Beltway Testimonies

Troy Shockley testifies to God’s faithfulness to provide when we completely surrender:

My name is Troy Shockley and, for the next two weeks, I am the assistant sports editor and beat writer for Cooper High and Abilene Christian University at the Abilene Reporter-News. On Saturday, May 31, however, my wife and daughter will join me in taking the next step in the path God has planned for our lives. We will be leaving on that day for Oregon, where I have accepted an offer to join the staff of a small, family owned newspaper as sports editor.

Since returning to Abilene in 2003, Beltway Park has been home. My wife, Roxanne, and I fell in love with the place and the people from Day 1, and it has been the only true church home we’ve had as a married couple. We have so many wonderful memories made in our time here and we have grown immensely in our walk with the Lord thanks largely to Pastor David and our small group, led by Steve and Susan Keenum.

My situation at work, though, has been both difficult and frustrating. Often working 10 to 12 hours a day, many times six days a week, I rarely get time with my wife or daughter Elisabeth, who will turn three in September. Add to that the stress level that has been created by management, and my attitude when home hasn’t always been as it should be. Through much prayer, we decided that the only solution to these problems was to find another job that would be both personally and professionally satisfying. Over the last several months we’ve found many possibilities, but even those we felt would be a great fell through — until we came across McMinnville. That’s when God made his love and care for us so clear.

After leading me to the job listing (a listing that, “somehow,” never showed up on a popular Web site that would have surely resulted in a large increase in the number of applicants) we quickly felt very good about the possibility. God then led me to someone that, as it turned out, used to work at the paper. His current boss is great friends with one of the bosses in McMinnville. This person also used to work in Texas, and called around some of his contacts asking about me. Based on what he heard, he called McMinnville and talked to the hiring editor about me and reccomended me for the job — all without my knowledge at the time. This gave me a tremendous head start for a job that, I’ve found, had 15 applicants in the first 24 hours after the initial posting.

The hiring editor set up a phone interview a week after I sent in my application. It went so well that, a week later, I was on a plane headed to a second interview. That went so well that, on the second day, I was offered the job at more than a 10 percent increase in pay. There will be markedly less stress at this job, the hours will be more stable and the company is more than willing to work around family obligations. It is also much closer to home.

Even now God is working in the situation, as yesterday we found that the paper has doubled its initial (and standard) offer in regards to helping defray the costs of moving. I have always struggled in letting go of a situation. I don’t like not being in control. But God has made himself so known in our lives these last few weeks and it is truly amazing what can happen if you ‘let go and let God.’

We are incredibly sad to have to leave our church family at Beltway and know there will be many other difficulties as we make this move, but we are also excited to be following what is clearly God’s plan for our lives. And as clearly as He has been in control of this entire situation, we know He will continue to provide if we faithfully follow His plan.
Isn’t God great?

Corky Dement testifies to how God can use healthy community:

After playing on one of the Beltway Softball teams, I thought we were reaching out to the community. Little did I know that that was part of what happened. What I have gained is new found friendships from within the church body. There is not a Sunday, or Wednesday that I do not run into one of the Guys or their family members. The new found friendships have encouraged me to strengthen my beliefs, increased my prayer life, and walk what I believe. Even helped my self esteem and self worth, who would have thought a few week commitment to 10 other guys could do that!.

Thank you Beltway for sponsoring this ministry! I hope that you will continue to bless us members.

Melissa Wilson, shares a story of God speaking through her when pastor David was visiting in Israel:

At congregation, pastor David encouraged all Israelis who felt tired or weary to stand up and for the foreigners to pray for them.  My husband and I live in Israel, but we are foreigners, not citizens.  Plus, I don’t feel tired.  So I opted to pray.  I was going to walk quickly across the room to a lady I knew and pray for her in Hebrew just for fun.  As I was about to leave my aisle, a friend of mine, also an Israeli was standing up.  I thought, “Well, I guess I don’t have to go very far.  Look, my friend is tired and needs to be ministered to.”  So, I hugged her.  As soon as we embraced, I began weeping immediately.  I prayed for her as the Lord lead for the “joy of the Lord to be her strength” in this time.  Unexpectedly, she in turn prayed for me and my family.  Later, I had the opportunity to tell her that when we hugged, when I started weeping immediately that it was not my tears but hers.  She told me “I have been beaten up.  I have been shedding a lot of tears lately.”  She started tearing up again.  I sensed the Lord urging me to tell her, “He cries with you”, and so I did.  She was very encouraged by those words and we talked about getting together later.  God is so fun!

Another healing testimony from Brett Stewart:

Today, Tuesday May 6, 2008 at U-nite I was worshipping God in music.  I turned around and saw a college girl and immediately noticed her wrapped wrist before anything else.  I felt right there, “I’m praying over that and God is going to pour out.”

Well I went back to my seat while Brandon Hawk (the speaker) gave a few words of encouragement and joy.  As I was walking back to where the girl was, I decided to ask my good friend Thomas Wilson if he wanted to have some fun with me praying healing over this girl that I didn’t know and wasn’t for sure if she was injured.  He agreed and we made our way over to the college girl.

I asked her if her wrist was hurt and she said that she had strained it yesterday while moving out of her dorm.  She couldn’t move it much and it was giving her pain.  I laid my hands on her wrist and Thomas and I began to call upon the Spirit.  After a while we stopped and asked how she was.  She said it didn’t hurt as much and she could move it more, but that there was still some pain in it.  I told her this time to unwrap it and we were going to pray over it again.  I once again laid my hands on her wrist and Thomas and I began to pour out the Spirit.  Heat was moving, muscles were tensing, and everything was shaking.  We stopped and I asked her how it felt, she just kind of looked into thin space for a second while moving her wrist around and I thought she was going to tell us that she still felt some pain.  But on the contrary, she said that it was gone and that there was no more pain.  Thomas and I asked, “Seriously? There is no pain whatsoever left?” and she said “No!”  I told her that I wanted her to move it every single way it could and to bend it up and down, side to side, and all around.  NO PAIN AT ALL!!!  Instantly healed, GLORY BE TO GOD!  I told her to share it with those that she knew and I thanked her for her faith to let us pray over her and to have faith in receiving God’s healing power.

When you have faith and believe that things not only CAN happen but WILL, it opens the doors for God to come and rock your world!  The glories of Heaven are pouring onto this earth and revival and a revolution is coming!  Do you believe?

From Webb Murphy:

For about 2 years some friends have encouraged me to get involved with Kairos prison ministry. I’ve wanted to, but for whatever reason I never did. Well, I finally decided to sign up & go to a meeting, & 2 weeks ago I helped work Kairos #27 at the Robertson unit. It was awesome. I have recieved blessing after blessing by being a part of this. It’s wonderful to be a part of the body of Christ, & witness how acts of love completely transform lives. I was talking to a new friend from Beltway the other day about how in Matthew, Jesus tells us to feed the hungery, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those in prison, & when we do this we do it to Him. Also, Jesus himself was held as a prisoner; as were MANY of His followers. I had a great time, & I’m still having it. I strongly encourage people to get involved, & watch the body of Christ grow!

Another awesome testimony from Brett Stewart:

I have a friend who had strained her ligaments in her ankle earlier this week, practicing for track. She has a meet on Saturday in which she runs multiple relays and is the anchor leg for one of them as well. Well, her parents, being the amazing, loving, and faithful parents they are, had told me a few times that they wanted me to pray over her. Yesterday, Wednesday 4/23, myself, her parents, and two other amazing adult leaders in our church prayed over her. As I held onto her ankle praying for healing, the others pour out God’s love and plans for her life. They pray for healing, they spoke things about the future, they spoke things about what God wants to do now, and they spoke about how the enemy is trying to prevent blessings and strengths in her. We prayed for a while as the spirit came in and moved, many receiving words of encouragement, and feeling the awesome power of Yahweh Rapha (the healing God). I had to leave soon to play drums for our Echo Night of Worship, but I was soon to realize what God did do that night. Today, Thursday 4/24, she sent me a text saying that when she got home she had no pain in her ankle at all and she totally believed that God had healed her. She spoke of when we were praying over her and heat came into her ankle and it had begun shaking. She is now able to run her races this Saturday by the grace and power of God! The only little pain she has is when she puts weight on it if she were acting like she was rolling her ankle, that’s it and by the grace and power of God, that will be gone tomorrow in Jesus Christ’s name! She is a runner for Christ and she will continue to press in and run towards Him. There is a new definition for the supernatural and that is “THE NATURAL.” God is at work and is using us to bring His glory and Kingdom.

Testimony Unfolded: April 2008

A Life Group leader witnesses the working power of the voice of God:

One of our Life Group leaders received a call from a concerned father whose 28 year old son had gotten arrested for drunk driving, and was now taking up residence at the Taylor County Jail.  The son had requested a Bible and the LG Leader made the delivery.  He was able to meet the young man, we’ll call Thomas, in a small cinder block cubicle inside the secured area.  Merely receiving a Bible brought Thomas to the point of tears and he began confessing how he had made a mess of his life.  He’d recently given his life to Jesus at Beltway and had even been baptized, but the chain of substance abuse had obviously not yet been broken.  After 3 past admissions to rehabilitation programs, a deep sense of rejection still loomed like a dark cloud.  Our LG Leader was praying as he listened and discerned that there was a particular event early in Thomas’ life which was critical to his restoration.  Thomas was able to identify that at age 8 his step father sent him away to an institution for 99 days.  Thomas felt that his step father didn’t want a child that was not “his own blood” and had thrust him out of the home.

The LG Leader decided to risk acting on an impulse inspired by the Holy Spirit.  “Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you where God was when your step father sent you to the institution” he began.  Thomas got quiet, then began shaking.  “God was right there with me!”  Thomas was surprised.  “How do you know He was there?’’  Thomas responded, “He was sitting right by me.”  The Leader took it another step, “What does He look like?”  Astounded, Thomas reported, “He looks just like Jesus!”  Our LG Leader asks, “Well, what are His feelings for you?”  Thomas is now sobbing profusely and exclaims, “He just really loves me!”  The Holy Spirit was so tangibly present I was sure that no security guard would even be able to enter the cubicle.  It was as if we were safely secured behind a thunderous waterfall of God’s Presence.  Thomas lifted his face which itself was flooding with more than just tears, and said, “I feel SO LIGHT!”  “I’ve never felt this way before.  I can’t explain it.”  God had demonstrated that during Thomas’ darkest hour, He was right there loving him.  Thomas now has consequences to face, but he has a brand new hope that was irrefutably birthed by a shaking encounter with the Living God.  I believe he’s got now what he needed at the very core of his being. 

Testimony Unfolded: January 19, 2008

Thomas Wilson, a guitarist on our worship teams, shares how God miraculously intervened in technology:

This last Saturday night, me, Josh Mcqueen, Blake Holder, and Pascoal Mafuieque did our regular deal out in Albany, leading worship for their youth service “Fearless”. We arrived in that great village a couple of hours early to set up and practice. Everything was going well, we set up, and it sounded ok, but a little way into practice Blake’s bass head stopped working. He dismantled it as the rest of us continued on, but to no avail. He had taken that thing apart and had tried so many different things to get it to work that we knew without help it would never happen. Searching for a solution, we called Brenton Dowdy to see if he could hook one of our friends up with a head from the church so that when he arrived later, though Blake would have to play without having practiced, he would at least get to play. We never really found out what happened with that because we soon found the correct solution to our quandary: Jesus.

As Blake sat trying to figure something out, the rest of us began to be discouraged, realizing the songs would be pretty empty without bass, and a spirit of frustration seemed to have infiltrated our midst. At one point, it was so bad that we stopped practicing, and Josh took the initiative to lead us in prayer. we sat and laid down on the floor, praying that God would take away any barriers that would be in our way of experiencing him and that he would smooth out all of the problems we faced. We begged that he would return to us a spirit of peace and a heart of worship. Soon Josh prayed out loud and after he said “Amen”, we looked up, only to see Blake still working on his head. The only difference was that now, he was putting it all back together. I somehow knew he had prayed over it, but Josh apparently didn’t, so he unassumingly asked “dude, what are you doing?” Blake responded confidently that it was going to work this time. Josh simply asked how he had fixed it, and what he had tried differently to get it io work. Blake replied, “nothing.” So as he plugged everything back in and Josh turned it on for him, I remember thinking “it really is going to work. wow.” And sure enough, without changing a thing, he turned it on, plugged in, and began playing, messing with his EQ to get his bass to sound good as the rest of us sat praising God for his Glorious intervention. God heals. People, animals, electronics, you name it. He heals.

So at the beginning of worship, Josh told this testimony, and a great time of worship ensued for all…..supplemented nicely by a very much needed bass guitar.

As my small group of conference attendees gathered around to see how God wanted to minister to us last Saturday morning, one of the ladies present said that she thought that she heard the Holy Spirit impress upon her that there was someone with a back problem. I had been suffering with a lot of pain in my lower back for about 4 weeks. I had been prescribed muscle relaxers and was still not getting much relief. My condition stemmed from an accident years ago and I had not experienced this much pain in many, many years. It has been one week now and my back doesn’t hurt anymore. I am able to lift things now with no pain that I could not have even thought of lifting before the Lord healed my back.  Glory be to God for His mercy and healing power!

Testimony Unfolded: April 14, 2008

Brenton Dowdy, Josh Carroll, and Brady Bruton, three members of our worship teams, listened for God’s voice in a public place following the Prophetic Conference this past weekend:

Monday after the conference with a fresh reminder of the absolute necessity to be listening all the time, myself and two friends were having some lunch together. The restaurant was unusually busy for a Monday. A large table of twenty or so had consumed most of the attention of the under manned wait staff. It was a half hour before we received drinks and over an hour before we had gotten our food. At that moment we felt the tug of the Holy Spirit to look beyond ourselves and our inconvenience. After talk of the conference and testimony, we decided to ask God to give us some supernatural encouragement for our waitress, recognizing the pressure she was in and that she seemed to have a lot on her mind even outside of work. So instead of griping and throwing a fit, we listened.

As we waited one of us verbally chimed in along the lines of, “Lord, speak to us, give us something to give our waitress.” I immediately heard and saw “Butterfly.” I hesitantly said it out loud after a minute or two for another to say, “Get out of here, I saw that too.” We waited some more and the other with us said, “I heard caretaker.” We found it ironic, considering the condition of our service, but we all agreed with the word from the Lord. After all, an under manned wait staff was far from her fault. We had a lot of ideas of what might have been the interpretation for the butterfly, including that it was possibly just a word of knowledge of something that was specific to her, but we remained unsure. When she came to bring us our ticket I said, “We are Christians and we wanted to be able to encourage you, so we asked God for a way that we could do that and he showed us a Butterfly, we thought you might have a butterfly tattoo or a favorite shirt with a butterfly? Do any of those mean anything to you?” (We thought we might have seen these specifics, the Lord corrected me for reading to far into this one in this case or at least jumping in to quick for the answers this time. But He was gracious). She replied after a second or two of a contemplative and uncertain look, “Well, I don’t think so, but I my nick name for my daughter is “Madame Butterfly,” we call her that all the time, and I’m actually really stressed out here at work because I am needing to get home to my kids and I’m not sure if I am going to be able to get out of here in time because we are much busier than normal. My son isn’t feeling well and I have to get home soon to get him to a doctor’s appointment.” We explained that we noticed she had a lot on her mind and that we had also heard from the Lord that she was a “Caretaker.” We encouraged her with that and I shared, “I think God showed us some of this stuff to let you know that he sees you, sees what’s going on, and He loves you very much.” I had to leave at that point, but the other two guys stayed back and got to pray a blessing over her. A great experience and some growth too. It was awesome to see the Lord be gracious and it is encouraging to look back and see how some the connections could be better made next time. And! One more of God’s children got to hear how he feels about them in a personal way. Praise the Lord.