Pastor Luke Deschamp's Testimony
My parents were missionaries to Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada, for 26 years. My mother led me to the Lord at 4 years of age. I still remember kneeling over a “giant” laundry basket and asking the Lord to save me. I was baptized a couple of years later. Thank God for parents who love the Lord!
I served alongside my parents in the ministry from childhood, teaching children's classes since I was age 12. I also took part in plays and special music, soul-winning, and the nursing home ministry. Because we were in rented facilities for the entire 24 years I was in Canada, we had to set up our church every Sunday and then load it back into a trailer after the evening service and take it home. My parents had a tremendous work ethic, and they instilled that in their children. By God's grace, we saw 13,000 souls come to Christ during that time. I then moved to South Dakota and served in a church there for four years, teaching Sunday school, junior church, leading congregational singing, assisting in the nursing home ministry, and filling the pulpit in the pastor's absence. It was during this time that I met and married my wife, and we served together in South Dakota for a year. From there, the Lord led us to Florida for a brief period of two years before calling us to Arizona. While in Florida, we started a bus route, ushered, worked in children's church, were a part of the Mission's Committee, and taught Sunday School. We also had the privilege of traveling part-time with Amazing Grace Ministry, a soul-winning ministry at the fairs of America and several other countries. Between the fairs, our personal soul-winning, and bus route, in 2022, my wife and I were able to personally see 700 souls come to Christ, and many more thousands heard the Gospel!
Rebekah Deschamp's Testimony
Being raised in a Christian home by soul winning parents, I heard the gospel many times. But on Sunday, November 23, 1997, I settled the matter of my salvation during the invitation on Old-Fashioned Sunday at First Baptist Church of Hammond, IN. I was baptized at the end of that service.
There was never a time that I recall not wanting to serve the Lord in some capacity, and I attribute that to being raised in a consistent, godly, Christian home. I surrendered as a child to do whatever the Lord wanted me to do, and we served as a family in several places-Hammond, Indiana, Lakeview, Michigan, Rogers City, Michigan-and finally ended up in Alpena, Michigan, where my dad currently pastors. Because of growing up in the ministry, I have gotten to participate in many areas— from teaching Sunday school and children's church to singing in choir and special music to working in nursery, the nursing home ministry, and bus ministry to writing and performing plays and skits to being a camp counselor and janitor. I have also been a part of the radio ministry, fundraisers, parades, soul winning campaigns, and the Amazing Grace Fair Ministry. I have worked in the retail industry, secular daycare, Christian day camp, and cashiered at the local grocery store. I also have both a Bachelor of Science in Education and a Masters of Applied Education from Hyles-Anderson College. Using these degrees, I taught at Martinsburg Christian Academy in West Virginia for 3 years after graduation. After that, I was hired for three years to work as the HR secretary at FBC Hammond. This broadened my experience in several areas, including paperwork, procedures, security, and finance.