What does First B Jackson teach about testimony?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, testimony is treated as something that belongs out in the open, not kept private. The men's retreat recap showed this in practice: the weekend was structured around men sharing how God had rescued them, and the effect was concrete. Hearing other men's stories gave Cole Gardner the settled conviction he had been looking for, moving him out of the no-man's land of one foot in and one foot out of faith. Glenn Owings described vulnerability exercised in a safe and God-honoring space as genuinely powerful, and pointed to the kind of moment where God shows up for someone you have been praying for as a North Star you can return to when doubt creeps in later.
Natalie's teaching in the women's study showed the same conviction from a different angle. Her own testimony ran through a decade of perfectionism, eating disorders, and people pleasing, and she traced exactly how unchecked lies about her own worth quietly took over. The point was not just her story but the pattern: the enemy plants doubt on something true first, then builds from there, and it was only when a friend walked alongside her that things began to break open. Testimony, in that room, was not a performance of having arrived. It was an honest account of where the lies got in and how God got through anyway.
Across both messages, the teaching holds that personal stories carry weight precisely because they are specific. A changed life is evidence that is hard to argue with, and sharing it honestly, without pretending to have everything figured out, is part of what it means to live in community at First B.
Taught from Isaiah 55 · Romans 1:21 · Genesis 3 · John 8 · Psalm 32
The passage taught · Isaiah 55
1 “Hey! Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness.
3 Turn your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul will live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- February 26, 2023 Don't Begrudge That Nudge Men from First B Jackson share how a weekend retreat changed them through testimony, accountability, and one man's decision to follow Christ.
- October 12, 2022 Women's Bible Study - October 12th, 2022 Natalie shares her recovery from an eating disorder and perfectionism, showing how unchecked lies lead to destruction and how God's truth brings freedom and purpose.
Mentioned along the way
- January 4, 2026 Awkward Is Better Than Silent Pastor Brad walks through 1 Peter 3:13-17, showing why faith is personal but never private, and how to share it with gentleness, reason, and honest hope.
- January 4, 2026 Share the Hope That Is in You A First Baptist Jackson sermon on sharing your faith with gentleness, reason, and a personal testimony, rooted in 1 Peter 3:13-17.