Dennis Mallory's Testimony

When I was born in the fall of 1950, I was told it was during a hurricane-type storm in the Northeast. I understand that there was a "blowdown" of hundreds of thousands of trees in the Adirondack Mountains of New York at the time... my mother even told me of how some of the windows in the hospital where I was born were broken. Little did I know how both the weather and the Adirondacks would affect my life in the future!

Since I was young, I wanted to have a small business of my own. I was a neighborhood paperboy, then went door-to-door with Fuller Brush products, and eventually got involved in stamp collecting and dealing. Dealing in antique post cards was an outgrowth of stamp dealing.

In 1983, after reading some magazines about the Adirondack Mountains, I purchased some land in Schroon Lake, NY. I chose this location because I was concerned about nuclear war and thought there would be no bombs there.

By 1985, I was ready to open a part-time weekend shop selling my post cards and tried four other locations before looking in Schroon Lake. It made sense since I already owned land there.

During that summer, I heard various opinions from people who visited my shop about Word of Life, a Christian ministry with headquarters in Schroon Lake. Many of the locals and campers seemed to indicate that all Word of Life people were crazy. However, the Word of Life people seemed friendly and caring to me. I was invited to visit the Word of Life Inn for a weekend to see for myself.

I decided to try the Thanksgiving weekend, but was disappointed in that it was mainly for families, and I am unmarried. Fortunately, I decided to try again for the singles weekend in January. During that weekend, I met someone who spoke to me about the Bible and how I should trust Jesus Christ as my personal savior.

[I had known about Jesus Christ for years. I was brought up in the Presbyterian church and went to church every Sunday with my family when I was young. What was it that this person knew that I didn't know? His life seemed so different; open and willing to talk to me about any questions that I might have. Why hadn't anyone ever told me the difference between knowing Christ in my head rather than in my heart?]

I felt that as he talked to me that Jesus Christ was talking through him. I remember him quoting Proverbs 3:5,6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight" He asked me if I would pray with him and accept Jesus as my personal Savior. But he wouldn't do the praying for me, I had to do that on my own! He would be there to listen to my prayer, but I had to be the one to pray to the Lord. A wonderful feeling came over me after that prayer was completed.

This particular weekend was remarkable not only for me, but also because of the weather. It snowed the whole time that I was at Word of Life. That's right, we had 28 inches of snow by the time that I left that Sunday. By the next day, there was 44 inches of snow from this storm in a nearby community! Truly I was both born and born again on dates in Adirondack weather history!

Since then, I spent some time in a Navigators Bible study program, have read the Bible several times, some commentaries, and numerous Christian books. The life of D.L. Moody and the schools that he founded have been of special interest to me. I was able to visit Northfield, MA, several times in 1988 and 1989 and was able to go through many of the items located in the Moody Museum there. In 1990, I felt that the Lord was leading me to take some Bible courses in the Chicago area, so I quit my job and drove to Wheaton, IL, in faith that I would be able to take evening courses and work while there. The Lord arranged everything, I was able to work at Moody Bible Institute and take an evening course at the same location. I was there for less than a year, but my time in Chicago and Wheaton truly increased my faith and trust in the Lord.

Wherever I have gone, I have found people who share common interests. I have enjoyed going to Bible studies. While my desire to have a small business still exists, I don't have the desire to get rich anymore-as when I was young- but only to be able to meet my living expenses.

The most exciting difference to me is that I know that I have eternal life and have inner peace knowing that I will go to heaven whenever I die. I no longer have to worry about nuclear war as that might only bring me to my Savior more quickly. It's great to be a Christian and hopefully more people will come to know Christ as their personal Savior through seeing how He works in my life.

Since this was written in 1991, I thought I should add an update here => Testimony update