TES:Testimony of Mark Williams

   I grew up in a large family, 5 brothers and a sister. My parents
were divorced when I was twelve and my father raised us in the home he
still resides today in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. We never really
lacked for anything in the way of necessities, but we were also poorer
than most, wearing handme-downs and seeing very little extra money.
However, we did live in the country and spent many hours outdoors or
"in the fields" as we use to say.

   There was no Christian influence in the family, and to this day
there are no Christians in the family per se, except for my sister and
brother-in-law who are attending a Catholic Church on a regular basis
from no previous church-going experience. If anything, there is an
attitude of just being "Christian" because the history of the family
was based on staunch Anglican heritage.

   I have always had a strong sense of God, probably because I spent so
much time in the country and often thought about nature, birth, rites
of Spring, growth, the heavens and those things you can't help but link
to 'A GOD" in your mind as a child.

   -- through my teens and into my early twenties I spend as many youth
did during the lates 60's and early 70's fooling around with drugs and
drinking. Suffice to say, I got messed up with the wrong crowd, wrong
attitudes and consider nothing of a spiritual nature unless it was a
fad to do so. Traveling the country, drifting and trying to discover
what life was all about seemed to be my goal...or lack of one.

   When I was 24, I met and worked for a Christian man. For 1 year I
fought "tooth n' nail" this man's overtures of kindness, love and words
of God. But deep inside, what he said made sense to me and I
desparately wanted to know and understand what he did. I began to
soften just enough to be taken to church and home to his family for a
Sunday supper or two. And after several months of "fighting" what God
had been calling me to, I gave my life to Jesus Christ after one such
Sunday supper in the living room of my bosses home. It was the end of
my search for peace and the beginning of a newlife in Christ. The first
year was really tough, although I KNEW Jesus was in me and I in Him, my
outward self fought to regain it's old habits and I developed a
on-going case of rugburn for the amount of times spent on my knees in
asking forgiveness. The repenting was the hard part, and thats when I
realized the only way I was going to "turn-away" from my old ways and
become the "new creature" talked about in Corinthians was to follow
Christ more closely and to live for Him. So, for the next 4 years I
embarked on getting to know Jesus better. I attended Bible Studies (In
Vancouver. B.C.), found a "home" church and fellowshipped with other
believers.

   In 1984 at the age of 30 I got married to a Catholic women who
during our courting made a commitment to Jesus and experienced the
"born-again" relationship with our Saviour. Together we were "on-fire"
for the Lord and continued to grow as a couple and raise a family.
Today, in 1990 with 3 children and a new baby expected this late fall,
I find myself continuing to struggle with sin, the world and family,
but there is one BIG difference. I KNOW Jesus now, I know where to go
for help, I know whom to reach out to and I know whom to go when I do
fall. Our home church in Vancouver is a Presbyterian Church, pastored
by an American evangelical Fuller Grad named Harry Bailey. When we
moved to Toronto in 1987, we attended Markham Baptist Church where we
received Baptisim. We are presently attending Markham Missionary Church
in Markham, Ontario Canada (just outside of Toronto) and host a bible
study in our home on Monday nights. Our Pastor(s) are Winston Thurton,
a black evangelical minister from the USA and an older (but wiser)
missionary Pastor, John Hamilton. Together they provide a sound gospel
message.

   yours in Christ Jesus, Mark Williams
