Hello, my name is Pastor Darrell Stafford and with my wife Martha we Pastor New Life Church of Iuka, Mississippi. This is my Cross testimony of how Jesus has made a way for me all my life — a way to love and serve Him!
I grew up in Hayti, Missouri about 200 miles South of St. Louis. My dad was a chef and mom stayed home watching over seven children. I was number 3. We were not in church growing up. We lived in a rough neighborhood and when I was 12 years old the local violence was out of control. Dad moved us to rural Royalton, Illinois for our safety.
By the time I was 16 I was married. My father-in-law was a Pentecostal Preacher, and I was introduced to things of the Lord.
A year later Martha and I had our first child. We moved to Chicago where we attended a series of store front churches. At 18 my light went on for Jesus. We were in a revival meeting — the Holy Spirit grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let go. I gave my life to Christ.
We moved to Marion, Illinois. Soon after I lost my job. I went into a great depression. Not being able to provide for my family haunted me. In the midst of my depression, I was challenged to pray every day. My time started early with prayer. That went well and I added fasting until noon every day. That too went well so I added an hour or more of reading the Bible every day.
In the midst of all this the Lord spoke to me saying, “I’ll deliver you from depression, but you have to get your mind off yourself and help others.” That was Good News — I was delivered from depression and it has never returned!
This was at the time of the book “The Cross and The Switch Blade.” I joined a group who were reading the book. By the time I finished my life would never be the same — Jesus jumped off the pages for me. I learned that being a Christian was more than just going to church on Sunday! I learned that everyone, everywhere needs Jesus and I was going to do my part to see they found Him.
We sold our house and bought a Gospel Tent to do more for Christ. It measured 30 feet by 60 feet. We bought guitars and musical equipment and added a sound system. We spent years on the road for Jesus. By 1984 we were making our way to Iuka, Mississippi.
Miracles began appearing for us. We had a 16 year old bass player who experienced an agonizing ear ache. When our music was finished he was in excruciating pain. As I started preaching the Lord said , “anoint a handkerchief.” I grabbed one, anointed it and threw it to the bass player. He touched his ear, and the ear ache was gone. Never to return.
We bought and converted a bread truck into a camper so we could travel from one speaking assignment to another. It was small and cramped for a family to live and travel in. We stopped at an RV sales lot. There was a camper that we could travel well in and sleep comfortably. We spoke with a salesman and the price was way more than we could afford. We loaded up in our converted bread truck and drove away to our next assignment from the Lord.
The next morning, I received a call. The gentleman on the phone was the man from the travel trailer lot. He proceeded to tell me he and his wife decided to give us the trailer we had looked at. Stunned I asked him to repeat what he just said, He replied he and his wife felt to give my family and I the travel trailer we had looked at the day before.
He asked how soon can you come pick it up? I replied, “is right now soon enough?” while chuckling. He said, “How about first thing in the morning?” We agreed and spent the night waiting for the morning to come. We were there bright and early the next morning.
They installed a new hitch on our converted bread truck, prepared dinner for us, filled the camper refrigerator with steaks, handed us the keys and sent us on our way bidding us God’s speed.
We left that lot knowing we were in the center of God’s will and were eye witnesses to the miracle working power of a loving God.
This began a string of miracles that continues until today as we continued on assignment for the Lord.
This building we are setting in and where we just planted this Cross was another miracle. No way could we afford it. Confirmation came in from several prayer sources that we were to buy it for $100,000.00 dollars. We offered! It was priced at $219,000 and there were many people interested in it.
After much prayer while waiting to see if such a low bid could be received, I stood in amazement when we received a call that the building and all contents were ours for $100,000.
We then sold our previous building, made improvements and bought necessary new equipment. We had upgraded from a cramped 3,000 square foot building moving into a 9,000 square foot church with mega room to grow. But we still had $23,000 to pay off at the bank.
In the middle of the worst economic downturn in U.S. history since the great depression because of covid — two men came to our parking lot service and gave us a check for $40,000 which paid the final note on the church with enough money left over to finish remodeling the church.
The Lord has been faithful as we have grown as a congregation, and He continues with miracles of signs, wonders, and healings filled with compassion and love.
