Here we are at the Bay of Funday on the east coast of Canada in the fall of 2007. We were out visiting our daughters who are now living in the Maritimes. As a couple, life together, started at the other end of Canada, on the west coast, in the town of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.
We met in 1969, fell in love and married in 1971. At the time John wasn't saved yet and Carol wasn't really living for the Lord as she should have been. The Lord started to draw Carol back to himself during the birth of our first child in 1973. For the next two years the Lord kept drawing Carol closer and eventually she started going to church again and was quickly getting re-established in her faith. During this time we had established our own welding business which was quite a successful small business. It was during this time that Carol realized that John needed salvation and she began to pray that the Lord would save him. She started to share the Word of God with him and one night he made a mental profession yet Carol never too sure about this John wouldn't go to church and showed no real change in attitude towards Christians.
When their son, Luke was two Carol wanted him dedicated to the Lord and in the lead up to this Carol's evangelistic pastor come out to the welding shop to visit John. This visit resulted in the preacher being run off the property. The story doesn't end here though. Two weeks latter John went to church with Carol and then in the evening service the evangelist, pastor preached an old time Gospel message of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When the altar call was given John was to be found at the altar weeping his way through to forgiveness of sins and new life in the Jesus. It was from this point on that life began to really change for us.
Eight months after John's salvation experience we left our welding business and headed off to Bible School. It became very evident quite quickly that God's purposes for John and Carol was full time ministry. Up to the present they have been involved in pastoral work, Bible Camps, Bible School, Christian Radio, Internet ministry and short term missions. Their missions evolvements have taken them India, Switzerland, Romania and Poland.
2002 through 2007 was a "time out" from public, professional ministry and saw them involved daily in Market Place Evangelism as they owned and operated a small bakery cafe. Here they found themselves living the Gospel more than preaching it. It was during this time that the Lord reconfirmed and re-established His call upon their lives to reach the lost with the Good News of God's love and forgiveness through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. With this refreshing came a deep desire to take the Gospel message to areas of the world where the "New Covenant" message of salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ has not had the same freedom as in North America.
Along with the desire to see souls saved both John and Carol have a passion to see the redeemed of the Lord fully embrace, enter into and experience the New Life in Christ (the New Covenant Promised Land) that Jesus purchased with His precious blood. Their deep desire is that not one drop of Jesus blood would have been shed in vain on behalf of this generation and that people will fully experience and enjoy the blessing of the Lord that much rich and add no sorrow.
They believe that at present, in North American, and more specifically Canadian Christianity in general is not experiencing anything close to God's best and that we need a very powerful move of God's Holy Spirit to bring a Revival of deep repentance and true Holy Spirit holiness. God's truth endures to every generation and as a result of this they firmly believe revival to be the continuous heart beat of Christ today.
More In Depth History
Personal experiences in life can be questioned by others but never denied by yourself. They are real to you and corporately formulate your personal life history. For us deny your experiences would be telling a lie. We'd like to take just a few minutes of your time to share with you our individual life experiences as hey relate to our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Carol's life history in short form:
Your time is a valuable commodity so I'm purposing to be brief yet still cover what I feel are the important points. Though for the first nine years of my live I lived with an alcoholic father, both my parents came from a Christian background. My dad's family came from a long line of Mennonites and so I was raised conscious of fact that family was important. The years following my dad's abstinence from alcohol were great. My mother has always loved and protected me and saw to it that I went to Sunday school from a very early age. This strongly contributed to my salvation experience at the age of five. Some would question this, however, I can still clearly recall the first time I asked Jesus to come into my life. From that day on I have never denied my faith in Christ, not that I have always lived a spiritually devoted life.
During my mid to late teen years I'm sure no one would have known I was a Christian! The intimacy of my relationship with Jesus had grown cold. It was in this state that I met, fell in love with and married my husband, John. It was a story book romance! We fell in love and to this day our love is as alive as ever.
My journey back into an intimate and personal relationship with the Lord started with the birth of our first child. It didn't go well and was serious. They gave us no hope that our son would be normal. Next two years saw me stepping ever closer to the Lord. I started listing to Christian radio broad casting, reading my Bible, praying and eventually going to church.
One of the major factors that influenced my turning back to God was the concern I had regarding John's (my husband) none Christian influence upon our new family. Though John always treated me with love I could see trouble coming. I was greatly concerned. This concern brought me to earnest prayer for John's salvation. I knew I had do wrong by not marrying a Christian. My very godly grandmother had tried to warn me of this but I just wasn't hearing it. I loved this man and wanted to marry him and did. What could I do now? I could now see from God's word that I had not done the right, but how could I correct this? I went to the Lord with this and in all sincerity repented of my personal disobedience, asking forgiveness and pleaded with Him for John's salvation.
When our first child (Luke) was two years old I wanted to have him dedicated to Lord. John was not opposed to this. Shortly after this John accompanied me to a Sunday evening church service. The message preached that night was clear regarding peoples need of a Savior and that Jesus had come to save people from the penalty of their sins. When the preacher gave the opportunity for people to respond to the message John went forward and their received Jesus Christ as His personal Savior. What some had that was an impossibly had happened, my husband had repented of his sins and had personally accepted Jesus as His Lord and Savior. From here on things would change for us, and they did.
John's salvation experience was quite dramatic and resulted in some immediate changes. He was strongly committed to following the Lord and as a result wanted to learn as much as He could about His Savior as soon as he could. Six months latter we had left our welding business and were off to Bible College. This marked a change in life's direction for us which resulted in us pursuing full time Christian ministry which over the years has led us to various placing in different accepts of Gospel work.
I would like to say in all honesty that life for us as a family has not been without it's trials but I can also say that over the years God has always proven Himself to be absolutely faithful to His Word. I have experienced many changes in my own life over the years as the power of God continues to transform my life, making it more like Jesus. With all honest I must say that I am grateful for God's love and personal care of me and my family. He's an awesome God, worthy to be loved and served with all my heart. Thank you for time and God bless you.
John's life history in short form:
Well, some of Carol's story tells some of mine but I'll tell you mine life history from my perspective. To start with I want to say that my sole purpose in telling you my story is so you can hear the truth about God's saving power in the life of one sinner. Unlike Carol I was not raised in a family situation with any Christian influence! As I look back on my life as a child I think the most accurate way to describe it would be dysfunctional. I was sociably acceptable but I was definitely dysfunctional.
I had grown up in a argumentive home environment. Both my parents loved me, I'm sure, but these people had both been involved in the II World War which I believe left them scared people. I grew up fighting and unbeknown to me there was a raging war going on deep within me. I simply couldn't understand life, what it was about or where it was I was going. I was successful at what I purposed but was always frustrated and angry. I lived with a strange internal intensity that I was unable identify.
The best human thing that has ever happened to me occurred when I met Carol. She just seemed to bring something with her into my life. I loved her then and I love now! The best unhuman and supernatural thing to ever happen in my life occurred the night I repented of my sins and received Jesus as my personal Savior. That's the night peace came into my life. That's the night when everything seemed to finally make some sense to me. That's the night I got purpose, meaning and direction for life. Maybe I'll just share with you the events that lead up to this incredible life changing experience.
After we had our first child and we had started our own welding business I found that even though all was well in the family and the business was a success, I was doing what I wanted in life but still there was this deep restlessness, frustration and eruptions of anger. Inside I still wasn't happy, I still lacked purpose and direction and I had no idea what my problem was. I needed God but didn't know it, then suddenly God brought something into my life that arrested my soul. One early morning as I enter my welding shop I heard these words, and at the time they were audible, "This day I could require your soul of you"! I mention this for no other reason than, this is the way it happened! It's my personal experience! I can't deny it! To do so would be lying to you! This voice arrested me. I wasn't afraid to die but what I was afraid of was, my plans for my son to take over the business wouldn't be realized. There wouldn't enough time. This really got me thinking and searching for the truth. Was Carol's God of the Bible real? I was self made! I had fought my way through life and I needed no one! But what was behind these word's? Whose voice had spoken so authoritatively and clear? I needed to to know! I needed to find out the truth! My search started!
It was during this time that Carol had been in prayer for me and that she had wanted our son, Luke dedicated. I had never opposed Carol's religious beliefs but strangely had encouraged her to live what she believed. She was wanting to dedicate Luke to God and asked if I would come to church with her for this. I loved her and did not want to hurt her in any way and if this is what she wanted to do that was fine by be. I could see any harm in it because I was an unbeliever anyway!
It was the evening following the dedication service that found me were a few weeks ago a team of horsed would never have dragged me. You the fellow preaching was the same minister that I had run off our property when he had come to share Christ with me. At the time I wasn't interested in his God. Now it different! I was wanting to find the truth! I was wanting to find whop it was who had spoken into my heart that morning in the shop. The Gospel, the good news, that there was forgiveness of sins for me through the Lord Jesus Christ was preached that night. I clearly understood that I was a sinner in need of being saved and that Jesus had died on the cross to pay the ransom for my sin sick soul. When the preaching gave the opportunity to come to Christ I responded immediately. It seemed to me that I ran to that place of prayer. There I confessed to God that I was sinner, that I offended Him, and that I believed Jesus died for me. As I was in deep repentance, the tears flowing as I wept because of the many things I had done in offense to God, as suddenly as I heard the voice of God in my welding shop that morning I now was free! It seemed as though a great load was lifted off my soul and I was now experiencing such incredible peace.
I was "Born Again" that night, February, 1975. From that moment changes started taking place in my life, some immediate some over time. This I know as do those who knew me before, I'm a change person! I must tell you that the changes all of which are good have happened through the grace, love and power of God. I'm thankful for the events of that night. I'm thankful Jesus died for and that He was willing to forgive and receive me into His eternal kingdom.
I want to conclude by saying to you that Jesus works for me. Life has not been all an easy road for us since turning my life fully over to the Lord. But God is faithful to His Word. Never has He ever let us down! Never has He ever failed us! God is who He says He is in the Bible and does all He says He will do.
The Purpose of this Web Site:
Our is two fold. First tit's for the purpose of exposing the truth of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ to unsaved people. We consider it an E-tract, where unsaved people can discover the love of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, it's to provide basic Bible teaching to help disciple New Believers sharing with them God's vision for them is today and how His purposes can become a personal living reality today through experiencing the New Covenant life Jesus' purposes for all His people. We are purposing to expose the awesome heart of God through His Word, believing that as we gaze on His heart we will be moved by the Holy Spirit to a deeper more intimate relationship with Christ. When Jesus returns we want to found among a multitude of "first love" Believers. It can be so! God wants it for you and He'll do it for you if you'll let Him!
Both Carol and I deeply desire for you to be encouraged, inspired and spiritually challenged to go for the gold in "your race of a life time". Our prayer is that you will find Jesus in a fresh new way, in a life changing way through what you discover of God's heart on the New Life Realities Web Site. God bless you richly as you purpose to keep the Lord Jesus Christ at the center of all your thoughts and actions and serve Him in love obedience, full surrender and joyful submission.
John & Carol Wassell
Jan 2008
