I was saved at the age of 8 after having made a false profession at the age of 5. God in mercy through the plain preaching of my Pastor convicted me and convinced me that I was lost, that I was a sinner and that Jesus alone could save me! On a Sunday evening in an old fashioned altar I called upon the Lord and was saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. To God be the Glory. My life has certainly been different ever since.

Pastor Jamey Grooms

I was saved in September of 2006 at a Wednesday night meeting at the Amherst Open Bible Church. I was brought up Catholic all my life and simply "beleived" in God. I really never gave God any thought other then when I was in a crisis or at a funeral. I started coming to the Amherst Open Bible Church when I met my now husband, Kevin. It took months before I finally went to a service, but after the first time I was hooked. It was so different from what I was use to. I actually learned things! I could understand what was being said! I heard things about Jesus that I never knew existed because I was never taught and never bothered to ask questions. It seems impossible for me now, but before I was saved I didn't even know why Jesus died on the Cross. JESUS, the one who suffered like no other, died for ME and I did not know! The message that night almost 2 years ago was about asking Jesus to come into your heart and save you and that is exactly what I did. I did not come forward during an invitation or publicly ask the Lord to save me. I did it right where I was standing in church during prayer. For those who knew the old me, there has been a drastic change in my life. I am a new person and have put away many ungodly things. I can't say that it has been easy, but I never could have done it without God. There was no reason to put away these things before God. Thanking God for not giving up on me,

Michelle McEachern

My name is Holly. When I was 5 years old I heard about God at the Gospel Hall.

From then on I had a fear of God, hell, the devil and demons. I was afraid to say anything wrong about God. Also I knew about the Rapture. I thought it was going to be this big loud event and I was going to be standing there horrified! I wanted to be saved but didn’t really understand how to be! Anytime I went around the Bible I had horrible thoughts. Then my children came along and I loved them so I wanted them to have the same chance I had to hear about Jesus. HelloAmherstOpenBibleChurch!I started going every week and the kids just loved going! They loved learning about God! They loved the family of God! I had also heard about blaspheming against the Holy Ghost and I didn’t know what it meant but I was sure I was guilty and it was an unforgivable sin. I didn’t think I could be saved. Going to church was torture! I was going for the kids to get saved. So I decided to take one Sunday off! Bethany, my youngest daughter, cried like her heart was broken. One night I was sitting on the couch thinking about where I was headed. I thought to myself if there is a chance Jesus will forgive me I have to find out. I prayed and asked for forgiveness but had no peace. Then I was determine to know if I was forgiven and wanted proof to my own soul so I listened to sermons online and read my Bible and asked for forgiveness when I thought something wrong. So one night I was reading my Bible and had another horrible thought. I was discouraged. I prayed and begged for forgiveness and suddenly I felt the presence of God and had a peace that passes all understanding. Now I can’t wait to go to church!Before I was saved my heart and soul were destroyed by life and depression and I had no will to live. My life has changed forever. The Lord Jesus Christ is Wonderful! He is the God of all Comfort! Jesus is my personal Savior! Jesus has loved me like no one ever has! All other love fails miserably compared to his love! What I would like to say to lost souls is stop searching! Jesus is who you’re missing! Jesus washes sins away with his blood, and heals broken hearts! No matter what you’ve done cry out to Jesus, he loves you and is waiting to save you!

Psalms 57:7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.

Psalms 73:26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.

2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

Holly Ripley

My family was a member of the Anglican Church. We had never heard a clear gospel presentation. All I had from that church was a head knowledge that there was a God and he would hold me accountable for my sins. My parents were unsaved but gave us a moral upbringing. Without God’s help, there was no power to continue on the right path.

By the time I was thirty, I had been through some very hard things and cried out to God to help me change my life for the better, as I couldn’t go on as I was then. My youngest sister, Sandra had been saved after she moved out west and she would write and send cards saying she was praying for us. God answered her prayers and there was a real move of God towards my family…God saved my mother, my brother and three more of my sisters. What spoke to me most at that time was to see how God had changed their lives.

A faithful Christian brother came to my house and told me the gospel and that I could know for sure that my sins were forgiven and that I would be with the Lord when I died. He left me a bible, which I began to study on my own. My sins had been a great burden to me for a long time, so it wasn’t news to me that I was a sinner .In my ignorance I thought that God would only save certain people who were not too bad.

nI was unable to go to church at that time so I was discouraged that I might never hear the Word of God preached and never be saved. As I read I prayed and cried out to God to help me to understand the scriptures as I had no one to teach me. The wisdom and the love of God seemed so wonderful to me but I thought it was too late for me - too much sin in my past for him to want to save me. I believed the Christian who brought me the bible so I purposed in my heart to keep searching the bible for the help I so desperately needed. “ Ye shall seek me, and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”- (Jeremiah 29:13)

I was sitting in my home reading Luke 15 how Jesus was preaching and the sinners were gathered around to hear him. The Pharisee and scribes said of Jesus – “This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them”-(Luke15:2) In that little line of scripture I began to see His great love for sinners. The chapter goes on to tell the parable of the man with 100 sheep who loses one and leaves the rest to go looking for the one lost sheep. He finds the lost sheep and carries it home rejoicing. (”And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me: for I have found my sheep which was lost.”) I could see that I was the lost sheep that the Lord was calling. The scripture also says “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, who need no repentance. (Luke 15:7) I knew the precious Lamb of God died that I might be cleansed from all my sins.

If you are reading this and you don’t have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, cry out to God and you will find mercy and cleansing…“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18) and you will find that the Lord’s love is beyond human understanding and more precious than anything you can gain in this world…”For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) He died for me and for you –“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John15:13). I hope that this testimony might be a blessing to someone and they might want to know my Savior.

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Pat Cormier

First let me start with when I was a little girl. I was raised Catholic. I remember sitting out on my step at maybe 6 crying because I was scared of going to hell and burning forever. Fast forward to 1979. My husband was invited by a co-worker to a Pentecostal church,I was going to the Kingdom Hall. We were running late and I hate going somewhere late. I went with my husband as we had been searching now for a while. It was at that church that I had asked Jesus into my heart to forgive my sins and was saved. It was an unbelievable feeling of comfort and peace. To think that our Father gave his only son and that Jesus went through so much for us. I would love to say we lived happily ever after but anyone would know I was lying. I started backsliding for a number of years; I never forgot about Jesus, I just put him elsewhere in my mind. I forgot the feeling of comfort and peace I had knowing that I was never alone. Again fast forward to a few years ago. My family started to go through a lot with sickness. I started realizing what I was missing and left out of my life. I started going to the AOBBC and realized that Jesus never left me, I left him. We still have trials and tribulations in our family but there is comfort and peace knowing that God will not put me through more than I will be able to handle. I know I never lost my salvation while I was backsliding and I also know that Jesus was always there. I just never asked for his help and like our earthly father, we have to try things on our own before we realize that we do need our Fathers. They are always in the back grounds just waiting for us to talk to him. Thank you Jesus for my salvation!!!

Liz Cormier

I was saved when I was 8 years old on September 7th, 2006 in my bedroom at home. I asked God to save me because I knew I was a sinner and I was not good enough to go to Heaven all by myself. I love God and I want to live all of my life for him. I am very thankful for what Jesus did on the cross for me.

Maddison McEachern

I didn't grow up in a christian home. There were six kids, everyone went their own way and it was not to church. My two sisters at a younger age went to C.G.I.T., but my three brothers and myself did not attend any church meetings. I quit school in grade eleven and worked at odd jobs, giving no thought to God. When I was 23 years old I went to Vancouver and lived there 8 months. On my return from my second trip out west, I stopped in Fredericton to visit my sister. That is where I met my future wife, who was not a christian either. We got married and had a daughter, Shelley. My wife was a juvenile diabetic and was sick much of the time. Many nights as I returned home from the hospital I would listen to the "hour of decision", but it had no real impact on my life.

At the age of 28, my wife passed away. Before she dies she talked to me about the future. She told me "take the little girl home and make a new life for yourself." I found out later that a christian woman had led her to the Lord. After she died I had a little 4 year old girl to raise on my own. She stayed most of the time with my parents. It was a sad and lonely time for the both of us. My wife had dies in March and on Christmas eve that same year I was all alone in my old truck. My life seemed to be over. I started thinking about the Lord. I prayed and asked the Lord to take a miserable wretch like me and do whatever He wanted with me.

A man I worked with told me about a prayer meeting in Amherst at the R.C.M.P. detachment. I took my daughter and went, scared to death. That was 34 years ago, and from this prayer meeting the Amherst Open Bible Church (Independant Baptist) was formed. Two years later I met my present wife. We have one son. Since I have been saved the lord has given me a great hunger for the Word of God, and how I enjoy studying his Word. He has been so faithful to me over the years, and how I praise His name for it. Since I have been saved, I have seen 2 brothers, my parents, one sister, my in-laws, a sister in-law and her husband come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Brother Don Cameron (Deacon)

     My name is Jack Wheaton and I live in Joggins, Nova Scotia. I am now sixty five years old and have been born again since I was thirty five years of age. I never heard of being born again until my wife asked me when did I meet Jesus and that I had to be saved or born again. When she started to tell me about Jesus, all hell broke lose.

    If anyone was tested for Jesus it was my wife and because I came from a violent home I put her through a lot. I tried to live a good life but failed, I had no power. The more I tried the worse I became.

    My wife and children went through a lot because of me. One day I came home from being out drinking for three days and my wife had to flee with the children. They were in a dangerous position because of me. After she and six children left the home, I burnt my house. I was arrested and brought to the police station in Amherst. A Sargent Foster invited me down to see his pastor. On the way down Jesus showed me what an evil man I was and the price Jesus paid for my sins. Pastor Beebe told me I had to repent and receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour.

    Finally I humbled myself before God and asked Jesus to forgive me my sins. Jesus came into my heart that day and I was born again. With God's help I fixed my home and the Lord brought our family back together.

    My wife and I are very Happy and serve Jesus to this day. He continues to bless our family and bring us through many trials. What Christ has done for me and my family, I know Jesus can do for you.

Jack and Dianne Wheaton

I have been so blessed with a wonderful Christian mother – my father was Christian also but he was only saved later in his life. As a little girl I attended a Baptist Church in New Brunswick and basically went through the religious motions of Christianity, although I never really and truly understood what it was all about. I was baptized at a very early age - it just seemed to be the right thing to do and was consistent with what many of my peers were doing at that time.

As I grew into my teens and moved on into higher education and my career, God took second place in my busy life, and, eventually God had no place in my life at all. One of my brothers in particular and my dear Mother never ceased to pray for my salvation – however, I pushed all of this away from me and wanted only to be left alone to live my life as “I” pleased! Then tragedy struck our family – my brother Courtney was killed at the age of 59, leaving behind three teenage sons and a wife – they were all Christians. He had sent me literature for many years and prayed for me incessantly – and after his death his wife sent me his last little note – a small Christian book with his handwritten invitation to me to look to the Lord on the inside front cover. I cannot put into words how this impacted my life – it touched my heart deeply, and for the very first time it occurred to me that he may have been right all along – that I needed something more in my life than my job, my friends, my home …. at long last I stopped and thought very seriously about my future and the need for God in my life. I decided to look for a good gospel preaching Christian Church which could help me overcome this tragedy and teach me more about God and His wonderful gift of love, freedom and eternal salvation!

I had often driven by the little Amherst Open Bible Baptist Church – in fact, both of my brothers and their families had gone there prior to moving away so it already held some sentimental value for me. I can remember the first day I went there – Phillip Gilbert met me at the door with that kind and friendly smile of his and a warm handshake – I felt right at home from the very first minute I stepped foot in the door. The message that followed from Pastor Grooms was phenomenal – he is truly a wonderful and sincere Under Shepherd! For the first time in my life I was beginning to understand what being a Christian was all about; what true salvation meant; and, the importance of accepting Jesus into my heart.

The Lord has changed my life forever – changed who I am – changed how I think, and how I feel towards others and towards life! Yes, I may slip up from time to time, but I can never go back to who I was nor the way I used to live – nor have I any desire to. I now have the assurance of Eternal Salvation/Life, and the hope of seeing my loved ones again in Heaven. All this to say, living a Christian life is not always easy – I have many unsaved friends and loved ones, and it is difficult for them to understand why I feel the way I do. The change in me personally, however, is obvious to them and speaks for itself – only God was able to turn me around and truly, I am a very different person! As I look back on my life I often wonder how I ever made it this far, and I am so grateful to the Lord that He has allowed me the time to change – others have not been that fortunate and are now suffering in Hell (which is exactly where I was headed)!

I thank God for my life, for my salvation, for my wonderful family and my endless Blessings, and especially for His everlasting love for me and for His great kindness and goodness to me – I was so lost and troubled. I still face daily challenges and I often feel that I am backsliding, but the Lord just keeps picking me up and putting me back on my feet – thank you Lord for “saving my soul”, and thank you Lord for “making me whole” – thank you for coming into my life and living within my heart – I am indeed truly blessed!

Judy Williston