If you think the name Stanley Fontenot is new to you, you may actually have heard him (literally) or seen him before. If you have been around Sagemont Church for a while or attended a program by our Worship and Praise Ministry, you have possibly seen Stanley in action. Stanley plays the bagpipes and has played them on a few occasions at Sagemont. He also, in December 2013, played the part of Judas in the Christmas production of Hope Is Born. Most recently, he played the pipes in one of the songs in the Christmas production with Sandi Patty at Sagemont on November 29, 2014.
Stanley has been playing the bagpipes for almost eighteen years. Like many of us, Stanley visited Dickens on the Strand in Galveston in 1996, and he saw a pipe band play. He says that from that point on he was determined to do whatever it took to learn to play the pipes. He got on the internet, found a place in Houston and called to find out more information. He learned what he needed to get started and was referred to a teacher. Two months later he took his first lesson. He worked for six months on a practice chanter. Then he borrowed a set of pipes and he began, as he put it, “squeezing a bag of cats.” He says the beginnings were pretty rough but got better as he started to play tunes that people could recognize. He says that ten months after his first lesson, he could play in public and not embarrass himself. He began to play at schools and funerals, and as time went on, he also began playing at weddings.
It wasn’t long until Stanley’s instructor thought he would be a good teacher for beginners, so he started teaching seven months later. For Stanley, playing the bagpipes started as a passion and a hobby. Then the hobby turned into a way for the Lord to provide his daily needs. Stanley says he still stands in awe of how the Lord has provided all this for him. He has had a consistent flow of students ever since he started teaching. He has also served as the pipe sergeant in the Houston Police Pipes and Drums, when it was together, leading the band in parades and at funerals. He has played at more than 400 different places—everywhere from Mars Hill in Greece to a dog’s birthday party. Normal events include weddings, funerals, golf tournaments, birthday parties, church events, schools, anniversary parties, business conferences and St. Patrick’s Day gigs.
Despite having a consistent flow of students, Stanley has a way of describing playing bagpipes for a living: “The only consistent thing about playing bagpipes is inconsistency. I have to put my trust daily in the Lord for His provisions.” On Stanley’s website, he has these words, “To my Lord and Savior I give all glory for the things he has given me. In Jesus’ Name!”
Some of you may have heard about Stanley whenever mission trips are the topic of conversation at Sagemont. He has been on many trips. And, yes, the bagpipes almost always go with him. His first trip was to Australia in July 2000. He shared his testimony publicly for the first time on that trip. It was not an easy thing for him to do. He did feel the Lord leading him in the direction of missions and a few years later, he says he actually heard the Lord say, “Go on a mission trip!” He says he knew it wasn’t his own idea. He started questioning God about where He wanted him to go. The next day he got his answer. AFRICA! He said he heard it plain as day. He was perplexed, but all he could do was say, “OK, Lord. I hear you.”
About this time my husband, Frank, and I came into the picture. We were leading a mission trip to Mfuwe, Zambia in Africa in 2005. I was a choir member at Sagemont, as was Stanley. We had known each other for a while, so when we met in the hall, he asked me where I was going. I told him I was going to a meeting for the Zambia mission trip. At this point I didn’t know anything about his meeting with God mentioned in the previous paragraph. Inside he was thinking, “I would love to go on that trip!” I told him he should come to the meeting. He gave me many excuses as to why he would not be able to go. He didn’t have the money, etc. I said, “You need to come!” He said, “But…” I told him just to come, and that the Lord would provide for him if He wanted him to go. He did go the meeting, he committed to go on the trip, and yes, God did provide the money for him to go to Zambia. God provided abundant work opportunities for him and blessed him with giving people who wanted to help him go. In fact, he went with us to Zambia that year and the next two years.
For Stanley, the Zambia trip was the beginning of many years of short-term mission trips. Some of the other places he has served in are Eritrea, Nepal, Greece, India, Kenya, Tanzania and the Philippines. He has visited children in India he sponsors through Compassion International. At last count, the Lord has let Stanley participate in about 32 mission trips.
As stated before, Stanley has taken his bagpipes on all but two of his mission trips. It is his goal to use them as a tool to speak the Word of God to the lives of those who listen. He says, “People in other countries are often shocked when they see me play my bagpipes. They often look perplexed as they try to figure out where the sound is coming from and how the instrument works. Because of this reaction, I have an opportunity to tell them a little about the instrument. I don’t waste any time and start testifying about what God has done in my life. I don’t put much focus on the bagpipes because I want them to know how to have a personal relationship with Jesus.” This has been the burning passion that has driven Stanley while he is on the mission field. Ministry is not always easy. In fact, it has been difficult.
Now we need to complete Stanley’s story. How many of you know or have known someone who on the outside seems to be just as “normal” as everybody else, but on the inside is one big bundle of either pain, insecurity, guilt, fear, bondage, rejection, addiction, hopelessness or a combination of any or all of these very real conditions? We all could probably name someone—maybe someone very close to us. Stanley is one of these special people.
Just this past September, Stanley went through some intense counseling and came out of it a new man—a man who is now able to see that he is truly delivered from the insecurities, worthlessness, hopelessness and rejection that he had held on to deep inside for so many years.
When Stanley was growing up and going to school, he was constantly put down for being overweight. He went through a lot of rejection throughout most of his school years. His home life wasn’t good either. He hated his abusive alcoholic father and did not have a good relationship with him. His only emotional connection was to his mother. His father did take him and his sister crabbing occasionally, but that was the extent of any fun with dad. He was a hurting child wanting to be how God created him to be.
A lady moved in across the street and invited him to church. He went with her family, and eventually, at the age of 13, accepted Christ as Lord, and committed his life to serving Him. He even told a couple of the church members during this time about his struggles and they prayed for him. They gave him scriptures to pray over himself every night. It was an intense time of seeking God’s guidance and will for him.
Over time—ten years or so—he started to want more of what God wanted for his life and began committing his life little by little to the Lord. He began to have a burning passion to serve God in the mission field. He had the opportunity to go to Australia on a two-week mission trip, and it was a huge turning point in his life.
Stanley remembers:
God took me on a journey that would ultimately lead me out of the bondages of [my sin]. This struggle over my life started at the end of 1999 and lasted for what seemed an eternity. I heard the Lord clearly say, ‘Lay this down or serve me no further!’ I had opened the door for Satan to have free reign in my life. These doors needed to close! The journey the Lord took me on lasted for almost six months. I found two scriptures in the Bible that gave me strength to overcome the challenges the Lord put before me - James 4:7 and Philippians 4:13… The Lord took me on a journey of ridding my life of sinful addictions. I fought daily to be obedient to the Lord, sometimes to the point of being mad and frustrated because the fight was very difficult at times. I did not give up and continued to resist the devil.
As time went on I began to have victories over sin where it did not have a grip on my life…In July of 2000, I went on my first mission trip to Australia. I was able to tell the Australians about my struggles and deliverance. This was a hard thing for me to do for fear of rejection. I fought the enemy for years after I got back. The onslaught of the enemy was almost more than I could handle, and would leave me sometimes mad at God and sometimes in tears. It was tiring fighting on a daily basis, but I knew if I gave up, I would be right back where I started.
Stanley understands that this part of his journey was nothing short of a miracle. God did it. And what’s more, his dad is a Christian now and their relationship is healing.
Stanley says, “God showed His compassion and love for me even in the midst of living in sin.” Stanley says God was patient with him and then there came a time and a choice had to be made. If any of us will truly listen, we can all hear the Lord say to us, “Serve Me or serve the world.” Stanley heard the Lord speak to him. With the strength he had gained and the faith he had in the Lord Jesus, Stanley says he knew he could make it through the journey.
This is Stanley’s extremely heart felt testimony of his deliverance counseling:
Back in September of 2014 my best friend told me I should go to see a counselor that he went to. My friend knew the struggles I faced on a daily basis. I was broken inside. I lived a life for 38 years constantly comparing myself to others and condemning myself as worthless and not amounting to anything. I was bound by insecurities on the inside. I struggled to believe the Word of God. The Bible says I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I did not believe that. During the counseling, God exposed the lies that I had believed. God showed me that I still carried some of the pain and anger from my past childhood. The idols I created in my life were broken down and exposed for the lies they were. I saw a vision of the chief demon that was over my life and the bondage of oppression he kept me in.
My counselor and I prayed, broke the chains of bondage, and cast the demons off my life. At the end of the final prayer, with emotions exposed and raw, when we said ‘Amen,’ I collapsed in the chair I was sitting in, hunched over my knees, heaving deep within and tears flowing out. I knew that Satan’s demons were cast off my life.
I was thinking back on my life with the struggles I faced on the inside and out and saw the huge lie I have lived for 38 years. I did not believe in the fullness of God’s Word. I told the Lord I was sorry. The thought that kept running through my life was you have wasted 38 years of your life believing a total lie. I was distraught. In this moment of grieving the loss, I felt the Lord come over me in a very subtle way and I felt His peace for the first time in my life. It was not a heavy presence but I knew He was there. Jehovah Shammah!
My grief transitioned to gratitude as I continued to pour out tears. I was speechless. It took a few minutes for me to be able to talk. I was a man of few words at that point. My counselor asked me if there was anything else I needed to deal with. I told him no. We prayed and I started out the door. I had a little money to give him for his time but he would not take it. This put me into more tears. My heart was humbled that the Lord would send such awesome people to help break the chains of bondage off my life.
I felt from that moment on I had a life like never before. I had a new birth! I was saved around the age of 13, but I was set free in September of 2014!
I see life differently these days. I thank God for the joy and peace I have. Things of the past don’t have the grip on my life as they use to.
What are the next steps? I am not sure. I am praying, seeking and trusting. This is a new life for me and I am excited about the future. Galatians 2:20 was a verse that spoke to me when I needed love. This verse blesses me and is one of my favorites. I know God loves me! I surrender my life to Him. I love Jesus so much. I have been set free!!!
God knows the heart and knows when you are ready to make a commitment. Stanley knew, and he is forever and exceedingly grateful and thankful for his new life of freedom and peace and acceptance of the new man that he is today. He wants everyone to know that they can have freedom in their lives if they will just seek the Lord first. You cannot conquer anything alone. Step by step, with the Lord’s help, nothing is impossible. You will stand in disbelief that you are actually free if you allow God to be in control. Or in reality, you will fall on your face before Him in gratitude.
Even after deliverance, self-forgiveness is a difficult thing. Stanley is forever grateful to the Lord for not giving up on him and for His unconditional love and patience with him. Since going through his counseling sessions in September, Stanley has been able to make real progress on his issues of self-acceptance. He even has a new look on his face when you see him—one that says, “I’m okay.” And he means it.