This is my story.

My journey to salvation and my call to ministry is not the normal experience compared to many of my friends and associates in ministry. I grew up in the Bible belt in a suburb of Nashville, TN. Even though we lived in the Bible belt my family did not attend church and were not saved. My mother and father both used drugs openly and partied continuously. My mother was also an alcoholic who drank every single day. The only times we went to church as a family were Easter and when my parents were on the brink of divorce. When I was six years old my father and I both got saved and baptized at the same time. There was no life change in my father but there seemed to be a seed planted within my soul.

My parents divorced when I was 12 years old and I made the decision to live with my dad. My father and I lived by ourselves for about a year until he received custody of my younger brother and sister as well. At the age of 14 my father remarried and I gained a stepmother and two stepsisters who were also not saved. It was during this time that a friend invited to me to his church youth group. I started attending and met Jesus. It seemed out of all the church kids that I was the one that really wanted more of Jesus.

It was during this season that I had thoughts and urges to share God’s love, teach His Word, and lead His people. I did not know what this meant and did not tell anyone until a friend’s mom asked me if I had been called to ministry. I remember my jaw hitting the floor. When she explained what being called meant I realized that was what was happening in my spirit.

Once I publically pronounced that I was called I quickly came under attack. I had lots of questions about the Bible that the church leaders could not answer and told me that we just were not supposed to know nor could we understand. I began to nd answers in secular books. The nal straw was a church political mess where I was directly a ected. I then stopped going to church and later became an atheist.

As an atheist my values and morals lined up with my beliefs. I graduated high school and joined the United States Air Force hoping to start afresh. My morals and beliefs had not changed so my life stayed the same. I began studying creation and science to come to a place of agnosticism. I then studied multiple world religions thinking that one had to be true and that Christianity was my only influence based on my geographical upbringing. I studied Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, and more. I finally came to a place where I believed there was a Creator but we could not know that creator nor explain it.

A few years had passed and I had gotten married to an amazing woman who loved Jesus. She did not understand my beliefs but did not force hers on me. One night as I was working I had a vision of me preaching in my hometown. I had no desire to preach for I didn’t even believe in God. I then heard an inaudible voice say the words, “Messianic Prophecy.” For six hours I heard those words. I went home and Googled “Messianic Prophecy” and saw where God had given me all of the proof I would ever need in regards to His existence and His son thousands of years before He even came to earth. I then asked for God’s forgiveness and thanked Him for accepting me even though I had totally turned my back on Him and shunned Him.