Testimony of Nathan D. Jones

I grew up in a Christian home where my family, as long as I can remember, has always loved God and gone to church whenever the doors were open. I had the opportunity to attend an Awana program for a short time, which I believe greatly influenced my life. Although I wasn’t saved as a direct result of an Awana teacher or class, I firmly believe that the verses and the teaching that I was under for those few years had an impact on my soul. My parents established a good, Bible-centered Christian home with rules and guidelines that had to be followed. I was constantly seeing my parents live out the Christian life.

I was saved after a baptismal service at my church in Maryland. I was about six or seven years old at the time. A young girl, to be baptized that night, told of what Christ had done in her life. Later that evening, by my bunk-bed, I repented of my sin and trusted Christ as my Savior. Since I did not write down the date as many believers do at the time of their new birth, for a period of time I struggled with the full assurance of my salvation. 

I praise the Lord that today; I have full assurance of my eternal salvation. I am not relying on a faint memory of something that I think I did, but I am trusting in what Christ has already done for me. Although I cannot place my finger on the exact date and time of my salvation, I know today that I am saved. My assurance is not based on a feeling or experience but based on two things, first an actual regeneration as occurred in my life, and the God’s Word daily assures me of my salvation.

I come to know that salvation is not man holding onto God, but God holding onto man. I believe that one who is truly regenerate will evidence a change of heart and direction in life. He will have a burning desire to obey the Savior. He will have a desire to serve the Savior because He knows his Savior, for it is certainly not a desire of an unsaved individual to serve and obey a Master he does not know. I believe that I am getting to know the Master more and more every day and God has given me a great desire to serve Him and see souls saved. Another factor involved in my regeneration is that I can see the fruit of the Spirit evidenced in my life. I am no longer under the bondage of sin, but the Spirit of God is living inside of me encouraging and challenging me to bear more fruit.

God’s Word also assures me of my salvation, especially John 3:36. This verse talks about one that has believed on the Son will have everlasting life. I know that there has been a time when I have believed on the Son, alone, for my salvation. I know that I believe and have believed on Jesus as my only Savior from sin; thus I will be a partaker of everlasting life. In 1 John 1 there is a discourse about light and darkness. The implication made there is that one who is unsaved, or walking in darkness, will not fellowship with Him (God). I on the other hand, by God’s grace, have wonderful sweet fellowship with Christ. He communes with me daily through His Word and I can come boldly before His throne of grace at any time, because I have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. Another passage of Scripture which assures me of my salvation is 1 John 2:3 which says, “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” I have a great desire to serve the Lord and do what is right. Although I am not a perfect individual my goal is to be conformed to the image of Christ and keep His commandments.

This I believe is the evidence of my true salvation experience which actual regeneration and God’s Word assures me of. Even though some may doubt the validity of it I am utterly convinced, and firmly believe with every fiber of my being that when I die and stand before God, I will be ushered into my heavenly mansion for all eternity.

After that time I was baptized, by immersion in a Bible-believing, New Testament church, during the summer of 1989.

Call to Ministry of Nathan D. Jones

I answered God’s call to the ministry when I was at a Baptist camp in Pennsylvania, in June of 1990. Although I don’t remember who the speaker for the week was, I do remember throughout the week feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit to be the one to answer the call to serve God. I spoke with my counselor about it, and told him that I felt God was calling me to serve Him in full time ministry.

My counselor took me aside early one morning, and I prayed and told God I would answer His call to serve Him wherever He would place me. I didn’t know exactly what area of the ministry God would call me too, but I did feel a direction possibly toward overseas Missions. Several years later I clearly felt God calling me to the mission field. I believe that throughout my life God has been preparing me to be in the preaching ministry as a church-planting missionary to Arctic Canada. He has allowed me to meet various preachers and missionaries, which have influenced me to serve the Lord in full time Missions.

I then went off to Pensacola Christian College where I earned a BA in Bible with a Missions emphasis. During my time at PCC, I was actively involved in children’s ministries and weekly soul-winning, where I was privileged to lead a number of people to Christ. My Senior year I was an intern at a local church in the Pensacola area, where I was given opportunities to preach, work with youth, sing and assist the Pastor when needed.

After my graduation I then had the privilege to live, and minister in the Eskimo village of Selawik, in Northwest Alaska. There, I assisted Bro. Warren Compton and his family for four months, gaining ministry experience working in the Arctic with Eskimo people. Desiring to continue learning more about Arctic Missions, but in CANADA this time, I came in contact with the Donley family in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, CANADA. Bro. Steve Donley invited me up there to assist him in his ministry to the Inuit and Gwitchin Indian people. I spent a total of nine months up there, preaching often, teaching at the small Christian school, and leading music for many of the services. It was there that I met for the first time Bro. Donley’s daughter, Becky, who would later become my wife.

We were married in Inuvik in August 2003 and then moved to New Philadelphia, Ohio to begin working with Dr. Don Snow at the Calvary Baptist Church. I spent a year on staff with Dr. Snow. During our time at Calvary Baptist, we were praying about where God would take us for our future ministry. I then began looking on a map and located the town of Rankin Inlet. I did some extensive prayer, and research about the town and area before we took a survey trip. We returned from our trip in April 2004 and felt that God was indeed leading us to that community to start a Bible-believing Baptist church. In June of 2004 we began deputation to raise support to go to Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, CANADA. Rankin Inlet is an Inuit/Eskimo town along the western shore of the Hudson Bay in CANADA’S newest territory Nunavut. (pron. Noon-a-voot) There are NO Bible preaching churches in this community.

Testimony of Rebekah G. Jones  wife of Nathan D. Jones

For many years, I felt that I had been saved as a child, but when I was in my teen years I began to doubt if I had really understood enough. So, I went through many fearful nights wondering if Heaven would be my home. After a long time of worrying, I told my mom of my doubts. She sat down and shared some salvation verses with me and I proceeded to pray a prayer asking Christ into my heart. I worded in my last sentence “pray a prayer” for a specific reason. That’s what I was relying on, me and my prayer. I had worried so long about my salvation, that I had taken it out of the hands of Jesus Christ and what He did for me on the cross, and turned it into a horrible dilemma that I had to figure out. It wasn’t until sometime in the spring of 1999 that I can remember specifically coming to the realization that my salvation was not in my hands, but up to Christ and what He had already done for me at Calvary. Praise the Lord! Today I know that Heaven is my home based upon the promises of the Bible. My father, who is an Independent Baptist missionary, then baptized me (immersion) in his church after I had truly been saved.

Because I grew up on the mission field, missions has always had a special spot in my heart, and as I look back, I can see how God was molding me to someday be a missionary myself. There is not really a specific time when I was called into missions, I just knew that I only wanted to do what the Lord wanted me to do. I praise the Lord for bringing a wonderful, godly man into my life, one who feels the direct calling of God into missions. I know that I am called to follow my husband wherever God leads and look forward to sharing with him a lifetime of service to the Lord.