June 2009

 

How Jesus Without The Junk Began…

  

What you are about to read is the condensed version of how this ministry came into being.  For years, I have been passionate about many things.  When I finally turned my life over to Jesus Christ, I became passionate about Him….very passionate.  I had no idea He was really real until 1996, when He appeared to me for the first time. 

 

I started, by trial and error I might add, learning to walk with Christ while still being a part of the world in which I lived.  It was hard and still is, but I can say it is worth the price you have to pay.  When I came to know that Christ was real, all I wanted to do was work for Him, but I did not know exactly how to do this.  I wanted to be just like Billy Graham.  I would find myself up in the middle of the night preaching in my room to crowds of people.  I loved the Gospel.  I ate it, drank it and couldn’t get enough of it.

 

Three years ago, in 2006, the Holy Spirit spoke to me in the shower and said, “ I want you to teach My children what I have taught you in a simple and clear way.  Meet every week and charge $1.00 to everyone who comes.”  So the meetings started.  I was obedient and did as instructed by the Holy Spirit.

 

About a year and a half later, someone gave a $10,000.00 gift to this ministry.  I was shocked.  I held the check for several weeks because I didn’t know what the Lord wanted me to do.  He was very clear that this would begin the ministry today known as Jesus Without The Junk.  I opened our first account and immediately tithed into another’s ministry, as led by the Holy Spirit. In the Kingdom of God if you have proven faithful with a little, the Lord will give you more.  The key is that you have to be proven faithful until the Lord says it is time for promotion.  The rule of thumb is if you can be faithful with a penny, He will give you a dime, etc.

 

In this short three-year period, JWTJ has accomplished what God has called us to do.  Things have taken shape and developed gradually through the result of much prayer, fasting, tithing and offerings.  We did not have a model to follow. God wanted this ministry to be unique in its ability to reach others who are suffering. I want to recap some of the things we did as a ministry in 2008.  We had our first invitation to speak outside of the United States.  Through prayer and fasting, it was revealed that our efforts, at present, would be concentrated here in the U.S. 

  

We started filming “Another View.”  (Click here for more information.)  I wrote radio quips that were broadcast on a daily basis for several months.  We designed a campaign and advertised on “My Space.”  Star News of Wilmington printed an article about this ministry.

 

We stepped out in faith and designed T-shirts, bags and baby items, donating 50% of the profits to The Domestic Violence Shelter of Wilmington.   

 

We tithed and offered, as a ministry, to various worldwide ministries as the Lord led.  Where you sow your money is critical to the harvest that you reap, so we are careful to only sow where the Holy Spirit guides us.   

 

Book bags and school supplies were provided to the underprivileged before the start of the school year. 

 

We had a Christmas and Thanksgiving outreach to provide for the needy. We gave to the Salvation Army and The Yaweh Center. We sowed funds so an orphan could attend school.                      

                           

We are in great times of unrest and there are many that God has prepared “for such a time as this.”  Ministry work is not easy.  I don’t want you to think that seeing what I do or other public figures do is a piece of cake because it isn’t and it is high time someone says that.  This is not a game to God. If you are called it will take guts, tenacity and strength but the lives you will touch with the Gospel will make it all worth the price you have to pay.

Molly Painter