Most people’s testimony focuses on the circumstances that brought them to the Lord and the time frame in which they were saved.  My testimony certainly includes those events but the evidence and fruits of salvation did not manifest themselves until years after I was saved.  I walked with the Lord in ways taught by the church Char and I served in for 22 years.  To most Christians I appeared to be serving the Lord in all the right ways but I had been duped just like the majority of modern day believers.  I had been duped into believing that the church was within the four walls of a building and that learned men of my denomination had the scriptures figured out.  I went through the motions of a faithful believer but really left no significant trail of fruit behind.  Both Char and I poured ourselves out for that church and looking back there is a lot of us left in that church, and that’s the issue, it’s still in the church, enclosed in the four walls. A number of self-righteous and legalistic people joined that church and turmoil began to set in.  Char and I had a difficult time understanding why and where all the turmoil was coming from.  One day we had our fill of the turmoil and I decided to leave the church family that we had loved for over 20 years.  I didn’t know why I made such a snap decision but I did not want to be in that place.  God led us to The Way Ministries.  He did so initially through the music ministry but I have a hunch that it was his way of introducing us to the ministry where he really wanted us to be serving.  After a couple of weeks of singing on the worship team we decided to stay for Pastor’s message.  A week or so later Char and I decided to go out on the streets.   God began to deal with my heart the first night on the streets.  I saw people ministering to people who most folks, Christians included, wouldn’t give the time of day to, much less a sandwich, and a hug.  I saw genuine love and caring where it was needed most, on the streets not inside the walls of the church.  The amazing thing is that there’s enough of God’s love to go around but it rarely gets outside the walls in most churches. I also began to see evidence of God’s miracles all over the ministry.  I don’t remember seeing many miracles in the old church we came from.  The miracles I saw at The Way included healing and restoration but the greatest were miraculously changed lives.  I saw men and women who were at one time locked in Satan’s grip but found the love and light of Jesus to lead them out of the darkness. God’s message to me was “I have blessed you all your life, I have given you prosperity in all areas of your life, and look what you’ve done with it - not much”. I looked around and the message was crystal clear.  If God could snatch people from the grips of booze, drugs, self indulgence and all kinds of evil and fill them with his love and compassion for others in the same boat, how much more could he use me and the blessings he has poured out on me?  I knew then that God had me exactly where he wanted me.  

Patrick  Miller