seminary Testimonials
Dr. Roy J. Fish
Over the years I have had occasion to study and sometimes use notebooks which are designed to help Christians grow.
ONE on ONE with GOD is superior to any I have ever seen.
Dr. Roy J. Fish
Professor of Evangelism
S.F.
I am writing to express how God has changed my life and the lives of others I have known through ONE on ONE with GOD.
I used the workbook with our young married adult ministry at a church in Euless, TX, when I worked as a pastoral research assistant. I also used the workbook when I was the single adult pastor at Northwest Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. In my position as single adult pastor at a church in Tulsa, OK, we used the workbook with every new Christian who came into our single adult ministry.
ONE on ONE with GOD has done more than any other things I’ve used to develop within me a hunger to progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Jesus, perceiving and recognizing and understanding His wonder and His person more strongly and more clearly. It has developed within me a dynamic quiet time, a continual and real prayer life, a life-changing practice of scripture memorization, and a simple understanding of meditation from a Christian perspective.
ONE on ONE with GOD is a tool that I’ve found to be very effective with new Christians of all ages. It is also a tool that I’ve found to be very effective with those who have been Christians for a whileit revitalizes a fire and thirst for God in them.
I can say that in whatever church I serve in the future, I will always use ONE on ONE with GOD.
S.F.
Mark McClellan, J.D., Ph.D.
ONE on ONE with GOD is a powerful tool for knowing God more intimately, living by the promises of the Word of God, and making disciples.
It is comprehensive, yet simple. I have used it as a churchman while a trial lawyer, in several languages as an international missionary, as a church planter, and now as an educator.
Mark McClellan, J.D., Ph.D.
Dean, College of Christian Service
Professor of Theology and Missions
Oklahoma Baptist University
Shawnee, OK
Melissa Proseus
In the summer of 2001, I had the unique opportunity to go through the ONE on ONE with GOD discipleship material with Marilyn Fine.
What an experience it was! Through that class, meeting twice weekly because our time was condensed during the summer, the Lord really spoke to me about the importance of surrendering daily to Him. Not only was it ONE on ONE with GOD, but it was one-by-one with God. I needed to learn to give things to Him, one at a time. It was the beginning of the process of being stripped of myself, so that He had room to move in my life and rearrange all the aspects of my life, so that they revolved around Him
In this class, I learned the importance of the discipline of learning Scripture, but not just for memorization purposes. I need to meditate on the Word of God and chew on the concepts that He was embedding in my mind. I wanted those truths to move off the pages of God’s Word into my mind, and continually experience those truths in my heart as I applied them to daily life. Philippians 3:10 has been an amazing scripture to me as I recognize, even now, that knowledge is not just for the mind, but it is for the practical purpose of living it out in your heart and experiencing Christ. That is the only way to be conformed to His image, for His glory – which is our purpose in life.
I believe that this class was foundational in the changes that God has made in my life in the past 9 months. It was a privilege and an honor to be a part of such a ministry that has many lasting effects. When I came back to Memphis, I was able to lead 5 other girls through ONE on ONE, one of whom was saved during the class. She is now leading her own group of 4 girls through the material and is an encouragement to me because of her example. God works in marvelous ways, but so often we do not recognize the work as His, and we never see the face of God. ONE on ONE with GOD has taught me to seek His face, not His hand, and to give all glory and praise back to Him, the One who rightfully deserves it.
Melissa Proseus
Crystal Potts Steele
I’m a 25-year-old great grandmother! Shocking, isn’t it?
I am, of course, speaking of my spiritual lineage. My line of descent began when I fell in love with God’s plan to disciple others using ONE on ONE with GOD.
In 2000, I began an internship with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) at Northeastern State University, working primarily with freshmen. Having been a Christian for five years, I had never been formally discipled or trained in how to teach others to do likewise. I longed for God to speak to me the way believers around me said that He spoke to them, in a personal way. I was reading my Bible, praying, and practicing many spiritual disciplines daily, but I just couldn’t seem to move what I was pulling from God’s word deep into my heart. As a result, unbelief often had the upper hand.
I met Jerry and Marilyn Fine for the first time in August 2000, in a ONE on ONE with GOD introduction class at Glorieta. I left the class thinking that ONE on ONE was too simplistic, meditation was a joke, and the Fines were unrealistic for thinking that it was going to help anyone.
Thank the Lord that He always has a plan! Five months later, I attended a January term at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where Jerry and Marilyn were going to teach all fifteen weeks of ONE on ONE in just one week. Still skeptical, I began the first day of class as Marilyn taught a table full of young ladies the meaning of meditation and how to practice it. I quickly discovered the importance of meditation as taught in the Bible. The Lord spoke to me in a very real way, and I knew that this was what I had been lacking. I knew that no one had ever taught me to think deeply about what God was saying to me and how to apply it to my life today. I knew that there were other Christians where I lived who needed ONE on ONE, too.
I came home from my intense discipleship training and realized I had a passion to walk with other Christians as we grew to maturity. I wanted to take this tool and reach other people with Christ’s gospel and promises of abundant life. So I begged some of the freshman students I was working with at Northeastern to go through ONE on ONE. Six of the students finished the program and are now showing others what they have learned, thus beginning their own lines of spiritual descendants. Now I work at the BCM at Oklahoma City University, where I have had the blessing of discipling international students from several different countries and watching them multiply and invest in others.
If I had to pick the greatest lesson the Holy Spirit taught me through ONE on ONE, it would be humility. ONE on ONE is simple enough for anyone to lead, but God has shown me time and time again that my presentation and I are not what is leading these people to follow Jesus’ heart for discipleship. It is His Word alone. Whether I am leading Session 1 or Session 15, I am overcome with an overwhelming sense of weakness to do the task that is ahead. I love this feeling because I know the Lord is going to take over and do it through me. Not only that, but God is teaching me, too, as I prepare and am held accountable by the students.
Leading ONE on ONE is the most fulfilling thing I have taken part in since I became a believer. God chooses to use us to reach generations we will never meet, and that thought humbles me deeply.
Crystal Potts Steele