consistent testimony

My parents gifted me this Japanese sword inscribed with II Timothy 4:7 when I earned my first martial arts black belt in 1994. It still hangs on my wall below that very first black belt certificate.

Greetings, beloved brethren. No matter who is President of the United States, Jesus Christ remains the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Back on January 6th, Eric and I, along with two brothers from his local church, had the great privilege of preaching Christ crucified and calling our country to repentance on the grounds of the United States Capitol. The FBI has yet to knock on my door, and I welcome them to do so. Many heard the Gospel that day. In case you missed it, here are a few sights and sounds from January 6, 2021: THE PEOPLE’S HOUSE

Way back on October 22, 1994, I earned, my God’s grace, my very first martial arts black belt. After passing that very rigorous test, my parents gifted me a Japanese katana (i.e. long sword) that I cherish to this day. In fact, it hangs on the FPGM office wall just below that original black belt certificate. That sword is special because of why it was given to me. I train and teach martial arts to this day, and I have been blessed to see my own daughter achieve that same honor. However, the value of this sword goes beyond why it was given to what is inscribed for me on its blade:

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:7).

These three simple phrases very appropriately sum up the entire 30+ year missions ministry of the greatest New Testament missionary who ever lived. Two verses earlier, another passage very precious to me, the Apostle Paul exhorted Timothy to “make full proof of thy ministry.” Had Timothy questioned within himself what this was to look like, he need not have looked far. For the answer is the end of his own teacher’s testimony. Paul had fought a good fight; he had finished what God had call him to do; and through it all, he had consistently kept the faith once delivered to the saints. In other words, he had made full proof of his ministry and now urged Timothy to do the same. I believe the essence of “making full proof” is a CONSISTENT TESTIMONY that endures to the end.

A consistent testimony over many years of ministry isn’t stagnant. It certainly grows in the grace and knowledge of the LORD Jesus Christ and is taught more perfectly of God, but what makes it consistent is that it does not waver: not with the culture, not with circumstance, and certainly not with the political winds of change. The Apostle Paul never wavered. He grew in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ; he was taught of the LORD; he learned from his mistakes . . . but his preaching and his testimony never wavered. From the days in Damascus immediately following his conversion when “straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20) to his two years of house arrest in Rome when even some of Caesar’s household came to Christ (Philippians 4:22) and perhaps even as far as Spain, Gaul, and the public square of ancient London following that first Roman imprisonment and before he penned his last words to Timothy, his testimony of preaching “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21) was CONSISTENT. This, my friends, is the strongest mark of a good fight, a finished course, and a faith that endures to the end.

Since the day that sword was given to me and my attention was drawn to the words inscribed upon its blade, I have desired that consistent testimony, not in my martial arts training, but in my labor and ministry for the LORD Jesus Christ. For He had called me to the Gospel ministry not long before that black belt test.

A little while back, I transcribed some old footage from a VHS tape into digital files. It was footage of the very first times I ever preached God’s Word from behind a pulpit—four sermon assignments for an exegetical preaching class at Liberty University. As I preached, the professor made comments in my ear and evaluated my exegetical handling of the Word. Dr. Paul Fink was a seasoned saint and very sound in his doctrine and his preaching. I follow some of his preaching advice to this day. He has since gone to be with the LORD. Anyway, when I watched this old footage, there was plenty for which I am now embarrassed. However, I did find great comfort as I listened: all these many years later, whether on a street corner or from behind a pulpit in a local church, the message has not changed. I still preach the same Gospel, the same Lord, the same Messiah, the same faith, the same baptism. Make no mistake, I have made many mistakes, and I have grown much in the grace and admonition of the LORD and sound doctrine since those days of rocking back and forth (something Dr. Fink stayed on me about) in an oversized suit. At times, I have even come under the chastisement of my Heavenly Father (Hebrews 12:7-8) for my own foolishness. But, the message I preach, even this past year on street corners all around America, hasn’t changed. The testimony, by God’s grace, has been consistent. If you want a good laugh, here is one of those preaching class sermons taken from I John 4:1. I know, I know . . . I swayed back and forth a lot; I did weird things with my hands; and that suit jacket is a few sizes too large (I think it was a hand-me-down from my younger brother). But, would I not exhort with the same message even today?

Let me encourage you, dear brethren, to maintain a consistent testimony that doesn’t waver or change because of covid-19, tyrannical government, free-speech restrictions, unconstitutional lockdowns, or even persecution. When our time is finally up, let us be able to say as is inscribed on my old Japanese katana:

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:7).

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Two convictions that have remained consistent for the entire life of Full Proof Gospel Ministries are that the free distribution of Bibles and Gospel tracts (the F strategy in FPGM) and the public proclamation of the Gospel (the P strategy in FPGM) are God-honored and time-honored Great Commission strategies that go back to the very beginnings of the New Testament Church and have had a consistent witness throughout church history. Open-air preaching and mass distribution of Gospel tracts and copies of the Word of God in a language people can understand have always been a primary part of what we do in ministry, be it for Jew or Gentile, be it at home or abroad, be it in accordance with or in opposition to manmade laws. This has been our consistent testimony.

Street preaching WORKS. Gospel tracts WORK. And, I’d like to share with you two recent illustrations that further demonstrate this to be true. Just the other day, I received an envelope in the mail. Inside was the back cover of a Gospel tract that I liked to hand out on my bicycle journeys across America. I would stamp these tracts with contact information about the ministry. Here’s the thing though: I ran out of these tracts long ago, and I haven’t used that stamp in years because the tracts we use nowadays have the relevant information printed directly on them. So, I am not exactly sure where this person found this tract or who gave it to them. On the inside fly of the back cover, someone asked for prayer and to receive a Bible and some additional Bible study material. I don’t know this individual, and I am baffled because, as mentioned, I haven’t used that tract in a long, long time. I quickly put together a package containing a nice Bible, some great books I like to share, and a few additional Gospel tracts. Please pray that the LORD uses this to bring a searching soul to Him in genuine faith. Gospel tracts work, my friends, even when you simply leave them somewhere for someone to find. And, the fruit of a tract can be born many years after it is sown. Unlike you and me, a Gospel tract is content to sit quietly for as long as it takes, patiently waiting for an attentive ear.

Back on November 20, 2004, just after I had finished my coast-to-coast bicycle ride and as Jamie, Bethany, and I were making the long drive home, the LORD taught me a valuable lesson about Gospel tracts. We had stopped in downtown Boise, Idaho to do a little street fishing, and here is what I wrote about it:

The day concluded as we saturated the state capitol building with Gospel tracts. It was here that an interesting thing happened. Just the day before, Jamie and I had been questioning the efficacy of tract saturation. Lately, we had found several of these in garbage cans shortly after we had laid them out. As a result, a little depression reared its ugly head. Lord, are we just wasting our time here? At the Idaho State Capitol, He gave us His answer. Out in front of the edifice is a large copper bell mounted on a platform. I went over and laid a Gospel tract right under the bell, thinking that it would be found by someone mischievously trying to ring it. I walked away wondering if it would probably end up in the garbage or trampled in a gutter. From there, I went into the capitol building and put out a few more tracts. When I came back out to meet Jamie and Bethany down on the sidewalk, we immediately saw that two young men had noticed the Gospel tract under the bell. Instead of disdain, we detected excitement. These two were apparently out working on a film project for school, so they were lugging around a video camera. Before we knew it, they were filming each other holding the tract, and one of them finally stuck it into his back pocket. I started to approach but then refrained. The Word of the Lord had done its work. Why should I add or take away anything from it?

God taught us an important lesson about the printed WORD in downtown Boise many years ago. All Gospel tracts don’t end up in the garbage can.

Not just Gospel tracts, but STREET PREACHING WORKS. In fact, those aren’t my words, they are the words of a young man who shared his testimony just before he was baptized outside on December 27th in a large jacuzzi tub by our local church. You see, our local church never closed down. We never stopped meeting for prayer and worship, neither did we depart in any way, shape, or form from our normal practices of assembly. There were never any masks on Sundays or “social distancing” (whatever that is). Moreover, we continued with our practice of local evangelism. According to the constitution of the state of North Carolina, the government has no jurisdiction or authority in matters of religious conscience or worship, and we chose, in obedience to God rather than men (Acts 5:29, Hebrews 10:25), not to give them any jurisdiction or authority. Throughout all of 2020 and to this day, no one in our church fellowship has gotten sick beyond what rest and plenty of fluids were able to treat. The LORD is good and full of grace. Moreover, 2020 saw three families added to our fellowship and three new believers baptized. One of these, as mentioned, openly declared “Street preaching works” just before he was immersed. And this is what he meant . . . Back in April, just after Eric and I returned from our first 2020 road trip and while everything was closed down, we were convicted of the LORD to start regularly preaching at a local street corner against all the fear pornography and to call our town to repentance and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At that time, I was using a sign that read: “America is an Insane Asylum Run by the Inmates.” A local church that had been supporting our ministry for years got upset about our preaching during the Covid lockdowns and about that sign (even though it was a direct quote from a famous Baptist preacher who died way back in 1982). But, the SAME DAY that pastor unilaterally cut off the missions support via an email and without even the decency of a conversation, we were approached by a young woman while preaching. She was convicted as she sat at the red light, so much so that she pulled into a nearby fuel station with her two small children, got us some Gatorades, and them came over to speak with us for a few minutes. Long story short, she went home to her husband and got blunt with him about getting the family into a Bible-believing church. Not long thereafter, he got right with the LORD, and they joined our church. On December 27th, he was baptized, and in tears, he exclaimed “street preaching works,” crediting our being out there that particular day (the same day a local Baptist pastor got so mad about what we were doing) as the means God used to bring spiritual healing to his family. A couple weeks later, we met another young man while out preaching in Hickory. He was a new believer out on his own distributing Gospel tracts. Since, he and his fiancé have also joined our church fellowship, and she, too, was recently baptized. They are getting married very soon.

Baptizing a brother who testified: “Street Preaching Works” (12/27/2020)

As Paul the Apostle said, “I write not these things to shame you” (I Corinthians 4:14). Truly, I don’t my friends. I write them to encourage and to edify you in your faith. Anyone, can be used of the LORD to share a word in public or to give out a Gospel tract. And these things work; they do redound unto the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

This really does sum up 2020!

In recent weeks, as we have been seeking the LORD concerning His will for FPGM in 2021, it has been discouraging to see Peru, Colombia, and Israel lock back down again. We had to cancel our plans for a trip to Israel in February. Moreover, I have learned that Israelis aren’t yet back to traveling the Hummus Trails in South Asia or South America. Nepal is completely open, but there are no Israeli backpackers. Brother Bishnu told me that the only reminder of Covid-19 is the ghost town that is Thamel, the tourist hangout in Kathmandu. Lakeside in Pokhara, very popular with the Israelis, is also dead. As for the Nepalis, he said: “We don’t care about Covid anymore. We are tired of it and have other more important things to concern ourselves about.” I chuckle at this but am also bummed because there remains no sensible reason to go back to South Asia right now to reach Israeli backpackers when there are no Israeli backpackers there to reach, the same for Peru and Colombia. Please pray with us that God will eventually open back up these doors.

Notwithstanding, the LORD has reminded me of a precious promise as we have been seeking his will for us now:

“For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister” (Hebrews 6:10).

Like Israel in the desert, we often forget God’s work in our lives: His provisions, His supplies, His blessings, His comforts. And, when something goes wrong, we start murmuring, not even pausing to remember how the Lord has delivered us in times past. That is sad, and I am as guilty as the next man. But, the LORD is not like that. He is not unrighteous. He does not forget our labors and works for Him, even those for which we have no cogent memory many years later. God is faithful to remember our service for Him, and in that is great comfort.

This verse from Hebrews recently drove me to start combing through the FPGM vaults, reading old emails I used to send out to a small group of ministry prayer supporters. I have saved all of those, beginning in 2003 and going all the way up through 2011 when I then transitioned to online newsletters. It has been amazing to read about witnessing encounters, divine appointments, God’s provisions, and even the salvation of souls that I had completely forgotten. Concerning some of them, I have no memory apart from the words I wrote down long ago. It has been amazing to pour over old journal entries where I found myself in similar places of frustration as I do in 2021, only to see the LORD intervene and direct our paths beyond what we could have ever imagined. God doesn’t forget any of this. Are you struggling with whether or not you are useful to God’s Kingdom right now in these crazy times? Rest, my brethren. The LORD hasn’t forgotten one iota of your service to Him in times past. He remembers things you have long ago forgotten. Let that encourage you to seek Him now.

“Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old . . . What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose” (Psalm 26:6,12).

I had forgotten about this time I spent with Joe Left-Handed Bull on the streets of Santa Fe, New Mexico back in 2003. He listened to my preaching and was very open to the Gospel. He took a Bible, and I was able to buy him a bus ticket to Denver, Colorado. He was actually from the same reservation in South Dakota where I had preached a few weeks prior. I forgot about this, but the LORD never did.

Such things have led me to start converting some of these old email testimonies into posts for our ministry website as we paint a colorful picture of nineteen years of consistent testimony. I have divided up our testimonies by year as I tried to pick one image that summed up each year of service, going all the way back to 2003. Pretty much everything is up from 2011-2021, and there are a few entries for each year prior. I am slowing working to put up all my written testimony for those years. I encourage you to browse some of these. For some of you, these were things you specifically prayed for us about. God hasn’t forgotten that either. For others, I trust these stories will strengthen your faith in these trying times. Simply visit this new page, and choose a year:

Here are a couple of specific testimonies you might also find interesting, testimonies of:

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miraculous provision

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souls saved

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I have been doing some other needed update work to our website, and it has been a blessing to have time for that. Check out the updated HOMEPAGE by scrolling down, lots of great links on there. I also encourage you to check out some of the open-air sermons that have been uploaded to our Street Sermons Podcast on iTunes. You can SUBSCRIBE HERE. I have always believed that open-air preaching works and that it can and should be exegetical preaching, not simply ranting and raving. Here is a classic from some years ago that I recently uploaded. It really is relevant to the times in which we are now living in America. I remember using some of my grandfather’s old handwritten sermon notes when I preached this message in downtown Charlotte.

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Last weekend, it was a blessing to be a part of Eric Trent’s formal ordination to the Gospel ministry by his local church. I sat on the ordination council with some solid men of God and was able to share a few words at the service. I meant every word when I said: “I have watched Eric grow from a boy into a man; I have seen in him the student become my teacher. I would gladly stand anywhere beside him, preach anywhere with him, and, if necessary, die anywhere alongside him for the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ.” Please pray for Eric and Mindy. Their baby is due in just a little over a month. Like us, they too are seeking the LORD about where and how to get back on the field after that little one is born.

An Ordination for Eric Trent at New Testament Christian Fellowship in Conover, NC

We have been seeking the LORD, my friends, about what the coming months will for hold this ministry, but make no mistake, WE HAVE NOT BEEN IDLE. Just as street preaching and Gospel tracts have been consistent strategies for us these past 19 years, so has New Testament SIMPLICITY in the spirit of Paul’s exhortation to the believers at Corinth in II Corinthians 11:3:

"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

This winter, we have been going out for long hikes in the snow on the Appalachian Trail to place Bibles and Gospel materials in remote trail shelters where they are sure to be found by winter backpackers with plenty of time on their hands. Around here, it is popular to hike in the snow out to an AT shelter for a night or two. This is a simple thing, but one which we believe can bear fruit.

Overmountain AT Shelter, Roan Mountain Area

Cherry Gap AT Shelter, Unaka Area

This day, Bethany and I trudged 21 miles in the snow, from Carvers Gap to Hwy 19E, and stocked two AT shelters.

We have also been doing some local street preaching, calling our town to repentance. Pray for Eric and I as we will be traveling to Texas in a little over a week to join a college campus preaching circuit with a handful of good brothers. We will have our cross with an English and a Hebrew message inscribed thereupon, and we will have our eyes open for encounters with lost sheep from the House of Israel. It will be good to be back out on some college campuses.

Now, I have said several times in this update that I have been seeking the LORD. What I haven’t yet said is that He has showed me clearly what He wants me to do. Years ago, when I was riding the bicycle across America, He planted the seed in my heart while making it clear that I would know one day in the future when the time was right. I forgot about that seed until just a few weeks ago when I was reading through some old journals. The time IS right, and He has made it clear through His Word, my prayers, sound counsel, the unwavering support of my family, and outward circumstances that it is time to obey. I’ll be putting feet to that obedience (quite literally actually) come Monday morning. After I get back from Texas, it will be full on. I am going to need your prayers. In missions ministry, I have only ever wanted to be obedient. As Eric awaits the birth of his child and for doors to open back up in South America for him and his family, he is going to come alongside me in this journey. That will actually prove a huge blessing. Also, my daughter Bethany has made it clear that there is no way she is letting her daddy do this by himself. At this point, I will say no more. But, stay tuned. I really am past the point of being talked out of something. I simply covet your prayers and support. There will be needs . . . but God never guides where He does not provide. Those old journals I have been perusing have echoed that very, very plainly.

I promise to keep maintaining that consistent testimony, and I pray you will strive to do the same. May we one day be able to all together say with that great cloud of witnesses:

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:7).

Come, Lord Jesus!

Jesse Boyd