Hi, we would like to introduce our family; we’re the Johnson’s. We’ve lived in Polk City for the last seven years and just a little over a year ago in January 2006 we started attending Lakeside Fellowship. The Lakeside Fellowship motto is “come as you are and leave different”; this couldn’t be truer for our family. We were an un-churched family and although we believed in God we didn’t know what it was to have a personal relationship with Christ. Through the love of our Pastor and church family we came to understand what Christ did for us and that believing in Him is the way to salvation.

Our family’s personal story of salvation began with a knock on the door one Saturday morning. A gentleman was surveying for Lakeside Fellowship and wanted to know if we were currently attending church. He explained that Lakeside had just begun a church in our area and explained what Lakeside was about. We kept the brochure and began talking about attending this new Church. After the first of the year we decided to give Lakeside a try and were amazed at the warm and caring welcome we received.

After attending church for a couple of weeks the Pastor came to our house for a personal visit and shared the Gospel with us. This was the first time in our lives that we truly understood what Christ did for us. Understanding what believing in Christ could do for us and how true salvation could be obtained for each of us was an eye opening experience. (Romans 10:9-10 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.) One by one our entire family accepted Gods gift of salvation and we began to see a difference in each one of us as well as in our family as a whole.

What a powerful difference that believing in Christ has made in our lives. Christ is now at the center of our lives and has brought our family closer together. Since accepting the wonderful gift of Gods love (John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that who ever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life) and believing in his Son we have had trials and tribulations but Christ has helped us through each one. We give thanks to God for giving us his Son to believe in and the wonderful gift of Salvation that our family has received. We now know that we will all see each other in heaven one day and know that we will have eternal life in Gods kingdom.