ccm Cross 0314 Grace Community Fellowship Golden, MS

Pastor Tony Darracott
Grace Community Fellowship
74 Red Bay Rd
Golden, Mississippi 38847
ccm Cross 0314

GPS/DMS GPS/DMS 34° 29′ 8.39″ N 88° 11′ 9.00″ W

Additional Photos After Testimony

5331 cdd Witnessing a Miracle
Cyber Daily Devotion
Volume 21 Number 054

Today’s Authors: Norah Sowa and Pastor Bill

Scripture: Matthew 19:26
“Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” NKJV

I am Tony Darracott, a native Mississippian, being born and raised in Belmont, Mississippi. My parents had 2 children, myself and my younger brother, Chris.

Both my parents were hard working Christians and raised their family to be the same in a small Nondenominational Charismatic Church. My father is still a truck driver, and my mom is a social worker for a nursing home. My dad would say to me, “even when the church doors were not open, we are still there in church.”

I am now the Senior Pastor of Grace Community Fellowship. When growing up, we mowed the church yard with our own lawn mower, but I was the weed eater, since I was younger. It is now going on 18 years, never had to pay to mow the yard, which is a pretty large area. It is a big thing that it has always been mowed for us by church members and shows that we started by planting that seed.

I attended a church in my home town where a Preacher, Chester Watkins, owned the Funland Water Slide Park in Florence, about an hour away. He gave an invitation to receive the Lord. I went up and accepted Jesus Christ into my heart and was saved that night. I was given a token to go to Funland Water Slide Park anytime I wanted as a small reward for accepting the Lord Jesus Christ. I definitely used that token all summer long. That same year, I was baptized in Oliver’s Catfish Pond at age 8 and received the Holy Ghost at Children’s Church at age 9. We didn’t have children’s church like waving flags or playing games. We learned to worship and pray.

I don’t mean to boast, but I grew up being active in the church with my family, never drank, never smoked, never did any kind of drugs or tobacco. I met my wife Heather at the age of 17 and she was 18 and has been the only woman that I have ever been with in my life — the same for her. We dated for 3 years, and were engaged for a year and one half, and then married when I was 20 and she was 21.

When I was 18, God called me to preach. I knew that I was different from my friends on the football team so I spent more time in church. Our church burned down, and we worshiped out of an old building in Red Bay, Alabama. One night, I was at the altar when God spoke to me for the first time in my life when I heard “I have called you to preach, oh great man of God.” The voice was so clear it scared me. After telling my parents that God called me to preach, mom cried and dad chuckled. He said, “Son I have known for the last several years.” He also expressed that a visiting evangelist told him to, “guard and protect this boy.” Then he told me, “Now you can go direct to God for all the answers.” He was released!

Then I became Youth Leader for 4 years at Cavalry church before I moved over here to Grace as the Youth Leader. When I arrived all the leaders of Grace divorced and left. Leaving only 12 members. At age 24 I was voted Senior Pastor. I never attended a Seminary or Bible College. The Holy Spirit taught me as we went along. I was now pastoring 12 people. Since then, we have grown. Heather became the worship leader and still is today.

In my second year of Pastoring I had a vision. I was standing in the parking lot of our church. There was tall grass surrounding the parking lot. The grass began to wave and separate when a huge snake appeared with the word RELIGION tattooed across its forehead. Just as it started to dart at me I raised my fists, shut my eyes and yelled “God stop it”. When I opened my eyes, everything was back to normal, no grass, no snake. Then I was elected the Lead Pastor.

We have 2 children Samuel age 15 and Addison Grace, age 9. I am proud of my son, who attended a youth conference at 13 and was called to preach. He is the youngest to ever start preaching.

One of many miracles that my family experienced is with my brother Chris. He was born with collapsed lungs. He was in the hospital for 3 months as they pumped 93% oxygen into his lungs. Then we were told to make final arrangements for him. He would not survive the night. That night they removed him from the oxygen machine and at 2:00 a.m., we were called to the hospital.

We expected the worse. But soon learned we were witnessing a miracle. We could hold him without any machines or medical equipment. The doctors said he is breathing on his own now and would have serious medical issues all his life. Today he is 280 lbs., 5’8”, and went to college on a scholarship playing the saxophone. He is married with children, living a healthy normal life.

I have had other experiences through warnings with visions of snakes. The vision is usually a warning about people who were trustworthy and then they weren’t. God was warning me as the leader of this church, who I could and could not trust.

We had a visiting preacher who introduced me to deliverance. He trained me in it, and we cleansed houses and went through the process to deliver people of demons. We were called to a woman at her home who needed deliverance. We prayed for 2 hours and we were going to leave because she was not cooperating. She finally revealed what was going on in her life. She went into a cupboard in the kitchen and into a junk drawer where she pulled out a rag with a old World War II dagger. It still had blood on it that belonged to her dad. Apparently, she was molested by her father. She took the dagger and was cutting herself in her underarm where you could not see it. We struggled to get her to let go of the dagger. Finally, she dropped it into a trash can and let it go. We could feel the freedom, like a “Glory Bomb” went off cleaning the area of all demons. Jesus delivered her that night as she fell on her knees Giving God Glory!

Another time, a guy called and said, “I need you to come over now” — his wife was crying in the background. He had me on a speaker phone, and I heard him hit the floor growling.

I arrived at their house and met his dad at the door who was frantic for help. I calmed his dad down at the door and said it is okay, remember, “Greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world.”

Then I heard a deep voice say, “don’t let him in.” The man who called me was on the floor convulsing and wanted to be set free from the demon. The demon departed as I entered. The man was limp after being delivered from the demon and started praising God and thanking Jesus as we left.

We met another guy at our church, 6’3”, 220 lbs., third degree black belt karate expert. He would put a watermelon on his wife’s belly and split it in half with a very sharp long knife — and not touch her. He would drink a 5th of vodka and become abusive. He ran to the alter for deliverance and slid across the floor. I reached down to pray over him, and he grabbed my shirt collar and said in a deep demon laced voice “man of God, you think you are something, you have no power over me, I can kill you, I can take you out.”

I’m not going to lie, it scared me. My first thought was, where is the pastor. Then I realized I am the Pastor. After about 10 seconds the spirit exited, and Jesus saved him. This was about 12 years ago when I first started deliverance at this church. I am called to deliver people from demons. That is why I’m here.

My Favorite Bible Verse: Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” NKJV

The Cross means to me that God’s unfailing love is for everyone. Jesus willfully laid on the Cross — He gave his life for me. His Passion on the Cross was for you and me that everyone who believes in Him will have everlasting life.

This Cross planted shares HOPE with all who pass. There are a lot of drugs, marriage issues and hurt in church. My prayer would be for all to weep before the foot of the Cross asking for help. There is hope in being set free from the bondages of Satan.

We have an awesome church, there is a 90-10 ratio of participation, where 90% participate and support and 10% ride the wagon. Most other churches experience 10-90% where 10% of the people support the church and 90% ride the wagon. When we started, we had 12 people – my grandma at 81 comes to church with us and shouts to the Lord. She told me when I was discouraged in numbers of participating people that, “it takes time to make a garden grow.” We are continuing to grow.

“My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging” Hank Aaron

Prayer: Father thank you that miracles are real and for today. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!