I am the son of a salesman from a small town in East Texas, Ken, and a banker from a slightly larger small town in East Texas, Catherine. I grew up in a nominally Christian home (Christmas & Easter kind of people) until my dad rededicated his life to Christ while I was in middle school. From 7th grade to 11th grade, I attended church, Sunday school, youth group, and other lame Christian gatherings. Sorry, I wasn’t super clear… I hated going to church. You could say I was a druggy. (drug to church all the time, and the other meaning works as well).
I will never forget the information meeting for the mission trip my dad made me attend. The youth pastor starts off his speech and says, “we are going to East Texas to sleep on the floor of a church, shower at a middle school, and do manual labor; it’s going to cost $400.00” That’s the dumbest thing I have eaver heard of, I thought, well I might have said that out loud.
After a week of manual labor on the home of a woman sent by God into my life, I had a Damascus road moment; I was struck by how spiritually rich this woman is living in poverty, and how poor I am living in so much wealth. After years of resisting, ignoring sermons, mumbling creeds, I gave my life to Jesus. Ironically, my parents had worked diligently not to raise me in East Texas, but that Thursday night in that little church, I came to life for the second time.
Tell Your Story