Once you take your Bibles and we're going to read a passage of Scripture together, when you get your Bibles, turn to Psalm 103, if you would, please. What's about to take place in this chapel in the next hour, two hours, two and a half hours, three hours, whatever the case may be, is a very important activity, the activity of praise. Some of you are naturally pessimists. And remember, when you get to heaven, there'll be no pessimists there. And so I hope that you'll fix your eyes upon the Lord this morning and that God will use it to lift up your head and remind you of the many things that he's done for you. And as you hear things that he's done for others, and I'm going to read verses one through 14, and I'd like for you to follow along if you would please. Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with love and kindness and tender mercies, who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the East is from the West, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust. May God add his blessing to his word. You may be seated. This is a day that we look forward to and I want to encourage you to make your testimonies brief because we want to give as many people as possible an opportunity. I think I'm trying to figure out when Brother Dallas wants us to conclude this. Do you have any idea what time? Okay. All right. So let's make them brief. Stand up close to the mic so everybody can hear you. All right. Let's have several come and line up on both sides, please. All right. My name's Logan Fields and I'm a freshman. Until I came here, I didn't realize how rare it is to find good Bible and music standards. So I'm very thankful that God sent me to a school that has good Bible and good music. Amen. Go ahead. I praise the Lord for all the... My name is James Tate. I praise the Lord for all the friends the Lord has given me here at Ambassador and the encouragement they always are to me, always sharing scriptures with me and just being a real encouragement to me. I praise the Lord. Dr. Childs. Thank you, sir. I want to thank the Lord for this past year. It's probably been the hardest year of my Christian life, and yet I thank the Lord for it because he has shown himself strong on my behalf, and I thank Him and praise Him for His faithfulness and His goodness to us. In Jesus' name. My name is Jason Shirk. I'm a senior missions major, and I would like to thank the Lord for my mom and for the strength that he's given her so far, because even when the rest of my family isn't doing right and they're dropping out of church, she's been strong. And that's something unusual for us. I praise God that he has blessed her. My name is Jim Barama Jr. and I'd like to thank the Lord for several things for the student body here that's been such a blessing to me and encouraged me and treated me so nicely. Thank you for the faculty, staff, administration who've been such great teachers of God's Word and examples and been so patient with me and my slow learning capabilities. It's basically Greek and Pastor Camp and his patience get me through two years of that is a miracle in itself. Thankful to the Lord for all the sacrifice that they do to teach here because most of them have to have some kind of side incomes because their salaries here are not enough to live on. Thank the Lord for their dedication. And then also I'd like to thank the Lord, as 2 Corinthians 9.15 says, thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. Amen. My name is Aaron Boone. I'm a freshman pastoral major. I just want to thank the Lord for how he provides for us. I had no money coming into the second semester here, but the Lord, through my home church, provided two payments of that for the second semester. So I just want to praise the Lord for how he provides for our needs. My name's Angela Perkins, and I'm not sure what I am this year, but I'll be done in December, so this is my last Praise Chapel. I just want to praise the Lord for the faculty and staff here, and just for their patience and help, and just for their guidance. And I'm just thankful that the Lord showed me what he wants me to do once I leave here. I also want to thank the Lord for his provision. Every semester that I've come, I've come with maybe $500 on my school bill, if that, and I had no clue how it was going to stay. And the Lord has provided, over the last two and a half years, around $16,000 to $17,000 for my school bill. And it's not done yet, and I know the Lord will provide, but I'm just thankful for just his provision. My name is Eli Guzman, and I want to thank the Lord for His salvation, for saving me. I also want to thank Him for His provision, and also I want to thank Him for how many times I've failed Him, He's still faithful to me, and He still loves me. I don't lose my salvation, of course, and I thank Him for that, and I just praise Him that He's always been faithful to me all these years. Amen. If you folks want to come on now and just line up behind these folks who come on as they're speaking. Go ahead. I'm Misha Adams, freshman elementary education major. I just want to thank the Lord for my salvation and also the salvation of another person. A while ago, Johanna and I were able to lead a girl, Autumn Towery, to the Lord. Amen. Wonderful. My name is Dan Towery and I'm a pastoral major. And I have more than an abundance of things to thank the Lord for. But one thing most recently was about two weeks ago on Saturday visitation, the guys and I went out to visit just some kids that we had been talking to. And we didn't even plan on speaking to these two kids that I'm about to speak of. But they received the Lord as their personal Savior and their brother and sister. And we wanted to make sure that they didn't have any influence on each other. So we split them up. They made it sound like they really wanted to know God, and so we've been trying to get back to Him. But I'm just so thankful that God doesn't limit His salvation to certain people. It's to everybody. Amen. I love to hear your testimonies about leading people to Christ, Dean. Good morning. Name is Royce Dean Richards. I know many of you didn't know that, but Dean is fine. So many things to thank the Lord for this morning. I want to thank Him for providing for my family and I throughout the years. Two lessons I've learned throughout the time I've been here. One is trusting the Lord. And that's been the most difficult lesson for me to learn. Put in a situation where I thought honestly that I really did trust the Lord. And when he took away the job and the different things that I depended on, I realized I really didn't trust him. And number two, he taught me to be content. You know, that was hard as well, to be content. And throughout the years, the Lord has been so good to my wife and I. And every year since we've been here, he had added something extra to the plate. It was the wife, the second year, and then the baby came along. So he had more mouths to feed at home, but with the same money. And I didn't understand it, and the Lord don't always explain everything, but I can tell you it works. And every month before we go to pay our bills, it always seems as though we don't have enough, but when we get there, it adds up. And the Lord has been so good to us, and I'm looking forward to graduating, hopefully, and being able to go back home and just be a blessing to the people there that have been an encouragement to us. I want to thank everyone. Your friendship means a lot to my wife and I. Sometimes she's very shy but when we get home she speaks a lot about the ladies who encourage her and stuff like that that you do for her and so we want to say thank you and we praise the Lord for his goodness. Amen. Thank you. My name is Matthew Hankey and I'm a 13th semester grad student. I missed out last year. I waited too long and Doc cut it off so I wanted to get in early this year. I just want to say that I'm thankful to the Lord for allowing me to have a small part here and I thank the opportunity that he's given me for the time that he has. And there's so many things we could say that we're thankful for, but I'm thankful that how the Lord teaches us, grows us, provides for us, doesn't stop just when you're a dorm student, but it continues. And I want to say that I'm thankful for my wife and for my children and the adjustments they make as part of being around school as well. Amen. Go ahead. My name is Matt Northcutt, and I'm a graduating senior this year, and I just want to praise the Lord for the direction he gives in life, when you trust him and when you're willing to step out on faith. Looking back now, I'm looking ahead almost towards graduation in May. Looking back, I can see how all throughout my life that the Lord has led each step of the way and prepared me for where I am today and also what he's called me to in the future. And I just thank the Lord for the direction that he gives. Through being here, the Lord's given me a philosophy of ministry. He's given me a direction in ministry, a goal to work towards. And I just praise the Lord for the leading. When you step out of faith and you're just willing to trust him that he leads and he guides and directs like he says he will. And I also want to thank the Lord for my wife, the encouragement that she is to me. We've been married almost five months now. And just the encouragement and the challenge that she is to me as well. It's just there could not be a better help meet for me as well. I just want to encourage you. It's worth waiting on the Lord's timing. It's worth waiting for the Lord to bring you to the right one and letting Him work it out. And I'm just so thankful that the Lord leads when we trust Him. My name is Max Tardy. I'm a pastoral major freshman. I'd just like to praise the Lord. When I came and visited the college, I visited three colleges on this college trip. And on each of the colleges, I went to some of the students and I asked them what they liked about the college. And when I came to this college, every person I asked, they said one thing first. They said the faculty. When I heard that, I'm like, this is where I want to go. And I have found that is very true. And I just love dipping in the well of wisdom that I find here in the faculty and just seeing all the Bible knowledge that I can learn from. I just like to praise the Lord. Amen. And by the way, in just a little bit, we're going to be taking an offering and you can express your gratitude to the faculty. All of the offerings this week will be going toward the Christmas bonuses. I want to praise the Lord that February the 2nd of 2003, he spoke my heart and I began to delight myself in him. And I started praying for a godly friend that God would bring along so that I could be friends with and that could help mentor me. And God brought that friend into my life. And February, or November the 23rd of 2003, that same year, he invited me to come to hear Dr. Comfort and the ensemble at Shining Light Baptist Church. I went there and listened to Dr. Comfort preach the word of God, and God broke my heart for souls. And I went forward and and he prayed. Brother Matt prayed with me and I surrendered my whole life to the Lord. And he told me this. He said, Zach, you need to go to Bible college. And he said, I know of a good one. And he introduced me to Dr. Comfort. And I came here that that same year, the next year, the next fall. And I just want to praise the Lord for his faithfulness and how God has brought me through. I'm a senior. I plan to graduate in May. And just every single day I see the goodness and the greatness of our God and how he provides for us when we are in the middle and the center of his will. And how when I didn't know how the bill was going to get paid, you go to my box and see a thousand dollar check in there, two hundred dollars or just how God has provided thousands and thousands of dollars to get me through this school. And I just want to praise the Lord for his goodness and for his greatness in my life. My name is Amanda Blaine and I am a freshman admissions major. And I want to praise the Lord for his goodness and his faithfulness to us and for bringing things into my life that I don't necessarily understand, but that will prepare me for the ministry one day. My name is Gloria Clark. I'm a Bible major. That's the biggest thing God's taught me this semester is surrender. When Susanna, my sister, left for China, I felt like half my heart was going over there. And before she left, she told me, you know, Gloria, I may stay there longer than a year. And I wasn't okay with that. I said, no, Suzanne, you have to come back after a year and get married and have a big family. And I had her life mapped out for her. And about a month after her being there, somebody got saved and God just started showing me, who are you to hold her back from his plan? And she told me two weeks ago on the phone, we were talking Sunday morning and she said, Gloria, I may be here the next 10 years of my life. And I said, praise Lord, if that's God's plan for you, That's what I know. Matthew, after Matthew, then we'll have a number and then we'll have some more. If you'd like to come on and get in line to give a testimony, go ahead right now. My name is Matthew Rose. I'm a junior. And I would just like to praise the Lord for the family that He's given me. You hear so many times of students and things that don't have a supportive family backing them. And I'm just so thankful for them. They've given so much for me to be here. It doesn't matter what it is, if I tell them, Mom and Dad, I know this is God's will for me, I know this is what He wants, they say, OK, we'll help you do it. And I'm just so thankful for them, and I praise God. Amen. Well, I want to give a testimony to the great greatness of our God. We just closed on our home on Monday night, and we really weren't planning on getting a home till 2009. We were praying and working towards that goal. And then the Lord provided this. Really, three months ago, we weren't even thinking about getting a home. And the way the Lord just brought it all together is nothing short of a miracle. And we're so thankful to him for that. And we went and parked over there Monday night and have been there the last couple of nights. But, you know, I just think about that in relationship to how the Lord prepared this home for us. And we really feel like that with our first trailer and our second trailer. And then with this home, the Lord just had those custom made just for us. And I just think about the home that he's preparing for us someday in glory and it's custom made. And I'm just so thankful for his salvation. Go ahead, Spurgeon. Good morning. My name is Spurgeon Webb. I'm a one-year Bible student. And this past Saturday, Thomas Delp and I and other people from Maranatha went to the nursing home. And before we preach, we always go around to the rooms and talk to the people. And we went to this one room and talked to this man named Bill Childs. And we asked him if he knew where he'd go if he died. And he said, no, he didn't know. And we asked him, would he like to know? And so we explained the gospel to him. very plainly whenever, several times, but he would not make a decision. And so Monday during the chapel service, the Lord brought to mind Bill Childs. And after Thomas got out of Messiah practice, we left and I thought about changing clothes, which that makes sense in a few minutes, but I decided not to. We went ahead and went over there and We walked into his room, and he was leaving the nursing home. His wife was there taking his stuff out. And she left with some of the stuff to put in the car. And so we jumped right in on him and said, you know, you remember what you talked about the other day? Yes. Would you like to receive Christ your Savior? Yes. So he prayed and asked the Lord to save him. And I'm just thankful today that there's another person going to heaven. Amen. Go ahead. My name is Jessica Clark and I just want to praise God and thank God that he brought me back to Ambassador and also that he provided the money for me to come here this semester. And also I just want to praise God for answering a specific prayer request. My prayer request to God was that I wouldn't have to work as much this semester so I could serve God more and also go on visitation and be in church every single service. And this semester I've not had to miss a single church service because of work. My name is Mike Davis and I am a transferring something, but my major is pastor. And the thing that the Lord probably blessed me this semester is the idea that some doors have were temporary closed and some new open doors took place. And also the doors that were temporarily shut this semester are slowly reopening and I have to thank the Lord for forgiving me of past sins and failures. And it's good to know that the Lord has washed away past sins and we can just lift ourselves up and just continue walking in the newness of life. And another thing I'm very thankful for and the Lord showed me this semester is recently, like two weeks ago, I read a little bit in Our Baptist Heritage and just looking back at some of the torture that our forefathers went through. It's just a blessing to know that I would not trade any other religion or any other than our own. My name is Elizabeth Brown, and I'm a freshman admissions major. And I just praise the Lord for how he let me see him work this semester. And I've seen him answer prayer. The three people I prayed would get saved got saved, and that was really neat. And then just how the Lord's just been working in my life, and I've seen him work in other people's lives. And I just praise the Lord for letting me see what he's doing and that he's a powerful God. Amen. My name is Nick Lackey. I'm a freshman evangelist major. And I'd like to thank the Lord for the, first of all, for my salvation, but for all the roommates that he's given us. So we have 16 different personalities in our dorm. But I just want to thank the Lord that he knows exactly what we need and when we need it. And like I said, we have 16 different personalities. And it's just when we're down, they're there to help us. And when they're down, we're there to help them. It's just back and forth. And it's just been an encouragement to me. Amen. My name is Dan Brown. I'm a junior this year, and I just want to praise the Lord for the way that he speaks to us. It seems that in every situation or everything that I'm going through, God always speaks my heart through chapel or through classes or even through friends. And I just want to praise the Lord for doing that. My name is Ryan Griffin. I'm a freshman, and I just want to thank our father for the opportunity he's given me to share the gospel with people. I've come to realize the joy. Well, first of all, when I was before I came here, I live in Michigan. Before I came here, I was transitioning from like a liberal lifestyle from a liberal church to a fundamental independent church. And that liberal church didn't have a evangelism outreach at all. And I want to thank the Lord, because when I came here, it seems like he just put guys in my life, men in my dorm and men that I met around campus that I went out soul winning with that just helped me to see the need. And, um, and well, it's always been giving me opportunities about, I mean, it just seems like every day and there really are opportunities at work and everything. And it's, it's, um, the joy, it's like, there's no greater joy. And I just want to thank him for that. And I thank him for the godly friends that he's brought in my life and, um, praise the Lord. And I encourage everyone to go out there and share the gospel because there is no greater joy in doing that. Amen. My name is Rafael Cordero. As Brother Moses mentioned last week, my faith has been here quite frequently for quite some time. But I just want to thank God for His goodness all the time. God is good. All the time, God is good. And He's been so good to me and more than I deserve. Thank God for His grace. Thank God for my girlfriend, which is my wife. I had to get my third G in. And also, just that she's met my needs all the time. But also, for the job that I have at the group home, where I work with or just mentor troubled teens. It's so sad. You couldn't imagine where most of these kids and youth have come from. Parents who don't want him at all, kids who want to die, kids who come from just horrible, abusive backgrounds. But God has given me the opportunity to lead one of them to the Lord about a month ago. And quite frequently, you know, on his own will, he wants to come forward and ask me Bible questions. about how to grow up and what you shouldn't do, what you should do, what God's leading is hard. God just has allowed me to work in his life. But lastly is also this past Sunday was the last Sunday that we don't have a pastor that has to travel back and forth. For 16 months we were without a pastor at Berean Baptist Church, but God has led a young man and his family to our church and this weekend he's moving in and I thank God for bringing him here. Hi, my name is Kristen Flanagan. I'm a freshman elementary education major. I hope I don't get emotional, because I usually do. First of all, I'm thankful for my salvation. And I'm just thankful that God brought me to this school. And I'm just thankful because God just has provided for me in so many ways. These past couple months, I've really had to trust him, and it's been terrifying, but he's provided and he's always there for me. My name is Seth Pills. I'm a evangelist freshman major, and I just wanted to praise the Lord that he's given purpose to our lives so we don't have to just live our lives vainly, but that he's called us to preach the gospel and I also like to praise him for the power that he's given to us to do that, and that faithful is he that has called us also will do it. He's given us his Holy Spirit. He's given us his word. And just thank the Lord for how he's used just my friends here and how remarkably he's used me as well just for his ministry. And just I also like to thank the Lord for his presence, for that when we have nothing else in this world, we still have the presence of an infinite God, which that's worth dying for and fighting for as well. I just want to thank God for himself. My name is Anthony Brookshire, and I'm a second semester freshman. And I want to praise the Lord in Jesus' name for my two uncles, Charlie and Nathan. My uncle Charlie, a couple of months ago, died in a tragic way. But I praise the Lord that he was saved. And it's sort of been part of my family, but I praise the Lord that he's been using that for my other uncle Nathan that I mentioned prayer for salvation last semester. Since you've been praying for him, he's been asking questions. He came to Friend Day at our City Baptist Church a little time after that, and through my uncle's death, he's been starting asking questions about what happens to the soul after you die and stuff like that. the family situation, dwelling situations, where we've been moving, planning on moving close together. And one of our other relatives got saved about a month ago. So, the Lord's just working greatly in that area, and I pray that He'll continue to pray for my uncle Nathan, that he'll get saved, because he's getting there. I'm John Izaflush, and I'm a junior pastoral major. I have many things to praise the Lord for, but I'm just going to praise him for two things. The Bible says that he gives us all things that pertain to life and Godliness. I'm thankful that God gives us what we need. One of the things I needed this semester was the sermon that Dr. Dalton preached on meditation. And that really opened up a new spiritual growth pattern in my life. I'm thankful for how he used that to really take the word of God and take it from my head and put it in my heart. And I also want to thank him for just what I've learned in Colt's class this weekend. I was able to witness to a Jehovah's Witness for over a half hour. And he took a track, which if you're a Jehovah's Witness, you can get this fellowship for that. And he also invited me to come back next Sunday. So just I praise the Lord that what I learned in that class helped me later on. Praise the Lord. My name is Lee Robinson. I just want to thank the Lord for November 8, 2005, and Mr. Doug Getty for leading me to the Lord. And I got saved that night and have been saved ever since. And I'm also thankful for Mr. Getty's faithfulness for discipling me and bringing me under the roof of his home, his wife feeding me. It's just amazing what the Lord can do. My name is Jacob Hughes. I'm in my second year of master studies. I want to praise the Lord, first of all, for letting my wife and I come back and for me being able to work for the school. Last year was a good year, God provided, but it's just been neat to be back and to be in chapel every day, and the Lord has just given us direction and has been such a blessing being back over here, and I want to praise the Lord for that. And also, at this time last year, the church that we attended, Emanuel Independent Baptist Church, we didn't have our own building. We were getting ready to start and we were looking forward to having a building of our own to meet in. It's neat to see how God just provided people to help. So many people pitched in, gave us so many things to help us keep the costs down. We were able to build a building in right at four months. And it was such a blessing to have a building. But then God really began to bless in a way that we hadn't thought of. I just was ready for us to settle in our own building and to keep growing. God has used the building to bring people to Himself. Shortly after we got the building finished, there was a man in our neighborhood that does drywall. He had given us several sheets free for us to put up in the church. He started coming and the Lord has been working in his family and we've seen he and his wife come and their children and they're starting to be more faithful and God's been working in their hearts. A few weeks after that, Stephen Cummins, my pastor, and I were standing outside and this couple drove up and they asked us when our services were and so we told them Since that time, the man was not saved yet. They were living together unmarried. He has been saved. The couple's gotten married. They've been faithful in church. He's just growing so much. He just has a desire to know the Lord. And God's just worked in their heart. A little bit after that, the sister-in-law of the man who gave us the drywall, she started coming. My wife had the privilege of leading her to the Lord after a Sunday service. Right around that time, all three of her sons were saved. A little while after that, all three of them were baptized. They've been faithful. Just last week, her husband came and he got saved. And it seems like there was another family. Oh, there was a family that my pastor led to the Lord six years ago when he first came back to the area to start the church. And they'd been out of the out of town. They came back in town, and the wife works for a real estate agent. She was driving around, saw the church, and they came back. And so it's just been amazing to me to see how God has used the building itself for His glory and has brought people to Himself, people that we can minister to. And I just want to praise the Lord because I've just seen Him work. We've been trying to go out and find people and bring them to Christ, God brought them on his own, and it's just been so amazing to see how God's worked through our new church building. Amen. Amen. My name is Chrissy Darling, and I'm a junior, and I just want to thank the Lord for bringing me back here to Ambassador. So many lessons He's taught me since I've been here, and one important lesson He's taught me is the power of prayer. And this semester, I was struggling in a class, Bible, Act, and Geo. And if for those of you that don't know, that's with Dr. Dalton. And I was really frustrated. Halfway through the semester, I kept failing my classes. And I was like, Lord, I don't know what I'm going to do. I was doing well in all my rest of my classes. The Lord really showed me that I needed to make it a matter of prayer. And one of my friends, I was talking to a dean, and he encouraged me to just turn it over to the Lord and trust the Lord with the class and realize that I can't do it in and of my own strength. I'm not going to be able to pass unless I really just trust the Lord. And after that, my grades started going up. And I just thank the Lord for that. And he just showed me the power of prayer through providing for my finances and through my grades and then just lessons he's taught me through my friends. And I just want to thank the Lord for that. Amen. We'll have one more testimony and then the duet. My name is Elena Ermler and I'm a junior and I just want to praise the Lord for a specific answer to prayer just this past week. Many of you know that about a month ago we found out that my dad had cancer and he had the surgery about a week and a half ago now and they were able to remove the cancer and we found out that it had not spread and so he is now cancer-free. He's doing well. But I wanted to thank you and my parents asked me to thank you for all your prayers and your concern. And then I'd also like to praise the Lord for my parents. And just these past few years, the Lord has helped me to realize how thankful I should be for my parents and what a godly example they are to me. And I'm just so blessed. All right, Alan, we'll start with you, sir. Hi, my name is Alan Ogletree, and I just want to tell you how great my Lord is to me. He has blessed me in so many ways, and I'm just going to share one of them. I'll be up here again sometime later. But the Lord just really blessed me. I saved up this past summer with some money, and I was able to come to school. I was able to pay off my first payment. Whenever a second payment came around, I'm sitting there, I'm like, okay, Lord, I'm I don't have a job, I'm trying to get a hang of the school stuff, and it's not really working out for me too much. Lord, I'm just going to hand it over to you." And my mom gave me a call the day after that, and she said, don't worry about your payment, the money came in for it, and for the rest of the school year. And I was like, Lord. You did it again. You're great. And it was amazing. And I was starting to get kind of concerned about next year, because I preferably want to pay that by myself if I can. And I was looking for a job and everything back home. And the guy I worked with this past summer, he called me up a couple weeks ago. He's like, hey, you want to work with me over Christmas break? I'll work with you. Yeah, that sounds great." And he's like, okay. And I called him back this couple nights ago, asked him, I said, hey, do you have a job opening for next summer? He's like, I was fixing to call you and ask you if you could help me work. And it's just a real big blessing because anything, the man, he works I worked with him this past summer. He works for a youth group, and he just gives me anything that I need, and it's a big blessing working with him. And I just praise the Lord for people that he brings to my life, just so that he blesses me and then hopefully I can be a blessing to them. And I just like to praise the Lord for that. Amen. Hi, my name is Nathan Howick. I'm a sophomore pastoral music major. I just want to praise the Lord for the trials that he brings into our life and for the fact that God is always faithful. And he's always there for us when we need him. Also for the messages that he prepares for us. I was struggling with some things for the past couple of weeks, but even yesterday I was struggling with some things and the message yesterday was so perfect. And even the special music God had organized for that and the fact that God is always there. And I just praise the Lord for the fact that he is faithful. He's always there for us. And also, I praise the Lord for the friends that I have here at college as well. I praise the Lord for some close friends that come up to you and they see that you're struggling with something. Just ask you how you're doing. And they give you some scripture about things and just tell you, you know, this is what you need to do. You just need to trust the Lord. In fact, he tried to teach us so many times to trust him. And when we feel like we're trusting him, he shows us how much we're not really trusting him. And the Lord really used Psalm 61 in my life. In fact, I preached a message on it over at nursing home about a week ago and didn't realize how much the Lord was going to use that in my life in the next week. But just the fact that David came to the Lord and he said, my heart is overwhelmed. And yet he said, lead me to the rock that's higher than I. And he looked at what God had done for him in the past. And in the end, he ended up praising the Lord for the trial that God had him in. And so I just praise the Lord and I want to hold that same example that David had, that even in the midst of trials, we can still praise him because we can see what he's done for us in the past. Amen. My name is Jonathan Beasley, and I just want to praise the Lord that he daily loads us with benefits. And I just thank the Lord for his leading hand in my life. I went to Bob Jones University for two years and I just thank the Lord that he led me from there to here. And this is definitely a school that where my heart is about preaching and ministry. And I thank the Lord that he sent me here. And I tell you what, I love the preaching every day and I want to praise the Lord for that. You can't stay carnal too long around here or you'll leave, you know, either one of the two. And I think the Lord for the power and preaching and his word. And I just want to thank the Lord for that. But also, I just want to praise the Lord for. on the friends that I have here and just the encouragement from just various friends. And I just need to be able to grab some guys and say, you want to pray together and different things like that. You won't be able to find that many other colleges. And I know I struggle with that at B.J., but just to be able to grab some guys and say, hey, let's go pray. That's a blessing to me. I want to praise the Lord for that blessing. And just again, thank him for his leading hand. I want to thank the Lord for his goodness. He is faithful and just, and I praise the Lord for that. I thank the Lord for the many, many things that he's given me, most of all for my salvation. Thank the Lord for my godly heritage and for the opportunities that he gave me early on to know the Lord, to grow, to learn to play the piano, for a godly family. I thank the Lord for his word. That is something that continues every day to be special. And he continues to teach me through his word. And I thank the Lord for that. I thank the Lord for prayer, the privilege that he gives us of praying for others, for praying for missionaries on the foreign field where I can't go. But God allows me to pray for those people. And then, many times, He allows me to see the answers. And that's a special blessing to me, to know that God allows me to see those answers. This past year, we have celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary, and we were allowed to be with four out of the five of our children this summer. to celebrate. And then our fifth one came home in August from Chile. And so we were able to be with her as well. And I thank the Lord so much for the privilege that he has given us to have children that honor and obey him and serve him. And then we can see answers to prayer in their lives too, as they serve him and as they tell us of the The things that they're going through and the way that God is working in their lives and the souls that they are leading to the Lord. And it's just been a real blessing. And I have to say that I truly praise the Lord for the way that he worked in our lives. in our home, in our marriage. And I thank the Lord for the husband that he's given me that has been faithful to the Lord. And and finally, I want to thank the Lord for the privilege that he's given us to be here and not only to work with you students and to see God working in your lives and and going on to serve the Lord, but also for the wonderful faculty and the friends that he's given us here. And I praise the Lord for that. You know, in a day when even in our own churches right now, we're seeing men having to leave the mission field because their wives no longer want to be in the ministry or pastors dropping out because of family problems and immorality and Internet addictions and all these kind of things. This makes me especially that much more thankful for a godly wife for the years that God has given us together. For five children who are all in full-time ministry and raising their children, our grandchildren, to know and love the Lord, the Lord gave us our 20th this past year. And we're so thankful for each of them and for the miraculous ways that God's works. Many families today, even preacher's kids' families, That's not the norm anymore and that saddens us and that's why we have such a burden for family ministry and so on. I'm thankful too for the privilege of ministering here. Many talk about and well they should about the influence the faculty has and so on. Sometimes we don't think as much about the blessings that you all are to us and the things you put far more into our lives. than we can put into yours, but we're still thankful for the privilege of having, like Matt Hanke said, a small part in ministering to you. It's such a joy to have students come by, whether it's to get candy or whether it's to serious counsel. We thank the Lord for that ministry. These are our general ongoing things. All of us could have many things all day long. I want to thank the Lord for something specific, too. My wife talked about His Word and its freshness. This year, for the first time in over 35 years, I decided to do something different than reading the Bible through, which I've done for all these many years. And I decided to read through the Psalms once a month, five Psalms a day, if it fits out just right, and then through the Proverbs, one proverb a day. And every month, I find things that, man, I didn't see that before. I didn't know that was there before. And wouldn't you know it, the school had me teach the book of Proverbs in the fall semester, and now the book of Psalms in the spring semester. I always tell my students often that every day, and recommend the practice too, every day in devotion time, before I sit down to read, I pray some variation of Psalm 119, 18, or open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law, and asking for something new and fresh that day. There's such a blessing. Just last weekend was the turn of Psalm 67. And it talks about, let all the people praise thee, O God. We're doing that this morning. Everybody has things to be thankful for. And it's very general. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Let all the people praise thee. And then verse 6. Because then the earth shall yield her increase, and God, even our own God, shall bless us. And that word, own, just jumped out. You can think of scriptures that God shall be our God even unto death, and he's our shepherd and my shepherd, and these personal pronouns that we preach about. But this just struck me so much. Not only is he our God, but he's our own God. He belongs to us as we belong to him. And with all the gods there are of the nations and all the idols and all these things, we have our own God to love and to worship and bless us. And I'm so thankful for the freshness of his word. Amen. My name is Amy Marie Rose. I'm a junior. I have so much to be thankful for and so much to praise God for, but I like to just thank him for being my savior and for the salvation that he has given me. I'd like to thank him for the way he's led in my life, the way he's guided and given me wisdom and the many answers to prayer that I have seen. I'd also like to thank him for my family and the way they have supported me and the fact that I was raised in a Christian home. I'd like to thank him for bringing me here to school. Hi, my name is David. I'm a four year something, and I just want to praise the Lord for all the influences in my life. I was just thinking back. I want to thank you for my pastor in Hagerstown, Maryland, for allowing a visitation program to go on at his church. And then Brother Birchwald actually visited my apartment when I was a teenager. And I want to thank Dwight Smith for putting out CDs that I was able to listen to as a meat cutter at my job and just began to work on me to come to Ambassador. I want to praise the Lord for Dr. Comfort making a school that I can come to and learn for the ministry and then all the faculty, Dr. Childs and just various Pastor Cummins, my pastor, and just the wonderful things God's doing. It's a challenge for me. I didn't do well in high school, and it's a challenge every day to get good grades and do my best. I just praise the Lord. The Lord just keeps working on me and every little area helps me to take care of my details. And I just want to be as faithful as I can to my Lord. Amen. Good morning, my name is Sean Curtis. I am a second semester sophomore and a pastoral major. I'd like to praise the Lord today and share a verse of scripture with you. It says in Acts 14, verse 27, it says, And when they were come and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them. And how he opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. That phrase there, they rehearsed all that God had done with them. See, God's been using me, Lee, Donnie Meter, and Ross at this one trailer park for the past 11 weeks. And we've been seeing God do great things there. We've been seeing God working. And I think we, so far, we've seen 14 visitors come out to church. We've seen seven professions of faith. And just last week, we had three teenagers come out on soul winning with us. So, I mean, it's a blessing. God's doing wonderful things there, and we're just vessels for His glory. And I'd just like to give Him the praise for that. Good morning, my name is Sam Ellis and I'm a junior pastoral major. I want to pray to the Lord for the testimony of the school and the student body. This semester, the Lord knew who I was going to need in my life specifically for encouragement and for accountability. And the Lord provided that to my roommates and specifically to the people who attend church with me at Promised Land. And on numerous occasions, I've had people, when I needed an encouragement, encourage me and even take me off to the side and say, well, this isn't right or you need to watch out for this. And I appreciate the fact that the Lord would put the specific people that I would need in my life. I appreciate the fact that the students here do that to keep you accountable to do right. I also want to praise the Lord for the testimony of the people that work here. I think I've mentioned this before with the people that I work with at Chick-fil-A. I work in the Cleveland Mall. And I'm a closing manager in the evening, so I work with a lot of high school students. And this semester, it's hit me. Very rarely there's been a night where one of the teenagers hasn't come to me and talked to me about something ethical, something about their character, something spiritual. And I believe that has a direct result upon the testimony that our students have, and our students have had at the store. So I just want to praise the Lord for the people he's put in my life, and I wanted to thank the student body for keeping me accountable this semester. Amen. Hi, my name is Jackie Tao. I am a mission sophomore. I just want to praise the Lord for his provision. There's a lot that he has given me. And I want to praise the Lord for the housing he has given me off campus. My friends and I were able to find a place to live for this school year and probably for the next couple of years, too. And it's free rent, free utilities, free TV, free internet, you name it. So the only thing I have to pay for is gas and food. And so that really helps cut down costs, especially when you're an international student and you can't work. You're not allowed to work by law. And because of that, I was going to say that I was not sure if I was going to come back next semester. A few of you guys knew that. And I just want to praise the Lord for his faithfulness. I was like, Lord, I don't know what I'm going to do. Show me something. And so I prayed that the Lord would provide me a ticket to come back to school. And I told the Lord, this is how much I have, OK? You either have to make up the rest of the money or somehow. And he was able to provide for it, way below cost than what I thought. And I'll be flying in and out of Canada as opposed to have to go down to the States and then fly down from the States. So that cut down on my trip there. And another thing is my parents have not always been a 100th supporter of me coming to Bible college because I do have a degree in my background. I could go get a secular job that I can make a lot of money and make them comfortable. So when I told my parents that I was not going to go back home to work, I was waiting to hear them say, what? What are you doing? But they didn't. And they actually said, we're proud of you. And that was a blessing to me. Thank you. Amen. My name is Jake DeAndre and I'll be graduating in December. And Brother Spencer was right when he said, blink and it's over. And so in Psalm 73, verse 17 says, Until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then understood I their end. And it feels like I feel like sometimes that my life I've been blessed so much that had like a funnel of blessings. Whether it's you guys as students here, whether it be my pastor sitting in the back row, just pray for him. Whether it be my, whether it be my family, my wife, whether it be the faculty and staff, But everybody, it seems like in my life, has encouraged me to go down the funnel. Until I get to this verse, so that I get to this verse. And if I have learned anything in Bible college, I've learned many things from all the professors and staff and friends that I've had here. I've got a hold of this one truth. You've got to get into the sanctuary of God. And I look through the professors that I've had here in my time and I say, man, I don't know what I would have done without you. And I look at you peers and say, man, I don't know what I would have done without you. I look at my wife and I say, thank goodness for a good wife. I look at my pastor and say, man, thanks for being a good friend. I feel like I just have all these people that have funneled me down to this one point until I went into the sanctuary of God. I didn't understand. But I look back and I'm so thankful that they they all pointed me right to the word of God. They didn't preach their opinion, their philosophy. They all said, Jake, just just keep digging right there. You're going to find it. And so I'm so thankful for this school. I'll always be indebted. to you all for what you've taught me, what I've learned through the three and a half years. And we look forward to seeing what God's going to do because of it. Good morning, my name is Megan Dallas. I've been here for 16 years of my life with my parents. When I first graduated, I didn't have the best attitude. I wanted to plan my own life out. I wanted to go be a nurse. And then in the summer, the Lord had to break me of my will. And he put me in a spiritual desert where I didn't have any Christian fellowship. And I realized that what I was missing the entire time was always there for me. And Pastor Cummins, I want to thank you so much for being there for me and my parents, especially my dad and my mom. And it's just good to be back and to realize that you need to stay centered in the will of God and not make your own plans. Because when you make your own plans, you lose friends and people that you love and you hurt things. And then when you come back, you realize that they're there with open arms to take you back. Hallelujah. Amen. Good morning. My name is Wesley Godby. I'm a freshman, one-year Bible major. I just want to thank God this morning for just the great friends I have and the God of the Influences here at school. About a week and a half ago, we got a call, me and Kenny did, a lady back home in Colorado that we've known for most of our lives. She was 39. She had seven kids. She just had a baby two weeks ago, passed away of a heart attack. That really hit me hard, right in the middle of the semester, going through school and stuff. I just thank God for all the friends that were there for me. They were just an encouragement, especially Kenny. I just thank God for letting me come here for a year. I haven't really had much time spent with Kenny in the last four or five years since he's been gone, so it's just a great lesson just to be able to spend a year with him and just further Godly influences at the school. I am Dirk McDowell, my freshman missions major. And I just want to praise the Lord that he is so real in our Christian walk. God is so real. And it's only taken me three, three years to realize that. But I also want to praise the Lord. I don't know how, but I mean, in three years, just three years ago, I was sitting in Catholic mass and I don't know how in the world God could. He sought me and he bought me with his redeeming blood. Glory, I'm saved. Amen. My name is Johanna Bega. I'm a freshman education major. I'm just thankful that God has renewed the joy in my salvation. Before I came here, I mean, obviously I was saved, but I just, I wasn't happy about it. It was just kind of a fact. And being here, being able to witness, go on a visitation, it's just given me a joy and I'm just so thankful for that. Amen. Lily? I'm Lily Rose, and I'm a freshman. I would just like to thank the Lord, first of all, the student body. I have never, and I repeat, never been in a place where students will not only just sit in the front row, but they will pray. I have never been around that at all. Never. Before I came, I never read my Bible. I was a mess. And just the godly influence of the students here has really helped me. I'd also like to praise God for the faculty. No offense, but every time I hear the word doctor, I think, OK, prideful. If you don't say doctor, you're going to be in major trouble. The faculty here are not like that at all. They may have their own massive doctorates, but they're still your brothers and sisters in Christ. And I just really like to thank God for that. Amen. We'll have one more testimony and then we'll have another musical number. Hello, my name is Daniel Muma. I'm a freshman one year Bible major. As you've heard a lot today, a lot of us are thankful for the staff and the other people here. But I'd just like to repeat all that I'm thankful for the staff and for the student body and the people we have here and just the encouragement and blessing they've been to me and the help through this semester. And then you have your roommates, you know, those those people that know you pretty good by now. There's times where it's hard to like your roommates. They get on your nerves sometimes. Some really try them, but they've been the biggest blessing and the biggest help to me so far this semester. Coming into this, I'm completely There's been a complete change, a complete turnover in my life since I came from home. And that's due mostly to the people here and to my roommates. So I thank God for them. Amen. My name is Chuck Surrett, and I'm serving a life sentence here and loving every minute of it. I do want to give my testimony because I'm thankful to be alive. Five or six weeks ago, I guess it was a little worse than I thought it was. And I thank the Lord that he gave me good care, good treatment. I'm thankful for all of you. I know that that folks here are praying for me and I love all of you. Thank the Lord for his goodness. But it's a delight to be here. It's a wonderful thing from a teacher's perspective to teach people who want to learn. I think there are a lot of settings where teachers have a rough time of it because students maybe have bad attitudes or they want to make it difficult. But it's a blessing to be in the classroom and know that people want to learn. And have the motivation to serve God. And that is just a precious thing to me. I've enjoyed it much more than I ever thought I would. And it's because certainly we have a great camaraderie on our faculty, wonderful friends here. But it's precious just because of what the students are. And you mean a lot to every one of us. And thank the Lord for you. Several were standing here, so as they come back and get their places ready, I just want to go ahead and read a passage of scripture out of Psalm 147. It says, Praise ye the Lord, for it is good to sing praises unto our God, for it is pleasant and praises comely. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem. He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars. He calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord and of great power. His understanding is infinite. The Lord lifteth up the meek. He casteth the wicked down to the ground. Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving. Sing praise upon the harp unto our God, who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food and to the young ravens which cry. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse. He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him and those that hope in his mercy. For the gate. When Dr. Comfort said, go ahead and sit down, I was a little disappointed, but then when they played that song, I realized that that was that was why I needed to sit down. You know, there's a verse in that song that says prone to wander. prone to leave the Lord I love, and I feel like sometimes that's me. Oftentimes, I want to praise the Lord for my salvation, praise him for saving me. July the 18th, 1999. Recently, Brian Sams was here in the evangelist preaching class. He spoke to us and he made this comment that today you realize much more of the extent of your sin than you did when you were saved. And I realize that's so true. I was a wicked sinner when I got saved and I knew it then, but I didn't know the depths of it. I still don't know the depths of it, but I see that more and more. There's there's more wickedness than I ever thought there was there. And yet the Lord saved me anyway. And I thank him for that. I not only want to thank the Lord for my salvation, but I want to thank the Lord for my spouse. Some of you folks see me around campus and you may think, boy, what a knucklehead. Well, you can think it, but my wife, she gets to see it. So and she still loves me and I'm thankful for that. And I also want to thank the Lord for my son, Benjamin, who was born five months ago. And there's not a day that goes by that I don't see and experience the grace and the love of God in his smiling face. And then there's not a day that goes by that I don't hear him cry and throw a fit that I don't realize he's mine. So praise the Lord. My name is Dan Brubaker. I praise the Lord for His word this morning, and that by it I can know for sure I'm on my way to heaven when I die. Psalm 73, 25 says, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee. Constantly, almost hourly throughout each day, I have to review that verse in my mind to keep my mind straight. And I praise the Lord for His word. Amen. Go ahead. I'm Michelle Martinez, wife of Robert Martinez, and I just praise the Lord for calling him to be an evangelist. We both know it. And I thank you for my son and for the ladies who take care of him so I can be a chaplain every day. He's the only one most of the time. And they're still there, always faithful. And I can be here in chaplain when the Lord worked in my heart last week, reminded me to fall in love with him again. And I praise him for that. And I'm not sure where she is, but Mrs. Comfort, I want to thank the Lord for her. She's such a light to me. I praise the Lord for her. And I pray that one day people can look at me and say, I'm gladly as she is. And I just thank the Lord for her. Amen. My name is Steve Heinball. This is my first semester here. And I am glad and happy that it won't be my last. We all have unsafe friends and family in our lives that we're burdened for. I have a sister-in-law. And when my brother and her got married, he wasn't right with the Lord and she's unsafe to say she's from a heavy Catholic background. So once I got saved in 2004 and my family started a little bit of a spiritual rebirth, we started dragging her to every revival we could get her to any kind of church service. Never saw any fruit there at all. I mean, half the time we would take her, the first thing she'd do is run in the nursery with her son and she wouldn't even be there for the service. And I got real discouraged. And I wouldn't pray for her on a consistent basis like I should. And good godly men and women would challenge me to continue praying. I know when I got here this semester, Dr. Childs told a story of his younger brother, who he's been praying for for over 40 years, to get saved. And that really encouraged me. I won't go through all the details, but she made a profession of faith about a month ago. And, you know, unfortunately, me and my nature, that still haven't worked good yet. I was skeptical of it. But I got a call on Sunday at the church, out of the Emanuel, that she'd followed a believer's baptism. So praise the Lord for that. Great. My name's Holly Skinner, and I'm a sophomore. And it seems like each semester, the Lord tries to teach me something. He teaches me a lot through classes and everything. But there's always one lesson that sticks out to me. And this semester, it's been trusting God. There's a lot of situations that have come up this semester, before it even started. And then throughout the semester, the Lord's been teaching me that I need to trust him for finances, for relationships, for friendships, for family things back home. And I just want to thank the Lord for that. Amen. My name is Adam Valenzuela. I'm a junior pastoral major, and I'd just like to praise the Lord for not dealing with me as I deserve. This is Psalm 103. I'm getting married in 24 days. Amen. And I'd just like to praise the Lord for that. Definitely give me something I don't deserve. And I'd just like to praise the Lord for that. Praise the Lord for teaching me this semester to trust him in ways that I've never had to before. Just financially and just spiritually just so many things. He's brought into my life just to change me Just make me more like him and I just praise the Lord My name is Jennifer and I'm a sophomore this year and I just want to praise the Lord for the trials that he brings into our lives and he takes us through because when we first start we're just like Lord you know why but yet he shows his grace and his mercy to us and I'd like to thank the Lord also just for our faculty and staff and I've spent a considerable amount of time in their offices this semester just talking with them and I'm just thankful for them and for the friends that he's brought into our lives. You know the student body is there for you and just sometimes you're like, you know, I just wish that I could be there for them. And yesterday I wasn't feeling the greatest and I had a headache. And Dan Brubaker's like, well, what's wrong with you? And I was like, well, I have a headache. And he's like, OK. He's like, pray for me. I just wanted to check and see how you were doing. So I'm just thankful for just all the brothers and sisters in Christ that God has given to us. Corey. My name's Corey Bennington. I'm a freshman evangelist major. First of all, I just want to praise the Lord for the faculty here. You know, my mindset when I first came to school was, I'm going off to prison. And I just, you know, all these rules and everything. And they were just really impressive on my heart. I was talking to Mr. Hankey, and one of the things he told me, he said, he wasn't here to make my life miserable or make it hard. He was there as a friend. And all the faculties like that, they're here as friends to encourage us and help us. And they've been a real blessing to me. I also want to praise the Lord for his greatness. There's been some different struggles I've went through since I've been here. One will come into my life and I'll be like, oh, I know how to handle this. And I'll start going about it my own way and doing my own thing. And it just seems to get harder and harder. And I realized I needed to turn it over to the Lord. And when I do, he shows me how small and how insignificant that struggle is compared to his greatness and compared to his love. And he's just brought me through every trial. And he's just been there for me through everything, through different friends and through faculty members. And he's praising for that. Amen. Natalie? My name is Natalie. I'm a junior. There's just so much to thank God for. First of all, I just want to say that God is good all the time. And that's a phrase that I've heard in chapel and heard through preaching stuff over and over again throughout the years. And I just claim that almost as my phrase. You know, I don't want to be selfish, but you know, God's just really got a whole my heart through that and to show me through his word and stuff and also for a visitation that we're able to go and share the gospel and the good news of Jesus Christ with everybody and it's just a blessing to see lives change and your own personal life change and just with Kay that we've been going to see. She's been coming to church on a regular basis now. And her husband told me this past Sunday that he was going to come on Sunday. And I just pray for Jimmy Dean. That's his name. And just pray that, you know, God, he told Kay that he's noticed a difference in her. And just the discipleship program that Rachel and I have been able to. And a couple weeks ago, she, I wasn't sure exactly if she had ever been saved before. And so two weeks ago, she just poured her heart out to me and shared her entire, like, history of her life. And that was just really, just different things. So I knew how to approach her. And so last night when Rachel and I went, we just went through verses and I told her, you know, Satan's going to attack you. If you've asked Jesus Christ, he's going to bring doubts into your life, saying, you know, you're not really saved. So she and I went through and she told me, I asked her, I was like, so has there ever been a time when you specifically have asked Jesus Christ to save you by faith alone? And she got a big old smile on her face. She's like, yes, I have. And so we went through, and I share what I said after I told her about, you know, Satan can do this. We went through assurance verses and stuff. And I just want to praise the Lord for everything that he's done and shown me through my life. And also for league officers. Being in the league, there's a lot more to it than people think. And I just want to praise the Lord for the different officers in my life that God's put with me to work with. deal with and just the blessing that they've been to me and just many other family members. And just there's just so much to praise for and praise God for. And I just want to say that God is good all the time. Good morning. My name is Callista Maurer. I'm a one year Bible student. And I just I have so much to thank the Lord for. I want to thank him for my family. They have been there for me ever since I can remember, of course. But, I mean, really through college, though, they really come together and support you. And I want to thank the Lord for the faculty here. I have learned so much just through the past semester, even before that, living here in Lattimore, just being around students and the faculty. They've taught me how to... Some things I needed to know about living. And also, I want to thank the Lord for my friends. He's given me new friends this semester. And he's strengthened my old friendships, too. And I want to thank him for strengthening my friendships. And I just want to thank him for also being the God of second chances and allowing us to come back to him. And if you ever have any doubts, don't doubt God. Well, my name is Emily Horst and I am a missions major and I'm a freshman. And I want to just praise the Lord today that he's unchanging. The Lord used a sermon in my life this semester of something I've been struggling with for a year. And he just, again, showed me that, Emily, you're choosing not to believe me. And the Lord, I just praise him that he stayed true and faithful even in all my times of doubt. And so I just praise him for that. My name is Caleb Gideon, a sophomore pastoral major. I want to thank the Lord for my salvation, first of all, but also I want to thank the Lord for this verse that he showed me in Matthew twenty one, twenty two and all things whatsoever. She shall ask him prayer, believing you shall receive. I want to thank the Lord for the power of prayer and how the Lord answers specific prayers. I've seen so many specific prayers answered this semester and the Lord's just been blessing me. And I want to thank the Lord also for my parents, who are a godly influence to me growing up. And for all my friends that I've made here at college, you guys have been such a blessing to me and an encouragement to me. My name is Ricky Bottoms, and I am a second semester sophomore, mission to major. And I just want to thank the Lord for everything He's done for me in my life. This coming in this year, I was really not sure what the Lord wanted me to do. And just coming off of, of course, a lot of people, a lot of y'all know, I traveled with Bible Time this summer. And just being so energized and just excited about what the Lord did this last summer. And coming in and finding out that I had to switch to a different gear. with classes and having to work and stuff like that. It's just been kind of taking a little bit of a toll, but the Lord's been helping me through it. And I do want to thank the Lord for my parents and encouraging me. A lot of you know that my dad had been in Iraq for a little bit as a civilian machinist. And he's always had a heart for our military. And every time he calls me up, he gives me a lot of encouraging thoughts. He doesn't have a lot of Christian fellowship. When he's over there, he gets alone with God and His Word. And he's able to bring out so much truth to me whenever I talk to him. It's just been so encouraging. And I do want to thank, I know I mentioned Bible time, I do want to thank the Lord for allowing me to travel Bible time and experience the emphasis that Bible time has, and that is personal devotion time. You know, things like Pentecost didn't happen because they just were doing their own thing. They were fellowshipping with God. And they were there, and they were being filled with the Holy Ghost. And this personal devotion time with God, you're there, you're wanting God to do something in your life. And I just want to thank the Lord for that. If there's others that want to give a testimony, the Lord speak in your heart, you come up. Hi, my name is Sam Stewart, and I'm a junior, and I'd like to praise the Lord for a couple of things, and one of them is preaching. In 1 Corinthians 1, the Bible says that God's chosen the foolishness of preaching, and as many have said, the chapels. Last semester and then this semester, some things that you're going through. And you don't know what's going on necessarily. And then you hear a message that is exactly what God is speaking to you about. And I just praise the Lord for that. And then also, the Bible goes down in that chapter and says that he chooses the foolish things of the world as well. And I'm just thankful that he chooses us. And the Bible says that he chooses the foolish things that no flesh should glory in his presence. And then the last verse says that, let him that glory, glory in the Lord. And I just praise the Lord for himself. Amen. Before Will comes we'll have a special. Will come on ahead. Hello, my name is Will Geisman. I'm a freshman evangelist major. I just want to praise the Lord, first and foremost, for my salvation. Just what a blessing that is. And to always know that you're on your way to heaven. We meet people on visitation so many times that we ask them, are you 100% sure? And they say, well, we don't believe that we can be 100% sure. But I thank God that I know I'm on my way to heaven. And what a miserable life it must be to always hope and always wonder. But I thank the Lord for my salvation. I thank the Lord for Being able to be here at Ambassador Baptist College and ever since I came down and visited in 2005 I knew this is where the Lord wanted me to be and It's just been such a blessing the friends, you know, and everything's been so great. It's so wonderful It's just gonna get better and I just praise the Lord as well for my godly heritage for my parents and for my grandfather who was a preacher had a big impact on my life and Influencing me into the ministry and things like that and I just praise the Lord for his goodness to me. Amen. I Hi, my name is Katrina Vance. I'm an elementary education major freshman, and I would just like to praise the Lord for his love and mercy that he's given me the last year and with the friends that he's given me while coming to Ambassador. I didn't want to come here, and he's really worked in my life since coming here, and I praise him for that and for the Godly friends that he's given me that continually push me to be more like Christ. Amen. I'm Amanda Bacher. I'm a missions major, a junior now, but a senior soon. And God has taught me a lot this semester about myself. And some things are hard to learn, but I'm thankful that as many times as I fail, he is always willing to keep going and not give up on me. Amen. My name's Phelps Luther. I'm supposed to be a junior, evangelist major. I want to praise the Lord for working in my family's heart. I didn't grow up in a church home or Christian family. I didn't, you know, I didn't grow up in that. But last year, I testified about my grandmother was real sick. And, well, she passed away this past summer. And I found out at the funeral, I wanted to preach real bad, but I found out at the funeral that the pastor that preached it, that he led her to the Lord actually last year. And I was beside myself. probably wasn't crying at the time. I was just rejoicing because he was saved. Other families just weeping and crying. They didn't understand that because they're not Christian. They don't know. But through this, the Lord is working on my dad's heart. And I've been praying for my dad for a long time. And it's really amazing what God's doing. But tomorrow I get to go see him. And so please just pray for him. His name's Frank. And I get to see him tomorrow and a witness to him once again. Amen. My name is Lametta, and I'm a second semester junior. And there's so much that I could give thanks for as I was sitting there. I kept thinking of more and more things. But I just want to thank the Lord. I know there's a lot of people who have had a big influence on my life here. And I don't want to minimize that at all. But I just want to praise the Lord for who he is and what he has taught me about himself this year. This summer, I had the opportunity to work at a camp. I didn't totally understand why he allowed that, but I did that. And I can see now why. While I was there, he gave me a passion for his word and a desire to memorize it and to meditate on it and to take a stand and not to ride the fence. And I didn't realize how I was going to be tested on that decision. There have been some people very close to me that I love very much that have gone astray, and it's hurt. But yet at the same time, it's just made me cling closer to Christ. And I praise Him for that. I praise Him that He is my Savior. I praise Him that He sanctifies me and He doesn't give up. I thank Him that He's my Heavenly Father that cares and comforts me through everything. And more importantly, I thank him for his providence that he knows and that I can just as Brother Whetstone mentioned in the message yesterday, that I can just put my hand in his and hold it tight and he will lead me exactly where he wants me. Amen. My name is Owen Clark and I'm a sophomore sex man, Christian education major, which I haven't officially declared yet. And I don't know if that counts. And I want to thank God for bringing me to Ambassador and also for giving me a wonderful, supportive wife. God saved me on April 1st, 2001. And since that time, He had been working on me about going into full-time ministry. And I fought that for several years. And I finally surrendered to that July 2nd, 2006, and decided to come to Ambassador. And when I made that decision, All the fear and the doubt and everything crowded in on me about changing jobs and selling our home. And if it hadn't been for my wife, I probably would not have made it here. She stood by me and encouraged me and supported me and got me here. And on the very first day of class, I was sitting in class in the Pentateuch and Dr. Childs at the end of class, he looked at the class and he said, I want you to know that I love you. Now, I assume he meant it. Now, I'm not sure, but I assume he meant that. But when he said that, I knew that I was exactly where God wanted me to be. And I thank God for bringing me to a place where when I see the love of God through the faculty and also a place where I'm challenged and I can grow in the Word of God. Amen. I'd just like to thank the Lord for the way he orchestrates things in our lives and just shows us that he does orchestrate everything. A couple weeks ago I was working at Domino's and I just got off work and I got a call from Nathan Fry while I was at the front desk getting ready to clock out and he said, I'm hungry. I was wondering if you could bring me some food home. Well, there happened to be a lady standing there, and she's from around Matamor, but she was just picking up some pizza. And I said, OK, well, what do you want? And took his order and was standing there, and she said, is your friend hungry? And I said, well, one of my dorm mates. opened up the door, talked about the college, and I was walking out to my car, she was walking out, and I just said, have you ever been to the college? And she said, no. And I said, well, you know, we do a Messiah concert every semester the two days after Thanksgiving, and it's free. And if you're in the area, We'd love to have you come and just see what it's about." And she said, oh, really? Well, my husband had a guy working from Ambassador with him for a while, and we'd never been to the school, so she promised me that she'd come on Friday or Saturday night. And I just thank the Lord for those opportunities, and I'd just like to thank the Lord for my brother being here this year. Me and my sister have been praying almost all last year that he'd come this year, and I just thank the Lord that he came. And that was Kenny Godby, if you didn't catch his name. That's true. Good morning. My name is Esther Breen. I am a senior graduate theology major, which is a three year major. And I just like to praise the Lord. One thing is that I am going to be graduating and I'm going to be out of here. Not that I want to be because I love this place. And I came with a rebellious heart and inward rebellion. But the Lord showed me every year just a little bit more of himself and how I can trust him. And one thing is that Many of you know that I worked at Ryan's in Shelby and the store shut down. And that came as a shock to me, but yet the Lord reminded me right away. He said, I have it under control. And Dave and I have been talking. We've really been, and Joanne and Wanda as well, have really been working with our co-workers and just witnessing to them. And the Lord laid on my heart this year. I've been working for two semesters there. Really this semester that I need to be authentic in my witness and not just show them Christ in me, but I need to speak out. I can honestly say that I don't have any regrets this semester and I was able to to invite many of my co-workers to the Messiah and please pray that the Lord would work in their hearts because several of them are not sure if they're saved and they say they are but you know you sometimes you wonder so just pray for that and I just thank you all so much faculty and staff and my fellow peers for your influence on my life. Thank you. Amen. My name is Lewis Myers. I'm an evangelist major, and I just want to thank the Lord for where I am. Just in a few years, God has really put me on a roller coaster, and it's been a fun ride. At times, it's been scary, but it's been good, and I'm thankful for where I am. As most of you know, I'm a really big kid in a really tall body. And I'm thankful that he chose me to get married. I've got a really awesome wife. She's off the chain. She's very cool. And she can handle this big guy really well. And she really is a blessing. I don't know what her dad was thinking. But I guess he has a lot of faith. So I really am thankful for her and just being with me. And she just is right by my side, you know, when I do the stupid things. And then she's there for when I do the great things, which is very few. And I'm just thankful for her. And I also just want to thank the Lord for my really cool youth group I'm able to work with. And you know, God chooses us to do things like that. And sometimes I don't understand why He put me in a place with a bunch of great kids that are most of the time more spiritual than I am. But I'm thankful for them, and they're plucking away, and they're fighting the fight, and they're getting through life. I'm thankful for them, and I'm excited to see what God's going to do in their life. I also want to praise the Lord for my mom and pop. And they're great people. And I thank the Lord for just the last couple of years, God's really shown me how thankful I need to be for my dad. And he's a real cool guy. And I didn't have any brothers, I just had sisters. And he was always there to be my dad. I commend my friend, and I commend my brother, and I thank for him and just the encouragement that he's put in my life. And I just want to say sorry to all the Panthers fans that they lost on Sunday to the Packers, but I'm excited that they're 9-1, so go Packers. All right, Eric. By the way, Lewis, this will humble you, but when you said you don't know what Mr. Scoble was thinking, he said on the platform he wasn't. That's why. That will that will reduce you to size. All right, Eric. Good morning. My name is Eric Stovall and I'm a graduating senior. Amen. Who also just happened to get lost in grad school somehow. But I praise the Lord for it. I tell you what. How in the world do you thank God for everything that he's done in your life in just a few moments? I was thinking, as I was in my seat and standing in line, who knows how many millions of things going through my mind that I could praise the Lord for. But lately, these past couple of weeks, actually past semester, the Lord's really allowed me to think back on where I came from and what God's done in my life. And, you know, my dad, He grew up in a broken home raised by his Catholic mother. At 17, he went into the military, joined the Air Force, amen, and lived a worldly life, traveled the world, ended up in Germany. And there in Germany, in a disco, through a mutual friend, he met this cute German lady by the name of Ursula. That would be Ursula in English. But she came from a half Catholic, half atheist home. My grandfather is as worldly as it gets, the epitome of an ungodly, worldly German man. My grandmother is staunch Catholic. That's the one thing she holds on to. She believes that's what kept her alive through World War II. And they met, and they fell in love, speaking not each other's language, but only the language of love, I guess. My mom was searching, though. And when we were stationed in England, we started going to a Baptist church through an invitation and my mom got saved. And then through some interesting circumstances and many late night arguments that I can remember as a child, my mom finally convinced my dad to come to church for at least a month, every service. And if you didn't want to hear any more of it, you wouldn't bother him anymore about it. And in that month, my dad got saved. And then we all started going to church as a family. And shortly after that, my brother got saved. And then my sister got saved. And I was a little stubborn. I got saved when I was 13. The Lord gripped my heart about my sinful condition. And I trusted him as my Lord and Savior on my bed in May 1997. And ever since then, things have been totally different. Two years later, God called me to preach. Two years after that, God called me to missions. And a year after that, well, I end up in a place that I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But here I was. The Lord saw fit to use the faculty, and the staff, and the classes, and his word, and he himself to chisel away at all of the rough edges in my life. I mean, I've had numerous faculty members beat the freshmen out of me. And quite a few put the crowbar to my worldliness. Anyway, God had to whip out the big power tools for my life. But I just praise the Lord for his faithfulness. I can think of all the times in my life where I could have gone astray, where my flesh desired to go astray, and I actually even dabbled to go astray. But yet the Lord was so faithful to me. My life verse, I claimed it after my freshman year in a fit of discouragement. Psalm 73, 26. My flesh and my heart faileth. But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. You know what you read this morning, Brother Beal, was a blessing in my heart. Praise the Lord. So glad he remembers that we're but dust and that it's a given we're going to fail. But he is the strength of my heart and he is my portion forever. Praise the Lord for his faithfulness. And off to Germany. If any of you want to come with me, let me know. I could use some help. Praise the Lord. I'm thankful to be a part of the family of God. I'm thankful to be a part of the United States of America. I'm so thankful for those that have laid down their life to die for me and die for all of us so that we can be free. And the most important one is Jesus Christ. Last Monday, I promised Dr. Childs I would say this, God's been really working on my heart. Last Monday, I remember Brother Sam preached on losing your first love and getting that back. And I'm never going to forget that for the rest of my life. And God worked through me for that, and I still wasn't, even after that message, I still wasn't giving him this one thing. that I should have given him a long time ago. And right after that, we have Patsy with Dr. Childs, and you all know he teaches for a little while, and then he gets into the preaching and things like that. Amen? And through the course of that sermon that he preached in there, he said, we can never be used of God and we can't just say, God, here you go. Use me like this. We have to reach out our life and say, God, I give you my life and I give you give you everything. And I gave that to the Lord and it's been great. And I thank you for all that all of you have done for me. It's just been great. And I praise the Lord. My name is Bubba Sautter. I'm a missions major. And I definitely want to praise God for saving me at an early age because And just saving at an early age, I've had the Holy Spirit dwelling within me the whole time. And even though when I went astray in some rebellious teenage years, I had the Spirit of God calling me back. And I praise God for that. Otherwise, I wouldn't know if I'd ever went back to what God had me to do. And I just praise Him for what He's done in my life. I was a mess. And I thank God. You know, I'm not what I'm supposed to be, but I'm not what I once was. And I just want to praise God for that. Amen. My name is Samuel Mills. I'm a junior evangelist. I just want to thank the Lord, first of all, for the testimonies today of people getting saved. And I love hearing about people getting saved. There's nothing like it in the world. And I want to thank the Lord also for, as Bubba said, being saved at an early age, growing up in a Christian home. I thank the Lord for my mom and dad. Some of you know some of the history there. Many of you don't know everything, but there have been several instances where we were hours, days from losing either one of my parents. And the Lord's brought them through, and I'm thankful for that. I want to thank the Lord this morning for the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power that it has to change lives and to change men, women, boys, and girls. And it's amazing to watch. And I thank the Lord for what He's allowed me to see People's lives being changed through the power of God. And people just being saved. I was sitting at supper yesterday. And if you was anywhere around, you know the story. But people getting saved. My pastor called yesterday and he said, I just want you to know, we had a 7-year-old girl. One of the daughters of our church. And he said, she got saved today. Been asking questions for 2 weeks. And finally got it settled this morning. If you were anywhere around, you know the story because I like telling it. And there's people getting saved. And I tell you what, it's just amazing to see. And I just encourage you, if you've got in your heart somewhere that people are hard to the gospel and people don't get saved like they used to, it's because you're not using the power of the gospel and you're not sharing it. And there's people out there that want to hear. And I just thank the Lord for what He's doing. I'm Steven Boyce, freshman, pastoral major. First of all, I'd like to thank the Lord for my salvation. And I'd also like to thank Him for giving me a Christian family that I could grow up hearing the gospel my whole entire life since day one. I'm also thankful for the Holy Spirit and how He moves. I do a Bible study at my former Christian school on Wednesdays. And last Wednesday, I had a few hours in between church and Bible study. And the Lord just pricked my heart that I should go out and talk to somebody about the Lord. So I got my car, didn't know where I was going. I just started driving around and there was a neighborhood, a really big neighborhood. I pulled in. There was a lot of streets. I didn't know what I was doing. It was almost like the Lord was driving my car somewhere. Pulled off on the street. I said, OK, Lord, I'm here. I prayed. I said, if there's somebody you want me to talk to, I'm willing. I pulled out my Bible. I opened my door. And a 16-year-old boy named Gerald was walking and dribbling a soccer ball down the street. And I got to talk to him for about forty five minutes. And to make a story short, he accepted Christ. Amen. Silence. My name is Silas Childs and I'm a one year Bible student. And I want to praise the Lord for this semester. Give me a greater care for people and also to show me the importance of God's work of sharing the gospel with the lost. Amen. I'm Eric Fair, I'm a one-year Bible, and I'll be finishing up this December. And I just want to thank the Lord for just how he's watched over and kept me through the semester, and actually just through the whole entire year. I was praying about getting a job when I got here. Lord provided that and has provided all my needs throughout the entire time. And it's just been a real blessing to see his hand throughout the whole time being here and how he's just worked in my life. I had a lot of preconceived ideas of what this college was all about. And he's worked in my life and shown me many things. And so I thank him for that and just thank him for the just the the amount of charity he's shown Towards me and has taught me to show towards others and just thank him for that and just going to thank him also for just all the friends I've met here and Just I want to thank him for just opportunity us to learn under the faculty and staff here and just praise him for each and every one of y'all and Just also as you get ready to go back to home to New Guinea Just pray that you just continue to keep in the work of the Lord Amen I know it's up here already, but the Lord impressed something. on my heart to share. I'm thankful for the godly friends that I have made here, and just how they have encouraged me not to give up on my parents. I did not grow up in a Christian home, and it's taken me a while to be thankful for that. Just through different things, I've seen, you know, the Lord work in my parents. They were against me coming here. And just over the last two and a half years, He has really worked in their heart. And I was getting discouraged. The last semester, I think it was, about my parents and I just started praying and the Lord just, you know, said, well, why don't you not be done completely in December and or will be done and then come back in May to graduate and bring your parents along? And so I didn't think my parents would go for that idea at all. But the Lord really worked in the heart, and they're coming in May to come down here. And I just pray that through them being here, that maybe the Lord will have softened their heart and that maybe they'll get saved. My name is Joel Langner, and I'm a freshman from somewhere. I'm not sure where. All over the place, really. I want to thank the Lord for my parents because they've been a major part in my life, who I am, what I am today. And I want to thank the Lord for His faithfulness. Because every time I turn my back on God, He draws me back. I'm sorry I can't help it. I've gotten to such a point. No, I haven't done it. God has done it. God, every time I turn around, He He says, Joel, come to me, come to me. And the verse that I use is Joel chapter two, verse 12. Therefore, also now sayeth the Lord, turn unto me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Thank you for his faithfulness. The name is Scoville and I'm a junior. All right. To mom and dad, to the faculty and staff, and I know from your perspective, I am too, but I haven't reached that 50 year mark yet. So go ahead. But I'm thankful for a godly heritage and even my in-laws, their heritage there. And then the faithfulness of my parents, my in-laws, even in their golden years, how they still faithfully serve the Lord and keep at his work. I'm thankful for a wife who is diligent in her study of God's Word and then works overtime to keep me organized. That's not even part of my vocabulary, but she really, really helps me and I appreciate her handing that. And I also am thankful for the privilege to be able to work in this ministry here, have my cake and then have my frosting on the weekends and during the week in the church ministry. And that really, really is a blessing to be involved in my local church and really rub shoulders with my pastor, not only here as a partner with them, but also in the church ministry. What a blessing to be able to do that. You have been such a blessing too, young people, as far as your sacrifice in the area of music and things that you do in your studies. A real inspiration. I'm Cherry Williams and I just want to thank God for my parents and my family and the fact that my family is saved. Almost all of my relatives, I have one cousin, if you'll pray for him, Chris, but other than that, as far as I know, my whole family is saved. And then I also want to thank God for godly pastors and churches, pastors' families in my life. In the past, my former pastor, and then before I left home, we have a new pastor. And then coming here, a different pastor, and they've all just been, and their families have been such an encouragement to me. And just the mentorship there. And then for friends, all friends. Like Sam was saying, I praise the Lord for saving souls, and he's taught me so much about soul winning since I've gotten here and given me more of a zeal. Myself, Sam, Zach and Micah, my roommates, since the beginning of the semester, we started keeping track of every soul that was saved through our personal evangelism or through our three churches that we attend. And since the beginning of the semester, over 60 souls have been saved. Praise the Lord. Wonderful. My name is Christy Godfrey. I'm a sophomore music major. I kind of don't know where to begin. I'm just so thankful for all the godly influences in my life. Most of all, I'm thankful for my brother, John Godfrey, who, from the time I was little, was kind of like not only my brother, but my best friend. made a major impact in my life for just the service for the Lord and I came to college and I had friends here who who prayed for me which I didn't have at home none of my friends ever said you know over little things you know hey I'm praying for you and that was just you'll never know how much that meant to me and how much it still means to me I went through a lot of things last year and personally I felt like I was in the depths of despair and I'm so thankful that the Lord just continues to reprove me and mold me and tries to instill character in me. I pray that, you know, He would make it hard for me because it's so easy to just be as you are and I would rather it be hard than easy and I'm just so thankful that God is still trying to mold me into the person I need to be. My name is Brandon Harris. I'm a junior missions major this year. I just wanted to praise the Lord for two things specifically, one being my mom. She's on the way here today to visit me for Thanksgiving. But she's been an influential person in my life in many different areas. One, she's one of the strongest people I know, a person that I know probably my whole life. She's been influential in my salvation. in my direction in life where the Lord has brought me. And I just want to praise God for her testimony and what she's done in my life, as well as I'd like to praise God for the people that he's put my life here. I have come here and within the last three years, every person that I graduated with in high school, I no longer have a friendship with. And I graduated from a Christian school and It kind of bothers me a little bit to know that those people aren't serving the Lord. But it's the truth. And I know that I come here and I find people who have that same heart's desire. And I just thank the Lord for those people that He's put in my life. Amen. My name is Amy Marshall and I'm a sophomore. And many people have come and they thanked the Lord for their families, their Christian background they have. Well, I don't have that, but I thank the Lord anyway. I didn't have that attitude last year. Through circumstances, the Lord has allowed me to get back in contact with my dad, who has been a special burden on my heart. I hadn't talked to him in a year and a half until fall break. And we actually hadn't seen him for a year and a half, excuse me, until fall break, and we only spent about two hours together. But those two hours meant more to me than almost anything else this semester. The fact that the Lord laid on my heart to be willing enough I wasn't before. I was like, I didn't want to deal with it. You know, my dad's not safe. You know, the Holy Spirit stopped working. That's what I had felt. But it was really my rebellion that I didn't want to witness to him. And through friends encouraging me, you know, talk to him. Don't just email and call him. The Lord really unburdened my heart to get in contact with him. I just praise the Lord for that. I pray that you'll pray for me over when I go home for Christmas break. I plan to go witness to him, his wife, and my step-sister and her fiancé. So just pray that the Lord will really help me. Give me the courage to do that. But I also want to thank the Lord for seeing souls saved. I got saved when I was 17, and I had never led a soul to the Lord before. Beginning in 2007, I asked the Lord, just give me one soul. All I want is one. And the Lord gave me two. And it may not sound like much, but He gave me two. Junior camp this past summer, I was able to lead two girls to the Lord. at one o'clock in the morning of all things, but the Lord allowed me to do that. And he also allowed me to help three get reassured. And it just brings up a new zeal and makes me think of my salvation and how thankful I am for that being in the home that I was raised in. Not bad, but it could have been worse. But I praise the Lord that someone told my parents about a Christian school and that I got saved in that Christian school 13 years later. And that someone told me about Ambassador and I just praise the Lord for the school, for the faculty and for the many friends he's given me. Thank you. My name is Benjamin Principe. I'm a junior evangelist major. First of all, I like to praise God for his guidance. Throughout the time I've been at college, I've faced things I didn't think I'd have to. God has led me every step of the way. Thank God for that. I'd also like to thank him for the friends that he gives us. God has put me in two different groups of groups that go out to evangelize in cities. I get to go almost every Wednesday to witness in Shelby. And then about once a month, I get to go to Asheville and witness there. And. Not only the opportunity to witness in those cities. But the people that I get to go with have been such an encouragement to me and there have been times when I've been struggling and they've prayed for me, they prayed with me and just their presence and their willingness to serve God has been a great encouragement to me. Amen. My name is Luke Prane. I'm a junior second man music major, and I'm just thankful to be back. I was sitting out of last year because of finances. And I just really want to thank the Lord for his provision, just providing the correct job for me so that I would be able to come back. And just also, I hadn't had a car before this year and I had gotten one over the year. I was out and three weeks before I was supposed to come back to school. I totaled it. So anyway, but it was the other person's fault and just Lord provided, he got back a whole lot more money than I would have expected to get from the car and provided another car. And just I'm also really thankful just for my parents, just all that they've done for me and through everything and just praying for me always. And just a lot of times my dad will just like either call me up or whatever and just text me or whatever and say, just praying for you. We love you. And it's just a great encouragement to me, just for that, and I'm just also thankful for my other family members, and just especially that Jane was able to come to school with me this year. Amen. Morning, my name is Kenny Dallas. I'm a senior. I would like to first thank the Lord that on August 29, 2005, I got saved right down here on the steps, and I passionately come to the Lord. I just want to thank the Lord for that. I also want to thank the Lord that a week and a half ago, I got a phone call from my girlfriend, and she was all excited. She said, guess what? I was like, what? She was like, I got saved. and uh just looking back on my own life growing up around here and then talking with her it's one thing to know in your head and you can tell every you can say all the right answers but when you move it's in the heart that's what counts that's when you have peace of God so thanks lord for his peace i just want to thank the lord for um i thank for all the faculty and staff um growing up around here they've seen me grow up i just want to thank the lord for that but two specific people this morning i'd like to thank the lord for it's first of all my pastor pastor cummins so many times i've gone to his office and just been out of shape out of seemingly little things, but he's always there listening. And also Dr. Scoble, just the influence he's had on my life and the example they are to us in their faithfulness. Hello, I'm still Seth Pills, and I just wanted to Just kind of go on the point of God's power in my life. God has definitely worked out his details in my life, and he's done from the minute things to the great picture. He's worked out everything. I'd just like to thank him specifically for how he's led me here. I've worked at Camp Joy in the summer for the last five years, and there I met Joe Stewart, and I had been I was so set on a different college that I was really part of that world, and I was so set on that and wasn't trusting God but my own schemes. And Joe brought up Ambassador, and I was like, yeah, yeah, I'll listen to you, because that's the right thing to do. But I wasn't going to have any part of it, because I was pretty much set, I thought. But the Lord kept bringing up the passage where it says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God, his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. And I knew that this place was where God's purpose was and would help me in God's purpose to be an evangelist and to be a preacher of his word. And of all the things that I thought I was leaving behind, God provided. The college I was planning on going to was cheaper, and I thought, how am I going to get this money? But the Lord provided my whole school bill for all my years here. It's amazing. I didn't see that coming. The Lord provided. With me going here, my father was going to lose his job at the other place, but the Lord has provided for him and my mother and supplied their needs. I thought I was going to lose all my friends, but I'm looking on all my friends now. There's so many other things, but the Lord has definitely worked. and works specifically in my life. I just thank him for the relationship that he's given to me. Hello, my name is Joe Stewart, and I'm a freshman one-year bio major. First of all, I'd like to thank the Lord for the thousands and thousands of service men and women overseas right now so that we can be here and celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends and even be here to be in the praise chapel. Some of them, if Everything goes as has gone. There'll be people that probably will even give their lives over Thanksgiving over in Iraq. And I'm just really thankful for that. I have some relatives in the military, but I know many of you have close relatives and brothers even. And I really appreciate your sacrifice, and I'm thankful for theirs. But most of all, I'd like to thank the Lord for just the different people He's put in my life. My mom always used to tell me when I was growing up, and all of us kids, that if we ever went away from the Lord, We have to step over so many bodies of people that have been in our lives and have influenced our lives. I'm really thankful. I'm thankful for my mom. If it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't be here right now. And I'm thankful, obviously, most of all for the Lord. But just different families that have been such an impact and took from their own time, personal time with their families, took from their own personal lives to invest in my life. The Ike's Flesh, as I hear Pastor Miss Ike's Flesh, and they were one of the families that my brother and I and my sister stayed with for a while, going to a Christian school in Southern Minnesota, had a big impact on my life. And I'm just thankful so much for all the people that God orchestrates in his plan. The world doesn't do that for its own, but yet I'm so thankful for Christians and the fellowship that we have. Now God put people in your life that he knows will use them to guide you and to serve him. So I'm very thankful for that. Good, Josh. My name is Josh Lancaster. I am a first-year senior evangelism and music major, and I believe we eat lunch at 12, so I have plenty of time. There is a trapdoor beneath you. I wanted to read one of my favorite verses, actually, to Joshua 23, 10 and 11. It says, One man of you shall chase a thousand. For the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you as he hath promised you. Take good heed, therefore, in yourselves that you love the Lord your God. Some of you Bible scholars would say that because that's an Old Testament verse, it isn't a promise to us. But the principle there is that we can do anything with God's power because he's the one who does it. And that's one of my favorite verses. What I want to praise the Lord for today, though, is my family, especially my parents. I think all but one of my parents' siblings on each side attended a good Bible college in the 60s and 70s, and the only ones of all of those now that are in an independent, fundamental, solid church are my parents. And that shows something out of us, maybe, too. But we'd have to be careful, because if we don't stay right with the Lord, we don't know what might happen. And many of what we think we have solid convictions now could wane. But I praise the Lord for my parents and my family. I look forward to seeing them tomorrow, coming down for Thanksgiving. Especially my brother's planning on bringing me down a car and hopefully that one won't burn up. I just wanted to praise the Lord for all that he has given me in my heritage and my family. Amen. Now just before we close, I would like to give an opportunity for any of our faculty and staff who has not come thus far, if you'd like to give a word of testimony before we close in prayer. I'd like to thank the Lord for, first of all, my wife, but today especially for my pastor, Frank Kemp. He's truly a shepherd of the Lord, so I appreciate him. Mary Ellen. Hi, I'm Mary Ellen Rogers, freshman cleaning staff. I thank the Lord for my salvation. I'm 13 years old in the Lord now. I thank the Lord for the hope that I have that the Lord's going to save my husband. Thirteen years praying for him, and he's still unmarried. And I praise the Lord for that. There's hope there. I praise the Lord for letting me be in a good fundamental Bible Baptist church. I thank the Lord for letting me raise my son there. I thank the Lord that His Word's not going to return void. I thank the Lord that my son is going to be a fearless preacher. I don't know if I'll live through that or not, but I thank the Lord that I believe that. I thank the Lord for letting me be in ministry. He called me to full-time service under Dr. Comfort's preaching at Camp Shatech in 2003, July 1st. And I surrendered to be an ambassador for Christ. How funny is that that the Lord brought me here? This is so strange and only the Lord can do it. So I'm here. I don't know for how long. I appreciate being here so much. I appreciate the young people that are my friends. I just appreciate Jesus. I appreciate My favorite verse is that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. And I thank you that Dr. Comfort gave me a little bit of encouragement to come up here and give a testimony because, you know, the word of God says that the redeemed, the Lord should say so. And I praise the Lord for Jesus. Amen. Mrs. Rosen now. My sister-in-law, by the way, I have a lot to thank the Lord for. I was sitting back there thinking, my life verses, Proverbs, isn't that awful? I'll quote it for you. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, okay? how that verse, how those verses, the Lord has worked out in my life, things that I thought never expected would come into my life. And he's seen me through those things and blessed me with so many privileges and opportunities. I couldn't begin to name them all, but I had the privilege of working in different churches as a Christian school teacher, even as a Christian education director, so to speak, they said, but helping to establish a Christian school. And I praise the Lord for all that he's done. And then of all things, to be able to preach, to teach here. No, I'm not preaching. But anyhow, you know what I meant to teach. I just thank him for all the blessings that he's given to me. Amen. She wants to be a preacher and I don't want to be a librarian. Many of you have spoken today about the heritage that you've been raised in, the godly heritage. And I certainly am one that thanks God for that. Both parents saved through the witness of somebody who was on a silo-filling crew when my father was 18 years of age. This gentleman, who later was a preacher, gave my father a tract and later on led him to the Lord. And that started a whole series of things in our lives. And my parents, of course, were not privileged to be college educated, were married in the Depression, and didn't have the opportunities that we have and that you have. But my dad owned an old Schofield Bible. And that was just good enough for him. Still good enough for me, too. And I just thank God for that heritage. My mother led me to the Lord when I was six and led several of my siblings to the Lord. There were a whole batch of us, really. And I just thank God for the influences in my life. that he allowed to even prepare me for this, for instance, listening as a boy to the Old Fashioned Revival Hour and to back to the Bible and my parents sacrificing to have musical instruments in the home. And to make sure that we learned Bible verses, we went to camp. My father never paid a dime for us to go to camp when we were kids. You don't know how that works now. This is a hundred years later and it's different. But in my day, when I was a child, if you'd learn 150, 200 verses, you went to camp free. So we hustled. We learned the verses. I often say, and this is as true as it can be, my mother would cut a page out of the Bible. Now, just don't get excited. She'd tape it back in. But she would cut a page out of the Bible, a psalm or a chapter, and she'd give it to me in the morning when I'd take the team to go and work on the farm. And she'd say, you have that memorized by tonight or no supper. You see, but that's the kind of heritage. And I thank God for that. I thank God for all those things that prepared us for what we're doing here. Thank God for a godly wife. Fifty three years. Thank God for godly children who make the grandkids behave and even the grandkid in-laws behave. And I thank God for the way I was raised poor. and came up through the hard times, because when you start a school, you don't have gravy on your bread. You see, you just start out with just the bare necessities. And sometimes you have to invent those. But I thank God that we've been allowed to do this. It was just a wonderful thing when Dr. Comfort invited us to come along. And you're such a blessing. You're such a blessing. My colleagues are such a blessing. And I thank Dr. Comfort for the opportunity. Thank you. Brother Scovel said that he never has unpacked his boxes until he came to Ambassador because he never knew when he was going to be leaving the ministry he was in. But I thank God for the fact that he's been here since day one. I remember sitting with him in Indiana at a meal, and he had the opportunity to go to five or six different colleges But God distinctly brought him here when he had no assurance that we would even have a student body, no assurance that he would have a salary. But I'm so glad that God brought him here. Brother Cummins. I always sit back there during testimony times and think I should get up here and say something, but where do you begin? I have no idea, really, where to begin. It'll soon be eight years, the 30th day of this month, that we came back in country at the invitation of Dr. Comfort. Not long before that, my wife and I were walking in one of our favorite cities in Germany, Rothenburg. We were rehearsing about who we were and where we'd come from and what in the world we were doing here. I made the comment to her that we're just two snot-nosed kids from Jasper County, Illinois. And we'd walk the streets of some of Europe's greatest capitals and see God do so many wonderful things. I would just say this, young folks, that if you seek to do God's will, He really does give you the desires of your heart. Yeah. As we were walking that street that day, I told her, I said, you know, God has given us so many things. And by the way, we've been married 48 years and we go back a long ways before that. She was my third grade sweetheart. And I still have her third grade picture in my pocket. We were walking the streets, and I said, you know, there's only one thing more that I would like to do sometime before my brains turn absolutely jelly. And that was the words I used with her. I said, I'd love to go teach in a little Bible college somewhere. Just flippantly said that as we were walking the streets. Just a few weeks after that, I got a call. My wife came out. I was talking to Fearmeister, the fire marshal in our village. My wife came out and said, there's somebody named Chiles on the phone would like to talk to you. And I thought, Chiles, who? I don't know any Chiles. And I went in and talked to Dr. Chiles. And that was when he sprung it on me that would I be interested. And so. Through all kinds of things, here we are. God has given me I can honestly, truthfully say before God today, God has given me every desire of my heart. Every desire. We came from a ministry when we went to Germany, we left a ministry that we thought we would die in Europe. I would not leave Europe. We loved it. And what a joy it was to go back a couple of weeks ago. And have folk that had been in our ministry come up and throw their arms around, Jim, thank you again for it. And I just praise God. What can you say about God? Amen. He can't be praised enough. I mean, have I always been faithful to Him? I don't know. No. But He has never failed me one moment. Not one moment. And I praise Him for it. And it's a joy for both of us to be in this place. I get up and come over here in the morning early. My wife says, Honey, do you have to do that? No, I like it. Amen. I like to be here in the quiet of the morning when there's nobody around except Dr. Scovel. And I think we race to see who gets here first in the morning. But we usually have coffee on before anybody else gets here. But I thank God for bringing us to this place, for Dr. Comfort inviting us, and for all of the students have been a joy, and oh my, the faculty that we work with. Young folks, you don't know them. And it's wonderful. And I praise God for it. You know, the thing that is so wonderful about our faculty is nobody is here because they have to be. They're here because they want to be. And so many of the faculty tell me time and time again, I just enjoy coming in this place. And when you have a faculty that is content and they're in the will of God, you have no ladder climbers. Everybody's content with where God has put them and they know what God's called them to do. We have just a wonderful unity and I thank God for it. And I thank God for my wife. There would not be an Ambassador Baptist College if it were not for my wife. Many times when I was down and I wanted to throw up my hands and say, I can't do it, My wife always encouraged me, and my daughters kept saying, Dad, you told us that we didn't have the word quit in our vocabulary, and you shouldn't have that word either in your vocabulary. So I thank God for the females that he surrounded me with. But I'll tell you what, I don't have any sons, but I do feel like these two young men in back of me are my sons, and I'm so grateful. that when I hand the mantle over that I have no apprehension about the direction of this school. And I thank God for the way that you young people are accepting these two fellows in back of me. And I think the transition is going to be just so wonderfully smooth. And I thank God for the way he's led and prepared us for this time. All right, let's stand please. And I'm going to ask Dr. Dalton if he would come to the microphone and close this service in prayer. I'll take about 20 seconds to give testimony. I just love it here. I enjoy it. Do you wonder if I still enjoy it? Yes, I do. In fact, I find myself growing more bitter because I wasn't hired five years ago. You pray that I'll get the victory over that, all right? Lord bless you.