Dear Michael,

The Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship has been a blessing in my life.

In l970 I attended a meeting at the Brown Derby Restaurant on Exit 12 of the Turnpike near Cleveland, Ohio. It was there that I accepted Jesus Christ (the anointed One and His anointing) into my life. I only raised one finger to say yes to Him after hearing Merlin Carouthers, Demos Shakarian, and the Cameron Family. But, Jesus saw my finger and myheart crying out for change in my life.

When I retired to my motel room in the Holiday Inn across the street I also opened my mouth and out poured a prayer language that I had never learned with my intellect.

I was a business man at the time who owned a string of beauty salons in the Toledo area. Although my business was bringing in plenty of money, I was spending plenty more than it was bringing in.

One night after my wife went to bed I sought out the Christian material I had asked her to put away. It was then that I found the Voice Magazine which immediately began to minister to the hurt I was feeling. It was also the instrument God used to get me to my first Full Gospel Business Men's Meeting in Cleveland.

The Lord has recently shown me that the Voice Magazine is a tool. We have received power to be His witnesses, and He thrusts us out into the harvest field to bring in a harvest of souls for Him.

This thrusting out began early in my Christian life. I was only a Christian about one year when He sent me on my first major trip out of the country to Ghana, W. Africa. I always say that it didn't look like I should go across the street.

At the time I was working for FMC Corporation. I had a wonderful new job but I didn't get a vacation for another twelve months. This didn't seem to matter to God, neither the fact that I was heavily in debt from my first business. The "go ye" was on my life. I later read in the bible that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance and God never changes His mind.

What I did not know was that I was going to make more than l0 trips to Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa. I did not realize that God was going to use my hands and my prayers to see the blind healed, the deaf hear, club feet made whole in front of my eyes, withered hands and arms made whole, the dead raised, and thousands saved and filled with the Holy Spirit.

The call has never let up. It steadily increases. It has not always been easy to obey God. One year my wife and the youngest three of our five children left the United States with only one way tickets .We ministered across the lower portion of England, the Isle of Jersey, down through France , and into Spain sharing the word of God and the good things God has done in our lives and encouraging others to go out and do likewise.

………….to be continued

Tom Packard 
[email protected]