Tom & Jane Wills’ Testimony

by Noliani Clemente | رهبران ما

TOM: We are grateful for the opportunity to share how faithful God has been to us. We are also thankful to be part of what God is doing here at One Voice. Some of you know that before coming to OVF in April 2023, we lived 10 years in North Africa. Before that we were in southern Spain for 15 years. We had the privilege of sharing the Good News of Jesus and serving the growing church in those places. We had to learn languages and adapt to new cultures, like many of you do. But we saw God provide people in every place — brothers and sisters in Christ — who welcomed us and helped us integrate into our new lives.

JANE: One of the hardest things was watching our children suffer, especially in our first year in Spain. Our son, John, said: “I don’t fit in here! I can’t speak Spanish. I’m too tall and too blond. They’re Catholic and we’re Evangelicals. I just want to be a normal American kid!” Our children often felt like outsiders and they missed our family back home. But God was faithful in providing good teachers and friends. Now our sons say about themselves: “parts made in the USA, assembled in Spain.”

All of our children are adults now, and the experience of living overseas greatly influenced them. Julia is a bi-lingual lawyer who lives in Arlington. She is married to a Bolivian man and they have 3 children. John works for a multinational energy company in Santiago, Chile and is married to a Chilean woman. They will be moving to this area next month. Our youngest, Tim, is a medical doctor with a heart to serve God in needy areas of the world. He just moved to DC this summer for further training at the National Children’s Hospital. In the past 25 years we have never lived in the same place.

So it will be a HUGE blessing to have all 3 of our children close by so that we can do life together in-person! This November, they will help us celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary!

A few years ago, while in North Africa, we started thinking about moving back to the US. We wanted to integrate into a new church community and get involved in ministry while we were still young enough. Then my mother had a stroke and needed fulltime care. So we moved back to my family’s home in McLean to help take care of her. One Voice was just the kind of church and ministry we had prayed for! Being part of the life of this community has made our adjustment to life back in the United States much easier than we had feared. We had wondered how we would fit into a homogeneous American church after starting and supporting multicultural churches overseas for 25 years? God again showed his faithfulness to us by bringing us here to One Voice Fellowship and made you our church family.

TOM: So that accounts for the past 25 years. But like we said, we are about to complete 50 years of marriage! Our journey has not been ordinary. It has taken some very unusual twists and turns. But Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, has been at work in us.

I grew up on a farm in the far northern part of Michigan, the 7th of 10 children. My father died when I was 11 and I remember the shock and crying out to God: “God, you’ve taken my daddy. Would you please be my Daddy?” Someone who knew my father showed me the love of God by taking me to a weekly Christian club for young boys, where I memorized many Bible verses. At Summer Bible camp my cabin counselor led me in saying the Sinner’s prayer to receive Jesus into my heart. I said the words, but I didn’t really understand what it meant to follow Jesus.

10 years later, I was in the Navy and very confused about life. One day a young evangelist on a beach in France challenged me to serve Jesus with my life. After I had proudly quoted many Bible verses to her, she said, “You know so much about Jesus. Why aren’t you living for him?!”

Her challenge rocked my world. I could quote the Bible verses, but did I believe them? I realized I wanted to believe, but I didn’t know how. I cried out to God for help. I asked Him to give me the faith to believe. He was my only hope. He answered my prayer and changed my life that night. I began reading the Bible every free moment I had. I got involved with a Christian ministry called the Navigators. I learned how to memorize Scripture, share the gospel, and lead Bible studies with the men on my ship. I believed God wanted to use me to preach the gospel, so I made plans to go to Bible college after the Navy.

JANE: I grew up right here in northern Virginia. My father was Catholic, but my mother didn’t believe in God. When I was 5, I developed juvenile arthritis. It is a painful condition that flared up every spring and put me in a wheelchair. One time, when I was in pain, I asked my father why God let me suffer. He wisely told me that it was so that I would be able to understand and help others who suffered. That gave me hope.

When I was 8, I understood that Jesus died for my sins, and I promised to serve him with my life. Singing became a way for me to express my faith and my ideas. I taught myself to play the guitar and joined a music group at church. I wanted to serve God with my talents and energy, but I didn’t really know the gospel. The gospel isn’t about what you and I can do for God, but what He has done for us!

When I was 17, God showed me that I needed to surrender all my plans and let Him direct my life. After months of spiritual struggle, I finally let go of the things I was holding on to for my identity and sense of worth. I asked him to fill me with his Holy Spirit. I began to read the Bible and God’s Word came alive to me!

As young adults, Tom and I were both looking for a way to serve God. We had been brought up with the “American Dream.” That Dream tells you that you can be anything you want to be. But that wasn’t our dream. We wanted our lives to be significant, to matter for God.

Now imagine the United States in the early 1970’s. There was a lot of social unrest over the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Young people were looking for alternatives in drugs, sex, and religion. There was a revival among young people in America called the “Jesus Movement.”

In 1973, Tom and I both happened to be in Barcelona, Spain. Tom’s Navy ship stopped in the port, and I was studying at the University of Barcelona. We had not met one another yet. We were both recruited by a group from the Jesus Movement called “The Children of God.” We met each other only after we had joined the group. A year and a half later, we got married in Madrid. While in The Children of God, we lived in Spain, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

TOM: While in this group we saw God provide for us in miraculous ways and people came to faith in Jesus through our evangelistic efforts. But there were also false teachings and harmful practices that got progressively worse. After 5 years, we left the group. We felt abused and broken both spiritually and emotionally.

We felt a strong feeling of failure after we realized how much The Children of God deceived us. We sometimes thought, “Jesus, can you still love me, even though I’ve been such a failure?” It took time for us to understand those experiences. But once again, God provided wonderful friends, counselors, and pastors to help us find our way.

We really wanted to go back overseas, but God was not in a hurry. He had so much to teach us. For the next 20 years, while we furthered our formal education, had our children and participated in healthy churches, God was teaching us about His grace. Isaiah 40 describes God as a shepherd who “gently leads those with young.” He gently led us and showed us his steadfast love through solid biblical teaching and in the ordinary rhythms of life and work.

We started seeing the Gospel in a new light. We saw that that the Gospel is not just the entryway into the Christian life. The Gospel is our daily food. We started seeing our sins of pride, judging others, complaining, speaking bad about others, and far worse things. We realized that even when we did good deeds, our motives were often mixed. We found the only remedy was preaching the Gospel to ourselves. We must remind ourselves of our sinful motives, words, and deeds; AND, we must also remember God’s never-failing grace and love for us. We learned what genuine, honest repentance looked like. In these ways, we experienced the joy and freedom that flows into our lives when we confess our sins and run to the arms of Jesus.

JANE: We still wanted to live cross-culturally and share the Good News with people who had never heard it before. But we weren’t trying to save the world anymore. We knew that only God could do that! But, we were so wrong before, so very deceived in the Children of God. Could we trust our ability to make wise decisions? We desperately needed God to direct our steps. Our church supported an organization that specialized in helping people see their brokenness and need for Christ. This organization valued people over programs and understood that God works through weak people just as much, if not more, than through strong people. We have happily served with that organization and grown in our faith for the past 27 years.

Jesus is our Shepherd and he leads us beside still waters; He restores our souls. He leads us in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. He is faithful and good all the time!

And until we see him face to face, we will still need to repent of our fears and sins. Our hearts are sometimes tempted by fear or failure. We can be tempted to find our worth in what we do, rather than in what He has done for us.

In Revelation 3 Jesus said, 19 ”I warn and correct those I love. So be sincere, and turn away from your sins. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in. I will eat with that person, and they will eat with me.”

It is a joyous thing to turn away from sin and welcome Jesus into our lives.

TOM: God reminds us in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

What about you? How has God been working in your life? Do you need him to give you faith to believe? Do you need him to deliver you from the bondage of false teaching? Do you need to repent of finding your worth in what you do for God, instead of thanking him for Christ’s perfect righteousness given freely to those who trust in Him? Can you trust Him to work through you as you put your trust in Him?

When some religious people asked Jesus what was the work of God, Jesus answered: “The work of God is to believe in the one he sent.” That starts with believing he is who he said is: the Son of God who came to save sinners! And that believing continues to grow and deepen as we repent of our sins and trust him with every aspect of our lives. He is worthy!

معرفی Clément Tendo

by Chris Sicks | رهبران ما

Clément Tendo

برای من ، One Voice Fellowship “du-jamais-vu” است - چیزی که قبلاً ندیده ام. و با این حال من به دلیل علاقه به آهنگ هایی از زبان ها و ژانرهای مختلف و چگونگی استفاده از آنها در عبادت بسیار هیجان زده ام. من معتقدم كه یك كلیسای پر روح باید با همه مردم در متن خود با انجیل بدون مصالحه پروردگار ما عیسی مسیح ارتباط برقرار كند. One Voice نمایانگر آنچه کلیسای مسیح فراخوانده می شود در حالی که برای شام ازدواج بره آماده می شود ، جایی که مردم از هر قبیله و زبانی خدای بزرگ ما را با هم عبادت می کنند (مکاشفه 19: 6-10 ؛ 5: 9-10) .

من در خانه ای با ایمان به کتاب مقدس بزرگ شدم ، چیزی که فقط به لطف خدا توصیف می کنم. با این حال ، وقتی به زندگی خود نگاه می کنم ، نمی گویم که این نعمت مرا از وسوسه و گناه نجات داد. وقتی به ایمان خود ادامه می دهم ، می فهمم که گناهان من چقدر است - و همچنین نجات دهنده من عیسی مسیح چه عظیم و بزرگ است. من به خاطر هر لحظه موفقیت ، اضطراب ، نگرانی ، شک و عدم اطمینان خدا را شکر می کنم. آنها به من یادآوری می کنند که خدا باید نوری بماند که من تمام نورها را از طریق آن می بینم (مزمور 36: 9). هنگامی که من مبارزه می کنم ، منابع آسایش و پناه من در جستجوی خدا از طریق دعا ، یادآوری دعاهایی است که او پاسخ داده است ، آواز خواندن و ساختن موسیقی انجیل و مطالعه کلام خدا. در تاریکی عمیق دیدم که غیر از توکل روزانه و صبورانه به خدا و تکیه بر درک خود ، هیچ امید دیگری برای من نیست (امثال 3: 5-6).

در طول تحصیلاتم در دانشگاه کتاب مقدس آفریقا در اوگاندا ، وضعیت کلیسا را در آفریقا بررسی کردم و متوجه شدم که بیشتر شبان کشیش علاقه و غیرت زیادی به انجیل دارند ، اما آموزش کمی در مورد چگونگی مدیریت درست کلام حقیقت دارند (2 تیموتی 2) : 15) من احساس كردم كه لازم است آنچه را كه مطالعه مي كردم با اين وزيران انجيل در ميان بگذارم تا دانش و اشتياق براي پيشرفت انجيل كار كنند. به عنوان کسی که می داند خدا هنوز مرا روز به روز قالب می کند ، دعای من این است که خدا مرا از ابزاری در دست خود و یک گدای روزانه بسازد که از طریق آموزش ، موعظه ، سایر گدایان را نشان می دهد که کجا می توانند نان زندگی را پیدا کنند. و آواز همانطور که خداوند هدایت می کند. تحصیلات فعلی من در حوزه علمیه وست مینستر چالش برانگیز است اما از بسیاری جهات باعث شکل گیری و تقدیس من می شود. من از طریق قدرت روح القدس مجهز شده ام تا با ترس و لرز به خاطر کاری که خدا روزانه در من انجام می دهد ، نجات خود را انجام دهم (فیلیپیان 2: 12-13).

برای مدرک کارشناسی ارشد الهیات من یک دوره کارآموزی در یک کلیسای محلی لازم است ، بنابراین من دعا کردم که خدا با استفاده از آنچه در وست مینستر می آموزم به من کمک کند کلیسایی پیدا کنم که به رشد من کمک کند. خدا را شکر می کنم برای شخص محبت و فروتن کشیش کریس ، که از من خواست که به عنوان یک کارآموز دام و عبادت ، عضوی از One Voice Fellowship شوم ، که من آن را دعایی مستجاب می دانم. من امیدوارم و دعا می کنم که همانطور که به یکدیگر خدمت می کنیم و با یک صدا جمع می شویم تا خدای خود را پرستش کنیم (رومیان 15: 5-7) ، ما در دانش و فضل خداوند خود عیسی مسیح رشد خواهیم کرد (2 پیتر 3:18) ) برای تعمیر یکدیگر ، برای شادی ما و بیش از هر چیز دیگر ، برای جلال خدا (رومیان 11:36 ؛ اول قرنتیان 10:31).

معرفی کاشف و سانا

by Chris Sicks | رهبران ما

کاشف ، همسرش ، سانا و دخترش

ما هر دو اهل پاکستان هستیم. ما در خانواده های مسیحی متولد شدیم ، ما بسیار درگیر خدمات جوانان و گروه کر بودیم. در پاکستان شرکت در هر فعالیت کلیسایی روال معمول ما بود ، زیرا می دانیم که زندگی بدون خدا برای ما چقدر دشوار است. وقتی در دسامبر 2019 به ایالات متحده مهاجرت کردیم ، نگران زندگی مسیحی خود بودیم. وقتی به مکانی می روید که کسی را نمی شناسید ترسناک است. اما ما برای خودمان و مخصوصاً برای دخترمان ، جوی دعا کردیم.

در پاکستان تصور ما این بود که مردم در آمریکا از خدا دور هستند و اگر به کلیسا بروید فقط افراد مسن را خواهید دید ، زیرا نسل جوان به کلیسا نمی آیند.
اما وقتی به اینجا آمدیم و با کشیش کریس آشنا شدیم ، احساس کردیم که سالهاست که یکدیگر را می شناسیم. او پدر معنوی ما است ، همیشه مفید است و همانطور که مسیح ما را دوست دارد ما را دوست دارد. بنابراین وقتی کشیش کریس درباره OVF به ما گفت ، ما بسیار هیجان زده شدیم. ما فکر کردیم ، "وای! چقدر حیرت انگیز خواهد بود که به زبان خودمان در جایی نماز بخوانیم که افراد دیگر نیز به دعا و آواز ما به زبان ما گوش دهند. "

ما واقعاً احساس غرور و شکر می کنیم که خدا بخشی از OVF است. هیچ تفکیکی براساس اینکه اهل کدام یک هستید وجود ندارد. مردم به شهادت ما گوش می دهند ، درباره اینکه مسیحی بودن در پاکستان زندگی چقدر سخت است. بنابراین احساس می شود که همه ما اینجا یکسان هستیم. همانطور که کتاب مقدس گفته است ، ما باید همانطور که خدا ما را دوست دارد یکدیگر را دوست داشته باشیم!