We’ve recently received these encouraging words in the mail from those viewing our Sunday Service and Living as Free TV broadcasts.
Dear Pastor Tim,
… I am currently incarcerated in New Lisbon, Wisconsin. I’m actually from Menomonie, though. In 2008, I actually visited Jesus Fellowship of Believers a couple of times… I’d called myself a Christian for years, but really wasn’t living it. I liked the idea of Jesus but was clinging tightly to my secret sins. I was very convicted by your preaching, but I wasn’t ready to give up myself for the truth. I found a church that delivered a feel-good message and I continued to live my life trying to be a Christian and chase after strange flesh and indulge in an addiction to pornography. Your words on the days I visited JFB stuck with me for years. You said, “Going to church makes you as much a Christian as going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger.” I was really good at going to church, but I was a terrible Christian if one at all…
…Recently, our institution upgraded our TV antennae and I found your service on the CW on Sunday morning. I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing you preach again, be “fed” by the JFB service, and get a little taste of home. I just wanted to give you my brief testimony and thank you for making the service available on TV. It’s a joy to be a part of the JFB congregation, even if it’s just through the TV. If Menomonie winds up being my home again after my release, I intend to make JFB my permanent church home. Until then, I’ll continue to enjoy the service on TV; at least for the next 3 years while I’m still in Wisconsin.
Thanks again and God bless! New Lisbon Correctional Institution
My little Bible study group and I watch your service every Sunday morning at 10:00 A.M. on “the CW”—we love it!
Thanks and God bless! Stanley Correctional Inst.
I was intrigued by your sermons while I was battling a horrendous addiction to drugs back in 2009 or so. I am intrigued by them 8 years into a prison sentence. Strange thing is, I’m not a Christian. Maybe it’s your killer style, or beard, or amazing skullet. Maybe it’s ‘cause your commercial says you don’t care who I was yesterday, only who I am today.
Sincerely, Prairie du Chien Correctional
To Whom it May Concern,
I am a man on a mission to change my life for the better….Most of my troubles in life stem from a 25-year addiction to drugs. While I was in Dunn County waiting for court I happened to come across Issue 73 Feb-April 2018 of Word on the Street. The stories and art inside helped me a lot as reading and art are a big part of my life.
I am going through a difficult time in life but I know that with diligence and strength thru prayer and my personal relationship with the Lord I will achieve the goals I have set for myself.
Thanks…Chippewa County Jail
Dear Pastor Tim,
… I am an inmate of Prairie du Chien Correctional Institution. This morning I watched your TV service JF Believers on channel 19.2 the CW. Normally I do not watch “church on TV.” I have been a sorry excuse for a believer for most of my life. I watched your sermon and it resonated with me. You talked about escaping the traps of spiritual childhood. And I was convicted when you stated that many people accept the free gift of salvation but they didn’t want to accept the work and responsibility of their sanctification, their growth as a Christian. I have been that person. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he died and rose again to atone for my sin but I’ve never gone much beyond that, and because of that my life has been kind of a train wreck. I’m tired of that. Recently I have been taking a more active role in my relationship with God. Setting aside time for prayer and time to read my Bible. I believe I am seeing more depth and more of a sense of God’s presence. I’m trying to be more obedient, to be a “doer of the word not just a hearer”…
…I don’t know what the point of this letter was but I wanted to say thank you for encouraging me to be more than a “Peter-Pan” Christian and to take an active role in my sanctification as a grateful loving response to God’s gift of salvation. I would ask that you pray for me and I think that I will continue to watch your Sunday program. Thank you again for your program. I wanted you to know it impacted me. Thank you for your time and prayers.
Yours In Christ, Prairie du Chien Correctional
Pastor Tim and JF Believers Church,
…I am an inmate and have been incarcerated for, well, it will be five years February 18th and I happened across your service one Sunday morning and the services have become a bright spot in this dark place. And to my surprise, I am not the only one who looks forward to your services. The unapologetic way you preach the word is so refreshing. The hard-hitting truths of the Bible are what I need in my life and what all followers of Christ need. For far too long I have been lulled to a place of complacency. Well really I have been lulled to sleep and have been sleepwalking for 36 years of my life and it wasn’t till October 4th, 2020 which beautifully is my mother’s birthday she is a woman who loves God with all her heart and has been praying for me my whole life. But that Sunday morning you were preaching about Peter being called out of the boat and onto the water and you said, “Sadly, Christian, this is where most Christians will bow out” and those words cut me deep and I said to God, “Please don’t ever let that be me” and to give me the courage to step out of the safety of my boat and onto the raging waves. And I can’t explain what happened next and I know I don’t need to but shook me to my core and I knew what I had to do. …And just so you know, the light of Christ you are shining is reaching into this dark place and is reaching the dark and cold hearts of this prison so thank you for your obedience to our father and I pray God blesses you, your family, and your church.
With love, Stanley Correctional Institution.
Dear Living as Free Chaplaincy,
I’ve been watching your ministry on television for a few months now (it’s moved me spiritually I must say). I’m not sure what the minister’s name is (light brown hair and beard and slightly bald) but his message is so good and powerful. I just want to thank him and Chaplain Ryan’s message to explain further. Awesome. I’m from Minnesota, 59 years old. In my twenties, I tried to be a good Christian. Circumstances were bad. …Sunday’s message February 8, 2021, moved me enough to write you. Because I am not only for myself in Christ-like you say it’s we go and give of ourselves…I just want you to know I’ve been watching church on T.V. a lot since the pandemic. And for many, many years. And your message is the most powerful and able for young to learn as old that I’ve ever known. Thank you, thank you…
I love your ministry. Utica, Minnesota