Sunday in the South

Somebody Oughta Testify

Me with Daddy and my
new Baby Brother on
on our way to church 1985

I have been in "church" my entire life. Mama and Daddy raised me in a Christian home, and took me to Church on Sunday Morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. Yes, we do all three here.  Church has always been and will always be a major part of my life. I sang in children's choir, youth choir, and adult choir as soon as I was old enough to. I grew up at Northcrest Baptist Church in Meridian, MS. Had an amazing Pastor, Bro. Malcolm Lewis, Minister of Music, Bro. Max Burris, Youth Choir Director and Associate Pastor, Paul Davis, and had one of the most amazing precious Youth Minister's that still to this day has a special place in my heart, Bro. Jimmy Smithey.  Their wives Mrs. Sandra, Mrs. Mary June, Mrs. Missy, and Mrs. Jo were also very special to me. Two other very special people from my childhood and teen years was Evangelist, now Pastor at Northcrest Baptist Church in Meridian, MS, Dr. Danny Lanier and his wife Janet. They were all a big part of my church upbringing as leaders in the church.  As adults we should remember how much influence we may have on the lives of the children we are in contact with. You never know how much you may mean to them one day. We moved to Collinsville, and moved to Antioch Baptist Church when I was 15 years old. That is also where I met my husband. How cool is that to meet your husband at church? Bro. James Young was the pastor there. Bro. James and his wife Danna were very special to Chad and I as youth and young adults. Bro. James married Chad and I as well. Several years ago Bro. James was called to a church in Tennessee. It was then that the Lord sent Bro. Ray Spence, his precious wife Amanda, and their children, Gavin, Cody, and Jana to us. Bro. Ray  preaches the BLOOD of Christ, on Heaven and Hell, and he is strongly convicted about prayer and how it can change your life.

I had "walked the isle", "prayed the prayer", "gotten dunked", all of the above a couple of times in my life. At the age of 7, as a teenager, and then in my early 20's. All for very good reason. You know when you are raised in a Christian home, go to church, and don't really live a "bad" lifestyle it is hard to really see a "change" like I am sure you have heard other people say. I just assumed that the reason I didn't "see" one was because I didn't really change. I knew I didn't have that, the conviction. Sure, I prayed. I occasionally read my Bible. I went to church. But there is a major difference in praying and real prayer. Pouring your heart and soul out to Jesus Christ for Him to lay His hands on you and now I lay me down to sleep, please forgive me of my sin, thank you for all I have are totally different things. Why didn't I have that? Why didn't it feel like that? I questioned and doubted for months.

Chad with Bro. Ray

My Precious Family

In September my husband was nominated to be a Deacon in our church. The Deacons are servants for the church, called by God for this purpose. It is not a prestigious position or title. The Deacon's wives are also called upon to serve in areas of the church. He was voted upon and elected. The service was beautiful. I sang, Gavin Spence (Bro. Ray's extremely talented son that sings and plays the guitar) sang and played "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord," one of Chad's favorites. Chad chose Cody Spence (Bro. Ray's other very talented and anointed son's) to preach part of the service. We also had a portion of the service where the men came up and laid hands on Chad and the ladies of the church laid hands on me and prayed for us. Some of the most precious and cherished prayers were prayed over us that night. I was completely broken down. I had to be saved, no way could I be a deacon's wife and not be. I felt those prayers so all was well, maybe. I continued to doubt.

Left: Family photo of Daddy, Peyton, Mama, Myself, Chad, Landon, Celesta (Chad's Mom), and David (Chad's Dad)
Middle: Laying of Hands Prayer Service with Mrs. Amanda and Brother Ray
Right: Family Photo of Peyton, Steven (Brother-in-Law), Hailey Brooke (Niece), Chastity (Sister-in-Law/BFF),
Myself, Chad, and Landon

Then revival came, preached by Bro. Jim Everidge. I honestly can't tell you what the topic of most of the sermons were because the Holy Spirit had me so pinned down I couldn't concentrate on anything. Now we had flown in from San Diego, CA on Sunday (again saving that whole story for another post). We were totally exhausted. So we missed Sunday night revival. I knew we needed to be there but I didn't even know my name I was so tired. Monday rolled around and I took a personal day off of work. I almost "dreaded" going. Not that I dreaded going to church, I had always loved being at church and going to church it was just that I was still tired and knew it would be a long sermon and I had to go to work the next day. I remember thinking about 5 minutes in, hey he's good I will be able to handle this for an hour or so. I think Tuesday night he preached on the ways the Holy Spirit can come to you. Through song, through message, through trials etc. It is ALL I could think about. I prayed and asked God to either give me peace about it or make me miserable if I am really not saved. I felt like I would get up the next day and not be "worried" and be able to just go on about my business. WRONG! I did sleep that night but I woke up thinking about all he had said. It's all I could think about all day. I was absolutely miserable. I tried to ignore it. To avoid it even. It was Landon's 10th Birthday. We went to

Landon's 10th
Birthday Lunch

the Chinese restaurant to celebrate so that sort of took my mind off of it but not for long. We went to church that night and like I said earlier I honestly didn't hear a word he said. I was there but not really. After the preaching was over I had tears in my eyes but was so nervous and confused. What was I supposed to do? Get saved? Again? Not really because I knew at that point it wasn't again. It was for real. So Bro. Jim sat down and Bro. Ray got up. He said "I just really feel like there is someone here and the Holy Spirit has you pinned down like this," and he put his finger on the top of the Baptistery. He might as well have been pushing on my shoulder. I felt such conviction. I knew. Absolutely knew, without a doubt, I needed to be saved. So when he asked us to bow our heads I prayed and admitted to God that I was a sinner, to forgive me of my sin, I knew Jesus had died on the cross to save me, undeserving, unworthy me from death and hell. I became a Christian on April 17, 2013. Immediate relief. Immediate. Bro. Ray didn't lead me in a prayer or tell me the words to say. They were there in my heart the whole time. I just needed to admit it. Oh my friends, what a MIGHTY and POWERFUL GOD we serve. That minute I was a BLOOD BOUGHT child of God forever and ever amen!

Psalm 62:1-2  1 My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

Now what? Oh my, total panic. I can't go down front, I am a Deacon's wife, choir member, I help with the children's ministry, bible drills, excuse, excuse, excuse. So there I stood. Though relieved, I knew I was being disobedient to what God tells us in the Bible. That we are supposed to make public our profession of faith. As Christians we should not be ashamed of the gospel. Bro. Ray asked one more time. I can remember him asking "Did you surrender tonight? Don't be ashamed to just say I give up", "Don't be a chicken, like I was and not come down".  The "invitation" ended. Bro. Ray, I believe because he is God's man and is anointed to be our pastor knew he needed to extend the service a little longer. He decided to encourage the church to shake hands, hug their neighbor, tell someone they were loved, apologize if you had a problem with someone. Our music minister walked up to me and said "Hey Kellie how are you?" I said, "I am fine." then he said "Can you sing Sunday?" I said "Sure", but my brain was going 90 miles an hour. What I wanted to say was I can't sing, I can't do anything, I need to go down front and profess my faith. So I sort of frantically looked to Chad  and said that I needed to go down front and talk to Bro. Ray. He sort of looked at me like what?....Not because I needed to go down front but because of the urgency I am sure he saw in my face and heard in my voice. So I went. I held it together until I got to Bro. Ray. Then, hand raised in the air I said,  "I give up", and I lost it completely. He prayed with me and hugged me and told me what a testimony it was and how brave it was to come forward. Then came the hugs, the smiles, the tears, the hand shakes from church members. We do that in Southern Baptist Churches. Usually your family stands with you up front but I kept looking for my oldest son Peyton. He wasn't standing up there with me. The line had gone down some and my brother-in-law Steven told me to come around the corner. He said I needed to check on Pate. So when I got to the hallway where he was standing, completely broken, my sweet boy said, "I got saved mama". Now Peyton had done the same thing I had, a couple times. This was different. I won't go into detail here because that is his testimony to share. But talk about Joy! Then Landon my youngest son refused to leave. He just said he would feel better if he talked with someone. I was careful not to push or influence because I didn't want to lead him into a decision, but I would never ever want to hinder the spirit either. Bro. Jim and his crew of men were packing up to leave and drive back to TX that night. They stopped, every one of them and gathered around Landon and just talked. Man to man. No pushing, no leading. They just listened to Landon and what he had to say about what he thought of his salvation. Tears running down his face he said, "I know I didn't understand before, but I do now, and I want Jesus to come into my heart". My cup runneth over. What a celebration that birthday was for Landon, to be born, and born again all on the same day. Peyton and I both told Chad we were sorry that we weren't saved and he was a deacon. He said "Sorry for what? There is nothing to apologize for, your eternal salvation is all that matters to me." Now that ladies, is a REAL MAN right there.



I believe that the act of Baptism is faith in action. That it is an act of obedience to what the Word of God commands us to do. We were all three baptized on May 12, 2013, Mothers Day. What a gift that was. All of our family was there to celebrate and witness this wonderful and special day.

God's timing is perfect. He knew that I could be used in some amazing ways for His kingdom and He was right on time. A few weeks after revival we were able to be a part of Heaven's Gates Hell's Flames. We met and became friends with Ty, Cindy, and Autumn Fisher. What a blessing they were, and still are, to my entire family! They work for Reality Ministries and travel all over directing churches in Heaven's Gates Hell's Flames. Our church hosted the event for four nights. We saw over 700 decisions for Christ. It was an amazing experience that I will never ever forget. What is so neat about this is that the Sunday before we left for San Diego on a whim I signed all four of us up to help. We were the last on the list. I thought maybe I could help with props or something. God used all four of us as we ended up with major speaking parts. He knew all along, props, HA! We had prayer time for the service at 5:55. You know how I said earlier that praying and prayer were two different things. Well for my friends that were in that 5:55 prayer time you know what I mean. We cried out for souls, for healing, for God's presence in our lives and in that place. Our children, brought requests before the group for their friends, and asked God boldly to save their friends and bring them to see this drama. They, along with many other youth and children from our church were going to school, unashamed, spreading the gospel and asking others to come see for themselves. I was so proud of both of my boys for their boldness and commitment. Landon was so excited and couldn't wait to find me the night one of his friends got saved. He said "Mama I have prayed for him and he came". There are no words to describe this, other than total preciousness.  I looked for Peyton one time in the prep room where we would pray for the next scene to touch someones life and pray over the actors, etc. Again, couldn't find him. When I did, he was on his knees in the back of the room in the dark, praying for his friends that had come that night. Thank you Jesus for the blessing that he is to me. I prayed with Pate and Landon that night. Really prayed, out loud, over them and for them. I was ashamed that I had never done that before. Not like that. I asked forgiveness for that. People your kids need to not only know you pray for them but they need to hear you really pray for them.  I am so thankful that we all four were able to be a part of that whole experience together. It brought us closer as a family and brought our church family closer together. It was one of the most cherished experiences of my life. My GOD is GOOD...

Chad and I paddleboating
MPACT June 2013

ALL THE TIME...A couple of weeks after that we were able to be chaperone's at MPACT Student Camp in Shocco Springs, Alabama. Our Pastor, Bro. Ray along with several other pastors, youth leaders, and an amazing song leader, designed MPACT especially for us. Countless hours were poured into the Bible study devotions and messages.  I can remember asking God to just jump off the page while the kids were reading during their quiet time. To make what they were reading just come to life. Little did I know, He would make it come to life for me. We handed out free water in parking lots and washing windows. We visited, door to door inviting people to VBS at their local church. One night at camp I was blessed to be asked by one of the youth to talk with her about her salvation and on my camp bunk we prayed and she asked Jesus to be her Saviour. She is a very special young lady and I will never ever forget that moment. What a joy it is to share the love and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Peyton and I at MPACT June 2013

The last night I couldn't find Peyton...that happens alot it seems, ha. He was with another chaperon and dear friend Jeff. He finally showed back up on the basketball court where most of the kids were enjoying their last night. He said he wanted to talk to Chad and I. We knew it was pretty serious for him to have missed the last night and almost all of free-time. So we walked down  from the group and he told us that he felt like he was being called to Missions. PRAISE THE LORD. Even when he was little bitty people would say he would be a preacher some day. I know that he will go on to do great things for God!

VBS June 2013

The week after that, Vacation Bible School, which is always so much fun. I am part of the music and motion crew and we have a good time dressing up and being silly for the kids! Music is one of my favorite things about worship and I enjoyed every second of it!
A couple weeks after that we were the Camp Leaders for our Children at M4 Children's Camp at Waukaway Springs, MS. This was our third year at M4, but our first time as "leaders". The first night we were late for supper. You see I had always just been a chaperon, my friend Erica was always the leader and would come knock on the door and say 15 minutes until supper. Five minutes until supper I looked at my clock and said, "Oh girls we have to go, it's supper time and I am the leader". It was quite comical since we had five heads of wet hair that needed to be brushed and one in the shower. I have boys y'all, I only know how to fix my hair. We ended up going to supper in do-rags and wet hair. No, we didn't tell their moms until we got home. Back to M4, Mark and Melanie Williams are the real deal. They have hearts for the "little people". Mark is from Philadelphia and graduated from Philadelphia High School, where I

M4 with Mark and Melanie Williams
July 2013

work. Small world. If you have never been in a room with around 100 1st-6th graders praising and worshiping our Saviour in song, you have missed a blessing. Landon is now in 5th grade so he only has two more trips to M4 but they are going to have a hard time getting rid of us as camp leaders because we love M4 so much. What a way to build a foundation in Christ with young people.

I told someone I felt like the events that had been happening in our church were all especially planned by God for me. So that I could be surrounded by my Christian brothers and sisters and grow in Him quickly because I had already wasted enough time.

Christmas in August 2012
Western Style

There is always something going on at Antioch Baptist Church. We have an amazing choir and have alot of fun. We have Christmas in August where we preview the Christmas music for the upcoming Cantata and each year has a theme. We have an amazing Fall Festival each year that we do as an outreach ministry for Neshoba and the surrounding counties. My latest adventure includes teaching youth girls Sunday School and helping with Bible Drills again.

Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

The list goes on and on. We spend alot of time at church and with our church family. Some of my nearest and dearest friends are a part of our church life. As Christians we should want to be at church and in fellowship with other believers. You don't drive to town with your tank on empty do you? So when the world drains you, fill up, with the Word of God and His message. When you  serve the Lord it could never compare to what He did for us. He suffered and died a terrible death so that we may live. Ultimately all that matters in this life is that we know Him, love Him, trust Him, and belong to Him.

Myself singing with the Antioch Baptist Church Choir

I have learned alot about prayer and praise over the last couple of months. That praise is for Him, not us. When I sing, it is not for myself or praise for me. When I sing my prayer is that a heart or life will be touched through the words that He sings through me. That it is never about me and ALL about Him. When we lift our hands in praise to the One who died for us it should be unashamedly out of adoration for Him and Him alone. The song Worthy of Affection by Shane and Shane is one of my most favorite songs ever. Part of the song says "We are the broken down and we are the beaten up, But what could stop us from a song of unending love? Holy is the lord. You are a treasure, the hope, the bright and morning star,You are the lover of our soul and you've won our hearts.We sing of your great love
So we sing, we lift our hands and sing!You are worthy of affection.Your the radiance of all of His glory. Let adoration fill this place.You hold everything together by the word of your immovable power.
We sing a song of praise! Here is a link to the whole song on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REM7M2KJNhs

When we read our Bible or listen to preaching from God's man that is for us, from Him. When you think about it like that it makes total and complete sense. I believe that every church event, message, sunday school, bible school, choir song, pastor, christian friend was placed in my life as a seed until the day I accepted Him as my Savior. How amazing is it that He has that much control over everything in our lives. Little things seem so small in comparison to that.

 John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Do you know Him? Really know Him? Like I said before, there wasn't a whole lot about me that changed on the outside. There was however a heart change. A for-ever change. You can have that to. It's a free gift. Paid in full. All you have to do is accept it.

Each day is an opportunity to share His love, to live what we believe, to thank him for our blessings, and petition Him for our needs. The loving, saving power of Jesus Christ is why I love Sunday's, and everyday, in the South.

Matthew 28:19, 20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.