TES:Testimony of Jerry Belton

   While growing up in Alabama I felt that there was something that I
was missing. There was that unexplainable void that needed to be
filled. I did attend church as a young man, but like so many it was for
the wrong reasons. During my pre-teen years it was because my mother
said to go and when mom said to jump it wasn't a question of "why" but
of HOW HIGH. I can remember going to church for a year when I was about
fourteen because there was a girl I liked going there. The only thing I
remember about God is that we should fear him, but I didn't know why.

   I also remember a time when I had the foolish thought that I could
kill myself, visit death, and come back to the living. I went so far as
to plan out exactly how I would do it. When the time came to actually
do it I chickened out-PRAISE THE LORD-. I also remember playing a game
of Russian Roulette. In my hand was a 22 pistol with one shell in it. I
closed the cylinder and spun it. Instead of placing the gun to my head
I pointed into the air and pulled the trigger. Image my surprise when
it went off and my relief that it was pointed away from me.

   My life then settled down to a pretty "normal" life-style. I wasn't
in the "upper crust" clique nor was I in the "nerd" clique. It was more
of the "working class". My stepfather owned a store, so from the time I
was ten years old I would help open the store. During the school year I
was at the store from 5:30 a.m. till 9:00 p.m. with time out for
school. This continued until I graduated high school.

   I went to a Jr. College to please the folks but didn't last two
semesters there. There was still a void in my life that needed to be
filled. I worked several places for a year or so and then enrolled in a
Technical College. I spent two years studying

   Air Conditioning and Refrigeration. There was still something
missing. Within a month of graduation from the Tech school I joined the
Air Force.

   There was no way (short of the Lord) that I should have made it into
the U.S.A.F. I had had rheumatic fever when I was young, I had a heart
murmur, and I was forty pounds overweight. Yet I was accepted. While in
basic training I resumed the bad habit of smoking. I got to where I was
smoking three packs a day. My grandparents lived within five miles of
the Air Force base in Mississippi that I took my technical training. I
would usually take advantage of this and spend the weekends with them..
I woke up one Sunday morning without a cigarette and haven't picked one
up since. I believe the Lord was preparing me for HIS service.

   After training I was sent to Elmendorf A.F.B. in Anchorage, Alaska.
The first year was spent doing my own thing. I was then invited to
church and I went. The problem was that it was a Mormon church. There
was a Christian that worked in my shop heard about this and got mad. He
said that he had invited me to his church first. I told him I would go
to his church if I could get a home cooked meal out of it (anything to
get away from the mess hall on base). He said it was a deal so the next
Sunday I was with him and had to go because lunch was after church. The
first time I actually remember hearing the GOOD NEWS was that Sunday. I
didn't respond at that time but I did get involved with church. So much
so that when the opportunity arose to work a week in summer camp as a
cook, I jumped at the chance. It was during this camp that I gave my
heart to Jesus. On Thursday night, July 4, 1974 I came to the one who
loved me and gave HIMSELF that I might partake in the glories of
heaven. I was setting on a table in the back of the room listening to
what the preacher was saying. I said to myself "What would all these
people think if I went forward for salvation?" No sooner had I thought
this than the preacher said, "IF YOU CAN'T GO FORTH IN FRONT OF
CHRISTIANS WHO CAN YOU GO FORTH IN FRONT OF!!" Fine, I thought, I'll
still just wait until Sunday to get saved. Guess what the preacher
said, "HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE GOING TO BE ALIVE TILL SUNDAY?" Needless
to say when the invitation was given I was one of the first ones to the
front. This makes the fourth of July extra special for me---Freedom for
our nation and freedom for my soul.

   I got transferred in Dec. to Loring A.F.B. in Limestone, Maine. I
immediately to involved in the church and became quite active. It was
here that the Lord called me into HIS service. I was due to get out of
the A.F. in April of 1976. I felt God's call

   to go to school for the school year of 1975. The first week of
August I requested an early release from active duty, and quick for
school started the first of September. By the third week of August I
had my separation papers in my hands and was starting out processing.
Even going from Alaska to Maine I still did not get away from the
Mormons. I had befriended a couple of Mormons who lived in the dorms.
Each of them had been trying for six months to get out of service to go
to college at Brigham Young in Utah but neither had succeeded. I let
the flesh get the best of me and I took my separation papers to their
room and waved them under their noses (reminds you of I Kings
18:27...Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud...)

   Immediately upon separating myself from active duty with Uncle Sam I
enrolled in Baptist Bible College. After completing four years there,
during which time God gave me a wonderful wife and us a daughter I came
to Racine, Wisconsin to serve him as Supervisor for an ACE Christian
School at Racine Baptist Temple. We were here about three years when I
felt the urge to move on. I blamed it on the Lord and if someone had
tried to talk me out of it they would have had their hands full. While
in Racine God answered our prayer and gave us a healthy boy to care for
HIM. To make a long story short we made several moves over the next
four years and did not make the right one until we came back home to
Racine. I am currently working a secular job and learning to get over
the bitterness I obtained during our "wandering in the wilderness". God
is good and I'm so glad He is long-suffering. As I strive to serve Him
I solicit the prayers of all who read this and pray that it might be
the means to point someone to my Saviour-JESUS CHRIST. My lifes verse
is found in the book of Ephesians chapter three verses seven and eight:

   "Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace
of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me,
who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I
should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ..."
