Sharing my testimony matters because it’s real—it’s not theology or theory; it’s personal. It shows people that God is still working today, that He meets us in our mess and changes lives. When I share how He changed mine, it encourages others who may feel too far gone, unseen, or unworthy. It reminds them that Christ doesn’t require perfection—only a willing heart. My story may not be flashy, but it’s authentic. And sometimes, that’s exactly what someone needs to hear to believe there’s hope for them, too.
My personal testimony of coming to Christ is more than just a story—it’s a powerful reminder of grace, transformation, and hope. It’s one of the most powerful tools that we have. Not only is it readily available to share with others but it reminds us that we are loved and that we have freedom in knowing that we have eternal life with our Creator!
The Beginning
I grew up going to First Baptist Church of Seffner. We were not overly active in church when I was young. My grandmother made sure that I attended service and Sunday school even if my parents were not going. She is most definitely one of the people that God put in my life to draw me closer to Him. I never really knew a time when I didn’t believe that God existed. It was a fact of life for me that there was a Father, Creator, Savior who ruled the universe. I gave my life to Jesus in the fifth grade. I was sincere in my surrender. I have never really doubted the existence of God. There were other struggles as I look back.
First, the church that I was a part of didn’t really have a “next step.” Your salvation was celebrated but then you just went back to showing up for Sunday school and church service. There were no opportunities to serve within the church regularly and service outside in the community was hardly spoken of. I know now that my relationship with Jesus is my own and my responsibility but some encouragement and guidance would have gone a long way.
As I grew older, I chose to surround myself with a crowd that was less than godly. My church attendance stopped. I became involved in things that kept me from growing closer to God. I actually moved much farther away, very rapidly. My life did not look like a follower of Christ. It was very much ”of the world.” I was not someone that you would see on the evening news, but my life revolved around worldly things and that continued on through my early adult life.
Big Changes Ahead
Fast forward to my late 20s, I am now married with two kids. My job has moved me from Florida to Charleston, SC. I loved the company that I worked for, and they valued my talents and abilities. They allowed me to do what I loved to do: build teams and organizations. Then the recession came, and there were some disagreements between ownership and the managing staff, and we soon found ourselves facing an organized shutdown. The next six months would be a series of pay cuts and demotions for me until I got the termination notice in November of 2008. The company that had “valued” me and the things that I had built, now cast me aside. I had placed my identity into the things that I had built, and that was all gone.
What seemed like a disaster actually became one of the best things to ever happen to me! We had been attending Seacoast Church. When we first started attending, I was not really interested in getting connected. We attended mainly because my kids really liked going. Angela liked it and was getting involved in events and activities. My kids had friends and would talk constantly about the Bible stories they were learning. I was indifferent until New Year’s Day in 2009. One of the teaching pastors preached a sermon on essentials, convictions, and preferences. It also included a recap video of what God had done through the church the prior year. As I sat in our normal seats, I had an encounter with the Living God. He really had something to say to me. He wanted me to get over myself, first and foremost. The church that we are a part of does not have to look exactly as I want it to look. He had drawn us to a church that was active in growing His Kingdom and serving the people of the community. It was set up the way He wanted it to be, and that was most important.
Finally, Owning My Faith
It didn’t happen overnight, but I slowly started to get involved. I started attending some of the events and service days that Seacoast organized. I started reading my Bible regularly for the first time ever. My prayer life slowly began to form. Then, one day, a guy named Skip approached me and said that he was starting a men’s Bible study on Thursday nights and that I should join. I was very hesitant because this required some commitment. After some gentle prodding from Angela, I reluctantly agreed to attend. I didn’t have anything else to do because I was still unemployed (I had been unemployed for seven months at this point).
I attended weekly and really started to see growth in myself spiritually, emotionally, and in the way that I interacted with my family. This was the first time I realized community plays a huge role in our growth. These guys became some of my closest friends. I had never valued community. I had never really valued friendships. This was new territory for me. My new friends pushed me to get more involved not just in church events but in my own relationship with Jesus. For the first time in my life, I began to understand that I had a personal relationship with the One who died for me on that cross.
Months went by, and I had now moved God to the top of my priority list. Not only had He changed my life after all those years of ignoring Him, but He was sustaining us financially through ways that only He could dream up. I was still unemployed, and we are now on month 14 of my unemployment. I was desperately trying to find a job and doing small side jobs, but He wasn’t ready for me to be regularly employed yet. He had more work to do in me. One of our pastors, Larry, came to me and asked me to lead and build a men’s ministry. He also discipled me along the process. Here was my chance to build something that would have significance in the Kingdom. I gladly accepted, and off to work we went. This time, building something was different. This time, it was to serve God. The other times in my life, it was to serve me.
At month 18 of my unemployment, I was offered two jobs on the same day. One was a corporate job at John Deere, with no actual responsibilities, hourly pay, and very low money. The other was my dream job, working at a consulting firm, helping to build large corporations into larger and more profitable corporations. With my dream job and a salary three times the money of the corporate job, the choice was easy…
I chose John Deere because the consulting firm would require me to travel weekly and be away from my family, as well as because of the new responsibilities that God had given me with the ministry. I’m really not convinced that God tests us. He already knows what choice we will make. It’s not a surprise. However, I do believe God gives us choices that, chosen correctly, will allow us to look back and see the impact that our choices make. The impacts may be to us and/or the people around us.
To wrap up the story, I worked at John Deere for a few years, and the low responsibility and 40-hour week maximum allowed me to continue with the ministry that God had entrusted me with. When the time was right, God gave me the opportunity that I had never dreamed of: Seacoast offered me a job in ministry. I never had any idea that I would go into full-time vocational ministry.
I went from a young kid who accepted Christ as my Savior to a 30-something-year-old man who God called to serve Him in a capacity in which I was totally out of my element. Either my spiritual journey had a very long “infancy” stage, or I wasn’t truly saved until my late 20s. I am really not sure of the answer, and it truly doesn’t matter at this point. What does matter is that I have a story of hope and grace that I can use to encourage others.
