Testimonies
* Dear Criswell Supporter, Thank you for your generous financial gift! Because of you and others like you, I have the opportunity to attend Criswell College and pursue the calling that God has placed on my heart. Your generosity is enabling Criswell College to equip many students with the education and experience needed to take the Gospel of Christ out into the world. Allow me to briefly share my story with you. I was saved at the age of thirteen. Although I grew up in a Christian home, I was not disciplined properly. After high school and a couple of years of junior college, I joined the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in England after training. It was while I was in England that God began to work on my heart through the ministry of a local Baptist church with a mission to reach service members and their families. It was in this church that my wife Donna got saved; and I realized that God was placing a call on my life to surrender to Him and prepare for ministry. Early on I prayed about going to school, but the door was never opened. After returning home, many opportunities for service opened up in the way of singles ministry and later with young married couples. But there was still no opportunity for school. As I look back, I now realize that the Lord was preparing me for the right ministry at the right time. After more than twenty years, God opened the door for me to attend Criswell College where I am pursuing a degree in counseling. My desire is for Christians to understand who they are in Christ and for the lost to see their need for Christ. I could never have done this on my own. God used your generosity to make it possible. Thank you for giving! - B. Lynch (Eccl. 4:9-12)
* Dear Criswell Supporter, Thank you for supporting and giving me the opportunity to study God's Word at Criswell College this semester.
I was born in an unbelieving family and went to church through the school years. I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord in October of 1981 through my high school Bible study and baptized, but I was struggling about studying ministry for my college years. When God called me to go to the Bible college at CFNI, I became a born again Christian through the scripture of Romans 6:23. At that time, I surrendered my life before God, grew in my faith, and began a great experience with God every day of my life. God called me to be a minister to the church for many years since 1993.
He first led me to be a missionary for America when I joined the Town East Baptist Church, and I also served Shiloh Terrace Baptist Church as a Christian Education Instructor for preschool ages 5.
In May of 2008, I had a fasting prayer time with God for seven days and asked God for the next step toward His Kingdom work and for His direction and timing. A month later, I felt a strong calling from God for reaching out to the community and all nations in the world to be an evangelist missionary for America.
I believe that this country is the greatest mission field for a harvest time because this country has many immigrant people that come from all nations. I want to lead them to meet Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and train them to be Jesus disciples that can go back to their mother countries as missionaries.
I pray that God gives me strength, comfort, wisdom, and financial freedom to have the opportunity to study more, increase my biblical/theological education, and get practical experience that will empower me to be a more effective minister on the mission field. Might God open additional ministry oriented career opportunities for me this coming semester! God bless! J. E. Jeong
*Dear Criswell Supporter, Thank you for your commitment to equipping current and future ministers like myself through your financial gifts to the Criswell College. God has reminded me of His grace that was "given among the churches in Macedonia" whose "abundance of joy....overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part" (2 Corinthians 8:1-3). I pray that the Macedonians' joy has found its way into your heart with the knowledge that God is using your generosity to build up His church!
Ten years ago, such generosity would have struck me as strange. I did not know Christ and was living a life of rebellion against Him. By His grace, God used a tapestry of circumstances and relationships to bring me to a saving knowledge of Himself at the age of twenty-one. Since then, God's hand in my life has become increasingly evident. I have been blessed with a wife who loves Him and an eight-month old baby boy. We serve at Denton Bible Church where I am on staff with College Life as the director of Life Groups. Last summer, I graduated from Criswell College with a Bachelor's in Biblical Studies. After some time at Dallas Theological Seminary, I felt compelled to return to Criswell College and complete the Advanced Master of Divinity. God has gifted me as a shepherd and a teacher, and I am fully committed to developing those gifts with the purpose of building up His church through full-time leadership.
My wife and I, along with those we have been called to shepherd, thank you for your abundant generosity and commitment to furthering God's kingdom!
To God's glory alone, J.W.
