My Personal Testimony

I'm grateful for the assurance of eternal life Jesus has given me, because I know I'm a sinner and have no way to save myself. There is no way we can achieve the standard of righteousness a Holy God requires, but by faith we can accept God's forgiveness for our sins and receive Christ' righteousness as a free gift, plus the removal of our sins - as far as the east is from the west. We don't deserve this and there's nothing we can do to earn it - its God's grace given freely to those who trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins and God raised Him from the dead to prove the acceptance of His shed blood for the sins of the world and for me. God called me to salvation in Jesus' name, gave me the gift of faith, and enabled me to believe, which I did when I was about 10 years old. My parents and I were at a summer revival in our country church, when at the end of the sermon and the invitation was given, I heard the Holy Spirit call my name, "Billy Tom". I walked down the aisle that night and gave my heart to Jesus and was later baptized! God's word, the Bible, reveals God's will for my life and gives me the assurance I will live with Him forever in heaven

All the way through my life I can now see God's blessing and protection, though I sometimes didn't recognize it at the time. And this is in spite of sins and mistakes I have made at different times - He has never left or forsaken me. And He has always forgiven me when I have confessed those sins and tried to correct the mistakes. He has guided me my whole life, though sometime I was immature in my faith - I am thankful for His patience. He even led me to make a major career change which proved to be one of the blessings of my life, though I struggled with the decision at the time. While Margaret and our two young children and I lived in Yazoo City, MS and I worked at Mississippi Chemical Corporation, I begin to deal with the question of whether God was calling me to change directions with my career. I worked for the president and founder of the company and had what seemed to be a bright future. I prayed that if God would open and close doors for me, I would follow the open doors and do what the Lord was leading me to do. I resigned from Mississippi Chemical and accepted what proved to be a dead end position at another company. However, at that company I met a man who told me about Mid-South Bible College in Memphis, TN and that the college needed a CFO. I went to Memphis and met with the president and my conclusion was I certainly didn't want to do that. However, as other opportunities closed one by one and others seemed too far out (like being a missionary bush pilot in Liberia in Africa), I then realized that God was closing doors and had left open the door to the small Christian college in Memphis. After some struggles with the decision I accepted the position and we moved to Memphis in April 1970. That decision proved to be one of the milestones of my life and one through which God has used to fashion my life and growth as a Christian based on the gifts He has given me.

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