Miracle of New Birth - Jamie Powell's Story

How does one explain new birth in Christ? New birth in Christ starts with an accurate account of events in our lives. A testimonial I suppose. It overwhelms me when I look back, compare, and contrast my life before and after I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Hindsight is 20/20, and as far as my life and the new birth that has only come from Christ, I see oh so clearly. You see, to get an accurate picture of my life before Christ, I must take you back.

I grew up in a home where I was physically and mentally abused by my parents, as well as sexually abused by a family member at a very young age. My parents use to beat me with fishing poles, curtain rods, broom handles, or anything within reach. A few times, only after leaving bruises, my mother and stepfather resorted to using the cardboard rods off of hangers to beat me on the bottoms of my feet, so it would not leave any visible bruises. It was made very clear to me by them that I would never amount to anything in life, and that I was the ugliest kid they knew. I remember sometimes crying, wishing they would die, or someone would come and just take them away. All of this developed in me a knack for lying. A trait that would stay with me well into my late 20’s. 

At the age of 13, my stepfather took his life. I remember running out and finding him laying there and being so hurt and sad. It is funny how the mind works because I was devastated that he was gone. Somewhere in my mind at 13, I loved and missed my stepdad. I guess it’s because he was the only father I knew and now he was gone. 

After his death, my mother became a raging alcoholic and all of the mental and physical abuse was compounded with her alcoholism. Not to mention, I was entering the rebellious stage of my teens. At the age of 16, she and I got into an argument, and she punched me right in the face. I told her if she did it again, that I was out of there. She did. I left and never went back. 

Now here is where God brought my best friend’s family to my rescue. They took me in, loved me, and raised me from that moment on. They helped build confidence and self-worth in my life. Now with my newfound confidence and self-worth, coupled with my knack for lying, I began to hang out with a rowdy group of friends. Our favorite past time was stealing. If it had worth, we would take it. We did all of this from the age of 13 to 17. At 17, we stopped because we knew that if we were caught, we could do real time in prison. We wanted no part of that.

The mentality that comes with being a thief and a liar is one of great selfishness and a sense of entitlement. This reckless thought process, along with immaturity, would lead to getting married and starting a family at the age of 19. Only to leave them to pursue years of selfish and reckless desires. I set out to chase money, women, cars, homes, and everything of this world that I thought I had to have to make me happy. 

In 2006, in the middle of a godless relationship, I found myself sitting in a gymnasium at a church called Gateway. The pastor was preaching a message that was all about my life, and he was looking right at me. A few weeks passed before I went back to Gateway. Again that pastor was talking about my mess of a life, looking right at me. It was right then that God began to use this pastor to speak to me. You see, not only was the pastor talking to me and condemning me, but also he was telling me where I could go to find redemption from my past. He said to the church “if you haven’t asked Christ into your life and you want to know what that’s all about, I would love to have that conversation with you.” Sitting there, I knew something was stirring in my heart, but I could not find the strength to go have that conversation because I knew that I would have to make some big changes in my life.

One sermon in particular he said, “Sometimes doing the right thing and following Christ means we have to leave other people in our lives behind, and sometimes those people are friends, family, or even loved ones.” That message spoke to my life. God stirred in me the need to make that change: a change to cut myself free from someone in my life, make a change, and commit to follow Christ. I called that pastor, went, had that conversation, and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. 

Now here comes the good part, here comes the new birth. You see, God has begun a work in me that in no way I could do myself. He has shown me a new way of thinking and living, not for myself but for Him. He has led me on two mission trips to a land and a people that I have come to love. He has welcomed me into a church family that can only be described as the body of Christ. He has given me a desire to seek Him out and understand Him even more through Theology classes and whatever God based teachings that I can find. He has given me a Godly woman to be my wife. He has redeemed me and brought salvation to my life. New birth brings the understanding of my identity in Christ, and I now know who I am: 

I am a damndable wretch, who has been shown mercy, love, and grace – all of which I do not deserve – in spite of a life that only deserves death. God has given me gifts of evangelism, missions, and teaching so that I can be His hands and feet and be a part of the body of Christ. Salvation and redemption have come to this life that once was dead to sin because of the love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now that is a new birth.

Miracle of Healing - Jason & Nicolle Hays Story

In 2007, after being married 2 years, we decided to start a family. After a year of trying, we sought medical help. Fertility challenges were discovered. Surgery and treatments started. Each month that passed with no pregnancy brought heartache and pain. Friends and family announced pregnancies – one after another. Each announcement felt like being punched in the gut. It became painful even to come to church – it seemed like babies were everywhere in the service. Anger at God for allowing this to happen to us, started to creep in.

 

During the second year of hoping for a child, the anger towards God became front and center in our lives. The temptation to turn from God was great. Why were we experiencing this horrible pain, when we’d tried our best to live for Him? Looking back now, we can see Satan at work.  The enemy would have loved for our infertility to drag us away from God. Nicolle would cry herself to sleep, while Jason begged God to provide a child and take away this pain. Yet, no matter how far we tried to run from God, worship songs would go through our minds during our sadness and Bible verses would pop up everywhere. Proverbs 3:5-6 became our mantra, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will make your paths straight.”

We took a break from trying to build a family and concentrated on healing our hearts and learning to enjoy life once again.  We found encouragement and support through Life Groups and others at Gateway who had struggled with infertility. 

On Nicolle’s birthday in 2010, after learning that our last fertility treatment had failed, we received four pregnancy announcements. One of those was Jason’s sister, who was not in a good situation. We felt knocked down with pain. We were prepared for a child, but God instead chose to give that blessing to many others.  We chose to start the adoption process.

Jason’s sister went into premature labor. Two days after baby Kayla’s birth, it became evident that Jason’s sister was very ill. She couldn’t care for the baby in NICU. The baby’s father was mentally unstable and unable as well. We were named Power of Attorney and began daily visits. Plans were made to discharge Kayla to us on November 5. The next day, we received a call that Jason’s sister had suffered a heart attack. We raced to the hospital. But she was already gone. Jason’s grief was indescribable. He had already lost a brother as a child. Now his sister was gone too. 

In this grief, we brought baby Kayla home the next day. Kayla’s father made the decision to allow us to adopt her. In the face of overwhelming grief, there was great joy!  A week later, just days before our court date, her father changed his mind. There are no words to describe the pain we felt. But now, instead of turning from God, we clung to Him. We bowed at the foot of the cross and begged Him to HEAL the wounds left from this devastating ordeal. We slowly HEALED. Every phone call, every card, every invitation to go for a boat ride or come to dinner was like a stitch to sew up our wounds. We found purpose, as God led us to join with three other couples, to host the first ever Kansas City Infertility Awareness Event. 

 

In April of 2011, we received a phone call from a birth-mother who had been referred to us by a friend. She wanted us to parent her child. We were scared of heartbreak once again. Joshua 1:9 became our new mantra:  “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged for the Lord God will be with you wherever you go.” ...On June 6, we were called to the hospital…to meet our son…Tucker.   

You can see our miracle son in this video that our dear friend made, along with quotes from emails that Nicolle sent along the journey... 

 

Our first night home from the hospital, as we set on our couch, after celebrating with our family and friends, we understood what it means to say God’s plans are perfect. Every deep wound leaves a scar. And we will always bear scars from our battle with infertility, from losing Jason’s sister so suddenly, from thinking Kayla was ours to having her ripped from our family...

YET – Psalm 147:3 says, “God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Our story is proof of this. Every time we look into the beautiful blue eyes of our son, Tucker, and he flashes us a grin, we praise God and know that our wounds from infertility have truly been HEALED. 

Our God still performs miracles of healing. We are living proof!

Miracle of Strength - Nick Ingoldsby

I have seen God give me strength over the last year through Gateway’s Mercy Ministry…

By Nick Ingoldsby

God has used Gateway and the people around me, to give me and my family strength. To help you understand the whole story, let me give you a picture of where I was and where I am today. I am 24 years old with a wife and two girls. I own a business in St. Louis and another in Kansas City. When we started coming to Gateway, we were $50,000 in debt because of stupid decisions. In the two years we’ve been going to Gateway, we added another $10,000. Putting us at a total of $60,000 in debt. We were getting calls from debt collectors daily and hiding vehicles from repo people. I was working 70-100 hours a week and my wife had a full time job, as well. 

Because of the hours we both worked, we rarely had time to spend as a family. This didn’t make for a very strong relationship with my wife or two girls. My wife was feeling like a single mother. And no matter how much I love my two girls, when daddy’s not around, it hurts our relationship and I know that can have long term effects on them. I felt like I was constantly struggling to have a good marriage, healthy relationship with my kids, and stable finances. This is what was on my mind 24/7. Yet, I wasn’t getting very far.

A little over 2 years ago, Gateway offered the Dave Ramsey program to help people get out of debt.  Mike and Susan Stiles offered to be our financial coaches. Now at the time, I didn’t want to do this because I didn’t want anyone else’s help, someone telling me what to do, or anybody thinking that their way was better than mine.  But that’s what God gave me a better half for. So my wife told me that we were doing it and signed us up.  We went to the classes every week and met with the Stiles once a month.  After a year of doing our finances the way the classes were showing us and following the outline that Mike and Suzi created, we paid off $25,000! This was a huge relief and it felt great!  

Around this time, Ian Davis told my wife and me that the Mercy Ministry Leadership Team had been praying about who God wanted to be in the MM house, and they wanted to offer OUR family this opportunity. Now in order to do this, we would have to walk in covenant. Part of the covenant relationship meant that while MM offered time in the house and people to walk alongside us, we would need to meet with people on a regular basis. Anna and I would need to meet monthly with Meagan Farber and a mentor. I would need to meet with other business owners in the church about my business. And this is on top of the fact that we still had to meet every month with Mike and Suzi regarding finances. It was hard enough being held accountable in that one area, but now they wanted to bring people into every part of my life to hold me accountable. Once again my problem was that I didn’t want anyone else’s help. I’ve always done everything myself. I always thought asking for help was a sign of weakness. I was too prideful to ask for anyone’s help or to take any help that was offered to me. Plus I didn’t want anyone telling me what to do. I’ve always done stuff my way and I didn’t want other people thinking that their way was better than mine.  

 So I told Ian that I would rather not move into the house. Ian asked me to at least pray about it.  Well, while I was saying no, my wife was saying yes. Over the next month or two we met with more people like Meagan, Scott Sterling, Ian Davis, Ray and Christi Valdivia, and Suzi and Mike to see what they thought about the opportunity. They ALL said that they prayed about it, and they ALL thought that God wanted us to move forward. When people that are far in their walk with God are saying this, it makes you feel like God is putting all the signs right in front of you. So, even though at this time I still didn’t want to do it, I said to myself, “It would only be for a year and a year passes fast.  So for that year I would let go of the control, swallow my pride, be a turtle on the fence post, and see where these people put me.”

So we moved into the MM house, and we began to meet with Meagan. After a few meetings, I realized that it wasn’t so bad, and I actually enjoyed our meetings.  It was nice to have someone to talk to about what was going on in our lives. MM set me up with Colby Lalli for my mentor. It’s been nice to have another guy I can talk to about just anything. For my business, I meet on a regular basis with Kelly Guier, Larry Thurn, and Scott Sterling. Every meeting has helped so much. We talk about our businesses: the things that they have done, things that have happened in their businesses, and the effects business can have on the family. These guys share insights that help not only in my business, but in my relationship with my family and how to have a good balance between the two –which I now see that balancing my family and business has made me much more productive in both areas. 

Last summer, Ray and Christi invited us on a family vacation. I took my work with me, fully prepared to make phone calls and get some things done. But once we got down there, I remembered Kelly Guier’s advice about separating work and family time. I decided not to spend any time working or on the phone. I dedicated myself 100% to my family. When I came back, I didn’t feel behind. I felt completely recharged. I actually got more work done that first week we got back, than I would have in three weeks before. Now, when I come home from work in the evening, I am 100% with my family. On weekends, I am 100% with my family. Having quality time with my family actually recharges me and makes me more productive during the day with work. This is building strength in my family and in my business.

The funny thing is that when I meet with all of these people, it’s the smallest things that they say that have a huge impact on my thinking process. I was dreading having to meet with every single one of them, but I have ended up truly enjoying meeting and talking with ALL of these people and they have ALL made a difference in my life for the better. In fact, ALL of the turning points in my life in the last couple of years, we owe to God, for stirring the hearts of people around us to make them possible – for using them to help me be stronger…

So where I am now? Well, I don’t travel to St. Louis as often because I have hired someone dependable to oversee the business there. I am almost ready to hire another employee in KC. I have accomplished more in the last year with my business, than I did my first five years of business. Our debt has gone from $60,000.00 to under $10,000.00. I am home most nights and get to spend time with my wife and two daughters. God has given me STRENGTH. He did this by choosing to stir some people’s hearts and using other people’s gifts in our church to help us. I now have more STRENGTH than I ever did in my marriage, with my kids, concerning our finances, and in my business because God gave me enough humility to open my mind to listen to other people’s stories and advice. I, Nick Ingoldsby, am a living testimony that our God is a God who gives miraculous STRENGTH.

Miracle of Deliverance - Dennis Clements Story

Check out this video to experience again, or for the first time, the story of Dennis Clements and of a modern day miracle of deliverance by our God.

Miracles

Miracles make your heart beat faster than seeing your first 10-point buck in bow hunting season! And most red blooded human beings long to see miracles in life and will remember each miracle they see.

Remember the "miracle on ice" when the USA hockey team upset the heavily-favored and hated Soviet Union hockey team in the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. The USA team went on to win the gold medal that year.

Remember the classic Christmas season movie "Miracle on 34th Street."

Miracles can be defined as acts that can only be explained by the activity of God. The Bible is as full of miracles as a southern redneck at an all-you-can-eat catfish and hushpuppy buffet. For example, there is the creation story in Genesis that states, "God said; it was so; and it was good." There is the classic miracle of God parting the Red Sea through the obedience of Moses. There is Jesus feeding 5000 people with the equivalent of a Oscar Mayer Lunchable. There is Jesus ruining Satan's victory party by rising from the dead on what we celebrate as Easter.

Miracles have not only happened in the lives of the Bible people, but God has worked miracles in my personal life. The miracle of my new birth in Christ only because of God's grace, not by my works. The miracle of God providing hundreds of dollars for me to complete my college degree. The birth miracle of my three children.

In the coming days, I will join the incredible people of Gateway Church in asking God to reveal His miraculous works to our church, city, nation, and world. Personally, I am asking God to reveal the miraculous in my battle with cancer and I will share those works of God as I see them. Also, I encourage you to blog and share the miracles God will reveal to you between now and Easter.

Joey Butler
Isaiah 40:31