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Testimony of Brother Larry Lafferty I grew up in a semi-religious family. We went to church, attended Sunday School and some time even discussed the Bible at home. I heard occasionally true preaching of salvation completely on the merit of Christ. When I was eight years old I was in a service where the preacher emphasized the punishments of hell. The sermon focused on the escape of this place was simply the "sinners prayer and everything would be fine". This lead to a false profession in my life at that time. I did not understand my depraved nature, I did not see myself as hopeless and helpless, it was simply a method to avoid the anguish of hell. In the years to come this false, untrue and emotional encounter would cause difficulties when the Lord genuinely began to convict me of sin.
When I was twelve I was attending a vacation Bible school, and from the
very beginning of that week, the atmosphere was more than child
entertainment. The preacher and teachers were true to the
word of God and the Lord blessed their teaching with the Holy Spirit
and for the first time in my life the word of God became living and
real. The Lord revealed my nature to myself, how that in
every way I was a hell deserving sinner. How that The Lord
Jesus would be just and right should he cast me into hell. My
understanding of this was very frightening, learning that I was not in
fact the "good little boy" everyone had always assured me I
was. Still, the needed answer to this hopeless
situation was not clear. I struggled all week long knowing
fully that I deserved hell. Finally the Lord
revealed Himself as the fit complete sufficient
answer to my horrible, hopeless and lost condition.
He saved my soul!!!! Made something worth while out of
absolutely nothing. I did not contribute anything to my
salvation, it was completely a work of grace out of the goodness and
mercy of Christ.
My service has not always been exemplary. I have
failed the Lord miserably. Despite the years of poor
stewardship, I always knew that he was my Lord and I was
saved. In March 1988 I began attending a Church that
was faithful to the majority of truth. For the first time I
felt my soul being fed and enjoyed maturing in the
faith. In September 1994 I felt the call on my life to be a
preacher of truth, to bear the Word of God where ever the Lord bids
me. I have tried to be faithful to that ever
since. The Lord lead me to pastor South Road
Baptist Church Cadiz KY in 1997. I pastored there for one
year and returned home. In 1999 I felt
the Lord leading me to begin a Missionary work in
Dover, Tennessee. The Lord Blessed and in 2000 the New
Testament Baptist Church was organized out of the effort. I
praise God in every thing and any thing
accomplished or worth while has been because of His
goodness and blessing. He is my all and all, and all praise
should be given to him. Blessed be the name of the Lord!!!!!!
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Testimony of Sister Donna Lafferty
When I was 8 years old I was in the hospital for a routine appendicitis
operation. Our pastor at the time, came to the hospital and
asked me if I wanted to be saved and of course, I said,
"Yes!" So, I prayed for the Lord to save me and spent the
next 4 years believing I had been saved. One night, at the
age of 12, I was preparing for bed and true conviction fell upon my
soul. I spent the next week begging God each night to save me
but received no relief. We were very much Armenians at the
time so I perceived this struggle as an Armenian would - that
I wasn't praying through or wholly trusting in God. Now I
know that I had to walk through this dark place not as a part of my
salvation but so God could fully show me what he had already saved me
from. That week the fires of hell lapped at my feet.
But finally on Oct. 12 I came to the end of myself and as I
was crying out to the Father the peace of God flooded my soul
and I knew without a doubt the Lord had saved me. But the old
deceiver wasn't ready to give up that easily. I was so happy
I went downstairs to wake my sleeping parents. When my own
shadow fell across the front door near their room, Satan
began. He told me it was okay just to continue as things
were, my parents and people at Church would be ashamed of me,
etc. So, after walking back and forth, back and forth from my
room to their doorway I went to bed without telling
them. Still, I was so happy even though I knew I
needed to let my salvation be known. The burden described in
The Pilgrim's Progress couldn't have been any heavier than mine until
the Lord took it from me. Over the subsequent years the Lord
would burden me with the need for scriptural baptism. I never
grew in the Lord in those years. How could I? I
wasn't a member of the Lord's Church and I had refused to follow him in
the very first act he commands in His Word.
Finally, at the age of 16, after being a "false member" and Sunday
school teacher, I went up to the preacher and with bitter tears
repented of my sin. I was baptized, in what was then a sound
Church, descended from men who long ago believed in the doctrines of
election. We were Armenians in one sense but at that time we
believed a person had to be under conviction to be saved, we believed
in landmarkism, and the authority of the Church. So, I can
say I had very good teaching for the most part from then until the
doctrines of election were taught to us in that same Church several
years later. Ever since the day the Lord
saved me, I have failed the Lord time and time again. But,
the difference is I have a greater desire to serve
him now than I did when not a member of one of God's local
Churches. Amen.
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Testimony of Brother Adam Lafferty
I was saved at Bumpus Mills Independent Baptist Church. It
was a Thursday night during a revival but I don't remember the exact
date. The preacher was Bro. Noah Broughton. I had
struggled from Monday through Wednesday with conviction
but Thursday night my mom (Donna) asked me if I was under
conviction. That broke me up a little bit. At the
invitation, I went up and prayed for salvation but I don't think I was
saved at the altar. I think I was saved in the pew
before I went up because I felt a difference even before I went to the
altar. I was baptized in the Saline Creek in Bumpus Mills by my dad,
Bro. Larry Lafferty by the authority of the Bumpus Mills Baptist
Church. God has richly blessed me with a good home, a good
family, and two loving parents. Since I joined New Testament
Baptist Church in Dover, Tennessee, I have learned so much more since
salvation. |
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Testimony of Brother Matthew Lafferty I don't remember the exact date
I was saved but it was during a meeting at New Testament Independent
Missionary Baptist Church. I was in the second row from the
front. Bro. L.G. Richardson was preaching. All
through the meeting I had been convicted. After the preaching
that night, I went out and set on the side steps of the
Church. I asked the Lord to save me and He let me know I was
saved. I was baptized at Bible Baptist in Cadiz, Kentucky in
their baptistry because it was too cold to go to the creek or
river. Since then the Lord has helped me mature into a
stronger Christian. |