TESTIMONIALS

My life changed for the better when I arrived at New Beginnings. I was a Christian man struggling with an opiate addiction. I needed a big change in my life and New Beginnings was the answer to my prayers.

Up to this point in my life I was more concerned with serving myself rather than the Lord.  I thought I had it all figured out. My achievements in life had included being honorably discharged from the Navy, being a member of a good church where I was a Sunday school teacher, being married to my beautiful wife and being the father to four teenage boys. I owned a home. I had a skilled trade. The list could probably go on, but as you can see, there are a lot of I's in that list.

I wasn't living the life of a servant to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, He was good enough to save my soul but not good enough for me to completely surrender myself to Him.

 I was full of pride and had harshly judged a friend with a drug addiction. I myself had not been on drugs yet, but I did have another addiction which was sports entertainment—primarily football. The Bible says in Exodus that God is a jealous God and that we shouldn't have any other gods before Him. Sports, mostly football, was my god. Since my addiction (to sports) was more commonly accepted, I wasn't able to see how ugly my sin was yet.

It wasn't too much longer down the road that I was experiencing pain due to my trade. I am a floor covering installer, and at the time I did mostly carpet. Carrying carpet is hard on the back. I went to the doc, and he prescribed tramadol to ease the pain. He told me that it was not an addictive painkiller. My wife, being concerned, asked the pharmacy and they said that is wasn't addictive. At the time, it wasn't considered to be a narcotic. Wonderful we thought! Except for the fact that I did get addicted and have no excuses.

The Holy Spirit was whispering (because that's how He does it) to me to leave it alone and find other ways to deal with the pain. I didn't heed to the Holy Spirit because I already was grieving Him with service to myself, as I said earlier.

As my addiction started to get worse, I was doubling and tripling my dose. I tried to get my doctor to increase the amount prescribed, but he denied. Instead of turning to God I turned to illegal street pills. That got REALLY EXPENSIVE REALLY FAST! My addiction was now costing me all that I could afford and then some. All the while, God was faithful to me and my family. He was just waiting for me to get to the end of my rope, and thank God I did, or else I may have committed robbery and been put in jail.

At this point, my wife and I were willing for me to go to New Beginnings for 6 months. I was willing to give up my drug addiction there, but as I mentioned before, I still had a servitude problem. 

While at New Beginnings, I was challenged to read my Bible early in the morning. So I did—as early as 4am. I know that's really early but the Bible says in Proverbs 8:17, “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.” I was ready to find the Lord!
  

Of course, six months is a long time to leave your family, but I would have lost my family if I didn't go to New Beginnings. Thank God for His Son and the King James Bible! My life was in need of a big change, and I got it at New Beginnings with the McNamaras and everyone else involved with the ministry.

In service to my Lord, I now teach and preach the Word of God to inmates at the Wood County Jail and Juvenile Detention Center, where I've had the privilege to lead many men to the Lord.  It’s amazing what humility will do for you when you humble yourself before God. The men and boys that I get to minister to understand that I have a heart for them because I was almost with them if God wouldn’t have delivered me. 

Another ministry I was able to participate in at N.B. was street preaching, and I have continued preaching on the street here in my hometown. The Lord beckoned us to go into the highways and the byways preaching the gospel. The Apostle Paul and many others preached in the streets also. It’s a good way to tell the Lord you are all in on serving Him.

Another way I’ve been trying to please the Lord is by ministering to the elderly at the nursing home. Praise the Lord for our them! They've seen a few things in their lives and are eager to be with the Lord. They have their eyes set on Him! We should do that as well. 

I've also had a different approach with the folks that I've done flooring installations for, and God has given me opportunities to witness and lead families to salvation! God is so good to me, and He is willing to use those that submit to Him. My family is now very involved in church and street preaching ministries, which is something my boys didn't do when I was a terrible spiritual leader at home. Now that my life has turned around, they have a better foundation with which to serve Him!! They also have memorized Ps. 121 among other Scriptures due to repeating it over and over in the van.

If you are searching for some of these types of results in your life, but the devil has you down due to addictions or just a lack luster spiritual life, then you should consider New Beginnings. It will be profitable if you are willing to work hard and seek the Lord. If you are not willing, then you will stay in misery by not doing anything for God. I likened it to spiritual bootcamp due to my military background. Nothing worth having is easy to obtain. Remember that when you are thinking of quitting. God bless those of you that are willing to start over and especially those of you that give New Beginnings a chance to help you change.

In the love of Christ

Doug Johnson

I Corinthians 15:58

Doug & his sons doing a Bible Study

My name is David Watkins. I am 38 years old and was born in Enid, OK. I remember being very young and listening to my grandmother as she told me about how Jesus died for me. Honestly, I always believed in Him, but I didn’t make Him the Lord of my life.

I grew up in a family where alcohol and drugs always seemed to be in the picture. When I was around 9 or 10, I started going to church quite often with my aunt and my cousin. However, shortly after, I started hanging out with the wrong friends, smoking, and doing drugs. By the time I was 15, I had moved on to “harder” drugs and was having problems in school. Finally, when I was 17, I dropped out of school and started working. My brother Don ended up coming to get me after my 18th birthday, and I moved to Houston, TX, with him. That is where I met my future wife.

My brother tried to help me get my life back on track, but I wouldn’t listen to him, and I ended up joining the U.S. Army to take care of my family. I did pretty well for about a year, but when I returned from Iraq, I started drinking heavily and started using drugs again. Things went south from there, and I continued down that path for about 10 years, leaving my wife with no choice but to file for divorce.

In 2008, I met Bro. Steve Meier, and he helped me get into the men’s program at the Roloff Homes. While I was there, I got saved, and the LORD called me to preach. After I graduated from the program, I went back to Enid, OK, with Bro. Meier, and started preaching here and there at nursing homes, but I got complacent and started dipping when I was at work. I also started taking pills, but this time, I ended up in prison—twice—for about 5 years. 

Upon my release, I kept in God’s Word, but I had a few slips and was still using tobacco. Finally I had enough, and I contacted Bro. Steve again. He brought me down here to New Beginnings to get, well, right. Bro. and Mrs. McNamara have been very good examples to me of how a Christian family should be, and I appreciate the generosity in opening up their home to people in need. I thank God that He took away the craving I had for tobacco and drugs. Also, He has allowed me to go street-preaching and to preach at the nursing home a few times! Amen!

If it weren’t for my being here, I would’ve still been going down that old road. Thank you very much!

“Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.” Proverbs 16:3 

Hello my name is Austin Chaffee. I was saved on September 17, 2014, on a Wednesday night after hearing the New Beginnings Girls Academy sing. The pastor preached on how God could use anyone no matter the past, no matter the sin, no matter where you were in life!  The only requirement was to be born again. I walked the aisle and received Jesus Christ as my Savior.

Three days later I moved to Missouri to attend the New Beginnings Men’s Home where I spent the next six months. It was there that God dealt with my heart. Through the daily work, (which a man needs if he’s going to change), the good fellowship between the brethren, the memorizing of scripture and the prayer and Bible reading, the Lord began to deal with my heart.

He took an ole’ wretched miserable dope addict and gave him joy and a peace that came to stay. Shortly after I graduated, my wife also attended the New Beginnings Women’s Home where she began to grow in the Lord, and He began to deal with her as well. He broke her and turned her into a marvelous wife, friend, and help meet.

After she graduated, we were able to get both of our boys back (Myles and Eli). We both prayed about whether or not to go back to Ohio and came to the conclusion that there was no need to go back.  We then spent the next 2 1/2 years working with New Beginnings until the Lord called me to Pensacola Bible Institute where we are currently learning the Bible and waiting for the next instructions from the Lord. I would like to thank God for all the people who supported New Beginnings where my family and myself were able to go for a place of refuge and get rooted and grounded in the truth. The Lord has been so good to me!
 Philippians 1:6

For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the LORD.” (Proverbs 8:35)

That verse has been with me for a while now. I never truly understood it but have kept it in my heart. Then, the day I got saved, it changed my life. 

Let’s go back, though, to the beginning of my sinful life. I was born on April 4, 1996 in Mt. Home, Arkansas. Growing up as a child, I never knew my dad and I did not have a completely stable home environment. My mom did everything she could for us both physically and emotionally, but not really spiritually. I didn’t grow up in a church home and I didn’t know anything about salvation; it was all just school and sports. I excelled in school to a point and didn’t have to study. It was just natural, and sports were the same way. I was the jock and was always a starter in the sports I had played.

In my early teen years, I had a lot of drugs in my life, which led to more sin. By the time I was eighteen, all I was doing was what I wanted to do. That’s when my life got really rough due to choices I had made. Over the next few years, I lived a miserable, depressing life. My grandma had passed away and left me an inheritance. I blew it all on the lifestyle I was living of drugs and women and what I wanted in life. I started getting in trouble, and this was sort of a wake-up call. I would pray in time of need, but then when things got going good, I would turn away. The Lord starts with minor things to get you to follow His will in your life and He did that with me; I just never followed.

Then there’s times that tragic things happen in your life for the Lord to show you the bigger picture. That’s what the Lord had done with me. It took me hitting rock bottom in life and ending up in jail for about eight months for the Lord to get me to see the bigger picture. I lost everything that at that time was my world: possessions, friends, etc. Then the Lord heard my prayer (or someone’s prayer) and delivered me to my new beginning in life.

New Beginnings has been the best thing that has happened to my life. My faith has been tested and tried in a lot of ways. I can say, though, with Christ as my Advocate, no trial or temptation can take me from the Lord. On August 19th at around 12:30 pm, I was saved by the Blood of Jesus.

I have still struggled and been tried, but I can say that I am thankful that I have allowed the Lord to clean up my heart. I have found life through Christ which liveth in me. 

My name is Joshua Brown. I'm 32 years old and from Sunbright, TN. I came to New Beginnings in 2016 a broken man. For 10 years I was addicted to drugs. They ruined my life in every way. However, rather than turning to the Lord when I was in a very dark place in my life, I turned to drugs. I was at my bottom. I had been to jail many times , I had been admitted to mental hospitals to help me deal with my problems, and I had been to many other rehabs In all those places I never found the peace I was looking for. They pointed me in many different directions to solve my problems but there was still something missing—I still never felt whole. I had forsaken my family , my career, and anything and everything that I considered important to me.

One day I was laying in the hospital with heart problems that was caused by the drugs that I had done over the years and the doctor told me I would die if I didn’t change my life. Little did I know that the Lord had a plan for me.

After I was released from the hospital, I went to detox and my parents had been told about a six-month program in Missouri that helps recovering drug addicts. I made the decision to come here because I was tired—tired of fighting, tired of hurting everyone that loved me, tired of feeling the pain that I had been holding onto for years.

New Beginnings changed my life. I gave my life to the Lord and learned through Him all things all are possible. With hard work, determination, and turning to the Lord and the Bible for my answers, I'm now sober and living my life for the Lord.

I now work for New Beginnings Ministries. Being able to help others and no longer living my life for just me brings great happiness.