Testimony of Dan Frantz
Forgiven Ministry Volunteer

How did it all get started?
I was born in Pennsylvania and churched by my parents in three different church denominations, whatever was closest to our home. I learned at a young age that God controlled my life but I didn’t fully give Jesus credit for what He did for us on the cross.

In my teenage years, when I first started driving, at times I would end up in some tight situations. Many times I would call upon Jesus to ride with me as co-pilot and help me through whatever situation I was in. I remember when I was courting my wife it was necessary to cross over Tyrone mountain between where I was working and where she lived. One night while driving over this mountain there was a storm of freezing rain, which had left ice on the trees and the roads. The “ash crews”, that’s what we called the “slag” trucks in Pennsylvania, had not yet started spreading ash on the roads; therefore, they were treacherous. With Jesus beside me on my return trip, I slowly drove my car along the road until I was safely back to where I lived. The road curves in Pennsylvania are banked for higher speeds. On this particular night, the road was extremely slippery and the vehicles on the upper side of the curve had a tendency to slide across the road into the lower lane of traffic. With constant praying I was lead to keep my right wheels just off the pavement, about a three or four inch drop, just enough to keep the car on my side, or the upper side of the curve. When I arrived home, I got out of the car and praised the Lord for riding with me and carrying me home safely.

As time passed I became engaged, then married, and with jobs nearly non-existent in Pennsylvania, I ended up re-enlisting in the U.S. Army, taking my wife and one child wherever I was stationed. We both were young, she about 19 and myself about 21 years old. Early age marriages were common then. We were married two years before I re-entered the military. As a newly married military family, we had to become indoctrinated or accustomed to military life. This is just as common today as it was then. Living on military bases is different than living in the civilian ranks. Everything around your quarters had to be neat and in place; toys, water hoses, vehicles and the like. Your grass had to be cut and trimmed, outside lights turned off during the daytime, etc. Everyone was in the same situation, with lower ranked families living beside higher ranked families. We all lived at the same level, watching out for each other, working with each other, enjoying each other.

Church? Well, the military provides a chapel on every military base in the world, except in Muslim controlled countries. In those countries, church is provided at an inconspicuous area like the gymnasium or the movie theatre. We always had access to church on Sunday. My wife, Polly, taught Sunday School several years while we were stationed in Japan.

I can remember when I was in combat in Korea (1951-1952), assigned to the Seventh Infantry Division; we had church even while facing the enemy every Sunday. The Division Chaplain would hold service by placing a scarf on the hood of his jeep with candles and the cross. We would sit on the ground cuddling our rifles and ammunition in our arms, with our helmets beside us on the ground, while hearing the word from the Bible.

Twenty-four memorable years passed, and now with three children, I decided to retire and become a civilian again. Being from Pennsylvania, we remembered how chilly and cold the winter months and some summer months were in our earlier life. During the course of our military life, we had purchased property in Florida and hoped to settle there upon retirement. This we did. I had 90 days before my retirement date to secure a job and work in preparation for returning to the civilian economy. With God’s guidance and assistance, I retired on Wednesday and began working the following Monday with General Telephone of Florida as an equipment technician. We purchased our first home and settled down in the warm climate, enjoying sea breezes and easy living. Our neighbors were never as close to us as our military friends. It was quite an adjustment.

We continued our church life in several local churches and again the closeness and friendliness we had in the military was lacking. We attended three different churches, two different denominations, and if we should go on vacation for several weeks, no one paid attention if we were at church or not.

I worked at GTE of Florida for 20 years and was given a chance to retire when the company was having a manpower draw down. This, I took, and my wife just as quickly said Florida was too hot and humid for her now. Since we had purchased two acres of raw land in North Carolina, Polly asked if we would now sell our Florida home and rebuild our lives in North Carolina. This sounded logical so we sold, moved and built a new home in the country, 10 miles north of Hiddenite and 10 miles northeast of Taylorsville, close to peace and tranquility.

The neighbors turned out to be what we had missed while in the military. They were wonderful, loving, kind, understanding and accepted us into their world as one of them. As any one who has moved into this area knows, we were immediately asked what church we belonged to. Having attended several denominations in our past, the fact that my son and his family attended East Taylorsville Baptist Church played a part in our electing to attend there. What a wonderful choice that has been.

We soon learned we didn’t know Christ like we need to know Him. In previous churches, the norm for everyone was to go to church on Sunday, sit and listen to the sermon, or sleep, so my wife tells me, get up, leave, and do on Sunday what we normally did during the weeks after coming home from work. We would play, swim, and go to the beach, plant gardens, etc., never giving the Lord much thought once we stepped out the church door. At East Taylorsville Baptist Church we found ourselves fellowshipping after worship, sometimes staying half an hour or so just enjoying each other. We started attending Sunday School and learned that this is also a part of the worship. Wednesday nights found us loyally attending another service.

Soon we were asked to join the Senior Choir, even though neither of us had sung a lick previously. We found ourselves in a situation where we were learning about Jesus and asked Him into our lives to share every situation with Him. Prayerfully, and swiftly our lives changed from a good life to one that can’t be put into words. We joined the church for the first time in our lives and were baptized on Easter Sunday. We now praise the Lord daily for how He has provided for us in the past, what He does for us daily, and what He has promised to do in the future (take us home with Him some day).

We love our church, our church family, God’s Word and praying. Praying for us, church members, sinners, the unchurched, those that have yet come to know Jesus, everyone. Our lives were changed when we accepted Jesus into our lives fully and completely. We discovered real peace, real love, real companionship, and true comfort through the Lord.

Ten years ago we were about 60 years old. This is a testimony to everyone, no matter what your age. You, too, can accept Jesus into your life right now, this very day. If you do, you will find peace, comfort, and genuine love. Love, only the Lord can provide!

Polly & Dan Frantz