Laura's Testimony

Laura’s baptism is one of four incredible baptism celebrations that we have witnessed over the past two weeks! Read her testimony and be encouraged, church. The Lord saves!

I didn’t grow up going to church, but I did have people in my life, like my grandmother and grandfather, who would tell me who God is, what Jesus did for us, and what He has done for them in their life. They would tell me all the time as I was growing up, but I never had the ears to truly hear them or appreciate it. So, I spent most of my childhood trying to deal with things alone and wish I hadn’t. I was bullied at school for about 8 years. During that time, I developed severe depression, anxiety, a very unhealthy relationship with food, and a lot of self destructive habits. Instead of turning to God, I turned to things of this world thinking they would bring me peace, but they only created more problems.

Once I got to college I was able to move on from everything, but I still had these deep wounds inside of me and I was struggling to truly find peace. Until one day, while I was on a plane going back to school, I met my husband Nick. Meeting him was honestly a gift from God because he led me towards a new and beautiful path of life. Nick has been a huge contributing factor towards my relationship with God. He would take me to church, play worship music for me, and he would sit and read the Bible to me and answer any questions I had. His mom would also share what God had done for her and always told me that it’s available to me as well. It seemed like God was constantly knocking on my door in little ways, but I was too closed off to see or accept it.

It wasn’t until last year that I finally opened that door. Nick had left for a 9 month deployment to a place of uncertainty, and I didn’t know if he would make it back home to me and our son. I was not mentally prepared for that deployment at all. I could not stop crying during the first week of his absence, and there was a pain in my chest for days. From the moment I woke up, to the moment I fell asleep I felt like I couldn’t take a full breath. There was an intense feeling of grief, anxiety, and guilt for things left unsaid. I remember wishing I could just sleep through the next 9 months because it hurt so much.

Nick left on a Friday and on the 7th day of his absence, I fell to my knees and prayed. I cried out to God for the first time in my life and I welcomed Jesus into my heart. I prayed for the pain to go away, I prayed that Jesus would fill the emptiness in me, I prayed for strength and peace, and I surrendered everything to God. Whatever His plan was, was now mine too.

It’s hard to describe what happened in those moments, but a wave of peace washed over me and filled me. The pain I had felt in my chest was gone. He took that away instantly. This feeling of peace was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, it made no sense. I bought my first Bible the next day and began my walk with Jesus. As I started reading my Bible and praying more, I could finally see all that He had done for me throughout my life. He was there through every single battle. He has always been faithful, even when I couldn’t see it. And He has always loved me, even when I didn’t love myself.

For 23 years I searched for something in this world to bring me peace, to make me feel happy, to make me feel loved. But that is not found in things of this world. It is found through Jesus and I wish I had known Him longer. I wish I was saved sooner. But I know that God’s timing is perfect and that deployment brought me to Him. He gave me the strength to get through it, and it gave me the time to be with Him and get to know Him on my own. I have healed parts of myself just by talking to God, and it is such a blessing that we have the ability to do that through prayer.

This is my testimony, and I pray that whoever hears it, if you’re not a follower of Jesus Christ, I pray that you call to Him in your darkest of moments. I pray that you can see just how faithful He is and trust in His plans for you.

Thank you.

On the Podcast: Special Episode about Local Partners

Samantha Metheny and Emily Ruth Perry discuss the three local nonprofits that Veritas Church partners with in Fayetteville, NC. Listen to this special episode on the Veritas Church podcast channel or read the transcript provided below to learn more!

0:01

Samantha, hi. My name is Samantha Metheny. I am the Director of Operations here at Veritas, and part of my job is to bring you communications. And so I'm sitting here in my dining room with Emily Ruth Perry, our deacon of local partners, and we are here to chat about the Veritas local partnerships. Emily Ruth, will you introduce yourself?

0:24

Yes, hey. I am Emily Ruth Perry. I am the deacon of local partners at Veritas. And for a job, I am the Director of Operations at inasmuch. So that is Fayetteville area operation inasmuch, which is a local nonprofit in Fayetteville.

0:40

Emily Ruth, how did you end up as our deacon of local partners?

0:45

Yes, so I started at Veritas just as a covenant partner A while back, and then in 2016 I came on staff as the part time Veritas kids director. I worked on staff for a number of years through many different roles, and finally I became the director of local community life. Yeah, you got it, yeah. So the director of community life, and as the director of community life, I oversaw community groups, local partners, and also global partners. And so, as I was kind of in a season where I was transitioning off of staff, those areas of my job were kind of dispersed. But I asked, Can I keep local partners and become a deacon in that role? Because I really have meaningful relationships with the organizations that we serve?

1:39

Yeah, and I think that it's safe to say that everyone involved at Veritas was very happy that you wanted to stay our deacon of local partners. So Emily Ruth, who are our three local partners? This is going to be a three part question, who are our three local partners? How did we establish relationships with them and what? What do each of them do?

1:59

Right? So our three local partners that we have tangible, meaningful relationships with. The first one is inasmuch, so operation inasmuch. The second one is Fayetteville area, Habitat for Humanity, and the third one is hand of hope, so with inasmuch. It is a local nonprofit that serves the homeless and people who are in extreme poverty. It does that a few different ways. The what it's, what it has been primarily known for over the years, is the breakfast ministry. So Monday through Friday, we serve breakfast to anyone and everyone, and it's family style. And that also opened the door for a number of other relief services, like sick call and glasses and hygiene closet, clothing closet, things like that. Over the years, the organization recognized that they wanted to do more, and so they created the the ABLE Life program, which became the Living Hope program, gotcha, that is a transitional housing facility that is actually a program that the guys work, where they're taking classes in spiritual development, life skills and also peer support, As well as some kind of trauma informed counseling classes. Okay, they also do work call in the afternoon, and they progress through the program. We ask them not to work at the first part of it, the last part of it, they are able to get jobs and then start saving money, and then move either out on their own or to houses that we own over on Frank Street. Okay, great.

3:38

So it's kind of starts out as a relief effort and then moves it graduates into what's the phrase? So

3:44

what we what we really focus on, is relief, recovery and restoration got it Yes. And so relief is kind of the first level of what most of us think of when we think of charity, okay, and then recovery and restoration are really kind of the long, hard work of long suffering with somebody being with them in relationship, trying to disciple, teach them skills, retrain them and a lot of different stuff and and really just be alongside with them. And that that's really a main thread through a lot all of our local partners, is that they are, they're in it for the long haul with people,

4:19

yeah, okay. Speaking of the other ones, yes, tell us about habitat. Yeah.

4:23

So, so Fayetteville area, Habitat for Humanity is our local branch of the National Organization. It's actually international for Habitat for Humanity, okay? And so a lot of the time when people think of habitat, they think that they build free homes and give them to people. That's that's not actually the reality. Okay, so, um, they are doing zero interest loans as well as financial classes for people to become first time homeowners. But they are. They're still paying a mortgage. They're still kind of going through all of the steps that come along with becoming a homeowner. So. And along with that, they need to do what's called sweat equity where they're they're volunteering either at the Habitat ReStore or at one of the habitat builds that they do so that they one can see the process of what goes into it, but then also so that they have some empowerment and ownership when it comes

5:17

to that kind of stuff. Okay, how did Veritas get involved with Habitat? Yeah. So we,

5:21

our initial connection with Habitat was through one of our our former covenant partners, John pomelo, okay, he worked for habitat for a really long time. He kind of was one of their Foreman project managers who oversaw and he he was a wonderful connection for us as far as as when we were doing these kind of on site projects, he was doing a lot of the volunteer training and stuff like that, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

5:50

And then the last local partner that we mentioned is hand of hope. What is? What does hand of hope do?

5:56

So hand of hope is a pregnancy support center that walks alongside women and really couples, if there are couples involved, seeking to wrestle with the challenges of what happens with an unexpected pregnancy. So they they kind of run the gamut everything from supplying needs as far as they have a baby boutique, but really predominate, predominantly what they do is they have classes. So really, yeah, parenting classes, skill building classes. They even do some level of financial stuff and and connecting people with resources. But they are primarily a relational kind of mentor organization. And by taking those classes, you earn what they call baby bucks. Baby bucks. And so the baby bucks are how people get items from the baby boutique. Got it, yeah,

6:55

okay, so it focuses a lot on relationship building education. So how did Veritas end up involved with hand of hope?

7:07

Yeah, so Veritas had an interest from the very beginning of getting involved with some sort of pregnancy Support Center. There was a different pregnancy Support Center in town that we were trying to form a relationship with but it was not working out for a number of different reasons. So with that in mind, I got connected with pregnancy support center out in Rayford called Alpha life, okay? And they are a wonderful pregnancy Support Center, and I strongly encourage anybody who's in Rayford to get connected with them. Yeah, for our context, we were just it was too far away. It was like an hour drive to their facility. So they're the ones who actually connected us with hand of hope, even prior to them getting a facility in Fayetteville. Yeah,

7:49

because they launched in Raleigh, yes, and then Fuquay Varina, I think

7:53

it's actually the opposite. I think they stopped or they started in Fuquay and then, and then Raleigh, and then came to Fayetteville. Okay, great. And, yeah, so they have a really wonderful model, because we recognized that pregnancy support centers can be a little spicy and dicey, sure. So Jacob and I took some time to really vet the organization and everybody who was on staff. We talked a lot about it because we wanted to make sure that this was a pregnancy support center that was very compassionate and loving towards the women who were kind of coming to these organizations. And that was one of the things that very much attracted us to hand of hope. It's very much a a woman centered understanding her context, understanding where she's coming from, and loving her in that situation. That's

8:44

great. Yeah, okay, yeah. Well, thank you for sharing that for anyone who's listening. If you are new here, you may not know that our vision is to love God, love people, and advance the gospel. And the mission of Veritas church is to be a church that's for the city, for the military and for the fame of Jesus. And so local partners is just one of the ways that we are able to partner with the Lord on mission here to be for the city, for the military and for the fame of Jesus, but practically. Emily Ruth, what does it look like to get involved with these organizations? Yeah. So

9:20

three kind of simple and low hanging fruit ways to get involved, the first of which pray for these organizations and pray for the populations that they serve. So each of these population, each of these organizations, serve people who would be considered kind of the poor in spirit, those who are kind of in need within organizations. So really, having a mind and a heart for people who are in need, and reaching out to the organizations and the leadership directly to get connected with them, to ask specifically, how can I be praying for you most? Of these organizations have newsletters that they send out on a on a pretty frequent basis that you can know what is happening within the organization, how you can be praying for them. So that's kind of the first way, the second way financially supporting them. So all of these organizations have methods and means to support either a one time donation or reoccurring so either monthly, or

10:23

I hear that the reoccurring donations are very helpful for 501, C, threes in this line of

10:28

work, yes, particularly, I mean, especially having moved on to staff at one of them seeing the need and the benefit of having, you know, stable income from donors, yeah, and it's unrestricted funds, so you can kind of do what is necessary with them and and really, I know a few different people have come up to me and asked for local partners, you know, how, how is the money spent? How do I know where my money's going? All of these organizations would be happy to kind of be transparent about that, because really, for most of us, I mean, I can speak for in as much the vast majority, I'd say 70 to 75% of our budget goes towards paying staff, okay, and that we're still all underpaid. That's really

11:17

but that's helpful to know, because without the people to do the work, the work cannot be done, right? So it is really important to be able to support and sustain a staff working at peak capacity, especially in this line of work. Okay, that's helpful. What about the volunteering aspect? Yeah,

11:37

involved, yeah, yeah. So that's really the third and it really kind of offers a various range of how you can get involved, everything from kind of one time drop ins, you know, for in as much we have the breakfast ministry that people are always welcome to come and serve breakfast. Hand of hope. People are always welcome to come and help sort the baby boutique and donate items, things like that, and habitat, you're always welcome to go and volunteer, either at their Habitat ReStore or in. You know, on one of their sites, they have websites, all of them have websites with opportunities for volunteering, okay, but that's that's You are always welcome to volunteer more, and anyone who is seeking to do more investment, the relational investment is key. Yeah, these, yeah, yeah, so, so, showing up on a routine basis, being involved with people's lives, that's how the change

12:37

actually helps, being warm and hospitable, yeah,

12:39

yeah. And just somebody that somebody, that someone can say, that person's in my corner, that person actually cares about me. That

12:47

person, yeah. Okay, so beyond praying, financial support and volunteering, what is your kind of large picture hope and prayer for our Veritas members who have a desire to make a real difference in Fayetteville.

13:05

Yeah, I think when it comes to the local partners, kind of ministry, my hope and prayer is that it can be a means primarily of education and shifting a mindset around involvement with the city and involvement with people just kind of being another thing that is on the to do list and checking boxes, and it really becoming a shifted mindset and a way of life and a heart posture. So I have led a equipping event around local partners and some kind of effective ways to help people. I'm hoping to do that again in this upcoming year, and I like to think of myself as a resource for anybody who has questions or needs things or needs connections when it comes to that kind of stuff. And then also just I'm hoping to be able to highlight ways that people are loving and serving within the city because it's happening. I mean, we know

14:06

and stories matter. Yeah, they really do, and they help us as, I don't know, listeners to to realize that things are happening here in Fayetteville, and Veritas church is is involved, but not as the end all be all. We're just happen to be able to partner with God and partner with other local organizations that are already doing great work here.

14:30

Yeah, yeah, very much so. And I think sometimes when we hear stories, it can, it can inspire, and then it can also make it accessible, yeah? Because I think sometimes we have this picture in our brain of the person who is out helping the least of these as Mother Teresa off in India, and it could never be us, yeah. But in reality, it is us. Yeah. It is us all the time, for sure, we are the hands and feet. And

14:56

when we hear about our friends doing it, it just helps us to. Know? Oh, I could do that. I could do that. I may not be able to do all of the things, but I could do one of the things, right? Yeah, that's helpful. Okay. Well. Emily Ruth, if anyone wants more information, how do they get a hold of you?

So my email is eruthperry@gmail.com

15:27

and my work email is Emily Ruth at inasmuch, faye.org Okay, and then you can always email life@veritasfayetteville.com and ask to be connected with absolutely anybody that you want to be connected with. I am happy to to do that. Okay. Well, thank you for your time. Thank you for kind of sharing the work that you do. Veritas, just so you know, our hope here is that we will be able to release an episode per month about local partners. Ideally, we'd be able to feature one and talk about the things that that local partner is doing and ways that you can get involved. If you liked this episode, please share it with your Fayetteville friends, like I said, you can always contact me at life@ Veritas fayetteville.com

16:22

or Samantha @ Veritas fayetteville .com and we'll see you next time bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Harper's Testimony

It was our deep privilege to baptize Harper into the faith on Sunday, December 1st. Harper shared her testimony with the church before she was baptized and has given us permission to share that with you here as well. Please take a moment to be encouraged in your walk with the Lord and read Harper’s testimony of Jesus’s work in her life.

—

Hi. I am Harper Y. I would like to tell you about what Jesus has done for me. Jesus really came to me through His Word. I’ve been raised in a Christian home where my parents read the Bible to me since I was born. When I was 4, I remember my parents telling me that all humans had sinned and because of their sin are separated from God forever. I had cried and asked “but what will happen to us then?” My mom explained to me that Jesus came to earth as a baby, lived a perfect life, died a painful death, and resurrected after three days. The next day I wanted to accept Jesus as my Savior. I asked my parents to pray with me and prayed to God, committing my life to Him. He definitely made a difference in my life, but I didn’t really know what it meant to have a Savior. When I was 9, hard things were going on in my life. I still believed and loved Jesus, and I still prayed to Him, but I felt like He was not near me. “He must be far away right now,” I decided. I felt lonely without Him right next to me. But one night I was reminded of His love for me and what he went through when He was left alone on the cross. He felt nearer again. I read the Bible and pray daily to Him now. I want to learn more about Him. He saved my life. When I was sad He gave me joy. When I was worried He gave me peace. When I was dead He gave me life.  

An Answered Prayer - Update from Brad Criswell

Veritas, my beloved family,

On November 3rd Veritas held a night of prayer for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church in solidarity with the global body who suffers and endures extreme opposition. I write to our body because the Holy Spirit directed an encounter with one of the very people among one of the persecuted churches we prayed over in Panjab, Pakistan. I’ll refer to him as “Z” to for his safety. We met in what was absolutely a divinely directed exchange while attending a virtual international Business As Missions (BAM) conference online. We exchanged emails, and began communicating over the phone the last couple of weeks. With his permission, I want to share some notes from our last couple of phone calls.

God Answers our prayers and the prayers of His people around the world:

Z was feeling discouraged recently and after God’s work to connected us, hearing that there are real people praying for him and their churches, he is excited and encouraged. Likewise, I was encouraged to meet one of the people from the churches we prayed over. We shared testimonies, which is a wonderful way to connect as believers, and we need to do this more often.

Z grew up in a Christian household, suffered abuse by someone early in life, turned away from Jesus and the church becoming an agnostic. However, as he approached his twenties, he wholeheartedly turned to Jesus after a friend, a YWAM missionary, revealed they had been praying for him to become a follower of Yesu Misa (their Urdu way of referring to Jesus Christ, differing from the Islamic/Arabic reference to Isa). The love of God’s people and His inability to find any other way to live or to die, though Z had explored several options, led him back to Jesus, to truly follow him. Though I have summarized his testimony greatly and probably with some misunderstandings on my part, our time of sharing testimonies with one another.

Z’s story continues in his more integrated life:

Z shared that he was at the BAM conference after recently helping a group with little education navigate the government requirements to legally have a Sunday school. He recognized his business education background could be used in his community to intertwine one’s work and education with their faith. Rather than treating them as separate worlds, he sees them as overlapping with Jesus at the center of both. He told me this change came about after helping the church register for that Sunday School, one of the men, a father, came to him weeping with gratitude that his young daughters could have a place to learn about, experience, and “have a stage” on which to express their life with Jesus. Z said it was so simple for him, but he can do so much more. This speaks to the importance of offering those same opportunities to our children where we have no need to register our Sunday schools with the government and nor do we have to be concerned with our church being burnt down on false charges of blasphemy.

Questions Z and other Christians in his setting are asking about us and our church:

Very early in our first visit Z politely asked, “I know there are churches who are more liberal or conservative in their understanding of the Bible, but where do you stand on LGBTQ?” I said no, the behavior is still sin and not acceptable for us to affirm as Christians, but the deeper issue is an identity issue and truth issue. Those who identify in that community are made in the image of God, and Jesus calls them to repent, believe, and receive His Holy spirit, the same as any sinner like you or me.” He let out his breath and with audible relief, said, “Praise God.” We spoke further about how this is an issue that is becoming more prevalent in Pakistan in the secular, government circles, even in a more conservative religious state. This was news to me, but even in Pakistan they are wondering how to address this issue in a way that honors Jesus, the same as us.

In our second conversation he asked me, “Why do Christians in the West drink alcohol?” He didn’t ask if it was Biblically permissive, or what our church bylaws say, or the ethics of consuming alcohol. If you have never answered that question the way it was phrased in genuine curiosity and a hint of sadness, answer it. To save space, I’ll summarize my answer as “it depends. We are a people who appreciate freedom, and in that freedom we have a tendency to turn to alcohol as a source of pleasure, often replacing our ultimate source of pleasure.” In essence the discussion revolved around how we could say this about many things, but that I cannot reduce the truth of alcohol consumption within the church in our American context to a single reason. I shared my own failings and sins tied to alcohol, particularly in college and in the military. At this point we had a cross-cultural moment, where our guilt-innocence framework met the honor-shame worldview, which I would love to expound on (and am happy to with you later), but there is something more important I’d like to end with.

I asked Z “do you have a word for our church you would like to share?”

Z said, “I really appreciate how much the people in your churches honor and respect one another.” As I said, that we don’t always live up to that reputation, but it is good that the people he has encountered from among us have represented what we should be and do as disciples. He said, they have had people who have caused trouble among their own churches, even some who hurt their own leaders or fellow members they have a disagreement with, sometimes using their government as a weapon.

One of the stories he shared about someone who brought persecution upon their community, a Muslim Background Believer who used to believe in Jihad, tried to rescue the Christians from an injustice, but it only brought violence and opposition from the community around them. Praise the Lord for peacemakers who were respected by the village leadership, who protected this man and the church as the church leaders counseled him in their new life, the way of Jesus that requires not jihad but a witness to the gospel. At great cost, they mentored him as a disciple of Jesus, restoring him and seeing him transformed. We could learn from this, taking the position of Japheth and Shem who walked backward to cover their father, Noah’s, shame in his sin, allowing him to recover with dignity. We need peacemakers and cool heads as disciple makers, helping one another to grow in the likeness of Christ as we consider our cultural practices or worldviews in light of Jesus’ way.

There were so many stories and lessons we shared in these two lengthy conversations (and more to come). It is a joy to receive the Holy Spirit’s gift of a new connection to the universal body, a oneness that has been somewhat distant at times. It was as the Scripture says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” (Proverbs 25:11)

In grace and peace,
Brad

• If you would like to encourage Z and his church: Please feel free to write/type a letter, scan it, and email or text the pdf or jpg to me and I’ll forward it along.

• Ways to Pray for the Punjabi church in Pakistan: click here to access the Pakistan prayer guide

• What you can pray for Z specifically:

  • That he would be reminded his prayers are heard and to remain a faithful witness of Jesus Christ.

  • For eyes to see the opportunities to use the skills and education the Lord has given him to bless the church and the community.

A Missions Opportunity for Lauren D.

Lauren DuBois, a member of Veritas Youth

Dear Friends and Family,

I am excited to share with you the opportunity that God has given me. My senior class has been invited to go serve in Namibia with the Jesus Loves You Film Project February 21- March 7, 2025.

We will be ministering in partnership with them to help establish a Christian church in an area where none exists. We will be doing a VBS program for children in the area and doing various work projects.

We will be sharing the love of Jesus and the hope of salvation through Him.

I am excited to go! I realize that in serving others and proclaiming the gospel I will be blessed abundantly in return. I know God is calling me to serve but now I must raise financial support. As you feel led, I would be blessed if you would consider supporting me prayerfully and/or financially.

The total cost of the trip is $3,200 which I need to raise by January 15. I currently have $2340 in my mission trip account (which includes spaghetti dinner funds).  I need $860 more to be fully funded. I also need money to buy the gear for the trip.

I am also seeking prayer partners to pray for our group, the ministries, safety, the people of Namibia and the trip as a whole each day we are gone. If it is your heart to be a prayer partner for us, I would feel overwhelmingly blessed.

If you feel God calling you to support me financially, please know that your gifts are tax-deductible. Please write a check to Fayetteville Christian School with a note attached to designate it is for me. Please do not write my name on the memo line of the check. You can mail it to the address above or give it to me or my parents, Joel or Jeanine DuBois. The school will provide a tax-deductible receipt.

Thank you very much,
Lauren DuBois