True Words Christian Teacher

Hello, my name is Joshua. My family and I are the founders of True Words Christian in Shelbyville, KY. This includes my parents Gary and Beverly.

I wrote this page so you know more about me. This obviously isn’t everything, but I hope you’ll see my background, and understand why I preach the way that I do.

I believe God put me here in this area to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that’s what I’m going to do.

I’m going to give it my best effort for God Almighty.

If you have any questions at all, please let me know. My contact information is at the bottom of this post.

Born In Louisville, KY and From Shelby County

I was born in Louisville, KY and moved to Shelby County, KY at an age too young to remember. I’ve lived in Shelby County since a young age so I know the area very well. I currently live in Simpsonville, KY. I grew up on small farms with beef cattle. I couldn’t have asked for any better parents. They did their absolute best.

Southside Elementary, Northside Elementary, West Middle, and Shelby County High School were the public schools that I grew up in. I rode a public school bus and learned everything I shouldn’t have been learning at those ages. Public school buses are not a very good place for any child to be.

I played baseball and basketball growing up and loved sports much more than I should have. I loved Kentucky basketball and football. I loved baseball and especially Major League Baseball. Some of my favorite players were Nolan Ryan, Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura, Craig Biggio, and Jeff Bagwell. My favorite teams were the Houston Astros and the Chicago White Sox.

From A Hard Working Family

My Dad took me to work with him at Tapp’s Feed and Farm Supply as I grew up. We would wake up before 5 AM (from what I remember) to get started working for the day. Some of the time, we would stop by Carriss’s Grocery (still there and I highly recommend you visit) on the way to work. At other times, we would stop by Ralph’s Market (not there any more). I would get a sausage sandwich on toast with grape jelly. I loved those sandwiches then.

I helped my Dad deliver feed all around Kentucky to farms and places like Keeneland and Churchill Downs. There were dogs at many of the places we visited. I remember learning that you usually don’t have to worry about the big dogs biting you but it’s the small dogs who bite. I remember my Dad getting bit on his ankles constantly by tiny dogs. He kept going with the feed bags as the dogs bit him.

I was carrying 50 pound feed bags around all day long at a young age. I moved to two bags as I got a little older while Dad would sometimes carry up to 4 on his shoulder. He ended up with bad knees. We were constantly working on the farm and taking care of cattle. People would ask my Dad, “What are you paying that boy?” He would always answer, “He’s got a place to live and he’s getting lunch today.” We would stop by a gas station and get a sandwich and a coke (or soda) at lunch time.

I was happy with my pay for each day.

My summer vacations were digging post holes for fences, cleaning out bedding areas for calves, feeding the cattle and horses, and cutting down bull thistles around fences. The post holes were where I learned how to work hard and to keep going until I was finished with the job. Digging post holes in rocky soil isn’t so easy.

I loved fishing as we had a great farm pond in which I caught a 4-pound bass one day. The pond was right behind Brumback’s grocery and is the same pond I almost drove the brand new tractor into when bush hogging down the steep hill. I was driving the tractor at a young age and helping Dad as much as I could.

I loved baseball and would use my spare time to practice baseball. My Dad would help coach my teams and I will always remember him lining us up against a fence with our gloves and hitting balls at us really hard. We learned to field really well that way! No one ever got hurt that way once, but it sure made us tough. I remember practicing pop up slides in the rain on the farm. I also remember walking to Brumback’s Grocery (closed a long time ago) to buy some Now N Later candy packs and baseball cards.

We worked hard and we got to play and have fun a lot too. The fun parts are even better when you work hard all day!

Church Every Week

I don’t ever remember missing church. We attended Shelby Christian Church in Shelbyville, KY. I went there from approximately 4 years old to 25 years old. I stopped going in my 20’s because I got tired of hearing tithing sermons every service.

I only remember learning actual Scriptures (something that stuck with me) at that church ONCE in my life. It was at a Vacation Bible School when I was very young. I remember the teacher (a woman) had us memorizing the Scriptures. We better have the Scripture memorized for the next day. She would test us. I remember that was very different for me because someone was making us work hard on the Scriptures.

I think it’s very sad that we don’t work hard on Scriptures in churches any more. Everything is just easy. Not good. We need to get back to some toughness as I remember that lady, and she was good. Teach the Scriptures. Everything doesn’t have to be fun all the time. That has stuck with me from that time to now. I was probably 5 years old and I even remember the location of the classroom down the stairs in the basement. I haven’t been back to that location in 20 years or more.

Every time I decided to come back to church again there would be another tithing sermon. I just checked back recently on their website after many years and the first sermon I watched was another tithing sermon with a piggy bank as the title picture. We sure knew how to tithe, but we didn’t know how to make it to heaven.

I was baptized at Shelby Christian Church around 1992 as I don’t remember the exact date. I do remember believing that Jesus Christ would save me, but I sure thought I could lose eternal life as Shelby Christian Church teaches Church of Christ doctrine. I sure didn’t know any of that at the time. That day, and the following days after my baptism, I really learned that I couldn’t be perfect. I thought, at that time, something was supposed to change in me so that I could live a perfect life. I wanted to be perfect and good for God. So I tried my hardest those next days. I found out that I was not good very quickly.

Because of what was taught to me in that church, I thought something was wrong with me. I was supposed to be good all the time. Everyone else acted as if they were good all the time. I would have bad thoughts. I would minimize the sin in my life because I was taught that I was good. But, deep down, I knew I wasn’t good. I remember crying over these things as a teenager. So, what happened? I gave up trying to be perfect and just did what I wanted. Not good. But that’s how it went for me, and I did not live a horrible life but I definitely didn’t live a good life either (doing what God says would be living a good life).

I also worked at Electric City in Shelbyville, KY for my Dad and with my Dad from about 12 years old to 20 years old. One of my best friends who passed away with cystic fibrosis a few years ago worked with me at Electric City. I miss Bobby, but I know he’s in heaven because he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ to save him. I know that I’ll see him again one day in heaven or in the clouds when Jesus comes back. We currently have church services within a room at Electric City. This is not the same location where I worked. Electric City has been open since 1987.

Met My Wife At 16 Years Old and Got Married At 22 Years Old

I thank Bobby because Bobby’s girlfriend at the time introduced me to my wife, Pam, when we were both 16 years old. Our first date was a “blind date,” but she didn’t know I had already seen her at McDonald’s. She worked at the McDonald’s in Shelbyville, KY for many years as a crew member and a shift manager. One of the reasons I love her so much is that she is one of the hardest working women that I’ve ever seen. She is amazing, and that’s no joke. I learned to work hard at a young age and laziness is something I can’t stand. We work hard at my house.

Let’s just say I had a bad attitude growing up. I had issues with asthma and at one point the doctors even thought I might have cystic fibrosis. I had trouble breathing throughout my life and was rushed to the hospital many times. I was placed on lots of medicine. I didn’t take much of that medicine I was supposed to be taking. I hated the medicine. I learned bad language from school, the school bus, Tapp’s Feed (every word one man said was a cuss word), Electric City, and playing sports. There’s no excuse, but it’s very difficult for a child when going to public schools and being around some of the people I was around. I had one of the worst mouths I thought you could imagine, but as I started working as an adult I learned that my mouth wasn’t so bad. I thought I needed to step up my bad language game and it got worse. I still have some issues at times, but I am 99% better at this time.

I was always good at school. I learn things easily. The public school system in Shelby County was very easy for me, and I really didn’t work so hard in school and got A’s most of the time.

I decided I was going to quit playing baseball in high school and focus on becoming an electrical engineer. One of the best teachers I ever had was Mr. Breidert, a Calculus teacher at Shelby County High School. That’s when I learned that I love math. Math is my absolute favorite subject because there is always an exact and right answer. This is another reason I love the Bible so much. God gives us the right answers every time and there is no arguing over what He says. He is right.

Baseball wasn’t so fun to me any more in high school because a throw from third base (my position) that didn’t hit the first basemen in the chest exactly would get a bad response from the coach. They wouldn’t let me field the ball. I had to move like a basketball defensive slide position and get in front of every ball. If I reached to the side to catch a ball out of reach, they would get angry. They decreased my fielding range ridiculously. I loved to dive for balls out of reach, get up, and throw someone out. The coaches didn’t like that. It wasn’t so fun any more.

I decided to attend the J.B. Speed Scientific School at the University of Louisville so I could stay home and be with Pam as much as possible. I loved her from the first date even though I haven’t always been the greatest husband. At times in our 20’s, I was a horrible husband. But I have been with her since 16 years old, and she has put up with a lot from me. She is a far better human being than I. God has forgiven me for much more than her. And that’s the truth. But now, I try to be the best husband and leader to her and our children that I can be. And yes, I still fail at that many days. But I get back up and try harder. I don’t give up.

College Much More Difficult Than High School

But I learned really quickly that electrical engineering wasn’t going to be like high school. I decided that I was going to work hard from the very beginning. I had a year of calculus in my senior year of high school but Dr. Ralston and Dr. Tyler at the Speed School were well past everything I learned in the first week. I was like, “UH OH, I better get to work.” And that’s what I did.

I worked extremely hard in college and gave it all I had. Pam watched everything I went through. I did Calculus homework every Friday night. I finished my Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering with a 4.0 GPA and finished my Master of Engineering in electrical engineering with a 4.0. I finished number one in the entire university. I wrote my thesis under Dr. Cole in the electrical engineering department. I remember an older student telling me that I could never finish with a 4.0 so I took that as a challenge and I did it. I got close to losing that a few times, but somehow I made it.

In between classes, I studied a lot and did homework. But, I played a lot of ping pong too. A good friend of mine, Thai, and I played ping pong with a passion. I absolutely still love ping pong today, but I haven’t played in many years. It comes back quickly, though. My Dad taught me ping pong growing up.

I started my first engineering job in the year 2000, and I loved it. I rode on ships at sea, climbed up rope ladders on to ships, and flew in helicopters over the ocean. But, most of the time, my job was sitting at a desk.

I quickly learned that eating so much food without as much physical activity leads to weight gain. I gained weight quickly when I starting sitting at a desk for my job. I got fat for me. I weighed about 220 pounds of fat. But I started lifting weights, eating much better, and exercising a couple years later. I got down to almost 155 pounds or so for our wedding. I starved myself much of that time to lose weight. Not good. Then, I started doing things the right way and eating better. I haven’t stopped since then. One of my favorite activities is weight lifting. This got me back on the healthier track.

Eating the right foods that God gave us will heal many things in your body. I highly recommend eating healthy foods (nuts, seeds, berries, fruit, milk, meat, grains, vegetables, spices, herbs, leafy greens). Drink water. Add lemon and lime to your water. Stop eating fast food. No sodas. No energy drinks. No caffeine. Clear your head. You will think clearly, feel great, and be able to do so much more for God.

I never had a drop of alcohol until my late 20’s (one of the worst times in my life – some of the things I did were idiotic, foolish, stupid), and I’ve never touched an illegal drug in my life. Thank God the alcohol didn’t turn into something else. I’ve actually never liked the taste of alcohol at all and only drank with my friends to have fun. Yes, I did some very stupid things when I was drinking, and I should have never touched alcohol. That was just one of the many dumb decisions that I’ve made in my life.

I have messed up greatly in my life in many different areas. Now I want to do good for God. I still mess up but nothing like I was doing in my 20’s. And just so you know, I never did anything illegal according to our laws during those times. I was breaking God’s commandments, though. There’s a huge difference in our laws and God’s laws. I am guilty of breaking God’s laws.

I Wanted To Graduate And Have A Good Job To Support My Family

After I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree, Pam and I got married immediately in August 2002. I had a good job and Pam and I moved into a small duplex home right off of Rockbridge road in Shelbyville, KY.

Pam and I started saving money several years prior to my graduation and we had enough money saved up to purchased a 2.35 acre lot off Fields Lane in Simpsonville, KY. My parents paid for my college education (Bachelor), but everything else in my life has been paid for by Pam and I. We have received no financial help from anyone else but God at all in our life.

We finished building our first home in the year 2004. We acted as the general contractors for that home and learned a lot of great lessons. I worked on my first Masters degree while building that home and while working an engineering job.

God was never first in my life at this point. I never let God go at all, but I sure didn’t have Him first in my life. I didn’t know the true Gospel of Jesus Christ at this point in my life. I let bad influences in my life take me the wrong direction from this point and for several years until God woke me up. I didn’t fear God at all at this point in my life. I did some very bad things during these years of my life. They were not illegal in our world, but they are very illegal in God’s rules.

I began to turn back to God when my Dad and Mom invited me to a church where I was ordained a few years later. I received an amazing dream job at this time too that I know God led me to. During this time, I decided to build another home. This was an amazing home.

But I soon learned while studying the Bible that we didn’t need anything like this. I had fallen for the fake prosperity Gospel in my life. The pastor at that church was preaching that trash then. The house was amazing, but we didn’t need all of those things. We sold this home and paid off the next one we bought. We then sold that home and built another small house that we live in now on 15 acres.

We now have a small farm with a few cattle, some chickens, and a huge garden.

Our Children

In 2008, Pam and I had our first child named Callie.

This is when my life and attitude started to change towards God. Now I needed him more. I still had many, many issues but thank God that He woke me up.

As a young child, our family doctor noticed that Callie may have had a serious issue. She noticed that her reflexes weren’t working properly.

Some scans were done and the doctor thought she might have a Chiari malformation. Well, this scared me greatly because I loved Callie so much.

I remember finding this out as we were driving to Florida for a family vacation, crying together with Pam while driving, and asking God to please help heal my first child. And yes, I know this was a warning from God to me because of the things I had been doing wrong in my life. I deserved that warning from God. I took it seriously and started correcting things slowly in my life.

Callie continued to have some additional scans done, and we were able to get an appointment with Dr. Moriarty in Louisville, KY. That man is an awesome doctor. I only met him once for just a few minutes, but he asked us how in the world we made it this far to him. He told us there was nothing wrong with Callie. He thought that she was still growing, and he would guess that she would never have any problems. He was right. Thank God.

Pam and I had our second child in January 2011 named Taylor. Taylor had some issues as a baby that kept Pam and I awake all through the day and night.

Pam went to school to be a Registered Nurse and was working night shift while I worked day shift. Pam would take care of the children during the day, and I would take care of them through the night. So, we both learned how to care for children very well. Taylor would scream during the day and scream during the night. Pam and I weren’t getting much sleep at all.

I remember just falling over right in the middle of Taylor’s bedroom floor one day from being so tired. I fell asleep right there on the floor.

Again, we found a great doctor for Taylor’s issue in Louisville, KY. The night before her first appointment with the specialist, her issue went away. Thank God again. We still went to the doctor and he told us she was going to be fine. From that day onward, Taylor was one of the happiest babies we’ve ever seen. She’s slept all through the night ever since then.

After all of those issues, Pam and I decided we weren’t going to have any more children. That was selfishness on our part. Those times were tough, though.

But, after several years, we decided to have another baby!

In July of 2016, we had our third daughter named Emma. By this time, Pam and I were reading the Bible with our children and seeking God. Wow, we are so happy that God blessed us with Emma Jo. I tell her often that she must be an angel from God.

Emma has never had one issue at all. She has been absolutely perfect with no health issues. I don’t even remember one night or one instance of any major issue. None. Thank God for that.

We attempt to show our children how to read and study the Bible each day. I ask Emma if she knows how to make it to heaven, and she responds as a 3-yr old: “Believe on Jesus.” She told me one night, “Daddy, I want to go to heaven.” So I explained it to her again. She’s still young, but she’s getting there.

Our children have never been to public school, and we will never send them to a public school. They have never been on a School bus. They have never watched evil movies. We will not allow those things to come close to our children. We will protect them as God gave these amazing children to us.

We now have a new addition to the family. Abigail Grace Tapp joined us in the year 2021. She is already walking at the age of 11 months old. Her favorite thing to do is eat. If you eat something without giving her a bite, she will start yelling at you the best she can! She is an amazing little girl who is going to love Jesus Christ.

Started To Get Back To God After Tough Times

After several years absence from church, we were invited to go to Rhema Christian Assembly by my parents. We started going there and really enjoyed going there. We still didn’t fully understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but we knew we wanted to follow God.

I took care of all the sound, slides for songs, teaching Sunday School with Pam, and cleaning the church when it was our turn.

I was asked to become a Deacon at that church and was ordained a deacon there. I’m the type of person who likes to do things the right way. I wasn’t reading the Bible like a Deacon should be reading the Bible. This is when I really started to study the King James Bible more than ever before. I figured a Deacon better know the Bible. So I studied the Bible harder than I studied electrical engineering. The comparison is not even close.

I haven’t stopped studying the Bible each and every day since then. I sure didn’t deserve to be a Deacon, and I almost didn’t accept as I knew I wasn’t worthy.

But I became a Deacon there. That church was an inter-denominational church, which I didn’t fully understand at the time. I thought that everyone who believed in “Jesus” was okay in my book. I didn’t know much about all the different “Christian” denominations, but I started putting work into learning more about them. At one point I didn’t think it was worth my time to figure out what other denominations believed. It is worth it because disproving false doctrine is important in pulling people out of the fire.

We were asked to come to a Bible study by some friends not at this church. I didn’t know that the people leading the Bible study were Seventh Day Adventists. They never told us that either. But I noticed several things that weren’t matching with my Bible such as they were teaching that Jesus Christ is Michael the archangel. This is 100% false doctrine. Michael the archangel is a created angel. Jesus created Michael and Jesus is the everlasting God. Michael is not. But the Seventh Day Adventists teach that He is, and this is a very evil doctrine.

That’s when I got very upset with myself. I asked God to please show me the right way. I was so confused by all the different denominations. I said, “God, who is right? All of these people are saying all of these different things.” And I got my answer. Thank God. Who is right? Who is truth? God is right. God is truth. Every word of God is true. Simply trust what God says in the Bible. It’s that easy. Stop listening to man and listen to God. His words are clear and simple. Just trust what He says.

The Truth Comes Only From The Word Of God

I soon learned that the truth comes directly from the Word of God. I had to look at the exact words within the Bible to find the truth. I never actually knew what that meant until I finally heard the true Gospel of Jesus Christ on You Tube. Thank God for You Tube. Even with the evil and wicked things on You Tube you can find the greatest gift ever.

I finally put all my trust and confidence on the Lord Jesus Christ. I finally understood what that meant.

I finally knew that I couldn’t do anything to save myself. I could only trust Jesus Christ to save me. Baptism couldn’t save me. Repenting of sin couldn’t save me. Going to church couldn’t save me. Being a good person couldn’t save me. Only Jesus Christ could save me.

The entire Bible started to make sense to me. I started reading and studying the Bible more and more and over and over again. I would read the Bible cover to cover as often as possible. My record is reading the entire Bible in one month. I started reading the Bible cover to cover with my family. We’ve read the Bible together as a family all the way through many times now.

We’ll read it while we eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I told them that we were going to find the truth once and for all by using the Bible. And we did. We did it together as a family with God’s help and by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ alone to save us.

Churches Don’t Like The Truth

We took the new knowledge and wisdom we were learning from the Bible to Rhema Christian Assembly. I would preach the true Gospel as often as I could. I would preach the Gospel before serving communion at the church, during Vacation Bible School (VBS), and any other times I could. Pam was teaching the Gospel to the children in Sunday School. I gave a sermon that proved to be my last at that church that you can find here: False Gods.

That’s the exact sermon I gave there. The pastor didn’t like my sermon. He called me into his office and told me that he didn’t like it. He told me I shouldn’t be using those verses in church. I told him that no one would ever stop me from using Scripture in church. That’s all I do if you watch sermons is back up everything I say with Scriptures.

Soon after that sermon, I was told that I couldn’t speak any more in church. I was told that I wasn’t going to be talking before communion. I wrote a resignation letter and resigned immediately. No one is going to stop me from preaching God’s word. But this wasn’t the only reason I left the church.

There were many other reasons leading up to this as well. My goal was to get the truth to the church. I was told by the Pastor that I could slip out of God’s hands and lose eternal life. I told him, “No sir, I can’t.” He didn’t like that either.

But no man is my authority. NO MAN. God alone is my authority, and I’m going to stand up for God. I don’t care what any man thinks any more. I care what God thinks. So, some people might ask me if I was sent out from another church to start and pastor a church. And I would say, “Yes, I sure was sent out of another church.” Some people might ask, “Did God call you into this position to start and lead a church?”

God didn’t come and speak to me and tell me to start a church. But God did lead me down this path, and I know I’m doing what God wants me to do. I pray constantly for God to lead me to do what He wants. I’ll do whatever it is. If He leads me to preach the Gospel in Antarctica, I’ll go. Now cold places aren’t my favorite place, but I don’t care what I want any more. I care what God wants. Pam hates cold places. She even jokingly said, “If God leads us to Antarctica, He’s just trying to kill me off.” We laugh about that one all the time. But we are here to serve God and Him alone.

True Words Christian Founded In 2019

In late 2019, we decided as a family to start True Words Christian. The founders are Gary, Beverly, Joshua, Pamela, Callie, Taylor, and Emma. We started in the home of Gary and Beverly and then we moved to Electric City in Shelbyville, KY. We are currently having Bible studies there two times each week (Sunday morning, Wednesday night).

Shelby County is a very religious county with many different churches sprinkled all over the county. I’ve attempted to find churches that actually can get the easiest part of the Bible correct: the Gospel that says the only requirement to be saved is “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” I was successful in finding one church within Shelby County and that was Liberty Independent Baptist Church. I tried to attend there, but they believe in dispensations, the Pre-Tribulation Rapture, and women constantly interrupting to give what they call “testimonies” with lots of crying. Women are to be silent in the churches. They also believe in altar calls, which I do not.

I do not choose any denomination. If there was any denomination that we would align the closest with, it would be a New Independent Fundamental Baptist church that doesn’t believe in dispensationalism, graven images, the pre-tribulation rapture, and altar calls. If the Baptist churches would get rid of their man-made doctrine, I would have happily joined a church in this area that preaches the Gospel. I also hate their constant praise of men and women versus praising God Almighty. Many independent fundamental Baptist are now falling for the same lies as other denominations. There are not many New Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches around the country, but I hope they increase. I pray for them to increase as they preach and teach truth better than anyone I have seen.

I Am Definitely Not Even Close To Good

That’s a quick summary of who I am and my life. It’s nothing exciting at all, but I hope that helps you understand more about me. I am simply a sinner who is not good in any way.

I’ve done terrible things in my life, but I know that God has forgiven my soul. My flesh is not forgiven as I’m still dying. I’m still aging. I still get sick. There’s nothing good in my flesh, but my soul has already been made perfect. God will give me a new body one day when Jesus Christ returns at His second coming (after the tribulation but before God’s wrath is poured out).

I know I can’t take back the things I’ve done to others in my life, but I do ask forgiveness.

I’m now going to give God everything I have now. I will live my life for Him now because He’s done so much for me. I will continue to mess up in my life, but I’m going to try to die each day to myself and give each day to God Almighty.

I hope that you’ll see the difference in True Words Christian and come join us for a Bible study during any of our church services.

Also, if you would like me to present the Gospel to you so you and your family or friends can be saved, give me a call any time. I will invite you over for dinner or I will buy you dinner somewhere. Email me or call me any time. I would love to give you a clear presentation of the Gospel.