Don Tipton's Testimony
Hi! My name is Don Tipton, and I was born, and raised in central Ohio, by my mom, and step dad. I went to a small high school with only about eighty people in the graduating class. I starting playing the guitar when I was about thirteen years old, thanks to my Uncle Howard, who taught me a few chords on the guitar.
I got an acoustic guitar for Christmas, that year, and I played for hours at a time, mostly country music at that time, because that is all my parents listened too. When I got in high school, I was introduced to rock and roll music.
My best friend, Albert, was learning to play the electric guitar, so we decided to start a band, The American Destiny, and the rest is history. We played together in several bands in the next few years, and after graduation. We played at high schools, then graduated to the night club scene.
I started hanging around with the wrong crowd, and they got me into drinking and, doing drugs, mainly just smoking pot to begin with, but then pills, uppers, downers, and then on to LSD. Do not ever let anyone tell you that pot does not lead to harder drugs, because I know it does from experience. Pot gives you a false sense of security so that you begin to believe, if it didn't hurt me, then other drugs will not hurt me. Wrong!!!!!!!
After awhile I met my wife. She had heard from a friend of hers about these guys that played music on acoustic guitars. (That being me and my friend Rick.) We liked to play and sing easy listening stuff like Jim Croce, Cat Stevens, Loggins & Messina, and some songs that I had written. We were doing this apart from the rock band I was in.
One night she invited Rick and I to come and play our music at her house. She had invited several of her friends to come and listen to us. Well to make a long story short, we started dating, fell in love and got married. She loved me the way I was, long haired pot smoking rock and roller, even though she was not into all that, she was basicly a good little Catholic girl.
Not long after we were married, she became pregnant with our first child, a little girl, the first of four girls I might add.
Well I knew if I was going to be a father I had to get my act together and straighten up.
The band (Magic Mountain) split up after awhile, and I had to get a real job. I was driving a taxi cab from three in the afternoon until three in the morning. I was trying to stop doing drugs, but I would always have my old friends around to make sure I kept doing them. I had quite smoking cigarettes, but every time I turned around, one of my old buddies would pop into the cab, at the cab stand with a joint, or something. Finally I realized the only way I was going to change and be a good role model for my child was to get away from my old friends. ( Sometimes getting away from old worldly friends is the only way to get on with your life. I know it is a difficult decision to make, but God will bless you with new friends, Godly ones. )
Well the parents of my wife had moved to Dayton, Ohio, so I decided the best way to clean up my life was to get a new start somewhere else. Some place where my friends could not keep dragging back into my old life style. So we moved to Dayton, actually Fairborne, Ohio.
I still remember the night I dumped my last nickel bag of of pot down the toilet, and flushed it, and my old life away, for good! I was determined I was going to be a good father, and role model to my little girl. Little did I know, God was already working on me.
I got a job as a security guard in an old closed down cement factory, the graveyard shift.
Well having the graveyard shift was really boring, the most excitement I would get was once, and a while I would catch a couple trying to park and make out, and I would have to run them off.
I started reading cheap novels to occupy my time. One night I ran out of cheap novels , and I did not have the money to purchase one. When I arrived at work that night I started checking around the old cement factory, inside some of the foreman offices, and old lockers, to see if I could find something to read. Well, finally I came across an old King James bible in one of the desks. I began to read it, and read it, and read it some more. I was devouring the word of God. Night after night I would read the word of God. I never even bought another cheap novel, I just kept reading the bible. I was not raised in church so all of this stuff was new to me, and I was drawn to it. I could not put it down!
I started listening to a Christian program on the radio, called Outreach, from California. One night while I was listening, they offered a free bible, (The New American Standard), so I sent off to get it.
When it arrived, they had sent a tract along with it. At the back of the tract was the sinners prayer. So right there in the old dirty factory, I spread a piece of newspaper on the floor. I got down on my knees, and I asked Jesus to come into my life, and you know what? He did, and after that all I could do was eat, sleep and drink Jesus. Studying His word and sharing Him with anyone who would listen. I went to bed thinking about Jesus, and I got up thinking about Jesus. I ate, slept, and drank Jesus, 24- 7.
So one night after some old friends (Jack & Karolyn) had come to visit us for the weekend, and we spent the whole evening talking about Jesus, (because as it turned out while God was working on me, He had also been working on them), they knew us from our days in Chillicothe, Ohio, but had since moved to Michigan were Jack had moved with his dad who was the Pastor of a Lutheran Church.
That night after we went to bed, my wife whispered to me, I don't know what you all got, but if it gives you this much joy, and peace, and excitement, I want it too. So we knelt beside our bed, and prayed, and she received Christ as her Savior that night. It was great! As our friends left that Sunday, they jokingly said, If we find you a job in Michigan (the Detroit area), will you move up there with us? We said sure why not, never dreaming it would really happen. Little did we know what God had planned for us.
A few weeks later they called, and said, we found you a job here, hanging drywall with a man from our church. Will you come? Well after some deep consideration, and prayer we said, Yes.
We packed up our little girl, and our stuff, and moved to Michigan, by this time my wife was pregnant with our second child.
The first night we got there, it was a Sunday, our friends wanted us to come to their Sunday night church service. It was held at a local college, and Jack played guitar at the service. His Dad, who was a Lutheran minister in the area there, had gotten baptized in the Holy Spirit, and was promptly asked to resign as Pastor of the Lutheran church were he had been for a couple of years. His name is, Pastor Harvey Deater, one of the most Godly men I have ever known, and it was my pleasure to be taught the Word of God by him for almost twenty years. He taught as to just be. Just be, you say? What does that mean? Well, it means to just be what God has already said you are in His Word, overcomers, more than conquerors, healed by His stripes, having everything you need for life, and Godliness, dead to sin, and alive to God through Christ Jesus, in other words just walk in what God has already declared you to be in His Word, and through the death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
I would like to take this time to personally thank Pastor Harvey Deater for all he has done for us over the years, his teaching, his faithfulness to God, his being a vessel to meet the spiritual, and physical needs of the people of God. Be assured of this! Your reward in Heaven will be great. Thank You, Pastor Deater! We love you, and miss you!
Well, he was starting a charismatic church called, Macomb Christian Community Center. They were meeting at the college that night, so we went. When the music started playing, (My friend Jack was in the worship band), and we began worshiping, and praising God, both myself, and my wife just looked at each other, and knew we were where we were supposed to be. God had brought us here for a purpose, we were home.
For a number of years, until he retired, we sat at the feet of Pastor Deater, and were taught the Word of God .
I joined the worship team, and grew up there, and so did our children.
The drywall job did not last very long, so then I got a job working for a propane company shortly after we arrived in Michigan, and I spent twenty years there.
This whole time God was blessing me with songs. My friend, Jack, and I played in two different Christian bands while I lived there. One was called, The Promise Land Band, and the other was called, Compassion. We played all original material that either I wrote, or a few songs were written by Jack. I enjoyed it very much, and we touched some lives with our music.
After Pastor Deater retired, we decided to move to Nashville, Tn., and try, and get some of the music the Lord had given me, recorded. So after much prayer, we decided to step out in faith, and move to Nashville.
I was able to transfer to Nashville, through my work at the propane company, because they had a location there. So we left all our friends (including our best friends, sorry Jess & Pat, we love you, and miss you), and some of our children, who were now grown, and we took the leap of faith. We have been here a number of years now. I am busy with my music, and my first CD, HOLY FIRE, has been released. So pray for us at, Don Tipton Ministries, that God will bless us, and open doors for us, and He will also bless Sweet Pea Productions which is a part of our ministry.
Please feel free to Email us at dontipministries@dontipton.com , with prayer requests.
You can buy the CD, Holy Fire, or download the songs indivually, just click on the link below:
May God richly Bless you, and keep you
His Servant,
Don Tipton
