Ron Whitmire 

Bio:  Dot and I have 3 children - Richard, Jeremy, and Jenny, and 3 grandchildren - Amilyah, Skylar, and Zachary. I have been a member of FBC Fort Mill since 1991 and was a founding member of Tega Cay First Baptist during 1986-1991. This is my second term as a deacon at FBC Fort Mill.  I was also a deacon at Woodlawn Baptist in Charlotte and Tega Cay First Baptist. I served in the U.S. Air Force 4 years at N.O.R.A.D. Headquarters inside Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, CO, maintaining active air defense and space defense computer systems.  I have worked in the computer field for over 30 years, finishing my career at Hewlett-Packard’s Nonstop Division in Charlotte. I grew up in Marietta, SC, and graduated from North Greenville Jr. College and Clemson University.

Testimony:  I learned to play poker with my teenaged brother and his friends at about 7 years old.  I soon realized that gambling my 25-cents-per-week allowance away was wrong.  (That was a lot of money to me.  It would buy 5 comic books at the local store.)  I was sad and felt guilty when I lost the money Dad had lovingly given me.  God was working on me.  The local State Farm Insurance Agent was my Sunday school teacher, and he visited my home and talked about God and my need to become a Christian.  My grandmother prayed for my family and took us to church every Sunday.  God continued to reveal the sin in my life and I knew He wanted me to be saved.  Heaven was a place I wanted to go, Hell wasn’t.  God convicted my heart that I was an unsaved sinner and needed Christ in my life then and for the future.  One Sunday night after a sermon and prying my hands off the pew I almost ran down the aisle to get the free gift of eternal life.  I gave my life to God that day and accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.  I understood He paid the price for my sin because he loved me.  God’s retirement plan in heaven is “out of this world.”  That was about 55 years ago. 

I wanted to tell everyone what Jesus had done for me.  I was clean, really clean from sin and the guilt that goes with it.  A bath can clean the outside body but only God can clean the inside.  Only God can clean our heart and release our mind and body from the burden and guilt of sin.  I learned years later after reading the book Pilgrims Progress that Pilgrim had been carrying a heavy bag of sin everywhere he traveled.  Like Pilgrim, God forgave me and took that bag of sin from me. Jesus paid the price of my sin for me.  He died on the cross and rose again for me and for you.  Sin no longer had its hold on my life.  Its power hold was broken.  What a relief it is to be forgiven by a Holy God.  I was made clean through and through.  I understood as a 7-year-old but knew God had done something real and personal and wonderful in my life.  Thank You, Lord Jesus!  Only God’s love, grace and Jesus’ sacrifice could accomplish that first miracle in my life.