My Testimony
This is the story of how I became a Christian.
I have been going to church with my mom since I was young, but it didn't become much of a part of my life until I began to participate in a youth group at Oviedo (now Metro) Church of Christ as a teen-ager.  At that time, there were three men leading the youth, Tim Hines (the official youth minister) and two assistants which I'm not sure if they were volunteering or official church staff.  In our Sunday morning Bible study class, I would ask all sorts of questions to Terry Reeves (one of the assistants) who was teaching it, hoping perhaps to stump him or maybe just to satisfy my skepticism.

Well, one by one my friends began to get baptized, with everyone else celebrating the occurrence.  Then, between my questions being answered satisfactorily, wanting to join the baptism trend, and (believe it or not) hoping it would make my life easier, I went ahead and took the plunge into Christianity by getting baptized in my mom's pool.  I didn't get a certificate and I don't even remember the date except that I was 19 years old(?).  Needless to say life didn't get any easier, and after everyone who was important to me started leaving the church to go to college, or to another church in the case of the leaders, I stopped going too.  During this hiatus, having most of my friends scattered about the country, I spent a lot of time by myself, sometimes just thinking.

In a philosophy class at Valencia Community College, I read the most convincing argument against religion I have ever seen or heard of.  It was written by Bertrand Russell and titled 'What is the Soul?'.  The more I thought about it though, the more I disagreed with him and Atheism.  For more information on why, see my page on Ok, but why God?

Eventually, I decided that I did believe in God and that I wanted to find another church to call home.  So I took my 10 year old brother with me from church to church, basing my decision on a democratic vote of both him and myself.  If we didn't both like it, we'd try another one the next week.  We finally ended up at Northland Community Church, where pastor Joel Hunter captivated us both with his dynamic sermons.  Focusing on the personal relationship with God, instead of just the the mental acknowledgement and understanding of Him, it is there that my spiritual life began to grow a little more, slowly, until a girl whom I had a crush on helped to change my outlook completely...

A fellow church member, she agreed to go out with me on occasion but refused to establish a relationship with me.  Why?  Because of my spiritual immaturity.  At first it sounds kind of ridiculous, considering that I believed in God and was going to church, but I was still self-centered and shallow and apparently it was obvious.  I realized then that Christian girls aren't just concerned with being protected and provided for physically and financially, but also, and more importantly, spiritually.  It's not good enough just to be a Christian, but I needed to step up to the role of a Christian leader for my future family.  Not to just believe in God, but to grow, lead, and inspire my wife and kids regarding my relationship with Him.

Well, it never did work out with her, but in hindsight I thank God that it didn't.  I'm sure she'll make a great wife for someone, but she sure couldn't hold a candle (I never did understand that phrase though) to Amanda.

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