The Journey - Winter 2012

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Publisher’s Note Welcome to the 2012 Winter edition of “The Journey”

Contents Roman Gabriel III

p. 5

Suzanne Lawrence

p. 8

Jason English

p. 11

Kitty Lawrence

p. 12

As we approach a time of Thanksgiving for our blessings, a time to remember the birth of Jesus and a time of New Year and new beginnings, may these stories remind us that we are not alone.

We have fellow sojourners to help us on the way and we have a God who loves us; who will never forsake us and who will walk with us through the peaks and valleys and the twists and turns of life.

Lowell Shipe

p. 14

Whether you are visiting the High Country or a resident here, I believe your hearts will be warmed by the love of God that each person has shared about in the telling of their stories. I also believe you will gain a deeper appreciation of what makes these mountains such a great place to live. Happy reading!

Tammy Brettschnieder p. 27

In this magazine called “The Journey,” you are going to read stories from different perspectives and different faith traditions.

If you read with an open mind and heart, I believe you’ll receive inspiration, courage and even direction for your own personal journey.

Ben Cox, Owner of Main Street Marketing

publisher Ben Cox

editors

Erin McBride Emily Mitchell Ben Cox

Becky Lycan

p. 16

Cyndi Banks

p. 18

Charles Bateman

p. 20

Susan Shipe

p. 23

Tee Gatewood Steve Smith

p. 30

p. 32

Fran Boyette

p. 34

Adam & Emily Sheffield

p. 36

Edward Fenske

p. 39

Chuck Hart

p. 42

Jan Caddell

p. 44

designer

writers

advertising

Becky Zaragoza

Scott Lycan Christin Bland

Ben Cox Charles Bateman

To advertise or share your “Journey” in our next publication contact Ben Cox at 828.964.8600 or Charles Bateman at 828.964.0684

c Copyright 2012

828.263.0095 mainstreetmktg@gmail.com

Any type of reproduction of this magazine is prohibited without permission from Main Street Marketing.

Because of the diversity of writers in this publication, we are not always able to endorse everything that is said, nor can we be held responsible for the total veracity of every story.

4 Winter 2012

Faith and Football

by Roman Gabriel III, Watauga County President of Sold Out Youth Ministries I cannot separate sports from my Christian testimony; the two are so closely interwoven throughout my life.

The formative years of my life were framed by the fact that my dad was a famous professional football player. He played in the NFL for seventeen years after playing for four years at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He finished college, was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams, and we moved to California when I was two years old. He finished playing football when I was a senior in high school. As a result, sports dominated the rhythms of my whole life and have had a huge formative impact on it. I just thought our life was ‘normal’. My dad would leave at 7 in the morning and return at 7 or 8 at night, like most hard-working dads did back in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

My mom was a stay-at-home mother who focused on supporting her three sons in all of their endeavors. We loved it. The biggest difference between my life and my friends is that on Sundays my dad would be on national TV playing football in the NFL. Naturally, my earliest goals in life were to be just like my dad – I wanted to be an NFL quarterback.

We were a family who believed in God, who went to church, and who believed in biblical principles. That’s all I knew about faith and God. I thought that if I believed in God, went to church, and did more good than bad, then I’d get to heaven.

The Turning Points The first turning point for me was when my coach took my teammates and me to an event at the big Anaheim sport stadium. Coach made it clear we weren’t going to a football game, but we were still excited. The stadium was packed with 40,000-50,000 people. It felt like a sports event and just fit like that within my worldview. The event was a Billy Graham crusade, and his message had a big impact on me.

He spoke clearly and powerfully, and it was when he gave the altar call that I heard the true Gospel message for the very first time: in order to be a Christian you had to know Jesus, to make a decision about who he was, and to ask him to come into your life. As people began to rush out of their seats in response to Dr. Graham’s call, my friends and I also responded and went forward. I did not make a decision that night, but I was moved by the message, and I knew for the first time the Truth.

About three years later, a second event occurred that also played a formative role in my life – the divorce of my parents. In the 1960s, divorce was still uncommon, and I

was nine years old and the eldest of three brothers when my parents separated. Because my father was a star quarterback, the divorce was both unusual and very public. My mom went back to school, and then went to work outside the home. It was a huge transition for our entire family, and it was devastating to me. I felt lost. Athletics helped hold me together and was an anchor for me.

After the separation, my mom, my brothers, and I relocated and we began to engage in a local church. Through it all my brothers and I were celebrity kids; our story of divorce and separation had played out across the nation’s media. My mom sought to get me out of the spotlight and sent me to a church camp retreat. I didn’t want to go because I didn’t know anyone else going, but mom insisted. At camp I quickly learned what a real Christian looked like. No one knew me as the son of the famous football player, Roman Gabriel – they just knew me as ‘me’. At the camp I found a group of normal kids who just cared about me as a person, and who saw and cared that I was in pain and in need. They took me aside and told me, “We love you and want to help you, but the only one who can really help you in your deepest need is Jesus.” They prayed with me as I asked Christ into my life, and my life began to change.

Throughout my teen years I did what I was good at: football.

It gave me self-confidence, and I approached it with determination and passion. In nearly every sports endeavor I undertook, I found myself in the role of the underdog, repeatedly having to work my way from fifth string to first string – first on the JV squad, again on the varsity, once again at junior college, and then at the college level at the University of New Mexico. That drive has stayed with me throughout the years.

My dad came back into my life during my late teen years, impressing upon me time and again the principles of hard work and success. My mom, however, was the central parenting influence in those days, supporting me, providing healthy guidance, and living out a life of biblical principles.

I was a Christian, but I had moved God into second place in my life behind football, kind of the same path my father had taken.

Learning to Put God First As an eighteen year-old I headed off to college at the University of New Mexico, where I hoped to hone my quarterbacking skills and prepare for a career in professional football. I was fortunate to get two great roommates, Jim and Jake. These two guys really showed me what a daily walk with God looked like. They helped show me what a great platform God had provided for me to demonstrate Christ to others and to see beyond my own self-centered goal of working to playing professional football. I became Winter 2012 5

involved in Campus Crusade for Christ and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I am indebted to Jim and Jake for showing me that the Christian faith is a daily walk and a moment by moment walk with Him. With our Christian identity comes the opportunity, responsibility, and the confidence to tell others about Jesus’ love for them. Football provided a platform for me to give testimony to Christ, honing in me the life-long call and gift of evangelism. I began to share my testimony on Indian reservations, in schools, with sports teams, and civic organizations.

My college years really were the change-over season in my life. During that time I came to identify Jeremiah 29:11-13 as my ‘life verses’ in Scripture. That passage has always resonated within my heart: “For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ’plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” God has a plan for me, and He has a loving plan for every one of us. But to find that plan and walk it out requires that we spend time with Him. In 2003, I joined the full-time ministry of FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). All the wonderful experiences that other Christians have provided to me in my past have helped provide the platform in my life by which I, in turn, can invest into young people today. As I said earlier, faith and football just go together for me. I am so thankful to every youth worker, camp counselor, coach, pastor, mentor, and friend who God has brought into my life. My wife and I have passed this love and call of Christ on down to the next generation as my own children are now grown and ministering to young people. My wife and I have a deep sense of responsibility; we are responsible to pass along to others the same grace and love that others have poured into us.

Reaching Out Through Culture It has been a wonderful thing to me to see how things have come full-circle in my life. When I was nine-years-old I saw Billie Graham preach and share the Gospel, and I had the privilege of attending Billie Graham’s last crusade in 2006. A central truth shines through both events across all those years: culture changes, but truth is eternal.

In these days in the High Country, I see lots of latch-key kids, lots of young people who are really struggling with broken families and broken dreams. These kids need to know that God cares about them. My heart really goes out to these young people. I can identify with these kids because of my own past. I have a heart for youth and to see them overcome such adversity. That is what drew my wife and me to the High Country in 1996.

Our work at “Sold Out” ministry encourages our youth to ‘give all you have” towards life and towards their goals, to live with passion and determination, and to pursue excellence in the face of adversity. We speak of hard work and perseverance, the value of set-backs and failure in building personal character, and that early failure is a vital part of future success. These are healthy messages that find good application in both the ‘secular’ world and the ‘sacred’ world. These messages stand in stark contrast to some 6 Winter 2012

cultural influences that spoil, pamper, and foster in youth a sense of entitlement and privilege. At “Sold Out” we help young people take advantage of all the investment made in them by their own coaches, mentors, teachers, parents, and educators. To quote the great NFL quarterback, Bart Starr, “When are we going to start celebrating winners in life and stop celebrating the losers?” We need to commend healthy life choices, healthy competition, and healthy heroes to our youth. For “Sold Out”, many of these life lessons are well illustrated through the vehicle of athletics, a medium that this generation can identify with.

I strive to reach this new generation, with whatever platform is available to me, that there is hope in God through Christ. I strive to go to the kids in their culture and their context and meet them on their own terms. Our message is eternal – the medium is contemporary. Our work has made positive use of the new technologies – the technologies young people identify with – which can be powerful tools for good: radio, social media, assemblies, seminars, TV, internet, and streaming video. All of these tools provide a great public platform to point to the wonderful, overcoming life that Jesus provides.

I’m getting excited about what God is doing in this young generation. I am excited about what God has in store in the coming days, in the High Country and across the country.

You can learn more about Roman Gabriel III’s work with “Sold Out” at www.soldouttv.com.

Winter 2012 7

Noah

by Suzanne Lawrence, Watauga County At the vulnerable age of seventeen, I made the decision to take the life of my unborn child. I had a lot of pressure on me, and the nurse in the doctor’s office kept telling me it was “the best thing to do” and that abortion was “definitely the answer”. I remember asking the doctor if it would be like a miscarriage. He said, “yes, sort of like a miscarriage.”

At the time I made the decision, life was chaotic and confusing. I found out my boyfriend was on heroin. How could I raise a child with him? My parents had already raised three kids and I couldn’t expect them to start over. I had promised God that if my baby moved, I wouldn’t go through with it. The morning before I was scheduled to go in, I felt the baby move. Crying hysterically, I called my doctor’s office to tell them that I couldn’t do it, but the nurse assured me that it wasn’t the baby that I felt and that I should go through with the abortion. She reminded me that I was too young to have a baby and I eventually agreed.

The next morning, I was admitted to the hospital. The doctor informed me that I was sixteen weeks pregnant. I had a second trimester saline abortion and the process was not at all what I had expected it to be. It was horrible, and when it was over, I overheard the doctor say that the fluid in my stomach measured to five and a half months. I laid there in total shock. I was not only four months pregnant as I had been told.

I was rolled into a room with two other girls going through the same torment as I was. I laid there for hours in labor and was told to push when contractions came one after the other. After thirty-six hours, I delivered a dead baby boy. At the time, I was just relieved it was all over. At 1:30 the next morning, I awoke bleeding and in pain from complications.

I rang for the nurse, and the doctor came in and did a painful procedure to take care of it. In my pain, I grabbed for the nurse’s hand. She jerked away from me. The doctor was even rude to me. I didn’t understand why no one would show me compassion. I felt as if they were treating me like a murderer. I just wanted to go home. There I knew that my family still loved me. The next day the hospital called wanting to make funeral arrangements. My dad told them they were crazy and they never called again.

Trying To Move On I tried to move on and block the horrible experience out of my mind. I started drinking and doing a lot of downers. This lifestyle went on for five years. I was living with a guy for 8 Winter 2012

two years when I became pregnant again. We got married, and I sobered up. I gave birth to a nine pound, twelve ounce baby boy and he was my life. Three years later, I became pregnant again. I constantly asked God to forgive me, and to show me by giving me a healthy baby girl, and He did.

Although I had two beautiful babies, I still could not accept that God could forgive me for having an abortion.

One day, I went to a pregnancy crisis center to take baby clothes for a girl who was keeping her baby. The lady behind the desk handed me a pamphlet and said, “Here, read this.

This is what girls are doing to their babies nowadays.” The pamphlet was all about second trimester saline abortions.

Suddenly, everything that I had tried so hard to block out from my mind came back to me. In front of my eyes was every detail of the horrible procedure that I put my unborn child through. From that day on there wasn’t a single day that I didn’t cry for him. I would call my mother and scream at her, “How could you have let me do that? I would never let my child do that!” I started feeling hate and resentment towards my parents. I became so depressed that I didn’t know what to do.

My husband and I decided to move back to North Carolina, and there I found out that I was pregnant again. Seven months later, I had a healthy baby girl, had my tubes tied, and went on to raise my family. I tried to be a good mommy, but I continued to battle with depression. After years of fighting it, I gave in and was put on Prozac. It kept the tears down, but it didn’t take away the memory of what my child went through. I went to church one Sunday and the preacher spoke on abortion. He said, “People think Susan Smith did wrong drowning her boys. Why, women are doing it every day!” I wanted to crawl under the pew. I couldn’t believe he compared me to Susan Smith. I could have never drowned my three precious children! That sent me off the deep end. I got in my car and drove like an idiot. I didn’t want to be alive anymore.

Accepting God’s Forgiveness Their father left us, and I was left to raise our three children on my own. I realized that if I didn’t get help, I wouldn’t be around to raise the babies that I had with me on earth. I picked up the phone book and the first number I saw said “Abortion Alternatives”. I dialed the number, shaking from head to toe. A young girl answered, saying, “Boone Crisis Pregnancy Center.” I told her I needed help and couldn’t afford $100 an hour for a psychiatrist. I told her my story. I told her that the guilt of it was driving me to the point of not wanting to live anymore. She asked me if I could come to the center to talk right away, so I came in the next day. Anne Cook was in charge. We started a Bible study and I began going to counseling for post-abortion syndrome. There were times that Anne would stay at the center with me until after midnight. I was finally able to release the emotions and guilt

that I had carried around for so many years.

One night at the center, Anne asked if I wanted to join a few other girls in a group so we could share our feelings with each other. We met every Thursday night and went on a healing retreat together. I had told my mom before the retreat that I wished God would give me a vision of my son, who I had decided to name Noah. At the retreat, we were sitting in a circle with the lights dimmed low, candles lit, and beautiful music playing. The leader of the retreat, Martha, said in a low voice to close our eyes and relax. She asked us to visualize being in a field and watching Jesus come towards us holding our child. All fourteen of us visualized our children. It was the most awesome experience of my life. The next day we lit candles in the water in memory of our children. We were given little dolls that represented them. We wrote letters to them and read them aloud. We then put the dolls in a big cradle at the alter and laid our babies to rest. It was emotional, but it gave me so much peace. I know that Jesus is taking good care of my son until I go home!

I spent too much time hanging on to the burden of what I did at only seventeen years old. I’ve learned that if you give those things to God that He will guide you through all the hard times. I spent more than twenty years thinking He was so disappointed in me and that He would never forgive me.

With the help of so many others, God has been continually healing this deep wound in my heart. I know that He has forgiven me, and that I will see my precious baby again some day!

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10 Winter 2012

The Leader I Want To Be

by Jason English, Watauga County

For years I dreamt of being part of an expression of faith that holds true to ancient truths, is willing to love unconditionally, and engages culture in an honest way. I felt drawn towards leadership, but wasn’t sure of how to live that out with sincerity and passion while maintaining humility.

A crucial moment for me regarding leadership was while on a trip several years ago in a remote village in the jungle of Liberia in West Africa. I met the chief of this village. His name is Lawrence. Chief Lawrence. He was only twenty-four years old at the time. I remember being so intrigued by the fact that he was a chief at such a young age. I asked Lawrence what it meant to be the chief of his village. His response astonished me. It surprised me. And it confirmed and affirmed my strong call to leadership. Lawrence told me that his responsibilities as the chief were simple. They came down to just three things: to communicate the wisdom and decisions of the elders among them, to clean the latrines (restrooms), and maintain the bridges.

A twenty-four-year-old African chief showed me what real leadership looks like.

It was through this young man in the middle of the jungle, on the other side of the world, that I realized that I wanted to be a pastor. I wanted to be the kind of person that communicates the wisdom of people that have gone

before me, to be willing to be involved in the filth that is found in real life situations, and to help connect people to each other and to the Lord.

I am the Teaching Pastor of theHeart, a church family that meets in the theater and the cafeteria of Watauga High School. We are a community of believers/followers/lovers of God. We are attempting to be and do church in a simple way. In many ways, we are not doing anything new. In other ways, we are pulling off what has rarely been done. In all ways, we are pulling off an authentic attempt.

I am also the primary communicator for a non-profit organization called Free People Free People, traveling and speaking on behalf of the organization. It is our desire to see individuals be released from whatever enslaves them. There is so much beauty that can be found when one is willing/able/reminded/released to be who they truly are.

My wife, Kimberly, and I have been married since 2000.

We have a wonderful little daughter named Grey. My wife and daughter are treasures to me. Being Kimberly’s husband and Grey’s father are my most important earthly roles.

Just like everyone, I am so much more than what a relationship or job status can indicate. And just like many, I feel so much less.

Winter 2012 11

The Heart of A Lion

by Kitty Lawrence, Ashe County

“The heart never takes the place of the head: but it can, and should, obey it.” … “You come of the Lord Adam and

the Lady Eve,” said Aslan.

“Grandma are you sitting down?!” Those were the first words I heard my nine year old granddaughter, Madison, say on a cold and windy day in our den. Before leaving for work, I had sat down on the rock hearth to warm my “back side” as the older folks used to say. The phone call was a welcome one because Madison was far too busy with her young life to call her grandma. When I replied to her where I was sitting she told me not to “fall into the fire”. Then she told me her mommy was going to have a baby. In only a few seconds time several things went zooming through my mind: “Does she know what she is saying? My son and his wife already have three kids and now they are having another one?” My quick response to her was, “Let me speak to your daddy.” I had to hear it from the “father’s mouth” as it were.

Chris came on the line. He confirmed what Madison, his oldest, told me and I could hear the smile in his voice.

Having been an only child, he had wanted a large family and his was now going to be increased by another baby. I referred to the well known scripture about his “quiver being full” and he laughed as he often does when his mother says things to him that thinks are humorous. It wasn’t humorous.

This was another mouth, another baby, another person needing 24/7 care for a long time. Actually, for a lifetime.

Our babies never leave our hearts even though they leave our homes, or at least, we hope they leave our homes.

A brief few weeks later, he and our lovely daughter-in-law, Kate, were off to the doctor to find out the sex of the baby and all the other fun news they could expect. Chris had asked God for two boys and two girls. He had one girl, Madison, and two boys, Kaleb and Ian. Sure enough, the OB/GYN confirmed that a little girl was growing inside of Kate. Kate rolled her eyes and he laughed with a heart-felt joy. His family was going to be complete.

Faith Despite Complications The joyous news turned serious when the doctor took a second look at the picture on the screen. She couldn’t see some very important blood vessels that should have been attached to the left chamber of the baby’s heart. Troubled, she sent them on to yet another doctor who, again, confirmed that it was a girl but there was a problem. The left chamber of her heart had not developed. This was a major issue and one that brought a dark cloud to an otherwise joyous occasion. The options presented to Chris and Kate were limited to, “if you choose to continue this pregnancy”.

12 Winter 2012

There it was. The door was opened to remove this child from their lives. It was said not in a menacing manner but in a way meant to uncomplicate their lives for what the doctor knew would be an up-hill battle for many years, if the baby lived at all. It’s one thing to hear a woman cry. It’s another thing to hear my six-foot-three, two hundred twenty-five pound son weep. This baby was wanted no matter the complications, no matter the heart condition.

They had to try to bring her into the world because God had given her to them. They went on to see a Duke specialist – a pediatric cardiologist.

Dr. Lazzo looked at all the film, examined Kate and asked if they believed in “being born at the right time”. Chris replied that they did, and he remembered Queen Esther being called on by her uncle Mordecai to be an instrument of God to save the Jews. The doctor told them exactly what the situation was, what it would take to mend the “broken heart”, and what laid ahead of them and their precious baby.

The second phone call from my son came from a resolute, firm conviction: “We are standing in faith; we are not going to be moved. This baby is ours, God gave her to us and we are going to see God move.” Almost a year later he is still unmoved in his faith in God that the outcome will be good.

And it is.

The Heart of A Lion With a name given by God, Zoe – which means ‘life’ - has been true to her name. She is eleven months old at the writing of this article. She has endured, along with her parents, her siblings, and all those who love her, two open-heart surgeries. The first was when she was four days old. The surgery took almost 10 hours and required seven weeks at Duke Children’s Hospital where her mother stayed constantly at her side, learning how to care for a “heart patient” baby at home. The second surgery, which was to last four hours, turned into a 10-hour ordeal for Zoe. Recovery from that surgery included three weeks in the hospital and care from an in-home nurse provided through a state program for children. A nurse cares for her several hours a day and her mother, after working a full day on a stressful job, cares for her all night. These are difficult days.

Zoe was released from the hospital when her oxygen levels were back to where they needed to be for her to come home. There are the 24/7 tube feedings (bottles were given up on a long time ago), working with meds, physical therapy for movement, and eventually getting strong enough to sit up. Zoe’s three siblings, 10, 8, and 3 years old have learned to “look but not touch” as they attempt to keep any and all germs away from this beautiful little gift from God. “Baby Zoe” is pretty as a doll and her smile melts even the strongest heart.

A Testimony That God Does Heal God brought this baby, Zoe Claire, into our lives for a reason. It would be prideful to assume at this point what all those reasons are but a couple reasons come quickly to mind. One, which stands out to me the most, is “seeing the wonder of God in action” in the eleven months of a child’s life. Her parents and her grandparents, dear friends, and church families believe in a healing God. We believe in the directive in James about calling for the elders of the church, anointing with oil, and God healing. God heals every moment of the day whether individuals recognize His work or not. He used Dr. Lazzo and Dr. Lodge, her surgeon, and Duke’s fine children’s hospital to keep Zoe with us. She will continue to thrive and grow. As a man of God told Chris and Kate before she was born, “She will amaze with her physical abilities.”

For those who wonder or have doubts about the healing power of God, look at Zoe. There can be no other cause than God making the pre-ordained choice that this life would be lived for His glory and His purposes. Zoe is His. She was His choice and His selection. She has become a sign to those who have joined her band of prayer warriors, and they are many and faithful, that God does hear, God does answer prayer, and God does work miracles in our day.

In eleven months, Zoe has touched more lives than most of us do in a lifetime. Churches have rallied their prayer chains, groups and congregations to prayer for her. Strangers have come up to me asking if I’m Zoe’s grandma and they tell me they and their churches are praying for her. There is a faithful band of prayer warriors who are notified when there is good news and when there is bad. They rally to the side of the parents, Zoe’s grandparents, and those who love this child.

God’s people are faithful to stand in faith and hope that all will be well in time to come.

I often hear it said, “Where is the church?” “The Church is disappearing,” “The Church has lost its power.” From where I sit in the stands of real life, I see the Church in action. It is doing what it was designed to do: to testify to the world that the Savior has come. The Deliverer has come out of Zion and is living in our daily lives and ruling His world, and “by His words we are healed”. The debate about healing has raged for centuries, and this article isn’t meant to expand the debate, but the truth is God’s original design, Adam and Eve, were made whole and well. According to scripture, it is still God’s desire that His creations be healthy and He has provided supernatural healing and practicing physicians to provide wholeness to a motley group of people He loved enough to sacrifice Himself for before the foundation of the world, as we know it, was laid.

Zoe will celebrate her first birthday November 25. Dr. Lazzo just told her parents today that she was doing “fantastic.”

God gave this family a little girl with a heart like a lion and it’s healing and growing stronger every single day. All praise and glory go to our Lord and Father.

“Alas,” said Aslan, shaking his head. “It will. Things always work according to their nature. She has won her heart’s desire; she has unwearying strength and endless days like a goddess.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

Winter 2012 13

I Was Never Alone

by Lowell Shipe, Ashe County

was like.

The house I was raised in as a child now has I-95 running through it. Then, it was just a place in the country. The name of the town was Savage, Maryland, and savage is what my life Broken Family, Broken Trust

When I was five years old, my parents divorced. My mother gave me up. Mom’s new boyfriend wanted her, but he didn’t want her children, which included my three-year-old brother and me. My dad remarried my mom’s sister, and my brother and I lived with them.

My childhood was rough. My step-mom never loved me, and we were always at odds. She would plant things in my room to get me into trouble with my dad. One time she planted a cigarette butt just so she would be justified, in her mind, to beat me. My step-mother usually beat me with anything she found handy. That particular beating was with the metal part of a vacuum hose.

She blamed me for everything. She and dad had two of their own children together, so I took the blame and the beatings for the misdeeds of all four kids. My dad never took up for me. He was either in denial or just gone from home working most of the time. When I turned 17, I’d had all I could take, and I left home without graduating from high school. I was two grades behind when I joined the Navy to get away from her. I was one screwed-up kid. I was rebellious against any kind of authority because of all the oppression I’d been through all my life.

Life On The Road My time in the Navy only lasted 13 months. I trained to be an electrician but missed passing the test by only five points.

After that, I became a “Boatswain’s Mate” (or a “deck ape” as it’s commonly called). I painted the ship, worked on the rigging, and did general work. I learned a lot when I was in the army, but, due to my inability to submit to authority, I received an honorable discharge. I just couldn’t adapt to the authority structure.

After the Navy, I went to Michigan to live with a friend. I 14 Winter 2012

stayed with him and his mother for about six months. She was a real mother; she was very kind to me.

I met a young woman at a dance who told me she was pregnant, and she didn’t have anyone to marry her. I told her I would marry her, and I did. It turned out she wasn’t pregnant. It was a mess, but I’d made a commitment and I held up my end. I supported us by working several different jobs, which included a plumbing warehouse, gas station, and a department store as a stocker. We separated and then divorced a couple of years later.

I hit the road, again. I hitch-hiked around the USA but ended back in Michigan where I met and married my second wife. During the nine years we were together, we had two boys. I went back to school to be a hair dresser, and moved with my wife to Florida. But, we also ended up getting a divorce.

Meeting God On The Highway I was a mess. In the midst of all this craziness, I went riding one night on my bike as stoned could be. I stopped at a church on Dixie Highway, went in, walked up to the evangelist and decided to give my heart to the LORD. I lived the words to the song, “Just as I Am.” I know that God saves people who are a mess, who are screwed up bad. I’m living proof that God’s grace is real. People might say that God won’t save someone when they are stoned, but He saved me.

I got married again; I thought the third time would be the charm, but it wasn’t. After two years, she ran off with my good friend. After three divorces, I met another woman, and we lived together for five years. I was doing hair at the time, owned my own shop, and was doing very, very well but the woman I was with could spend money as fast as I could make it. I finally I got tired of watching her go through my money and, this time, I left.

I was pretty done with women and relationships. I just wanted to do hair, ride my Norton, enjoy my music, and be alone. It was one night, while out riding my motorcycle, that I met Susan. I stopped in to visit a friend, and Susan was there. All of us had a great evening telling jokes and just talking. Susan was divorced; her husband had left her and the children for another woman. She had known God, but the heartbreak she went through threw her for a loop, and she chose to run away from God. We began seeing each other and eventually moved into together.

Meeting God At A Campfire She was sheltered. I was a free spirit. But she was saved and brought up in church and in her heart wanted to do right by the Lord and her children. Even though I was doing wrong, I knew right. I knew God saved me that night at that church on Dixie Highway. I just didn’t have any idea how to live it.

Susan had always wanted to see Idaho so I took her. We were sitting at a campfire one night, both of us stoned, and the Lord spoke to her. He told her it was time she came back to him or more heartache was ahead, and that heartache would involve her three kids.

That night, Susan made a promise to the Lord that if He would keep her children safe, she would come back to Him and live for Him. She also told me that either we got married, or we would never see each other again. A few weeks later, we were married in a teepee in wedding clothes made from buckskin I had hand-stitched for us. I loved Susan and wanted to spend my life with her. We moved back to North Carolina, to a little farmhouse just a few miles from a small country church where we started to go on a consistent basis.

God Has A Plan As I look back, I don’t know how I could have made it if Christ had not been in my life. My story is not a sweet, precious Sunday school story. I’ve walked through miles of landmines but His hand has been on me the whole time even when I didn’t have a clue. He knew from the beginning that I would be His and how my life would be. Our pastor, Ron Drake, always says, “God has a plan.” He sure does, and I am living proof!

I’m at peace today. I thought I was alone when I was abused, when I was crazy and doing drugs, when I was going from relationship to relationship, when I searched to find where I belonged. I wasn’t alone. I never was. He carried me even when I thought I was doing it all myself. How’s that for truth?

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Becoming Hungry For God

by Becky Lycan, Avery County All Settled In It is a wonderful thing to have your life all mapped out. Of that I was convinced as a young thirty-ish woman, wife, and mom. For a number of years we had worked for and established a wonderful, stable, solid lifestyle. We were raising our three young children in a stable home, my husband, Scott, had a great job in a growing family business, and we were flourishing in a great established church which my parents and my sisters’ families all attended. We were growing as Christians, and our children were being raised in a prospering and solid community of believers. I was so thankful to God for the stability in our family life and in our faith. All was settled and resolved in our lives. We were putting down roots, and we were thankful. Other people could come and go, but we were going to be part of the local community and church for the rest of our lives. We had healthy kids, and we had everything figured out. It was great.

God Prepares In 1985 things began to change. The Holy Spirit began to introduce us to a new way of thinking and living. He was on the move in our lives, beginning a process of coming to know Him in new ways. In the spring of 1985, I started becoming aware of the fact that I didn’t really know much about the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. I was pretty solid in knowing God the Father, and I knew Jesus as my savior, yet I knew little about God’s Spirit. So, simply out of curiosity I began to study and read more about the Holy Spirit. I read The Helper, a sweet and simple daily devotional by Catherine Marshall, about the person of the Holy Spirit. It encouraged me greatly and whetted my appetite to know more about God’s Spirit. About that time, Catherine Marshall’s son, Peter Marshall Jr., was in the area speaking. As a historian, he was teaching on the worldview and faith of the nation’s founding fathers. My sister and I attended his lecture, and at the end his program he asked anyone to come forward who needed prayer. At that time I went forward and asked for more of the Holy Spirit, to understand the Holy Spirit, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I really didn’t have any terms or vocabulary to use and just asked in simple prayer. So Peter Marshall laid a hand upon my shoulder and prayed a simple prayer of request. Well, absolutely nothing happened during the prayer, and I headed for home as the meeting closed. Yet, as I got into the car I sensed that something had changed in my life and in my family. When I awoke the next day, I knew that something had indeed changed; the colors around me seemed richer and brighter, the shades of the trees and grass were deeper and sharper . Something had deepened in me that night as a result of the prayers.

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The Spirit Guides The next day I was with my three little kiddos visiting Scott’s elderly grandmother in a nursing home. The kids were wild and wound up; one of them was in a high chair, one of them was throwing food on the floor, and I think another had just spilled milk. I was beginning to unravel and about to lose control. In that very second, I heard an inner voice say, “Look up”. As I looked up I saw an elderly lady eating lunch all by herself at the neighboring table. Then the voice said, “She would love to have these children in her life, she would love to have the activity that you have in your life. Do not wish it away.” I had such a sense of conviction; that I had spoken words that wished away time with my children, time that I could never get back, that I had taken so many blessings from my Father and treated them as curses and troubles. That began a new way of thinking for me. It began a new process, a new walk with the Holy Spirit. Now, I knew that the Holy Spirit always shines a spotlight on Jesus, but I also came to know – we can all come to know – his voice and leading if I make the time to listen, to get quiet, and meet with him. He began that day to making me more hungry for himself.

Prayer Life Now I was already engaged in a Bible study and continued on in studying the Word, and God began to grow my prayer life. Sure, as a believer I was familiar with prayer, but in this new season Jesus just began to have me spend extended periods of time in prayer as I was asking, ’Lord, teach me how to pray, show me how to spend time with you. Help me find time to spend with you.’

This was the first time that I was just wonderfully, desperately hungry and thirsty for the Lord. For the next year and a half I found myself having wonderful quiet times with God. My hunger led me to get up an hour before my children woke up in the morning, and my kids were early risers. All of us who have ever lived through the experience of raising three children (all under the age of five years) know what a supernatural experience it must be to voluntarily get up an hour before they awaken. But those were the early morning hours in which Jesus was meeting with me. I was studying the scriptures one book at a time, sitting with my morning coffee and writing down anything new that I thought God wanted me to learn. I also began doing something that I’d read about, but never knew anyone who actually did it – to pray on my knees. I began spending extended times on my knees in prayer. It’s funny how such a simple thing as praying on my knees can help to humble my heart. These days were certainly humbling days, days of bustle and activity and stir, but still quiet days for my spirit.

I’d known the goodness of Jesus for over a decade, I’d known who he was and asked him to be Lord when I was a teenager. But now I was learning and experiencing what it

was to be in His very presence. The Holy Spirit was hovering over me, just as He was over the waters at creation. He was supernatural, and He was present. It was humbling, awesome, and a bit scary.

Change Is Constant As I was growing in my trust in God’s goodness and faithfulness, He was preparing me and my family for new adventures, readying us for launching into new directions.

We would have to grow and mature in our trust and faith.

One night I had a terrible dream; one in which I experienced the panic of having four little children crawling all over me. To make matters worse, in my dream my husband had left the financial stability of his business, taken our chaotic little brood away from all familial support, and begun attending ministry training. It was a bad, unsettling dream, and it took me several hours to recover after I awoke.

I was dazed for quite a while.

Well, within the next year and a half my husband had left the business behind, had enrolled in seminary for ministry training, and we had moved to a town eight hours removed from our family, and our fourth child had been born. That earlier dream became a very real source of strength from the Lord to me. Far from a bad dream, the experience was now a comfort to me, the reassurance that God knew what He was doing and that He had us in His care. He was faithful.

We were on an adventure with the Lord. I am so thankful that He had taken the time and helped me make the time to drawn in close to Him and to craft a friendship with Him. It made all the difference when our circumstances changed from settled to stirred up. This season was the beginning of a new faith walk for our family, one in which God has been always faithful in every turn of the road. In earlier days, we didn’t need faith for our walk, for it all seemed laid out before us. Since that day, it has been a walk of faith. Rich and deep.

Adventures In The Spirit In the last twenty-plus years we have lived in many places across the USA and the world, some of them inhospitable and rather dangerous. God has taken us through many changes and many challenges. He’s taken us in new directions we never could have anticipated in our finances, in ministry and in business, in diverse cultures, with our children, and in our church community life. Through it all, He has drawn us closer as a family and stronger in our love and trust of God. Every challenge has presented a new study in the faithfulness of God. It hasn’t been easy, but it has been good. And so, in 2007 the Lord brought Scott and I to the High Country of North Carolina.

I am as hungry and as thirsty for God’s presence as I was 27 years ago, with three little children at my feet. Now I am hungry and thirsty to make Him known to a new generation.

Thanks to God’s presence, His very Spirit, we are still on an adventure with God. Press into the Lord, don’t take anyone else’s word regarding a relationship with God, get to know Him. Allow Him to teach you about Himself. Allow the Holy Spirit to craft in you a friendship with God.

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My Sojourn of Faith

by Cyndi Banks, Watauga County Rector at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Boone, NC I grew up within the Episcopal tradition, and I’ve had, since youth, a strong sense of the love of God. We spoke much about Christ, but not much about Jesus, and we put a very high value on serving God and serving people. It was a great foundation upon which to build.

As a young adult, I pursued a calling into ministry and attended seminary. I carried into that experience the big questions, “What do I believe about Jesus? What do I do with the cross, and with the resurrection of Jesus?” One Sunday afternoon, I asked my seminary mentor and advisor to share his understanding about Jesus, the cross, the resurrection. For the first time in my life, someone explained all if this to me in a way that I could understand it. This set the stage for a series of events that would change my life.

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Falling In Love With Jesus Two weeks later, I got a call that my father had suffered a heart attack. It was completely unexpected and within days he died. As a twenty-six year old in crisis, I found that Jesus on that cross was the only thing I had to hang onto. Somehow, Jesus understood the pain my family and I were going through. Episcopalians can’t often point to a moment of Christian conversion—they tend to understand conversion as a lifelong process, but this was the moment of my Christian conversion.

Jesus went from being a theological construction and doctrinal truth to becoming the only one who kept me breathing.

Through the rest of my seminary experience I was one of four students who fell ‘in love with Jesus.’ We supported one another, lived and believed that all of life is a trip, a sojourn, into a deepening conversion into the things of God. We encouraged one another to see each episode of life as God’s opportunity to reveal

the sacred. That perspective and hunger remains with me today.

Life Lessons There have been times and seasons of life where God has seemed so silent, so hidden, that I’ve had to walk solely by faith. These ‘dark nights of the soul’ can be just as formative in our maturity and growth as those times in which God seems intimately close.

In these recent years, I have become so very thankful for the life lessons that God has been communicating to me and to the church fellowships which I’ve been honored to be a part of and to lead. God has given us: freedom to reach out to others, abundance, and with it a lack of anxiety or fear, and the knowledge that all humanity bears the mark of the Divine – we all carry God’s sacredness as His beloved creation.

In living together and walking as a community in Christian faith through these troubled days, I encourage folks to press through the dividedness that our culture fosters. “Where is Jesus in this?” is a great question to continually ask. In days that can become intensely political and polarizing, there are strongly held human positions on the left and on the right. But to a follower of Jesus there is also a third way, the place of seeing things the way God sees. That is where we want to be and to live as Jesus’ followers. Most often that place will be somewhere ‘outside my box’ and just beyond my own comfort zone. This is the place where the Church of Jesus is called to live from, beyond denominational limits or cultures. I really believe that.

My Experience in Ministry I moved to Boone more than eight years ago.

Originally from Louisville, KY, I received my ministry training in New York City. Upon completing my formal training within the Episcopal Church, I served four years as Assistant to the Rector with a church located in Bowling Green, KY: three of those years as a campus

pastor at Western Kentucky University. There I learned what it means to be a priest and a pastor. From my mentoring priest, I learned the centrality of “you take care of your people”. I recognized my gifting and calling into pastoral care, with the resolve and the joy of community and life together, walking with people through all the ‘stuff’ of their lives. I love this part of my ministry.

I then spent two years working in Campbellsville, KY serving as the pastoral leadership in a new church start-up – a joint effort of the Episcopal and Lutheran denominations. With a new church start-up came a new focus in having a community impact for Jesus.

Our fledgling church carried an exciting new message into the community: we were the place “Where Doubt is Welcome and Wounds are Embraced”. Biblical truths were not abandoned, but an open door was made for Jesus to minister to the uncertain, the skeptic, the unchurched, the wounded, and those on the margins of traditional churches. I learned the truth of my mentoring priest’s observation, “Faith is committed doubt—you may not be sure, but you leap anyway.” It was also here in Kentucky where I met my husband, and we began to raise our blended family together.

I next served at the Episcopal Cathedral in Louisville, KY. With the ministry organization came lots of structure, much administration, and much rubbing and scraping of people and their agendas. During my four years there, I was really pressed to continuously seek what it meant to live in community with one another. I hungered for redemptive and healthy church community.

And so I have been here at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Boone for almost nine years, and this community is a blast! I love being with a fellowship that is authentic and passionate. We are growing together in our love for Jesus and also in making room for the mystery and wonder of God. We are seeking to pray and work toward social justice.

In a day when the institutional church is being shaken to its foundations and denominational structures are collapsing, it is an exciting time to be in ministry. As our culture shifts, we get to engage people at key times in their faith walk. For some we may be the last stop before people leave the Church and to others we may be the first step into putting their faith in Christ.

Through it all, those who call themselves the Church— the Body of Christ—get to just keep walking with, and loving, Jesus.

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The World Can Be A Lonely Place

by Charles Bateman, Watauga County The world can be a lonely place. I have discovered that during my 30 years. Though I’ve always surrounded myself with friends and family, many of my years have been without God. My parents went through a messy and destructive divorce when I was 12. My father, brother, and myself moved 500 miles from Pittsburgh, PA to Raleigh. It was during the first few lonely months that I became interested in God. I really liked a girl that led me to church, which strongly encouraged me to get baptized. My baptism carried no real significance, nor altered me in any particular manner. We stopped going to church when I was 14, but I was already sinking into a pretty deep depression. Outwardly I was fine; inwardly I was a total wreck with no outlet.

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I Hit Rock Bottom Always very athletic, sports became my god and idol.

Throughout high school, sports kept me sane, despite my spiritual struggles. Sports actually led me to college, where a 3rd knee injury in 3 years tore football away from me. I was totally lost and completely devastated. All of my structure was gone. My world was totally ripped asunder.

I began to abuse drugs and alcohol. I sank into a prolonged depression. I stopped going to school, working, or caring if I lived another moment. I twice attempted suicide. I was arrested numerous times. Out of money and unwilling to work or ask for help, I began stealing to pay for food and drugs. At 19, I stole a friend of a friend’s checkbook and forged checks for groceries. I was caught and thrown in jail. I was officially at rock bottom. Yet in this moment, God was pulling me closer.

Pulling My Life Together I called my mom, and it started our reconciliation process.

My good friend picked me up on King Street when I was released, and it was the first time I remember anyone lovingly saying, “What are you doing?” He then prayed for me. He prayed for direction in my life. The next week I walked into Belk department store. I had no intention when I went there, but I felt strongly compelled to find the manager to ask for a job. I got an interview on the spot. In a few weeks, I met a beautiful, funny, intelligent girl that became the love of my life. Reflecting back, in spite of my decisions, God intervened in my life through friends and family. I wish I could say everything just ended “Happily Ever After...” but then life happened.

asked me 3 questions: “Are you a Christian?”

Sure I was.

“Do you believe in Jesus?”

Absolutely.

“Do you believe he died for your sins?”

I emphatically did not believe He died for me or forgave me.

I had never forgiven myself, because I felt I didn’t deserve forgiveness. I believed in a lie: that Jesus died I have an amazing wife, three beautiful daughters, a great job, for everyone but me. My wife told me to, “Speak Truth... living in a place that I love, a great network of friends, and I you are forgiven!” For thirty minutes I literally felt a hated myself. I’d been going through the motions of church, spiritual battle being waged in our living room. That small group, etc. for eight years. Slowly, I was building a wall became the first time I repented. I believe this is also the between God and myself. Sin would still creep into my life, moment I accepted Christ as my savior. Afterwards, I felt though it lacked some of the significance of my earlier sins, I naked, raw, but new. was slowly distancing my spirit from God. In those eight years, I don’t ever remember repenting for my sins, past or I was baptized three days later. This time it meant present. I never forgave myself for my past transgressions. something. I thought a lot about why I would share my Self-loathing, despite my outwardly stoic appearance, was testimony. I hope my story will prevent someone else consuming me from the inside out. Again, God came to me from a “rock-bottom” moment. I want the world to in a “rock-bottom” moment. know three things God has revealed in my life: Repentance is necessary.

Accepting God’s Forgiveness God provides a system for us to receive forgiveness.

God’s ready now! Are you?

January 1, 2012, my wife and I experienced a spiritual battle.

I was hiding sins from her, and she caught me. It was nothing tremendously serious, but was a turning point for us. She

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22 Winter 2012

The Mantle is Passed

by Susan Shipe, Ashe County He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan…

(2 Kings 2.13) And, so it is, the mantle fell and now I stand at the Jordan of my life looking at the enormity of it, the darkness of it, the breadth and depth of it, and the only words I have, “Now what?”

My mother, Terry Chamberlain, heard the words, “Well done good and faithful servant,” at 7:29 the morning of October 27, 2012. Escorted into the gates by her Ma, Pa, Queen Esther, and Jesus (save the criticism – we have good reason to believe this!), and, now, I stand with her mantle in my hand and the looming responsibility of becoming the next era.

I was born with generational blessings – the daughter and grand-daughter of devoted believers. My grandmother prayed every single day for my sister and I, and our seven children; Keep them from the evil one and sanctify them with Your Truth, Your Word is Truth (from John 17). As she lay on her death bed, rather than worrying about who got the family pearls she asked, “Who will pray for our little ones?”

My mother said what she meant and meant what she said – no holds barred. A “character” with a capital “C”!

And, as I stand on the banks of my Jordan River, like Elisha with Elijah’s mantle in my hand, Ma’s mantle is in mine and I see the waters rising and the current turning. Its flow has an urgency to it and I pray, as my grandmother prayed, as my mother prayed, “O Father, keep them from the evil one and sanctify them with Your Truth – for I have no greater joy than to hear that our children walk in Truth – Lord Jesus, You are Truth – there is none like You – You are more than enough.”

My mom, Terry Chamberlain, has crossed over the river, she has entered the gates – she has left her earthly post as watchman on the family wall and here on the river’s shore I lift my hands and declare, “Me, Me – I will pray – I will watch – I will be faithful to wear the mantel and one day, Lord, who will You choose to carry it forward?”

My sister and I come from a line of strong women, praying women, and now we are left with the charge to continue the legacy of praying for our children, their children, and their children’s children. We stand on the wall as intercessors crying out for our loved ones, day and night – just as our Mother did.

My “Ma”, as I called her, spent the last 10-15 years engaged in a battle – a battle for souls, healing, restoration, blessings, and anything else considered important enough to pray for. I would hear her say to an acquaintance in the aisles of Walmart, “I pray for such and such every single day.” If a reader of this magazine has ever been the hearer of those words, rest assured, she meant them. To my knowledge, she didn’t pray from a list, she prayed by the prompting of Holy Spirit, fervently and expecting answers.

My mom was also head of a ministry – a ministry of encouragement. I suspect she wrote and mailed upward of 300 notes, cards, and letters, per year. Even living on a fixed and limited income, she found the money to buy cards, pens, and stamps! I doubt there is anyone who knew her that has not at some point received a written note from Terry Chamberlain! Her big, loopy, cursive handwriting was undeniably as big and loopy as her flamboyant personality!

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26 Winter 2012

The Transforming Power of Truth

by Tammie Brettschnieder, Watauga County

place.

I had my first sip of alcohol when I was thirteen. Just one week earlier, I had knelt at the altar of my childhood church, asking God to forgive my sins, placing my wounded heart in His hands.

I believe that He saved my soul that night, but there was so much healing that had yet to take

That first sip of alcohol was followed by another, and another, until I was so intoxicated that I blacked out. Many drunken nights followed that one, and I began using alcohol to numb the pain of a dysfunctional, emotionally and physically abusive childhood. In high school, I added drugs to my dangerous cocktail of partying and alcohol. During the next seventeen years, I sank deeper and deeper into a world of hard drugs and drunken nights, attempting to snuff out my painful past. I hid my brokenness well, for the most part, and I was able to nurture a successful corporate career, in spite of my self-destructive behavior. There are so many times I should have overdosed on cocaine or died of alcohol poisoning. Looking back, I am astounded that I lived through it.

Eventually, the numbing effect of the narcotics began to fade and I started to become scared of the dangerous lifestyle I had created for myself. Then, just as I turned thirty, it all came crashing down on me. I was arrested for driving under the influence and spent the night in jail—alone in a cell with shackled hands and feet, dressed in my expensive corporate clothes. My job had recently transferred me out of state, and I had no one to call. Filled with shame, I was struck by the realization that something had to change.

Again, months and a couple of years or so later there was a snowstorm in my town, and I was trapped inside my house for an entire weekend. The previous night, I had consumed an excessive amount of alcohol and humiliated myself in front of my professional peers and their spouses. Now, all alone in that house, memories from that night began to play themselves over and over in my head. Ashamed and desperate, I had come to the end of myself.

Sunday evening, as I was flipping through channels on the television, I came across a Billy Graham special. Memories from my childhood began to surface, when – no matter how bad the fighting and abuse was – we would all stop and watch Dr. Graham on television. The bitter reminder almost caused me to change the channel, but something compelled me to keep watching. What I heard changed my life, and I got down on my knees and begged God to change me, to save me from myself.

Immediately, I went to my liquor cabinet, and pulled out all my beer, wine, and spirits. Everything went down the drain that night. As I emptied bottle after bottle down my kitchen sink, a peace took hold of me like never before. And with the help of a Christian 12-step program, I had taken my very last sip of alcohol.

From DUI To PTA My life verse is Joel 2:25, which reads “I will repay you for the

years the locusts have eaten.” In His mercy, God has given me a life that I never dreamed was possible. Just two years after that life-changing snowstorm, I married a man with a precious eight year old daughter. I went back to school to earn my master’s in professional counseling; then, as I was finishing my degree, I became pregnant with my daughter. A second child, a son, followed soon after that, and I left the workforce to become a stay-at-home mom.

For the next eleven years, I changed diapers, packed lunches, and participated in the PTA. As a full-time mom, I immersed myself in raising my children. I loved my kids, but I began to lose part of myself as I cared for the ever-present needs of my family. I had been praying about going back to work when a job opportunity as a receptionist at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church became available.

As I considered taking the job, I felt hesitant. The years I had spent out of the workforce had stripped me of my professional confidence. I felt that my only qualification was being a mother.

The influence of well-meaning Christian authors and teachers made me question whether it was right to split my focus between family and career. Was I selfishly abandoning my family to regain my sense of self? After a lot of prayer I decided to take the job, but it wasn’t long before God started nudging me to take another step. My thoughts kept returning to the master’s degree that I had earned but never used. Led by the Lord, I began working toward my licensure in the state of North Carolina, and eventually accepted an internship with the counseling ministry at Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.

God continued to affirm that He had given me certain special gifts that He wanted me to use as a professional counselor. I was grateful for this strong conviction, because it wasn’t easy to spend so much time working out of town, away from my husband and children. God continued to show me just one step at a time, and, as I followed this path, He led me back to Mt. Vernon. I had known for some time that the church was open to starting a ministry to offer professional counseling services to the community. The pastors and deacons met for approval, and I began seeing clients full-time. Now, nearly four years later, the counseling ministry has grown to include four therapists (we are currently looking for a fifth) and a professional support staff.

The Lies We Believe One of the most challenging goals as I work with clients is to help them identify the lies that the enemy has planted in their lives. Psychology textbooks call this “faulty thinking” or “negative self-talk”. I’ve used the analogy that we are running in a relay race, and the enemy is racing up behind us with the baton, chasing after us with a fistful of lies. He is saying “You’re worthless; you’re a failure; you’ll never be anything.” And as he comes alongside us and we begin to believe those lies, it’s like we grab the baton and tell him “I’ve got it from here.” We absorb those lies, and our lives begin to play them out. These are not conscious decisions; we have been blinded and fooled by the great deceiver. As a child, the enemy used the abuse and fear of my past to plant those lies in my mind. He told me that I was useless, unloved, and too broken to ever be repaired. At age 13, I took that baton from him and said, “I’ve got it from here.” For the next twenty years, I lived out the shame and self-loathing that came

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from believing those lies.

It truly took an act of God for me to break free from that bondage, and the freedom I found is a gift that was given to me so that I will share it with others. Genesis 45 recounts the story of Joseph and God’s great plan in the difficulties of his life. The enemy meant it for harm but God meant it for good. The counseling ministry at Mt. Vernon is based on God’s promise to us in John 8:32: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The Important of Therapy So many people continue to run through life clutching that baton of lies, and as those lies grow and take shape, they cause so much damage. Unchecked, they may evolve or progress into symptoms of anxiety and depression, addiction, unhealthy coping strategies as well as dysfunctional patterns of behavior. This is why therapy is so critical. I believe that it is as critical, for some people, as a dialysis machine is for someone with kidney failure. If a person’s kidneys are failing, you would be negligent if you sat by their side reading them a Bible verse expecting them to get better.

Mental health is a recognized necessity in today’s medical research and practices. Co-locations with medical personnel and mental health professionals are growing across the country as an advance of neuroscience, psychotherapy, and medicine come together to heal the mind, body, and spirit.

If a person has experienced trauma, neglect, crisis, abuse, or grief they can find great comfort from Christ our Lord in His word, with His people and in His church, but they may still be emotionally and spiritually unhealthy or stuck; unable to claim the free, abundant life Jesus promises us in His Word. Unresolved past hurts, woundedness, grief, sorrow and emotional pain can surface in the form of physical ailments and symptoms if left untreated.

More and more physicians are referring patients to mental health counselors to address issues that are not responding to traditional medicine.

As the saying goes, “You’re too blessed to be depressed.” But the truth is, we live in a fallen world, and, as a result, there are many horrible and unspeakable things that happen to both practicing and non-practicing people of faith. If we fail to address these issues in a Biblical way, we end up with people sitting in churches every Sunday with smiles on their faces and an alienating pain in their hearts. Their brokenness stays in the dark behind closed doors, hidden and secretive.

Through faith-based therapy, I am able to help people bring those deep hurts and firmly-rooted lies out into the light, where we can speak truth into them. In studying the science of the human mind, I have been amazed at how it goes hand-in-hand with God’s Word.

For every scientific principle I have learned in my training as a

28 Winter 2012

therapist, I have found its equivalent truth in Scripture. “What has been, will be again, what has been done, will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9.

In 2 Corinthians, we read that God has given us the power to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and other methods, we can help broken people receive healing and find freedom in Christ.

Our Gift Is In Our Woundedness There have been times in my life when I mourned the loss of those twenty years I spent running with that baton of lies. I felt such a sense of regret for the time I had wasted. Over and over I asked God “Why? Why did my life have to be so dark? Why did it have to last for so long?” Now as I sit with my clients, listening to their stories, I hear God whisper “This is why. I brought you through that darkness for this very reason.” I look to the cross, the place where Jesus was wounded and died. Out of his wounds flowed His greatest gift: the gift of salvation.

I believe that our gifts are also found in our woundedness. That place of pain, suffering, grief, shame, and regret is the source of the greatest gifts we have to offer. I am able to sit and talk with someone whose life is impacted by alcoholism or drug addiction, and truly understand. When I am listening to someone who has believed what the enemy whispered to them their entire life, I can identify those lies and help root them out, because I have believed many of them myself.

Looking back, I can see the beauty of God’s plan – the way He has redeemed my greatest hurts and failures and is using them to bring healing to others. There is a quote hanging in my office that reads: “Regarding your past experiences and pain, it is darkness only if you see it as darkness. Everything that has happened in your past is a part of who you are, and has been an important part of the beautiful person you are today. You are beautifully and wonderfully made, and God has a plan for you.”

That’s what this life journey is about; it is the process of sanctification. We are recovering from what the world has handed to us, and we are invited by our Creator to become more like Christ. In this world we are running a race; let’s make sure we have the baton of Truth in our hand to proclaim the manifestation of God’s promises and to pass on Truth to the next generation.

To learn more about the Counseling Ministry at Mt. Vernon, visit www.mtvernonchurch.org, click ministries, click counseling and support or call 828-266-9703 extension 993.

Winter 2012 29

God Leads, then Reveals

by Tee Gatewood, Avery County

I’ve been in Banner Elk now for four and one half years, and came here after I’d completed my doctoral studies in St. Andrews, Scotland. For years I had studied to teach theology.

During that training God began to call me into pastoral ministry. It wasn’t what I had expected, but it was a clear and consistent call. In the Presbyterian way of doing things, we put a very high value on everything being ‘decent and in good order’, and moving from becoming a professor to becoming a minister was just a big stretch and a long path. But God knew what He was doing.

In between St. Andrews and Banner Elk, we moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to serve a pastoral internship. It was just three weeks after our move – we’d not yet unpacked – when Hurricane Katrina sent 600,000 people to the city. For months, our church was immersed in providing direct aid and crisis care into a devastated city. We were a large church of 1,700 members, and we had a lot of resources that smaller churches don’t have. It was a wonderful experience to be able to see God use us on the frontlines of ministering compassion and grace.

Those were amazing and intense days. I loved the church in Baton Rouge, but from the very beginning I knew that there was a redundancy of gifts within the leadership team. I knew my gifts and service were needed elsewhere.

Called To The High Country Today in America 80% of our churches are comprised of fewer than 80 adults. My heart was to serve in a church big enough to reach outside its walls in new ventures, but small enough for the people to really care for one another. I’m originally from Georgia, and I was looking to serve in 30 Winter 2012

North Carolina. Arbor Dale Church was the fifth church I visited in my quest. It’s funny how the Lord works sometimes. The weekend of my visit coincided with a major February wind storm. Still, I knew this was the place for me. This place felt right to both my wife and me. It was a place for worshipping God, for sharing our lives with one another, and a place to grow in our faith and obedience. Part of what struck us then, and continues to bless us now, is that there is a great mix of people here: students from Lees McRae College, second home seasonal residents, retirees, and mountain people who’ve lived here for generations. I love it, and I love seeing all this mix living in community of faith that is growing together.

Like Christians everywhere, the folks at Arbor Dale are still learning how to do this life together. God is always showing us new ways in which the Gospel is working itself out in our lives. That’s the joy and the challenge of being the Church today in this place.

Seeing God At Work in Our Community God is always faithful. As I think about the future, I have a sense that there is a new window that God has opened in these days. He is working in our wider community among churches and believers to bring us slowly and lovingly to a place where we can trust Him and trust one another. To see this growing unity in Christ is a powerful thing.

That is one of the wonderful things about a small town: it is small enough in size to see change take place. I know God is moving in the High Country. I see a growing unity within His Body

here – a unity among local churches and a decreasing sense of competition. Churches are caring for other churches and are joining together to care for their communities. There are deep bonds in Jesus across the lines of differing fellowships, and I think God likes that.

As I talk about my journey, one thing always becomes clear, namely, that God is always faithful to redeem the past and open up the future. I originally came from a theologically liberal background, one in which we were deeply engaged in social causes. That was a good thing, and has had an impact on the needs in a community. Now, I am excited to be in a place and among a people who are having an impact for good in the community, but who are sharing a deep witness of the love of Jesus in their lives. We are living out a response to the Gospel of grace that Jesus has lived out for us. We are not performing to earn His favor, but living out lives of service in response to His favor. I am so glad to be in a community of faith where Christ shows up in word and in deed.

Tee Gatewood serves as pastor at Arbor Dale Presbyterian Church in Banner Elk,NC adpc.tee@gmail.com, 828-898-4628 .

Winter 2012 31

A Daily Burn

by Steve Smith,

this is where I’m supposed to be.”

When people ask me how things are going here at Crossnore School, I answer, “Things can be pretty tough here, but being centered in God’s will is always enough, and

Generation to Generation I think God has impressed upon me that He is a God of the generations. He is a generational thinker. When He instructed the Israelites to build altars, it was so that when the children – the next generation – asked, they could tell them of the Lord’s work in their midst. The Apostle Paul speaks of having spiritual sons. There is a generational perspective that is strong within God’s nature. It’s a way of thinking that I have not really seen much of within my American church experience, especially within our individualistic culture.

So, as that perspective came to the forefront of my thinking, it began to answer a lot of questions I had about the future of the church, and it really led me into youth ministry with

the idea of God grasping a hold of this young generation and His heart-desire to see the raising up of spiritual fathers for them. But, you Avery County know, youth ministry is tough. I am really not trying to be critical of the modern church, but often we have found that, due to some church culture issues, there is a lack of encouragement to raise up young people into devoted followers of Jesus. I have often heard, “We just want to keep our kids from losing interest in the church until they grow up and are able to move into the main service. We want our youth minister to teach our kids to be good citizens, good students, and to stay away from drugs and alcohol.” That is a rugged environment in which to cultivate radical devotion to Jesus. That is a tough arena and I have a world of respect for those who are able to effectively work in that environment.

The Burning God Put In Us My wife, Brenda, and I really felt that the call upon us was to follow what the apostle James talks about in James 1:27: “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” As we were pursuing what that meant for us, God began to open doors into something new. My wife knew a couple people who worked at Crossnore School, and we came to interview for positions here. We were brought on staff as house parents (the proper term is Resident Counselors), and we began the work here that has now gone on for more than four years. We’ve seen great fruit in the lives of young people, and we love it here.

After a time, I was asked to serve as Chaplain, and I agreed to do so despite some reservations. You know, often when we take on new titles we have to make very intentional action to offset the fact that people can think we do things just to fill our title’s job requirements. A title can easily lead to a bunker or silo mentality, both to the person with the title and to the people we are working with. I can begin to act a certain way because that’s how a ‘Chaplain’ should act, and that thinking is so very contrary to how, I believe, God thinks. I’d much rather be known as ‘the RC who burns for God’. But despite my misgivings about taking on the title of ‘Chaplain’, I think things are pretty well established with the staff and kids here in that regard. The Chaplaincy does give us the opportunity to communicate good doctrine. We are doing an Old Testament Survey currently during Chapel times, and that has been interesting and a lot of fun for the kids. The title of ‘Chaplain’ helps in organizing activities, programs, and prayer times, so there is an upside to the title.

Behind the title, however, is the ‘burning’ that God put in us, a sense of immediacy around the mandate from Malachi that God is, “Sending the prophet Elijah... turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.” I believe that the ‘spirit of Elijah’ is here in our midst in these days in many people and that God has something growing. He is moving strongly in reaching the ‘hearts of the children’ in that generational movement. We are working alongside Him to fulfill His commission to bring a generation back to himself.

At the heart of it all, I don’t think of the Gospel so much as a spoken thing, but as the demonstration of the Holy Spirit and power in the life of a person. I think that there are times

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along our journey with God that things are kind of simple: we see what we should do and we just do it. But it seems along with that are also times along the journey that don’t seem so simple. As we are trying to move forward, as we are responding to that central call to follow Him, God has to reveal something new or fresh to us before we can really begin to go where He wants us to go next.

A Life Laid Down Speaks For Itself God began to establish some fresh things in us as we were just moving toward this idea that God has ‘generational transfer’ on His mind, some revelations that seemed at first to be completely unrelated or disconnected. But now, we look back and see how He is fitting these things together.

One revelation was this: the thing that makes a person most powerful in their own environment and community is their very devotion to the Lord. I guess it is the difference between an ‘outreach’ mindset and a ‘dedication to God’ mindset. We found that the difference between Christianity and a charitable organization is that Christianity is the open display of an intimate relationship with God and not a zeal for doing good works. I began to see that zeal by itself, while not a bad thing, does not get us in touch with what Paul is speaking of in Ephesians of “the good works He has prepared for us before the beginning of time.” So, if God’s already got some good works figured out then a relationship with Him is the key to unlocking and finding those works.

Brenda and I are seeking to burn in our devotion to Jesus in the midst of the young people around us, sort of like Daniel and his prayers in Babylon. We are determined to grow in our relationship with Him daily, and we insist on laying our lives down daily. Then, just to live open lives in front of our kids should be enough, and we have found that to be true. It has been one the greatest spiritual experiences that we have ever had, that a life laid down for the Kingdom of God speaks for itself.

We have found that things have changed around us as we have allowed God to work in us. The change in us changes things around us. How can I help these young people? I am going to be in the midst of these kids, seeking to be saturated in the Holy Spirit continually. That should be normal and natural, and my trust is that they will then live Spirit-led lives with their own children someday.

Generational impact, one generation to another to another: that is our hope and our prayer and our assurance.

Community Is Vital We know that this cannot be done outside of community, outside of interaction with other people. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said that the Christian life cannot be lived in a vacuum, apart from other people, apart from community. It is a wonderful platform to demonstrate that truth as we live with these teenagers. Right now we have nine young women in our cottage. We get to test out the wonderful promise and the great challenge of 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and I will heal their land.” We are sold out to seeing this young generation redeem the Lord’s promise. I think He is healing the land and touching a generation right here and right now. It is really exciting.

Winter 2012 33

Our Son In Sudan

by Fran Boyette, Watauga County “I am reminded of the scripture from Proverbs 22:6, where it reads, ‘Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.’

I have three children. My oldest son, Ryan lives and serves the Lord in the Nuba Mountains of central Sudan. This area is a conflict zone with overwhelming needs and huge injustices. Just last week the Northern government of Sudan waged an attack on Ryan’s home and attempted to silence him and Jazira, his wife. They sent an attack jet over their house and dropped six bombs on their property, attempting to kill them. Thank God the bombs missed their home, and they are safe today.

Ryan has been in Sudan for nine years; most of that time with Samaritan’s Purse (SP), an international Christian relief and development organization based here in Boone. A short time ago, when the war broke out and things got really dangerous, SP pulled out of the country. Ryan, however, resigned from his job and decided to stay in-country and continue helping the local people. When he and Jazira were married, over three thousand Nubians attended their wedding. The church in Sudan is under severe persecution, but it is flourishing. Although Ryan had gone on short-term missions trips overseas in high school, neither he nor his father and I anticipated that Ryan would someday be dealing with these kinds of situations in serving the Lord.

My husband, Glenn, also worked with Samaritan’s Purse, and has just recently retired. He has served as an International Security Officer with SP, helping to keep the

34 Winter 2012

missionaries safe. So, here he is with his son not in a safe place. That can make it really hard for Glenn at times. It is hard for both Glenn and myself to be in this situation, but God gives our whole family peace on a daily basis in the matter.

Trusting The Lord With Our Children

Referring back to the Proverbs 22 verse, when we raise up our children to love and follow the Lord, we never know what that will look like when they grow up – what the Lord has in store. I have to question the Lord, and also examine myself, about what it means to have my child serve him in unexpected and radical ways as he learns to hear and follow the Lord for himself.

Would I prefer that my son not follow God and have him in the USA, closer to home, safe and secure and in a more comfortable setting? Or, can I really trust God, and give him my son afresh every day and truly trust that Ryan is pursuing God’s “highest and best” plan for him, even if it puts his life in danger? The more time I spend in the Word of God, and the more time I spend in prayer, the more I am convinced that Ryan is doing just what he is supposed to be doing, where he is supposed to be doing it. Ryan has God’s heart for the Nuba people, his extended family are now the Nuba, and his wife’s family are amazing followers of Jesus Christ. It makes a parent proud to know that our son is willing to put his life at risk to serve God.

“The Open Door” and Baby Eben I am fairly new to the High Country, having moved here from Florida. When we moved here, I didn’t know what I wanted to do for work in the area and just prayed for an open door. That is where the store’s name –“The Open Door”- came from. Ryan contacted me and suggested I open a shop and sell items to help the people of Africa, and that’s what The Open Door does from its storefront on Boone’s West King Street.

Ryan and Jazira just gave birth to their first child, Eben Ryan Boyette! Born October 3, little Eben is healthy and strong, and the family is fine. “Eben” is a biblical Hebrew name that means something akin to “God’s Rock”. Jazira’s mother delivered the baby at their home in the Nuba Mountains of central Sudan. We’ve spoken with Ryan and Jazira, and I cannot wait to hold my little grandson. Though I yearn to see Ryan, Jazira, and little Eben, Jesus always gives me peace and faith and strength to walk through this season of life.

God knows what he is doing, and I can trust him for that.”

You can follow the unfolding events in Sudan through Ryan Boyette’s efforts at .... . http://www.nubareports.org/ . http://persecutionproject.org/general/update-war-in-southkordofan/

Winter 2012 35

God Weaves Our Lives Together

by Adam and Emily Sheffield, Avery County

Adam: I probably would start my story with my first attempt at college. From the beginning, it was a pretty intense mix of drugs and alcohol. I just could not get a grip on life and continued down this spiral until I was twenty-five years old.

I tried to clean my life up, but I just could not get it done.

Finally, I was arrested twice and walked through a rehab program. I’m originally from Watauga County, and it is just hard to change your life and turn it around when you are still living with the same friends and engaged with the same community you were in when you were out of control. And that’s what I was trying to do.

Emily: I grew up in the Boone, NC area. I married when I was eighteen years old and gave birth to my two sons when I was twenty and twenty-two years old. Though it is a huge blessing to have the boys, Raylee and Carson, the early years of marriage were hard on our family. My husband and I separated, and shortly thereafter he was killed in an auto

36 Winter 2012

accident. So, I found myself a widow and a single mom at twenty-eight years old. I had no interest in starting over in a relationship; I was definitely not looking to fall in love again.

I was just hoping to keep my head above water, take care of my sons, and find a stable life. I took a job working in Human Resources at a local retirement center, Appalachian Brian Estates.

Adam: So, that’s how we met. I was looking for work after rehab, and Emily was hiring workers. Though I didn’t like my job, I somehow knew God was involved in it, so I stayed at it.

Emily: God definitely was in it. When we first started dating I can remember praying, “God, I don’t want to go through this again.” But, Adam was just what I and the boys needed – a real answer to our heart-prayers. It’s one thing to sense it, to have faith that God’s working, and such a wonderful thing to get to see how He unfolds what He’s doing.

Adam: Within a month we started dating. About six months later, we were engaged to be married. My mom was not a fan of our relationship. She kept telling me, “You can’t be taking care of someone else, especially someone with children! You are the one who needs to be taken care of!’”

But, it really was unstoppable. We both had a strong sense that as we were falling in love, there was a force greater than ourselves bringing us together. A year later we were married.

Emily: It has been so wonderful how Adam has taken on the instant family he stepped into. He’s wonderful with the boys and they love him. About a year after we were married, on the first Sunday after Christmas in 2007, we decided to visit Banner Elk Christian Fellowship. As soon as the service started I started crying, and I could not stop crying. It felt like I had just come home for the first time. Something just broke in me. We’d discovered a community of people who we could follow Jesus with. In April of 2008, Adam and I were baptized together. It is so special being part of a church body that loves us and prays for us. I love the diversity of the church. There are folks from all across the country and folks who’ve spent their whole life in Avery County. There is real community and caring. I swear I can tell when the prayer chain starts praying for our family. Adam helps out on the worship team by playing the drums. We are both really just drawn to people in the church and deepening relationships with them.

Adam: So much has been happening in these recent days.

We have a new little baby, Lucy, who’s just three months old. She tried to come six weeks early. The doctors at

Mission Hospital in Asheville put Emily on strict bed rest in the hospital for over two weeks. Things worked out fine with Lucy’s health, and Emily got some unanticipated rest. During that time I broke my elbow while skateboarding and had to have surgery. Instead of the crazy hectic time that we should have been experiencing, we ended up with a wonderful family time together. Emily had hoped for a couple weeks to shuffle schedules and catch her breath as a new mom, but instead we had six great weeks of the boys being out of school and all of us hanging out together. It was amazing how God stitched it all together for us.

Emily: Our family is learning something through all of this.

When things fall apart – and that will happen at times- we don’t worry any more. We’re learning to look back and recognize that God will carry us through it all. We are beginning to trust, to pray, and to be thankful to God – not just when things seem good, but all the time.

Adam: Even in the last month, it has been amazing how He has opened the door for me to be able to go back to college at App State. These last five years have been full of big life-changing events, unplanned and unimaginable. But God has worked them all out for our good. We are finding it so true what God says in Jeremiah 29,”I know the plans I have for you... plans for good and a future.”

Adam and Emily Sheffield live along the Watauga/Avery County line with their children Raylee, age 13yr.; Carson, age 11yr; and Lucy, age 3 months.

Winter 2012 37

38 Winter 2012

The Faithfulness of God, Even As Nations Rage

by Edward Fenske, Avery County

I was born in Cempa Celjewska, a German settlement located in Poland, in 1936, the third of eight children. In 1940, as World War II swept across Europe, my family was resettled in West Prussia, Germany. We were only permitted to take our clothes and bedding, and it was months before we settled on a farm that was in total disrepair. Through hard work and ingenuity, with an old horse and a cow, our family was able to make a new beginning. However, this was not to last, since the war was raging and the area’s stability was deteriorating.

Trying To Escape In early 1945, when I was eight years old, the Russian army began its advance into Germany, and we had to flee for our lives. Belongings were packed onto a canvas covered wagon and backpacks were sewn for each child. Then, three days prior to departure my father was drafted into the army, and our family was separated. The plan then was to reunite in the western part of Germany. All was left behind, and the women and children took a wicker basket of food, knapsacks, and the clothes, and traveled by wagon to the train station, refugees of the war. We were waiting with a throng of other refugees for a train to take us from eastern to western Germany. As the train arrived in the station the mass of refugees surged forward, pressing and shoving to get onto the already overcrowded train. My tiny little mother, all of four foot ten inches tall, feared that in the crush she would lose contact with her five small children, two of whom were still toddlers. Suddenly, a man appeared who towered head and shoulders above everyone else on the platform. Bending down, he volunteered to assist my mom. He then swept up the two infants in his arms, told me and my brother to grab a hold of his coat pockets, and this giant then waded through the crowd with all of us in his wake. He placed all the five children and our mom safely aboard the train, but when she turned to thank him for his assistance he was nowhere to be found. Our family is convinced that he was an angel of mercy sent to help us in our hour of need. Packed for days on a train crammed with wounded soldiers and frightened refugees, we were hungry for days on end as food became increasingly scarce. Because the train tracks had been bombed by the allies, the train reversed course, headed east and fourteen days later it arrived at a town near the Baltic Sea. After several weeks we finally arrived at Wiswar, a northern German town along the Baltic Sea which had not yet been overrun by the war.

my older brother took a Bible from a host family’s looted house. That Bible became our family’s mainstay of hope and support through the dark days that were to come. The anchor verses in those hard years became, “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” (Psalm 37:3-5) The Bible Was Our Source Of Comfort As the war continued, renegade German and advancing Russian troops occupied the area. There was constant danger and turmoil with soldiers spending the nights pillaging and raping. The Bible was the source of my mother’s salvation and sanity. She would bar the door at night, climb into the cranny in the chimney used to smoke meat, read the Bible, and pray. Many atrocities were committed all around us, but God was the shield and protector of the Fenske family. I remember my mother’s words, “John’s Gospel is God’s love letter to us. His Word speaks to our spirits, and that makes all the difference.” Food was scarce and I and my brothers went into the fields to scavenge for remnants of the harvest. We made rude bread and preserved it by letting the bread dry by the chimney until the loaves became hard as bricks. We would then chop off a piece and boil it in water or milk for a soup. We were blessed with nourishment, and God sustained us all.

After the winter passed we received word that Father had been reunited with other family members. They had all miraculously made their way into the western zone. Once more, God had watched over our family.

My mother determined to make another attempt to take us children west. She secured the proper papers and we boarded a train, which, after many days, dropped us near the border. We walked to the border crossing and began our wait. Since the border was only open for two hours a day, there were many, many people waiting ahead of us. It was very difficult for the younger children to walk quickly, but we were able to get across the border just before the gates closed. Immediately, the Red Cross aided the family and soon Father and Mother were reunited. God had brought us through a trying two-year ordeal of separation.

Once, I was trapped in a huge snow drift as winter set in. As a result, I became ill with rheumatic fever and was sick for a

Later in the year, as the Red Army advanced through Wiswar,

Winter 2012 39

very long time. The local doctor traveled weekly from village to village by horse and wagon since gasoline was rationed.

Through his insistence, I was taken to a town thirty miles away and hospitalized for the next six months. The disease damaged two of my heart valves but I made a slow, steady recovery. God was watching over me.

Moving To America The family decided that we should immigrate to America, and Lutheran World Federation accepted us as candidates.

Since we were such a large family, we waited nearly two years for a sponsor. A Swedish couple living in Illinois finally sponsored us, paying for our travel expenses in exchange for a year’s indentured service on the farm. We all worked on the farm for two years, the children coming to consider the host family as our grandparents over the years, before we moved to Chicago. I graduated from high school and began junior college.

It was during this time of young manhood that I realized my need for a living relationship with Jesus Christ, and I accepted Him as Lord and Savior. I remembered my mother’s words, “Christ is the one who changes our lives.” I recognized that God had a call on my life and went to Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, Canada. My intent was to become a missionary, but my heart condition prevented my acceptance by the mission board. After graduation, I returned to the United States and continued my education at Columbia Bible College in Columbia, South Carolina and then at Trinity Bible College in Clearwater, Florida.

God Remains Faithful While in Florida I met my wife, Julie. The Lord told her immediately upon her seeing me for the first time that I was to be her husband. When Julie learned of the seriousness of my heart condition, she prayed for my healing and told God that she did not want to become a young widow. God then gave her the promise that He would keep me in good health.

We were married in 1967, after my graduation. God blessed us with three sons and a daughter. My heart condition never interfered with any activity I have decided to pursue. The diseased heart valves were replaced with mechanical valves in 1982, but I contracted hepatitis C from one of the operation’s blood transfusions. Still, through it all, I’ve remained ‘in health’ just as God promised Julie. I have never had a sense of being ‘sick’, nor have I been hindered in any way from any path that God has put before me.

To support our growing family, I’ve worked during the week as a cabinet maker, a plumber, and for the local parks department. I’ve also always been very actively engaged in ministry for the Lord. I have spent years ministering on the docks of the Port of Tampa, bringing deck hands to bi-lingual services to hear the Gospel. I have taught Sunday school classes and mentored groups conducting church services at nursing homes and hospitals. I’ve served as youth pastor and as associate pastor at churches throughout the Tampa, Florida area. I want to always be available to help build, repair, and fix anything. I’m always ready to visit, listen, and pray with anyone who has spiritual needs. My life and my history is a living testament to the loving faithfulness of God across the years.

40 Winter 2012

Winter 2012 41

Jesus is My Life

by Chuck Hart, Ashe County being saved. It’s that they won’t admit they are lost; they haven’t turned their lives over to Jesus and put Him first.

When I was young, my family, originally from Ashe County, moved to Maryland.

We went to church before we left but after we got back, we just never started going again. I got a job at Ashe County Cheese, and one of my co-workers, Mike Parsons, invited me to a revival at his church, Tuckerdale Baptist. I went.

Rev. Billy Joe Blevins was preaching that Friday night. Even though I had gone to church some, I knew I wasn’t a Christian. I always believed in Jesus but had never been born again.

I was saved that night and, sometime later, I was baptized by Tuckerdale’s pastor, Rev. Lloyd Day. There is a creek that runs along the edge of the church yard, and I was baptized in it.

Tuckerdale is where I attend when I can.

Working in the produce department of Walmart in West Jefferson, there aren’t many Sundays off.

People Are Watching Christians People are watching those who say they are Christians, and they are turned off.

Someone once told me they weren’t welcome in a church because they had a tattoo. The man who said it to me was as nice a man as I’ve ever known.

Church isn’t supposed to be that way.

Going to church doesn’t save a person, but it is a good start. To be honest, it’s not a tattoo that keeps people from

42 Winter 2012

More people are interested in going fishing, baseball games and other activities before going to church. As the Bible says, “the natural man doesn’t desire the things of God”. They can’t.

There is a spiritual world and a physical world. I know from my own experience and what the Bible teaches that we battle between serving Jesus and serving ourselves.

I Want People To See God In Me My greatest desire is for people to see God in me and to do the best job I can do in place that I’m in because I know people are watching. Even children know when someone is kind and patient as Jesus is. So many people I talk to are into things where evil forces are stronger than good. They are consumed with them, but God is not in their lives. I’m praying for many people who need God more than they realize. I didn’t realize that I needed Jesus either, so I know where these people are.

If Jesus hadn’t saved me, there is no telling where I might be. I used to have a very bad temper. I didn’t look for trouble but if anyone said something to me, I’d go off. Since Jesus changed me, I let things like that just go by. We don’t know what people are going through and why they say and do the things they do. So, I pray for them instead.

A message my pastor has preached

many times is the need to forgive. God is helping me live a life of forgiving others because Jesus forgave me. Pride can be a hindrance to being a forgiving person.

The Bible tells us that if we don’t forgive, our prayers won’t be answered. How can we not forgive when we’ve been forgiven so much?

People try to do things their way. I did. I went where I wanted to go and did the things I wanted to do. But God showed me that life has to be done His way, not mine. God must be first before everything else. Jesus paid the ultimate price on the cross and my life is now His. Salvation can’t be earned. It was Jesus dying on the cross that made salvation possible for me and anyone else who asks Him to be their Savior.

He Saved Me To Have A Purpose In This Life As Christians, our work here on earth is to tell others that Jesus Christ provides eternal life. He gave His life on earth, so we could live our lives in heaven with Him. I learned, after being saved, that just going to church is not it. A relationship with Jesus is on a one-onone basis. It’s not about being in a particular denomination. It’s about Jesus Christ and what God, His Father, sent Him here to do. He opened my “spiritual” eyes that I needed Him. He did that on that Friday night at Tuckerdale Baptist.

He saved me to have a purpose as I live this life.

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Getting the Word Out

by Jan Caddell, Ashe County Owner of 580 WKSK I grew up in South Carolina in a mixed faith household; my mom was a Baptist and my dad was a Mormon. My first real faith experience came when I was eleven years old. I attended a church summer camp and during that time I was baptized. Though there was a bit of pressure from campmates and staff, it was a really significant experience for me. The image of committing my life to God through the act of being baptized in the creek will always remain with me; I felt so good about it.

Later, at twenty-years-old, I married my wife, who was involved in the Methodist church. Because my parents had gone to different churches, I resolved long ago that I would make a commitment to my wife’s local church community, and that resolve has held for the last fifty-two years. I remember her pastor asking me if I’d been baptized. I said I sure had, but if he wanted to ‘sprinkle’ me – as the Methodists like to do – well, that was okay with me. I was baptized then in the Methodist traditional way. I am now seventy-two and I am so thankful for the local church’s role in my life and in my community.

Living Out Faith Through Community I’ve been in radio since I was thirteen years old. My father was part-owner in a radio station in Harrisville, SC, and he allowed me to speak on-air as soon as adolescence deepened my voice.

My dad and I always planned on working the station together when I grew up, but then he died at the early age of forty-two before the plan could be completed. Still, I’d had been bitten by the radio “bug”, and in 1968 I joined a station team in Ashe County whose owner was looking to transition out of ownership.

In the next years I worked hard at the business and began to move into an ownership position. Owning 580 WKSK has been the fulfillment of both mine and my wife’s dreams. It has allowed us to help do many of the good things in the community that we’ve always wanted to do. These are some of our best memories over the years.

I’ve now been in the radio business for fifty-nine years, and it is important to me to live in such a way that my faith blends into a life of action and community impact. My faith has always been so important to me. Some people like to talk about how we should live our faith, but I really think it is important to show people how to live by our actions. My maxim is to truly ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ I hope that I really can live my life in such a way. I try to craft my life after my aunt, who was a real hero to me. She was a great example and I admired her so much; she was always helping other people. I’m not saying I’m the greatest person, but I do want to live that way.

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And you know, there are lots of others who strive to live that life of faith also.

The importance of community runs strongly through my life and my work. As the owner of WKSK radio in West Jefferson, I make room each morning to speak on-air with people from throughout the community. The arts, county government, schools, the Chamber of Commerce, and numerous non-profit organizations use this time to inform people of community affairs and to promote local activities. The program has been airing since 1968.

It’s my favorite time of the day.

This is such a great community, and the station has allowed us to help others and really help worthy causes in the local area.

Currently we are partnering with a local bank, Life Store, to raise money to pay off the outstanding debt on the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) transport van. This van is needed to carry any veteran (not just the disabled or aging) to the hospital. This gives me a ‘warm feeling’ about being a help, because veterans have given so much in service to all of us.

A Community Can Make A Difference One of my favorite memories from WKSK is from back in the 1970s. We heard of a young man in the community who was in need of a new kidney. He was desperate for the funds for the transplant operation. The Ashe Baptist Association contacted us to see if we could help. We held an all-day fundraiser and made the need known across the airwaves and were amazed at the outpouring of support. Within a very short time people pledged over $25,000. We even found that some people called in multiple times throughout the day, increasing their pledge with each call. Even more amazing is the fact that everyone involved actually fulfilled their pledges and deposited their donations in the old Northwestern Bank, and all the funds were raised within two weeks. The young man received a successful operation and moved on into a full and long life in the community. That was probably the clearest example of how radio can really have a positive impact in a community of good people. We don’t try to show off or polish the truth. We strive to always tell the truth and to ‘tell it like it is”. Our station is a good vehicle for good folks to share good news and grow good causes.

I don’t want to seem boastful or prideful as I share this story, but I am proud of my community and proud of WKSK radio station’s role within the community. I hope folks can see a flow and an interconnection between my life, my work, my faith, and my love of good works and the good people within the High Country.

If you like this publication, please thank & patronize these sponsors!

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