry in Old Mexico, and we went down and preached some, helped them put a roof on a new church building while we were down there. And that was interesting. Uh I met a judge of a community in Old Mexico, way out in a wilderness almost desert. And uh he they said he was a judge. And I so I asked the interpreter, I said, What does that entail? And he they talked a minute, and the translator told me, said, Well, he's the mayor, he's also the the sheriff, he's also the judge, and the jury. And the executioner. And I said, Well, do you have a uh a jail? No, I got a big, big tree out there. I've got a big chain. Oh my goodness. And that's that's where if somebody has to be locked up because it it was a day and a half trip to the nearest jail. He had to walk over to a train, ride the train back, forth, round, and anyhow. And I said, Well, what if it's real bad where you need to do that? He said, I got a lingam with a rope on it out there. Oh my goodness. I said, you don't have much trouble. Not good community, good community. Um learned a lot of what's going on in other areas and to see what's happening throughout the world, I guess you could say. And then in uh 2014, I went to India, and that was an eye-opener. Uh we went into the city that was like uh Sacramento. Is that where all the computer stuff is?

SPEAKER_01 29:41

And I believe so. Like kind of like a Silicon Valley Valley.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

Silicon Valley. That was their Silicon Valley in that in that town. Met a pastor there that had changed his name from an Indian name to Robert Jackson, Americanized it so people could could say his name back then. Yeah. He had planted over a thousand churches at that time. Wow. And still going. It wasn't nothing for him to get in a car with a driver and ride ride 24, 30 hours somewhere, and see the church with the set of do a teaching, set a pastor up in a home church, and then go back in a year and check on them and all that stuff. Part of what we did while we was down there was to speak to the pastors groups. And uh it was quite that was quite an experience. Uh I had matured in the faith enough at that time till it was interesting, and I got to preach and minister and um and some house churches. There there was a house we went into that the living room was about 15 by 20. And when they got through, I bet there was 70 people in there. I was up front on just barely had room to stand up, and then they were sitting down cross-legged, Indian style, I call it, solid to the back wall where the door was. Yeah. You know, if I'd wanted to get out of there, I'd had to flown. But I I got to teach them through an interpreter, and then uh had a lot of people that said that that touched them in a way that they hadn't been expecting. But it was a good trip. Uh I'm not gonna chase that rabbit.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

Okay. They uh it says in your notes, you say 10 years, 10 years later that the uh God pushed you out. Uh, and I'm assuming this is you're referring to your your uh secular job. Yes. Uh three months before the company closed.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

Yes. Uh I thought things were going great. We I knew we were having some troubles, uh, but they brought in a a new vice president. And one day he came back to my office and he said, Ray, the family loves you, and you've always got a job here. But but we're gonna put you a desk over in the corner and and and bring somebody else in to do this. Well, I'll come to find out. I think he wanted to bring his son-in-law in or something. But I I thought about that for a while, and I said, This ain't gonna work. I'm out of here. Yeah. So, and I had prayed about it, and I left and knocked around for a while. Uh, did some, had some, uh, tried to start a couple different businesses. And then in 92, 92, September of 92, I got a call from a company in Monroe that I had been uh buying some products from. And the guy said, Ray, I got a salesman that quit. Somebody brought your name up since you're out there doing something similar on your own. And I said, Well, my business is doing fair. And we was just getting by. I was exaggerating a little bit. Truth be known. And he told me what the guy had made the previous year. And I said, Well, let me think about this. And I went and talked to my pastor at the time about it because I was really conflicted. And uh he told me, he said, Ray, it don't have to be permanent. It ain't like you go in there for the rest of your life. If you don't like it, you can leave in a month or six months. And see, I'd never thought about a job like that. My jobs were always lifetime commitments. And so I I put in my notes, and I really didn't do this, but it was kind of the way I felt, especially after he told me what the guy had made. Um, take your phone off the hook and lock the door. I'll be there in about an hour. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

But uh don't reach out to anybody else.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Right. It wound up being a great, great opportunity for the next 24 and a half years. Um in the first five years I was there, God bless me, because I was not a not trained in sales. I just did what I felt like was the best way to do. And it was 100% commission, which my daddy didn't understand. He he was uh a depressionaire baby, and he he wanted to see a solid income, know you're gonna make this much, and have the benefits. Yeah. And I had benefits, but I didn't have a guaranteed income. It was but in the first five years I was there, I doubled my commission.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

And I made salesman of the year sometime after that, and then got promotions and went to regional sales manager, and as a company grew some things, and I had a good relationship with the president of the company, and he would later become the owner. Um had some times during that that I saw, and see that was one of the times that we really between 89 and 92, we tithed. It didn't matter what else happened. My wife wrote a tithe check every Sunday if we got paid. She wrote a tithe check. It was the first thing that happened. And and I I credit a lot of that to God moving for us because we were always faithful to Him. Absolutely. Always faithful to Him. There was times during my employment there that uh the devil went to work and tried to get me out, and I made a promise to the guy, that president that I was working for. I said, I'll never do anything to hurt you or to hurt this company. And I made him a biblical promise to that effect. And to the best of my ability, I never did. And I never went to him complaining about the way I was treated, and there were some people that tried to kick me out because they didn't like the way that I was uh I had his ear for part of that time. Uh and they felt like I got favorable treatment, but I wasn't. It was just God blessing me as in what I put my hand to.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

And I so during and so during that time in the company, and it looks like maybe kind of towards the end, uh, you mentioned about how 2014, you know, though you were being blessed in in other ways, you had some you had some tough things to walk through.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Tough things to walk through. Uh things weren't going good at the company for for me at that time. And uh the start of the year, our son-in-law passed away. Then in June, my mother passed away. In August, an aunt that was like a second mother to me. We were real close. Yeah. There was only 12 years difference in her age, so she thought I belonged to her. Aggravated my mama sometimes. Uh, she passed away, and there were some things that happened at the company, but it was a tough year. I mean, I I could have gone into depression real easy. I listened, I prayed, I depended on God, I I kept doing what I knew to do. Um I tr I got a different vehicle to drive to Monroe in because I was office-based by then. And um, it had XM radio, and I got to listening to a preacher on there that was a 24-hour hymn. Preach, preach, preach, preach. And he was a word-faith guy too. And I listened to him going to work and coming home every day, every day, every day. 30-minute segments. And that probably helped me as much as anything else to get through that time. Yeah. Because looking back now, I was a I was in line to be depressed, bad. Because it really worked on me. Yeah. But I didn't let it, I just kept going. And then in 2017, I resigned, I retired, which wasn't, they didn't have retirement. I resigned. Right. Come to the house, started doing something else. But like I said, God has always been faithful to us. Yes, sir. Uh we in the first 30 years of our marriage, we moved every six years on average. And it's always doing a little better. Well, one time we went downhill and then we started going back up. And then uh 20 years ago we moved where we are now, and that's that's it. We decided we're not moving anymore.

SPEAKER_01 39:16

Yes. So let's let's this of 2017, you let's just let's say you retired from the company, uh, but let's let's back up to the year 2000. In the year 2000, you you accepted a bi vocational pastorate at Landmark, Landmark Church on Lone Cedar Road. Now, this was your first role as a, even though it was my bivocational at the time, you were still the first role as a pastor.

SPEAKER_00 39:41

As a pastor. Uh, they were small, had about 15 people attending, and they had a they had been apostolic, but the people that were attending wanted to become more of a charismatic word faith church. And that's what they asked me. I had preached there off and on a couple of times when they needed somebody. And they asked me if uh if I'd come as uh bivocational pastor. I said, I'll come part-time, and they said, we want we want you to help us transition to the type church you're in now. I said, and I prayed about it, and I knew it was gonna be a little difficult, but uh I I finally told them, I said, I'll do it, but we're gonna do this my way. You said what you want, and now here's the terms and conditions. You know, and I said, we we're gonna make the changes that that need to be made. And if y'all don't agree with me when it comes that time, I can leave. I mean, because I'm I'm not here to to make a life. Well, they tried to get me to stay on, but I was praying about what to do, and I walked to my closet one day to get ready to go preach that night or for a meeting, with a meeting with them, and God gave me a spot vision, and I saw a young man that was going to come, God was gonna send to take over what I was doing. And I didn't see a face, I just saw a young guy, and he was going to be the leader of that church. And I told them, I said, God's gonna send somebody within the next six months or so. And that they agreed, okay, we'll do that. And I said, because I'm not here long term. That's this is not what I signed up for. And they uh they agreed to it. And we was living in Monroe at the time, and one day I got a call from this young guy named Kevin Bates that was looking for a place for his little home group to meet because they had outgrown the home and they wanted to rent space. And I said, You need to come talk to me. So he came over to my house in Monroe and we met, and he walked in and said, It's nice to meet me and said something, and I looked at him and I said, You're just a year late. He looked at me like I lost my mind, yeah. But uh we talked about it, he and he had a firm program he was working on. I made a couple suggestions. No, this is what I'm gonna do. This is my plan, this is the way I'm gonna do it. Okay. So he worked his plan. I worked mine at the church, and we changed our name, and then we voted to merge with what is now Life Church. Yeah, and uh, it was just through a series of God movements, God movements, God movements. Right. And um once that was done, I decided not to keep going to church there because I was con I knew the people that was there at Landmark and how they felt about me. And I didn't want to become a stumbling block because I knew some of them's personality. If they didn't get their way, they'd run back. Brother Ray, you need to take you and I got I got clear of it. Yeah, yeah. So, but then so we we wound up back in Windsor at the church that we had gone to for so long. Um, and then through a series of events and transactions and happenings in 2022, we decided to come to life church. And uh we were gonna do it the first Sunday in January. We both got COVID. Oh. The second time we did. Wow, yeah. And so it wound up being the first Sunday in February of 22. And God's blessed, and we've been here, and I love it. Wondered why we didn't do it a long time ago.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Yeah. So you life is life is unexpected sometimes. Mm-hmm. Uh as we travel down the road that takes many twists and and turns, but you have held on to the Lord through all those all those transitions. So if you were to have one thing wrap it up, you want to give us some scripture, give some encouragement to our listeners, just you know, for them going when they go through the transition, different transitions that they may go through in life. Would you just give us a word of encouragement?

SPEAKER_00 44:54

That scripture that uh well, there was another scripture that I found, and a lot of people didn't like they said it was too strong. But uh Isaiah 45, 11 says, Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, ask me of things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. You know, and people say, I can't command God, but that's a covenant term. And we have a covenant that we entered into when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, and it gives us full sonship, just like Jesus. And that that word could be command, could be interpreted, require, but require me to do what I promised I would do. And that's it sounds a little strong, but it has carried me through a lot of times uh where I wasn't sure what to do, and I looked around, and the Bible said, I'd study, and the Bible said this about that area, and and I'd say, okay, Lord, you said this. You said you'd be my rearward guard. I'm calling upon you to remember your words, your promises, and to protect me, to guide me, and all that. So I think that we're in a great place. I think there's a lot of good things happening, and I think that life church has got a great future. Uh I'm excited about it. There's some areas that I think that we could grow in. Um I might be a little bold, but I think we could be a little more Pentecostal sometimes and the in the movement of the Holy Spirit. You know, but but but the us U Baptists have a little a little hard spot there.

SPEAKER_01 47:03

I a guy I listened to, he's he said uh he got into con somebody that answers questions and he has people that write into him and and he answers biblical questions and those sorts of things. And and uh he said um somebody asked was asking him about the what church that he thought, you know, obviously every you know no no church is perfect and and we all have our own. He said, but what is your preference? He said, and he said, I think the best type of church is a Baptecostal church.

SPEAKER_00 47:33

I'll agree. I'll agree. I agree with you. I agree. I would and I I think there's got to be a place in a church for the movement of the Holy Spirit, certainly, but there also is a an order that the Holy Spirit brings. And sometimes I think that some people or some churches have got carried away in some of that, and it has caused some hard feelings and people to want to turn away from it. But but I think that we need to to allow the Holy Spirit to move, operate in our lives. And I I have done several teachings on on the movement of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit. And uh we need we need to see that in our lives.

SPEAKER_01 48:19

Absolutely. Brother Way, Brother Ray, will you pray for us?

SPEAKER_00 48:23

Absolutely. Father, we thank you for all that you do for us. Thank you for Jesus Christ for our salvation. Thank you for the callings that are on our lives, whether it's ministerial or or or just the gracious joy gifts that you've placed within us, Father. Just let us move with you and towards you in all that we do, Lord. Jesus set the example for us of where we're to go and how we're to how we're to operate. Lord, help us to seek you in our decisions and to trust you. Help us to be faithful to you and to your word. And Lord, I just speak a blessing upon everyone that hears this. And just let them feel your presence and all that we're doing here in this podcast. Thank you for Jason and the work that he's doing here, and just bless him for it. In Jesus' name, amen.

SPEAKER_01 49:23

Amen. Thank you for listening to the Life Church Podcast. We pray today's conversation encouraged you, challenged you, and brought you closer to Jesus. If you enjoyed the podcast, consider sharing it with someone so that they might be encouraged as well. To learn more about Life Church Windsboro, get connected or find spiritual guidance. You can find us online at dlc.us or follow us on Facebook. But the best option is for you to join us in person each Sunday, 10 30 a.m. at 23 30 Highway 15, Windsboro, Louisiana. Jesus said, the one who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit. So until next time, continue walking with Jesus, allowing yourself to be fed from his word.