Lucy Schultz
Lucy Schultz is author and illustrator of The Legend of the Gospel Train.
In addition to being the author and illustrator behind The Legend of the Gospel Train, Lucy Schultz is also an inventor. She holds several patents for novel ideas incorporated into children’s board books series such as the peek-a-boo mask, e-z page turners and Poke-a-Dot, published by innovative USA, Inc. Her inventions continue to go beyond books, into toys and games as her past includes lots of fun years working at both Fisher-Price and Mattel as a toy and game designer. Lucy, her husband Michael and two children currently serve at Harvest Bible Chapel and reside in Granger, IN.
My faith testimony:
I have been a Christian since early childhood, raised in a Christian home by two teachers, one in Art and the other in English. Illustrated Bible stories were a daily occurrence and a staple in my upbringing. Creativity and biblical knowledge went hand in hand in how I learned about Jesus. I took all of this for granted until well after college when I learned that you can be raised in the USA and not even know who Mary and Joseph are and what Jesus has to do with Christmas!
How God is working in my life:
More recently I have come to experience a new depth in the Bible rather than just learning from it as a storybook or an extensive instruction booklet. I have learned that life is about Him and I must glorify Him through it. The challenge is how and to do it. I must not let my daily witness become lost in the mundane and have it interfere with God’s plan. How can I point to God on a daily basis?
My passion for spreading the Gospel:
I love being creative and using my gifts to further His Kingdom. I love kids; I love reading aloud, dramatically and with passion, making the story interesting and bringing it to life. Hand me a blank journal and I can pretend there are words on the page, illustrations in full color and I can tell a Bible story like it is really printed there.
I have always wanted to be a missionary to a country where I can communicate with the children. I want to share in their excitement and help in their understanding about God and His love for them. At different times in my life, I had plans to go to India and Africa and it didn’t work out.
But, you know what? I have been a missionary here in the United States. I have served God’s purpose in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, California and Indiana within Children’s Ministry allowing me to share Jesus with many kids who possibly may have never known that Mary and Joseph were Jesus’ parents who fulfilled God’s prophesy, followed God’s plan, and played a role in God’s orchestration of bringing a Savior to us born on Christmas day.
And, it doesn’t end there. I have plans to publish The Legend of the Gospel Train in Spanish and as to what comes next, only God knows!
This gift of Jesus our Savior is for us to share. Don’t keep it a secret. Tell your family. Tell your friends. Tell everyone on earth
Paulette Seiter
She was destined to be the child of parents who couldn't hold it together. When she got old enough to wonder about such things, she would ask herself, "Am I the reason they got married?"
Whatever was the case, Hazel and Paul, her parents, got a divorce when she was about 5 years old. Her main father figure from that time on was Uncle Woody. It was Woody who would give her away when she married John in 1973.
Born in Evanston, Illinois, in 1947, she was soon to move to Connecticut where her dad was from. Soon, Paul and Hazel moved back west to Grand Haven, Michigan where they divorced and where she stayed for a year or two. Then, Hazel, with her child in tow, decided to try out California. Her sister Viola had moved there and gave them refuge. It wasn't long though before Hazel took her daughter back to Grand Haven where they lived until Paulette was about 12. It was then that she and her mother made a second trip to California where they settled till as a married woman, she would move her own family to Denver, Colorado in 1982.
She liked California as a teenager. Her mother married again, but Mike was an alcoholic which made family life difficult and before long they divorced. Since her mother had failed at marriage 3 times (the first time was never mentioned much… the guy before Paul), Paulette had some misgivings about ever finding a husband who would be different than what her mother had found.
After graduating from High School in Sylmar, CA, she went to work for AT&T and began attending a Baptist Church in Van Nuys, CA. Her friend had invited her to attend. It soon became a habit and she became involved in the College Dept. ministry. Palm Springs, 1968, became a focus of outreach for her group at the church and Paulette was trained to share the gospel. One night during Easter break, while doing minister there in Palm Springs, she realized that there was something missing in her own life. As she pondered this emptiness she was feeling, she reviewed the gospel presentation she had been trained to share with others. It was at the end of this material that she read again the challenge to commit her life to Jesus as His follower. At that moment, she became painfully aware that she had been asking others to do what she had never done. So, to avoid being the hypocrite any longer, she bowed the knees of her heart and surrendered to the Lord. Her life was no longer her own. She realized that she had been bought with a price, that being the precious blood of Jesus.
Their paths crossed that week but they would only know it looking back. The man she would eventually marry had come down from the college he was attending in San Luis Obispo, CA, and had joined in the team effort to share the gospel. They were both from the same church but had never officially met. He was gone most of the year, away at school.
The next couple of years saw significant spiritual growth take place in this young Christian woman. She began to be involved with a disciple-making ministry known as The Navigators. As for the man that God was preparing to be her husband (John), he spent most of the next two years in the Army and then, Vietnam.
As the year 1970 began, Paulette's heart was moved to commit to a summer outreach trip to the Philippines. She and 49 other young adults were commissioned to share the gospel in seven different cities in the Philippine Islands. As for John, he returned from Vietnam in Mar. of 1970. He soon found out about the trip when he went for counselling to the same pastor who was over the trip Paulette had signed on for. As he talked with their mutual pastor friend, Dennis Guernsey, he heard Dennis ask him if he would be willing to go to the Philippines that summer to share Christ. It turned out that one man had dropped out from the trip and Dennis needed a replacement. John's initial response was "no thank you. I just got back from spending time in that general area and don't ever care to go back. Besides, I don't have the money needed to go." Dennis reminded John that if God wanted him to go…God would provide the money. Then he asked John if he believed that? "Ok" John responded, "I will pray about it."
What I haven't told you yet is that John was getting counsel that day because he had decided it was not God's will to continue living with his father, who was drunk almost every day. He had already put his belongings into storage and had two suitcases packed and ready. His plan was to move out, but really had no idea where he would end up. As he prayed about it back at his Dad's apartment, his eyes fell on the two suitcases and he concluded that God had just revealed through Dennis, where God wanted him.
At the first big group meeting of the 50 people bound for the far east, two weeks later, John found out that the man he was replacing was in a group that included a young woman named Paulette Fox. It's a long story, but a little under 3 years later they married. A year and nine months later their first child was born. They named her Johanna, after John (Johann in German). She told me later, "I can clearly remember that special day…we were going to have a baby! We were so excited!"
But Paulette had one big problem: she didn't know anything about taking care of babies. Her mother had had to work fulltime and had not prepared her for this. The only thing she knew for certain was that she didn't have a clue as to how to raise a child, love her husband, or run a home. In short, she knew she really needed some help.
She reached out to other ladies, young and old, pleading for the equipping she needed. She read books on how to be a godly wife and mother. To this day she will tell you that her favorite book of all time is entitled What Is A Family? By Edith Schaeffer. She would tell you, "That, dear friends, is why I created HomeWorks and the books I have written. I am absolutely committed to helping you learn and do the things that will make your home an oasis for your family as well as for any others you can bless along the way.
Her ministry, highlighted on www.godsinstruction.com, is designed to give women the tools they need to become women after God's own heart. One passage in particular drives her: Titus 2:3-5 reads, "Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored."
In addition to her ministry with women, Paulette enjoys spending time with her husband, three children and three grandchildren.
My Testimony:
I grew up attending various churches and thought I was a Christian though I sensed there was something more, something I was missing. I was drawn to a different kind of church than what I was used to. I found out quickly that these people were excited about sharing the Gospel. I began to notice differences in my life from that of my new friends. I had heard and read the accounts of Jesus, and I fully agreed with them. I had thought my friends and I were all on the same page as to what we believed. What was I missing? Finally, one evening I got on my knees before the Lord and went through a booklet that explained the Gospel:
God loved me and had a plan for me;
I was a sinner and needed to be forgiven of my sin;
Jesus died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and have a new life;
I know, I know! But then I realized that I believed all of this in my head but it had never changed my Paulette Seiter $ The Legend of the Gospel Train storybook, Party Planning Packet & Music & Storybook CD Purchase from one of the web stores below. Us heart. I had never truly repented of my sin and accepted His death for my salvation. At the end of the booklet it stated that He was Lord and that there was a commitment to be made by me. He had bought me with a price – His own blood. Would I give Him my life and follow and obey Him? I would! On that Tuesday before Easter, 1968, I made that commitment and God began to change my life. Did it become wonderful, with no more problems or difficulties? No! But I experienced a peace that I had never known before and I began to live for Him. The Lord is so faithful to continually reveal to me the areas that I need to work on and I am so thankful that He does! Though it is painful at times, it is necessary, and it is my desire to be His disciple.
I have been privileged to be married to a pastor and together we serve the Lord in ministry. What a joy this is! God has currently blessed me with the opportunity to serve in Women’s Ministries at Harvest Bible Chapel/Granger, IN where I am both humbled and challenged – but He who has called me is faithful. Praise Him!