church groups Testimonials

Fifteen weeks ago God found me in the dark night of the soul.

I was lonely, angry, and desperate. I had to find my way back to God. Things had to change. My rebellious, angry spirit had pushed me to desolation.

Through ONE on ONE with GOD, I didn’t find my wayŠ—”God found me and taught me His truths. For the first time I truly understood the words abide and yield. I watched my life slowly change as I abided in His presence each morning and yielded to His strength, His will, and His love through the day.

Sharon

ONE on ONE with GOD was an amazing, life-altering course for us.

I can honestly say that in the eighteen years that I have been a Christian, I have never grown as much as I have in this last year. ONE on ONE taught me how to give my life over to God and let Him be in control. We have been working on this and are still learning, but we are mastering it more and more every day.

Dawn L.

When ONE on ONE with GOD began, I had an open mind.

I have since learned many new things about how to love the Lord, friends, and others more. I have discovered a new peace the Lord has given me. I have learned about God’s truth for me and every person. Today the Lord finds me more at peace and closer to Him and His will for my life. My relationship with Him has broadened with head knowledge but more importantly heart knowledge.

Nancy E.

Before I took ONE on ONE with GOD, I was complacent and content with my quiet time and study time and prayer time with Him.

I felt disconnected and hopeless and even skipped church and Sunday school several times. I thought of leaving altogether even as I only missed three or four quiet times during this period. My prayer life waned. A small voice would occasionally whisper, Š—“He’s teaching you something. Don’t give up. He wouldn’t bother testing you if He didn’t plan on using you.Š—

I’m so grateful I have these new (to me) principles, even half-learned. I need to participate in this experience again. I thank God for His righteousness, His trustworthiness, and, in particular, His giving me the choice each minute of putting Him in control of my life as I take up my cross daily and put Him on the throne (Luke 9:23). He is the Sovereign Sustainer!

Joy S.

When I started ONE on ONE with GOD, I was seeking a way to grow and continue my walk through the Bible.

God gave me the desire after completing another study. He had previously shown me my priorities, and I finally knew that God had to be first and family second. I quit my job so I could keep my priorites and invest time with God.

After finishing ONE on ONE, I am ready to share with others what I have received. I have an organized plan for reading through the Bible this year. The ponder-picture-pray technique has been very helpful to me. The study has helped my marriage as I realized, through taking the Love Test, how I was treating the one I loved most. It is still too easy for me to get busy and forget to stay in contact with Him moment by moment, but I am working on this! The A-C-T-S model has changed my prayer life from a long list of wants to adoration and thanksgiving. I need to spend time on confessing. If I miss a day of my quiet time, I’m still managing to keep on schedule with Bible study.

Joyce H.

When I started ONE on ONE with GOD, I was inconsistent, struggling with getting meaning out of the Word.

Sometimes I didn’t know how to apply the Word or how to find things in the Word that would apply to a specific situation. I was eager to see what my friend had been so excited about.

After finishing ONE on ONE, I am still inconsistent, but I know I can get meaning out of the Word. I know that I am richly blessed when I am consistent and that through displacement I can work through my emotions without having to spill them on everyone. Tonight, with the lesson on loving self, God’s peace came over me, telling me I’m doing what I need to be doing. I am so grateful for that even though I’ve heard it, read it, and spoken it.

Jane H.

When I started ONE on ONE with GOD, I was looking for a challenging Bible study that would teach me to make disciples and help me and encourage me on my path as a lover of God, in Christ.

I was seeing many around me falling away, their hearts turning cold toward things of God. I knew many, including members of my own family, who were questioning the reality of God. I was challenged by many that church was a meaningless waste of time and that my devotion and service to it should be spent in better, more productive ways. You could sum up where I was by saying I was very discouragedŠ—”not in my faith but in what I saw around me.

After finishing ONE on ONE, I feel much stronger. I still see what I saw before, but instead of making me discouraged, I feel courage to stand and be a light to those around me who are in darkness. I don’t mean this to sound arrogant or prideful because I stand and hold my light only because I am held up on either side by the faithfulness of the Spirit of God working in and through me. I have more compassion for others, but mostly I now have a reproducible tool that I can use to help lift others out of darkness, ignorance, and confusion into His light that their own light may shine. I want to teach a ONE on ONE course. I pray God will be faithful to bring those He wants me to disciple into my life, into my path.

Vicki L.

Before I started ONE on ONE with GOD, God found me hungry, thirsty, and looking for direction and guidanceŠ—”not physically but spiritually and emotionally.

I was seeking out spiritual and emotional intimacy with Him and getting nowhere. I was crying out for help and was frustrated because I was confused. Yet I was hopeful because I was searching things out and wanting to grow and never stop.

After finishing ONE on ONE, I am still hungry and thirsty but for things that go deeper. I am hopeful that I’ll stay on His path and still seek emotional intimacy with Him daily. I have that deeper desire to know Him more, which I was unable to reach/find earlier in my life. I now have direction and guidance even as I still have lots and lots of growing to do. I am seeking out at least one person to lead through ONE on ONE and am smiling with my heart.

Stephanie C.

I had a very inconsistent to non-existent quiet time when I began ONE on ONE with GOD.

It was based solely on what or if I could join for that semester to study. I was very frustrated and fearful about my future, and I had no clear focus or reason to my walk with God.

Now my quiet time is real and consistent. I feel like I can feed myself now. It’s not dependent on a class or teacher. I feel equippedŠ—”finallyŠ—”to teach others and to begin discipling, something I know I’ve been specifically called to do. I also can say I have a focus and a goal. Why do I do this? I want to know God, and I want to pursue His glory. I still don’t know where I’m headed, but God has given me much peace on that subject. I am possibly headed into full-time ministry of some sort, and my heart is much more open to His working there. I’ve learned to assimilate His Word, finally, and this is no logner something I do but who I am. I am bold for Christ.

A.T.

God did not need to find me when I started ONE on ONE with GOD.

Just as He knew where Adam was in the garden, He knew where I was and what I was and was not doing. Nothing happens by chance, and I am convinced that God placed ONE on ONE in my path. There were many diversions (travel, missions, etc.), but God has kept me focused or, at times, has refocused my attention. What a blessing!

Today God finds me more attentive to His Word. I have a greater awareness of the Lord’s continuous presence in my life. I have discovered new opportunities to serve HimŠ—”not in grandiose ways (like missions to distant lands) but in ministry and serving right here in my hometown. The opportunities are endless! Daily I have the charge to exercise gentleness and care to people I barely know. I have also learned to love as God has loved me. It is easy to love some, but it’s a stretch to extend that love to a few others.

Ron S.

When I started ONE on ONE with GOD, I felt like the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2: I was busy about His work, sacrificing, serving, and enduring.

But I believe the risen Christ would say to me what He did to Ephesus: Š—“I have this one thing against you. You have forsaken your first love.Š—

Through ONE on ONE, God caused me to remember, repent, and redo those things that I did beforeŠ—”not out of obligation but in determination to know Him, glorify Him, and become more like Him. ONE on ONE has changed my devotional time with God and made it more consistent, personal, and practical.

Greg D.

Outreach and discipleship pastor

I was a bit stagnantŠ—”wanting to grow and needing to grow but really desiring a fresh approach.

After completing ONE on ONE with GOD, I am more determined and purposeful in my pursuit of Jesus. I am more aware of His constant presence in my daily life. I feel stronger and more at peace with God, myself, and the world. I am more resourceful in prayer, Bible study, and meditation and more able to share and articulate my faith in and walk with Christ. This course has brought a much-needed freshness to my walk with God in just a few weeks’ time.

Steve S.

Pastor

I’ve been a Christian for many years, but I had fallen away from Scripture memory.

After completing ONE on ONE with GOD, I feel I am on a threshold of learning to further trust God, watch Him provide, and see Him get the glory. He has refreshed and renewed me. He finds me memorizing Scripture and learning to yield control of my life to Him and let Him work through me in the tough situations in my life to bring Him honor and glory.

Beth F.

I was struggling under the tests and trials that God was permitting in my life.

I had a dream and desire to do big things for God, but I was feeling unfulfilled because of my inability to do little more than care for my family responsibilities.

Through ONE on ONE with GOD and His Word, God has revealed to me His involvement and interest in my life and what happens to me as well as His complete love for me. God is in control of everythingŠ—”good or badŠ—”that happens in my life, and He will work all things to His glory and my good. I am to realize that God has me right where He wants me, doing what He wants me to do to make me more like His Son. I am learning so much more through the tests and trials than I ever would have if left to my own desires. God knows and has control of (has planned and prepared) a future and a hope for my life, and I am to show my love for Him by my complete trust.

V.B.

Before I started ONE on ONE with GOD, I was limited in my disciplines of reading God’s Word and praying.

My quiet times were more designed to gain knowledge only. Although there were times I was receiving instruction from God, there was not the desired fellowship He wanted me to experience. I felt a real desire to move to a deeper level of intimacy with God.

Now, after having developed the disciplines of reading and spending more time in prayer with God, I have truly grown closer to my heavenly Father. I know I have just scratched the surface of the intimate fellowship He desires from me and I need with Him. At the same time God has given me a broader understanding of how to approach Him. I consider God’s ways throughout the day. I lift up brief prayers throughout the day. I send God’s strengthening to avoid difficult situations at work than can lead to impure thoughts. God has convicted my heart that He has shown me a way to disciple others and to share His Word more openly. He is equipping me to do His work.

Mark F.

When I started ONE on ONE with GOD, the physical world around me seemed to be falling apart, including my security in a place to live and my trust in people.

I needed to be rescued from this life. I was truly in a place that I had never been before: complete dependence on Christ. No one had the answers but Jesus. I didn’t know how I would deal with the financial pressures facing me, but I knew I could trust the Lord.

By the end of the course, I was so thankful! He is continually transforming me into His likeness. Even Christ learned obedience through His suffering. With all the trouble on earth, it is not my home. The Lord has already overcome, and His grace is sufficient for me. Daily I am learning to depend on Him. Daily I am seeing His work and His plan.

V.

Before ONE on ONE with GOD, God found me doubtful.

But after completing the course, I am full of hope, aware, and reminded of God’s promisesŠ—”especially that He has plans to prosper me. He is in control of all things. He is faithful and will keep His promises. I love knowing that He knows everything about me and knows what is best. I have a life verse now: Philippians 3:10!

A.P.

At the beginning of ONE on ONE with GOD, God found me desiring to know Him but with no clear direction besides daily reading and prayer.

I was not consistent in my daily quiet timeŠ—”it was sporadic.

But now God finds me with more direction, focus, and purpose. I especially benefited from learning about meditation, the Principle of Displacement, the importance of yielding and abiding, and the necessity of daily devotional reading. I don’t just meet with the Lord because I have to but because I need to. I want to know Him. I have somethingŠ—”a toolŠ—”to use to help others mature in Christ. I’ve never had a plan, so my plans have failed. Now I feel confident that God will use ONE on ONE in my life to continue to grow me and also to show others Christ more fully.

S.N.

God found me close to Him when I began ONE on ONE with GOD.

Still, He spoke to me through this study. He reaffirmed what He had taught me and showed me as I walked with Him in a personal way. He reaffirmed His love for me, His provision for me, and His direct involvement in my life. He has now led me to know that He is enough. Jesus is all I need, and He will always be there to talk to and to listen and to teach me and to care.

L.F.

ONE on ONE with GOD has deepened my trust in God in my daily walk.

Terry F.