Celebrating since1976! This is my testimony:
Did you ever wonder if God has a plan for you? Sometimes, life can be challenging to understand. Some people just give up and refuse to let God have His way. But God does have a plan! His ultimate purpose for us is for our good. We can trust Him!
I was born in New Philadelphia, Ohio. My two younger sisters and I were raised going to Lutheran church religiously every Sunday with our loving parents, and we were very active in events at the church.
In 1975, I met some youth who were starting a Christian singing group. They needed a guitarist and asked if I could help. I agreed without hesitation. Having played guitar and piano for a rock and roll band for two years until it broke up, I was excited to be involved in music again.
Even though the love of music was my purpose for joining, the Lord had another plan. Before long, I began to see something special about my new friends. To them, the church was much more than a mere religious routine. They talked about Jesus as if they had a special and personal relationship with Him.
Up until then, I had been very satisfied with “my religion.” I went to church faithfully, prayed every day, read the Bible, and did enough good works (at least in my opinion). Yet even with all “my religion,” I never felt personally intimate with the Lord like my new friends in this Christian band did. Their joy and enthusiasm about Jesus was something for which I secretly began to long.
I began attending a weekly home Bible study and often went to church with them. Hearing how they prayed. I started to pray with similar words: “Jesus, be the Lord of my life.” “Come into my heart, dear Lord.” Outwardly, I probably looked just like my friends, but inside, I secretly struggled to know the Lord as they did.
On July 6, 1976, during their home Bible study, I noticed that they were all talking with great assurance that they would go to heaven when they died. That kind of talking truly surprised me. Before I could think, the question came tumbling out of my mouth:
“How do all of you know so assuredly that you are good enough to go to heaven?”
They all quickly responded by gathering around and telling me about an experience they called “salvation” or being “born again.” They explained that no one could ever be good enough to go to heaven. All of us are sinners from the day we were born. God is righteous and demands that all sin be paid for by eternal punishment in a place called the “lake of fire” or “hell.” Our sinfulness in God’s eyes is too great. There are not enough good works that anyone could ever do to be “good enough” to go to heaven.
Suddenly, my eyes were opened, and the death and resurrection of Christ became extremely personal to me. That night, before going to bed, I prayed for the first time with the understanding that I stood before God as a wretched sinner. All my religion and good works were “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6) to His holy eyes. Humility and gratitude filled my soul as I realized Christ died for my sins. Jesus died and rose again for me! I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior with a newly found faith.
At that very moment, something extraordinary took place. A quiet yet traumatic change took over my entire being. It had nothing to do with my emotions. In fact, at the time, I felt very withdrawn emotionally. What happened to me was a complete inner transformation! Suddenly, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that all my “filthy rags” of sin had been removed. Jesus had clothed me as His very own child—a sweetness filled my soul. I had been “born again” — I belonged to a new family! Heaven would be my eternal home!
From that day on, a hunger and thirst for the Lord filled my soul. Just three months later, after meeting one man of God who sacrificed much time to teach me accurately from the Scriptures, I experienced two further spiritual blessings: I obeyed the Lord in “Water Baptism” (Mat 28:18-20; Rom 6:1-14), and immediately afterward received what the Bible calls the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5-8; Acts 2:1-39), and as I came out of the water, I began speaking in “tongues” – a wonderful heavenly language of praise and prayer.
A few weeks after these blessed experiences, my sister’s boyfriend and I were jogging down a country road. It seemed like a good opportunity to tell him of my salvation experience.
“Paul,” I said, “if die right now, I know without a doubt that I’ll go to heaven to be with Jesus!”
For some reason, he became very angry with me and began to ask where I thought people of other religions would go if they died. “Do you think you’re better than everyone else?” he asked with a glare. But before I could answer, he ran on without me. He told my sister he was so upset with me that, were it not for the fact that I was her brother, he would have punched me right in the face!
Later that night, I shared the Gospel with my sister and told her how she had been born again. The Lord wonderfully touched her, and she wept and cried as she gave her life to Christ. Within just a few days, her boyfriend also gave his life to Jesus and today they are happily married and living for the Lord. Soon, my senior year of high school started. I felt God’s blessing upon my life, and all my studies seemed successful. My life’s plans continued In the same direction . . . until a dramatic event took place.
In January of 1977, Dad was diagnosed with cancer. He had gone to the hospital for tests, and they found the disease had already attacked his liver and other organs. It was traumatic for our family. The sky was clear that winter night and the ground was covered with snow. I spent that whole night walking up and down the road near our house. Life took on new meaning as I had a heart-to-heart talk with the Lord. “Dear Jesus, You alone know the number of pages in my life’s book. Maybe I only have a few days left to live? Isn’t it true that You are coming back soon? Lord Jesus, I give my life, my plans, my everything to You. I want to do Your perfect will. Please help me to yield to you!”
Words that someone once penned seemed to be engraved deeply upon my heart:
“Only one life ‘twill soon be past,
only what’s done for Christ will last.”
At that time, I did not fully understand what had taken place inside of me, but little by little, the Lord began to unfold His plan. He heard me that night as I gave my life unconditionally to Him, and He has lovingly held me to that prayer until this very day. During those first six months of my new life in the Lord, I tried to witness to my parents, but they had always seemed satisfied with their religion, just like I had been.
Nevertheless, God had a plan for them, also! While still in the hospital, Dad was visited by a Spirit-filled minister who shared the Gospel with him. He received Jesus as his Savior that day, received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and began speaking in “tongues,” praising and worshiping Jesus while taking a shower in the hospital! Praise to Jesus! Some weeks later, my mom experienced the “new birth” and received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Then, they both obeyed the Lord in Water Baptism.
For the next five months, before going to be with the Lord (June 4, 1977), Dad held weekly meetings in our home. Several members of the church they attended received Jesus as their Savior and were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Some even received healing!
The Lord tugged upon my heart more and more as each day went by. By the end of the five months, I knew that He wanted me to serve Him. The Lord called Dad to his eternal home the day before my graduation ceremony. There was much grief in our family, but we all, nevertheless, felt deep gratitude for salvation and the tremendous promise of eternal life.
During the summer of 1977, I continued seeking God for His will. Knowing the Lord had guided me in September, I joined a mission-oriented church where I began serving the Lord on the mission field.
During the next 12 years (1977–1989), I served in ministry in various churches throughout the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. I was also greatly enriched spiritually during a six-month trip that a group of us missionaries took in 1981 to India, Sri Lanka, England, and France. I have a very deep and warm appreciation for the privilege that God has given me to serve Him!
In 1988, God had another special plan for me. I met a wonderful girl named Marietta through a unique series of circumstances. Seven years earlier, she had been “born again” and knew God had called her to serve Him. I had placed several conditions before the Lord about a marriage partner and was waiting for Him to answer at the right time. Jesus had breathed faith in my heart that He would be faithful to me if I put my whole trust in Him. I knew that such a lifetime decision was something into which God alone could guide me.
August 19, 1989, was the special day on which we were united in marriage.
The following year, our first child, David Josiah, was born on July 5, 1990. Then, in 1991, God opened a door for us to pastor a new church in San Francisco, California. The following year, our daughter, Abigail, was born. Two years later, in addition to pastoring the church, we started a Christian elementary school, which, in a short time, grew to over a hundred students. During the next 12 years, my wife gave birth to three baby girls: Priscilla, Kezia, and Elizabeth.
In 2006, we moved to Houston, Texas, to work with a pastor friend of ours. We helped them establish a Christian daycare and elementary school. Then, in 2008, through a literal whirlwind of extraordinary circumstances, God led our family to move to New Philadelphia, Ohio, where we worked with the Foursquare Gospel church. After two years, we received our ministry credentials, and five years later, we were ordained as pastors.
Our goal as a married couple has always been to passionately love our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and then, out of that love, make ourselves one hundred percent available to Him to use us however He pleases in building His Church.
Ecclesiastes 4:11 tells us that “a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” The three cords our lives together, the Lordship of Jesus Christ, would be that “third” cord entwined throughout every part of our lives together, to the praise and glory of His wonderfully amazing grace!
God does have a plan for you!
Sometimes, When life seems meaningless, and even contrary, you must realize that God is still deeply concerned for you. An elderly pastor told me something that revolutionized my entire way of thinking. He told me that there is one secret that has always kept him sweet at heart, even in the hardest of times:
“Learn to take everything from the Hand of God.”
It seems like a simple solution, yet it is so impossible at times! Nevertheless, when we get bitter and resentful about life’s trials and disappointments, we’ll soon find ourselves incapable of making correct decisions. How sad it is to see someone become sour when life deals out its hardships.
One precious promise in Romans 8:28 tells us:
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.”
Isaiah 28:29 gives us another thought:
“This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts,
which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.”
Regardless of challenging circumstances that may arise, if you can say from your heart the first part of this verse:
. . . then the Lord will always be faithful to bring the blessed assurance found in the second part of the verse:
“Yes, My child, I am wonderful in counsel
and excellent in working!”
If you have never been born again – saved, forgiven, and cleansed from your sins through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, then today can be that opportunity for you! Simply believe upon the Lord with all your heart and you shall be saved!
Or perhaps you already know the Lord but are having difficulty surrendering your life to Him. Then, take this time to reflect upon God’s ultimate goodness in having provided a Savior for you. Indeed, “He who spared not his own Son” would not withhold any good thing from you! Give your life to Him unconditionally. Don’t hesitate. Do it today. You will never regret it!
