Dick’s Testimony
Dick Witherow’s Testimony
I was raised in a home where the name of God was never mentioned. My first remembrance of God being someone who was approachable came at about nine years of age when my paternal grandmother took me to her Church where I heard the Gospel for the first time. That day I fell in love with the God who would sacrifice His Son for me. It wasn’t until 24 years later upon learning that my first wife had cancer that I would make this Jesus the Lord of my life.
Being raised in a dysfunctional home where my father died when I was but 12, my life had gone steadily downhill. Caught up in all kinds of addictions from alcoholism to sexual perversions, at one point I had lost the right to be a husband and father, and my wife left with our two children. But, God was merciful and brought my family back to me. Even after being saved it would take years before God could make me suitable for use as His servant. Seven years after my conversion I had a second encounter with God, and He filled me with His Holy Spirit. From that point on, my spiritual life took off like a rocket. In no time He delivered me from a 25-year addiction to alcohol, a 10-year addiction to tranquilizers and a 30-year addiction to cigarettes. Then He began working on my sexual addictions. He used the scriptures to deliver me, long before I knew there was such a thing as deliverance. Then He began to use me in ministry.
When the Lord told me He was going to make me a “Fisher of Men”, I told Him; “You had better make me a better fisher of men than you made me a fisher of fish, or I won’t catch any”! My wife and I had been married for 25 years before the Lord took her home on January 20, 1979. In the spring of 1980 I went to the “Institute of Ministry” in Bradenton, Florida. The IOM is a 10-week crash course on ministry preparation where I learned how to fish for men under the leadership of my mentor Rev. Gerald Derstine. I graduated in the beginning of June and by the end of that month I had signed on as the Chaplain of the “Gospel Rescue Mission of the Palm Beaches”, a ministry that had not yet seen its first client. Within six weeks the founder left and I was asked to take over the helm of this fledging ministry. By the grace of God we survived, and through the Lord’s direction we evolved into a substance abuse recovery program called “The Regeneration Center”. In 1982 I met Maggie, and on Feb. 26, 1983 she became my wife. In June of 1990 Maggie and I left the Regeneration Center to establish Matthew 25 Ministries, as God brought me back to my first love, prison ministry. The Lord had given us a burden for men and women coming out of prison, a segment of ministry that for the most part had been neglected by mainstream prison ministries. We had a vision to establish a facility in the country where we could assist anyone who truly wanted to experience a Christ centered life. We have come to know that with proper training, those who had been called the dredges of society could become productive citizens.
For nine years we helped many men and women transition from prison and produced much good fruit. But without seeing fulfillment of the larger vision we wondered if we had missed God. I had given up on ever seeing our vision fulfilled, until the beginning of 1999 when God dropped a nugget into my spirit. He said, “God’s work, done God’s way, will never lack God’s supply”! Faith began to rise! Within a short time events began to happen that showed me I had definitely heard from God. Key people joined our board of directors. Finances started to come in, and God raised up a group of benefactors with the intent to provide the finances for the land needed to fulfill the vision God had given us. So in addition to our women’s ministry in town, “The PACT Center” for men was established on a 21-acre ranch in rural Okeechobee.
Now with both Maggie and I in our seventies, we are entering into what may prove to be the most productive years of our life, as we see God transforming the lives of men and women who the world considers losers, but God says, “They are my creations” (2 Corinthians 5:17). To God be the glory.