I was raised in a very Christian home. My parents and grandparents are very involved in our church, and their influence is the reason I was saved at an early age. Growing up, I was blessed to have so many Christian influences in my life. I will always remember my papa and granny studying their Sunday School lessons, and nana practicing the piano for church. Every night when I would stay the night at grandonna’s, she would make me recite what I believe is the most important verse in the Bible-John 3:16. The life that I saw my family live was truly God’s love. Today it reminds me that you are constantly a representative of Christ in all that you do.

 I went through a long period in my life where I felt I was just living “in the motions”. Looking like a Christian without truly living for Christ is such an easy thing to do, especially when you have so many Christian obligations to attend to. One service, my senior year of high school, the Lord spoke to me and told me that Christianity doesn’t end with just acceptance; Christianity is a constant relationship with Him! You have to seek God with your whole heart to find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). From that moment on, I have tried to have a genuine relationship with Christ; a relationship that isn’t a mask that I put on, but a relationship that I strive to fall deeper and deeper into.

Now that I am in college, I am experiencing a whole new phase in my spiritual journey. I know that God has a plan for my life and I am excided and nervous to see what He has for me. I am so thankful for a loving church like Mount Nelson that has always been there. I love y’all!

I was born and raised in the little town of Eureka. I have recently gotten saved this past year in 2013. I don’t remember the exact age I started going to church; I’m thinking about 7 or 8. And I have Mrs. Donna Bennett to thank for that. She picked me up every Sunday for church. If it was not for her I don’t know if I ever would have gone to church. I enjoyed church very much. I was there every Sunday morning and every Wednesday night. After I got older I drifted away from church. I was not hanging out with the right people or doing any of the right things. I even stopped going to church. And as hard for me as this is to say. When I graduated from High school it only got worse. I was drinking all the time, and I was into drugs. I did a lot of things I knew were wrong but everybody else was doing them so I thought it cannot be that bad. I thought I was in the IN crowd. And boy did I think wrong. I finally stopped all of that at the age of 20 and at 21 I got pregnant. But when I had Shyla that changed my whole perspective of life. I looked back on myself and thought why did I do all those things, what was I thinking. I started back going to church in 2011, when my manager at work asked me to attend her church in snow hill. So I started back to church and me and Shyla were there every Sunday. Then last year I decided that I wanted to come back to my hometown Church, Mount Nelson. I couldn’t be happier that I am back here today and I have Shyla to bring here with me. Towards the end of 2013, one Sunday morning I was sitting in church and at the end of the service when Pastor Jack closed the service. I just broke down, and I knew it was my time to get saved and ask the Lord to come into my heart. I still struggle with things today, but I know the Lord has my back. I am working on a better me. And I feel so much better. I want to thank everyone at Mount Nelson for welcoming me back.

I was born and raised in Eureka, about a mile from the church itself actually. I have been going to Mount Nelson Baptist Church my entire life. My mother has been a member here for years and she was coming before I was born and after I was born I started coming with her. So, needless to say, I grew up in this church, and these people are my family. I got saved around the age of 7 when Pastor David Walker was here. I remember walking the aisle with one of my friends because I was afraid to go by myself. I understood that I was a sinner and that I need Jesus to save me from hell and give me eternal life. After I got saved at such a young and started to grow up, I started to drift away from God during my middle school and early high school years. I got plugged in with the wrong crowd and started doing stupid things like drinking and going to parties I didn’t need to be at. But all through those years my parents insisted that I keep going to church, so even through the times when my life looked like I didn’t want anything to do with God, He was still there. Eventually, God humbled me during high school to really see what it meant to be saved and live a life for Christ. I rededicated my life to Him when I was a junior in High School. I was actually asked to preach a youth service one Sunday morning, although I was very reluctant at doing it, I did it any ways. I felt God laying it on my heart that I needed to become a Pastor that day when I got done preaching, but I felt like that was way out of my league, so I resisted the call God had for me for about two years. Eventually, I was asked to help out leading our youth group during my first year of college. I felt like this was God trying to pull me in, so I resisted that too, but eventually I gave in and started leading youth every other Wednesday. This went on for about a year until we went to camp with the youth that summer. We were at Fort Caswell, on Oak Island, North Carolina, and it was the last night of camp, and for years I had felt like God was calling me to be a Pastor, but I just didn’t feel like I could do it, but they extended a call to people who felt like they were called into the Ministry and I walked forward. From that day on I accepted the fact that God wanted to use me in the Ministry some way. I was very blessed to have a great Pastor and mentor during this time, Pastor Jack Sauls. He helped be me find a school so that I could further my education. I attended Southeastern Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina for three years. It was the only time I have ever lived outside of Eureka. I am so thankful for the blessing of being able to study at Southeastern, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. After graduating with a degree in Christian Studies, with a Minor in Theology, I worked at First Baptist Church, Snow Hill, North Carolina, part time. But I am proud to say that I am back in my home church working full time as the Youth Pastor, and I love it. I could not ask for a better church to work at. God has blessed me so much throughout my life. Not only did he lead and guide me in the Ministry, but he also led me to my wonderful wife! She is such a blessing to me and has been there for me so many times. We got married October 12, 2013. My life has been blessed beyond belief. God has always been there for me and I am so thankful for the salvation that He has graciously given me through Jesus Christ! I love Him and I love serving Him!!

If you are willing to share your testimony please type it up and send it to Leslie Mooring via Email. leslie92@live.com

Feel led to but unsure of where to start? Use the following as four separate paragraphs.

My life before I came to Christ

How I came to see my need for Christ

Circumstances surrounding your conversion 

How would you describe your spiritual growth from the time you accepted Christ to today?