Our Story

The Whole Truth is the family ministry of Martin and Stephanie Fassero. We would like to share how it came to be, and the wonderful works the Lord God Jesus Christ has done in our lives.

The year 1993 found us pursuing and achieving the typical goals of middle class America. We were completing the building of our dream house, had a wonderful toddler, nice cars and clothes, and Martin had just been made a partner in the largest commercial real estate company in our state. As the preacher relates in Ecclesiastes, we were grasping for fulfillment in all the typical areas, believing the false promises of the world, yet always watching them slowly seep out of our cup.

On October 31, 1993, while routinely sitting through a worship service in a neighborhood church, we were challenged and changed. While giving a sermon about the experience of Elijah with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, the minister explained that there are only two groups in the world: those in the family of Light and those in the family of darkness. He boldly charged his listeners to “get off the fence”—either worship God with everything you have and put Him in charge of every area of your life, or quit calling yourself a Christian, go your own way and run your own life. For two people practicing a life of living in the gray area, getting as much as we could any way possible as long as we didn’t get caught or do something “too bad,” this really struck a nerve. At the end of the service Martin turned to Stephanie and said, “I’m going up there to talk to him.” She had already decided the same thing and emphatically asked, “May I come with you?” Neither of us recalls the exact words we prayed that day, and it doesn’t matter, but we confessed our sinfulness and asked God to be in charge of our lives and to send His Spirit to live within us.

Shortly thereafter, we began to notice changes within ourselves. Things which were so highly valued and enjoyed before lost their attraction. Things which were unimportant to us in the past (like God’s perspective, morals and even people!) became intensely important. We had an unquenchable thirst for the Word of God and continue to be in awe of the Scriptures. As young Christians, our primary source of discipleship was from our church library and Christian radio programs. Obviously, this left some gaping holes we were seeking to have filled. Martin had had many years of secular academia and struggled with the idea of additional schooling. In just months, the Lord subtly changed our spirits and, like Abraham, drew us out from the land of our families and from the “security” we trusted in, and transplanted us to a “foreign” land two thousand miles away for a two-year Bible program. We often referred to it as our wilderness experience, like Moses on the backside of the desert. God changed our lifestyles to match our new Spirit and continues to challenge us in new ways, as we are willing to follow His leading for our family. We worship Him, not His principles. Occasionally, we find ourselves starting to get comfortable where we are and ask, “God, please show us an area of your Truth we have not known before.” There is nothing new under the sun, and the things of God are timeless, but He leads us step by step and is kind enough not to dump all of it on us at once. Jesus told His disciples, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.”—John 16:12. Sometimes these are hard changes, but just because something is difficult does not mean it is not God’s will. Usually, it is just the opposite! If He had told us back in 1993 what He had in store for us, we would likely have run the opposite way—and missed a multitude of blessings!

As we made changes in our lifestyle (child discipline and training, home schooling, healthy eating, natural health care, trusting the Lord to be in charge of our family size, our perspective on missions and more), other Christians observed us and frequently came to “pick our brains” on why and how we were living as we were. We were asked to speak on various topics by various people in various settings. We are always humbled on these occasions, but also rejoice to see other Christians who feel God convicting them to explore and implement these ideas or variations of these same principles. No two families are just alike and God does not want “cookie-cutter Christians.” He wants us to seek His guidance in every area of our lives and to implement practices that point to His absolute Truth. We hope and pray that the life of our family does that, while not perfectly, at least consistently.

Our ministry grew quite busy between 1997 and 2000. About this time we began to feel a call toward a pastoral role. For three years Martin served as the pastor of a small church in the country, where we learned and grew and touched some lives as well. We are so thankful to have had this opportunity. After resigning from this church, the Lord led us to put our focus back into His work with The Whole Truth and we are excited to see what He has in store for us next. The past years have given Martin an opportunity to consistently teach through many books of the Bible. The recordings of these teachings have been digitally remastered in an mp3 format, giving us the ability to put over twenty-five hours of Bible teaching on a single CD. Click here to learn more about this project.  Our vision is to make these teachings available to those who are starving for Biblical food. This vision includes making these mp3s available to the many English-speaking missionaries (even native missionaries) throughout the world who want additional training. With two CDs or a simple download, they would be set for a long while (and could study confidentially, as is necessary in many parts of the world!). We appreciate your prayers for our family and ministry as we seek the Lord’s guidance. Following the Lord is a great adventure. He always does exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think!