Sunday, May 18, 2025

My name is Craig Ledbetter. I was lost and without God for the first 17 years of my life. Then a woman named Maureen gave me and two friends a Gospel leaflet at a coffee shop late one Saturday evening. We made fun of her, and mocked her, and tried to shut her up, but with courage and compassion, she humbled us, and pierced my heart with the truth about hell and my need for Jesus Christ to intervene in my life and save my soul! She “dared” me to come to church the next morning. She said I was chicken to come out and hear the truth from God’s word! I took dares very seriously back then, and showed up at her church (Hilltop Baptist Church), and went looking for her to tell her, “See, I’m here, I’ve got guts!” She replied, “Sit down. You haven’t heard the preacher yet!”

Well, the man of God preached with such passion and clarity that I probably didn’t blink the entire hour he went from truth to truth from the word of God! 

Then came his invitation to repent and trust Jesus Christ as sufficient to pay for all my sin-account to God. I KNEW it was what I needed but I was not willing to be embarrassed, so I stayed in my seat. But the next week, I looked forward to hearing that Book preached again, and so I came again. Now people started asking me, “Are you saved? Are you a Christian?” I said, “Of course.” What I meant was, I am not a Muslim, or a Mormon. Well the same thing happened, only this time, I tried to follow his every word in the pages of the Bible, and checked if he was actually quoting the Bible or just ad-libbing. He was preaching straight from the Book I held in my hands! It was too true!

Well, seven weeks went by, and Sunday mornings, and then Sunday evenings I was going to this church with about 250 other people who were not like any other “Christians” I had ever met. They REALLY knew this Man named Jesus, and they talked like He was GOD! But all along, I feared the embarrassment of going forward and taking the pastor’s hand, and in effect admitting publicly that I was a sinner! So I kept back each time he pleaded for people to come and get born again!

Then, one Wednesday evening, I ventured out to that church to see what a Wednesday evening meeting was all about, and the pastor preached on "Tares among the Wheat." And there I was – exactly as he spoke – a faker! A fraud. A hoax. A sinner that was among the saints. And I was the fool!

And he said something that could never be forgotten, “Folks… Some of you are worried about what other people will think if you come forward and admit you are lost and on your way to hell! Well, I wouldn’t go to hell for anybody!”

That did it! He was right. And so, on Wednesday evening, the 15th June, 1980, a new name was written down in glory! And it was MINE! Oh yes it was mine!

Well, glory to God! Praise the name of the most high!