As a youth, I wanted to enjoy the GOOD LIFE, so I sought the counsel of those who I thought were having a good time, and I was given the advice to just give my flesh whatever it wants. As King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 2:1 “I SAID in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity”- King James Version; I went about trying to satisfy every lust of the flesh as a way to find fulfillment. This, however, created more confusion, emptiness and bondage in my life. This was my first clue that there has to be more in this life than living for self.

In 1989, one of my close friends passed away. This friend was sold out like me, to the pursuit of worldly pleasures. He never asked Christ into his life. As I discussed our dead friend’s eternal fate with another friend who was Born-Again, I was led to understand that our late friend would not be going to heaven. This realization was intensified by the fact that our late friend practiced occult.  I also realized that my good deeds do not qualify me for Heaven. Out of the fear of losing my soul and going to hell, I asked Jesus into my life, and with this came an indescribable peace. After this experience, I started attending church- actually several churches, yet the questions I had about THE TRUE NATURE OF GOD were not fully answered. I started backsliding into my former lifestyle, but this time it was different, because I continued to seek answers through Christian literature, television, and radio. The frustration of not understanding the Goodness of God led to my having thoughts of suicide.

One day I was drinking heavily, getting ready to end my miserable life, when Dr. I. V. Hilliard said something on secular television that got me out of my pity-party. He said that God is not responsible for the bad things that happen to us; that life is choice-driven; it is the will of God to prosper everybody; the reason some people do not experience this truth is because of their wrong choices, not God’s doing. He went ahead to give a brief testimony of how he was raised in the ghetto, but did not accept to be poor. He maintained a mindset of excellence and success in everything he did, and this resulted in his numerous accomplishments. This was the first time that I started to understand the GRACE OF GOD! This message completely liberated me from the religion and traditions that weighed me down. For several years I received a lot spiritually from Dr. Hilliard’s church, including an opportunity to serve as a Personal and Jail Minister. I also attended his bible college. In my heart I knew that the totality of the meaning of God’s Grace is not in our doings. I experienced immense improvement in my finances, but still felt that my puzzle was not completely solved, so I continued to search in the Scriptures and Christian broadcasting networks.

One day as I was driving and listening to Christian radio, I heard a message that blew my mind. It was a message by Andrew Wommack that said “GOD DOES NOT RELATE WITH US BASED ON OUR PERFORMANCE”. He supported this message with several scriptures to prove its underlying truth. I then became a regular listener to his radio broadcasts. I took the correspondence course at Andrew’s Bible College and later moved to Colorado Springs to complete the graduation courses. As I followed the principles I was learning, I started to see instant manifestations of the power of God in the form of healing and breaking of bondage.

At the beginning, I explained how as a child I hated to see people being treated unjustly. Now I know that the Goodness and Blessings of God is available to all as a gift from God, summed up in our Lord Jesus. All we have to do to receive is to believe in this provision. The idea behind this story, is to share the Joy of the Lord, and to announce to all that this ministry is dedicated to setting the captives free. The sick, the poor, the broken-hearted, those that are hungry for the absolute truth in the word of God, are all welcome to receive the Good News and be released from their bondages, arising from traditions of men and the perversion of God’s Truth. Welcome to the Ministry of peace, hope, healing, deliverance, and freedom. Welcome to THE TRUE GOSPEL CHRISTIAN CENTER CHURCH.