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Issue link: http://magazine.kcm.org/i/1533032
a club with friends. It was fun to relax and have a good time. He'd been dancing when he noticed something out the window. The club, fi lled with African Americans, came to a stop. Outside, the club had been surrounded by members of the Ku Klux Klan—ghostly fi gures all draped in white. "I was shocked to see the KKK in the 1990s," Jay recalls. "I wondered what that was about. No violence broke out. I suspected that the group wasn't local, but rather they were racists from out of state." Answering the Call Jay was 22 when he fi rst heard God's voice, telling him that he was going to preach My Word. In 1995, after being discharged from the Marines, he moved to Defi ance, Ohio, where he went to work for General Motors. "The fi rst day on the job, I met a lady named Michelle," Jay said. "We became friends and later started dating. Her family was as di erent from mine as it could be. She came from a very loving family. I was raised with an alcoholic stepfather who abused my mother. I tended to be distrusting, while she was trusting. She'd been raised in a denominational church but had never learned about having a personal relationship with Jesus. I'd been exposed to that teaching my whole life but had resisted it." In 1996, Michelle attended church service with Jay's mother, where she gave her life to Jesus. That same day, while at home alone, Jay made the same decision. "Over the next six months, we developed a deep hunger for God," Jay remembers. "We willingly gave up anything we thought would displease Him." One day, Jay went to visit Michelle at work. When he arrived, Michelle was talking to an older gentleman about the Lord. The man had great wisdom, Jay recalled. Soon, he became their spiritual father. "He introduced us to Vision Christian Bible College, which we attended. We studied the Word, and it was eye-opening. The Bible talked about things we'd never heard; like the gifts of the Spirit, speaking in tongues and being led by the Spirit. Connecting With KCM "About that time, we started watching Kenneth Copeland on TV," Jay says. "The truth is, I didn't know what he was talking about. He was preaching things I'd never heard before, yet something kept pulling me back to him. Week after week, I watched and took notes. It took a while, but one day a light bulb seemed to come on inside me and I began to understand. "Whenever the Copelands held a meeting in Southfi eld, Mich., Michelle and I attended. If Brother Copeland preached in Toledo, we went. When he held the Detroit Victory Campaign, we were there. We bought all their books and devoured them. "For years, I thought that when the Bible taught about being unequally yoked, it meant people of di erent races couldn't marry. But Kenneth showed us that it referred to a Christian marrying a nonbeliever. "I proposed to Michelle, and she accepted. We had no idea of the persecution we were about to encounter." Taking a Stand One day, Jay went for a visit and noticed Michelle talking on the phone. She was crying. "Who are you talking to?" he asked. "No matter how I felt, I had to renew my mind and emotions to God's Word. I couldn't hold a grudge. I couldn't be offended or retaliate in any way." 2 2 : B V O V