Several folks that I come in contact with on a daily basis have been asking questions about My God, church, salvation and everything in between. I have invited them to visit with us at Eastaboga and I have invited them to get involved on this blog.
Paul told us that when we speak we are to talk about "what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." I am going to ask that some of you as you feel led to post the story of how you came to know Jesus, how God has been moving in your life lately or just an encouraging word for those that might stumble across our humble little corner of the world wide web.
God truly is at work at Eastaboga Baptist Church. I am encouraged every time I see and talk with each one of you whether it be at church or somewhere else. Please share some of that encouragement with us. If you get time in the next few days share what God has done and continues to do in your life. This is an exciting topic and I am excited about hearing some of your stories.
4 comments:
OK – I’ll start it off…
My story starts when I was a kid. I grew up in church. Bemiston Baptist to be exact. I can remember my mother taking me to Kids Praise on Wednesday nights. What a great time in my life! Mrs. Ray (my Kids Praise leader), if by some chance you ever come across this story please let me say thank you from the bottom of my heart for playing a big part in my wonderful childhood and for starting me on the magnificent journey in search of the glory and mysteries of a Great and Wonderful God. It was then that I first responded to the Saving Grace of Calvary’s Cross. I was in the third grade and Steve McRay was the pastor, he baptized me, I was 10. I saved by God’s Grace at that time but I didn’t always live like it. I don’t know what you would call it but I spent a little time walking down that “wide path” to destruction. If you ever bump into someone that I went to high school with I am sure that they wouldn’t describe me as a “Bible Toter”.
Fast forward about 8 years to my freshman year of college at Troy State University.
Before I actually showed up on campus I was being recruited by several different fraternal organizations including Bluto Blutarsky’s group of misfits. I met a guy by the name of Thomas Winborn at the Delta Chi house through a buddy that I was coaching football with at Charles Henderson High School in Troy at the time. Thomas recruited or rushed me hard and over the next few weeks we partied like rock stars, heck they had their own “Otter” (literally) so it had to be the place for me, Right? Very soon after that I was presented with what they called a bid and asked to join the fraternity as a pledge. What could I say? Don’t answer that.
For those of you that have not seen the movie Animal House I will apologize for the crude references and would not recommend you watching it as it will just drain about 109 minutes out of your life. For the rest of you, well you get the picture now don’t you?
For the next two years I drank and partied hard. I cannot tell you that this was a complete waste of my time there because I met folks that I am still friends with to this day that live completely different lives also. In fact Thomas Winborn is now a warrior for Christ as a youth minister at the First Baptist Church in Enterprise, AL. The whole time that I was doing this I knew that the way I was living wasn’t right but I just kept going. Remember “wide is the path that leads to destruction.” Well, I self destructed and I mean big time. To save time I will just tell you that I found myself in some hot water that I wasn’t going to get out of easily unless some major things changed in my life. A friend of mine that happened to be a respected member of the academic staff at Troy State helped me stave off any legal troubles. The Good Lord was shaking me but at this point but I still didn’t recognize it.
So as I’m leaving Dr. Jeffries’ office, Dr. Jeffries’ is the fellow that helped me get out of trouble….So I’m leaving Dr. Jeffries’ office and who do I bump into???? Thomas Winborn! Thomas had heard all about the stuff that I was dealing with and wanted to offer a little friendly advice. It just so happened that my fraternity had been planning a ski trip for about 1 month that I had not intended on going to. Thomas said that he knew some “hotties” (actually they were drug heads, sorry girls if you read this but at the time you were druggies. I hope things have changed now) from Auburn that wanted to go with us and that I should go. “It will be fun” he said. So we get packed up and head out on AL HWY 29 east toward Auburn, AL to pick up Thomas’ girls. Let’s just say that they were not exactly what I was expecting to see but I made up my mind that I was going to have a good time anyways. After all it had been a rough week and “I deserved to have a little fun”.
Have you ever been to Gatlingburg, TN during the wintertime? They have HUGE youth conferences up there. In fact it’s hard to go into a store, restaurant or hotel lobby up there during that time that you won’t bump into a youth group.
This was our plan: arrive on Friday evening and drink. Get up on Saturday morning and ski. Come back to the room on Saturday night and drink some more. Get up on Sunday morning, if we went to sleep and drive home. This was going to be real fun….
So after skiing all day on Saturday we were all drinking beer back at the hotel on Saturday night…… Now this really was a strange situation because every room at the hotel was full of youth groups attending these conferences and then there we are….drinking, hollering, partying and just not being very conducive to the prayer group in the room next door to us. I have to admit to you that I was d-r-u-n-k drunk at that time when all of a sudden one of the girls that is on the trip with us says “hey, let’s go offer the ‘Christians’ a beer!” All of a sudden I’m not drunk any more! This hit me like a bolt of lightning and God said to me just as clear as day….”well, which side do you want to be on?” I put my drink down and quietly went to my room where I stayed until we left on Sunday morning. I promised God that if he would just get me back to Troy in one piece I would change my life and I did.
It wasn’t the easiest thing that I’ve ever done but within two week’s after coming home from that trip I had officially become an inactive member of Delta Chi fraternity. The only problem with that was that they were the only friends that I had at Troy. God changed that pretty quickly. The day after I went inactive I found myself telling this story to a stranger that I had a class with named Jeff Hague. Jeff invited me to Campus Outreach and to the BCM. From then until the time I left Troy I stayed involved at the BCM and Campus Outreach. I met friends that I am still close to today. I have been involved in various ministries at several different churches since coming home from college including youth groups and music ministries but I am so glad to say that my family now calls Eastaboga Baptist Church home. We have only been here for a short time but I can already see growth within my family and I look forward to what God is going to do in the future. There is actually a lot more that goes with this story and I would be more than happy to sit down and discuss it over a cup of coffee any time…....
Ooh, ooh, me next!!!!...I just plain ol' grew up pagan. No affilitation to church, well my grandmother was (still is) a member of the tiny lifeless Methodist church back home and I was a CEO there. CEO = Christmas and Easter only member! And even then I don't actually remember anything other than going with her sometimes. Anyway, I was the typical guy from small town Alabama...(I guess we all know what life is like as a redneck teen boy) So at the ripe old age of 20 I met my future wife. We had a first date on Friday, Sept 8 1994 (high school football game between the schools we attended). I thought things went pretty well, well enough that she asked me to go to church with her that Sunday. Of course I'd go, it was just another date to me. So we go and meet up with her mom a few rows from the front. I hadn't met her parents yet, so I suppose it didn't seem weird to me that her dad wasn't there. Oh, but was he ever there!!!--behind the pulpit!!! Yeah, he's a preacher! So time rocks on and we start talking marriage, I proposed, and she declined! What???? Something about "unequally yoked", etc. Honestly, I was already feeling the pull of conviction during invitations at church, so I truly say that when I walked to the altar in early 1995 my motive wasn't so Kristi would marry me, although I reckon that was a nice side benefit! I just went forward because I didn't want to go hell. There was no recognition of my sinfulness, no repentance. Well, for time's sake let's just say I lived the life of a casual Sunday morning church goer for about 7 years. My dubious salvation finally got the best of me one Sunday when I heard our minister of music say "he'd rather be saved twice than lost once" while sharing his similar testimony. By this time I had enough Bible knowledge to have a clear understanding of my sin, God's holiness, and the correct corresponding motive for my plea to God for salvation. Since that day my life is marked by outwardly visible sanctification (growth, fruit, "set apartedness") and the undeniable presence of the Holy Spirit living within me--I am truly regenerate!!!!!!! Praise my Lord!!!
I’ll go next……
I’m one of those guys that has been in church all my life. My parents were attending Chandler Springs Baptist Church (on the Clay/Talladega county line) before I was born and are still actively involved there today. It’s a small country church where everybody knows everybody, where they live, their grandma’s name, and probably even their dog’s name. I’ve seen the church go through several different preachers and a lot of different things over the past 20 years. I have many fond memories of growing up in that church and a lot of things that I’m very thankful for. The biggest thing is that my wife was saved in that church, while we were dating, under Bro. Brian Camp’s ministry.
I remember one Sunday night, sitting on the end of the isle about ¾ of the way back, Bro. Walter Coleman was preaching about sin and the consequences of sin. Even though I was a young teenager I was old enough to know that he was talking to me……I knew I was a sinner and that I need to do something about it. The Holy Spirit was pulling at my arm to make a decision for the Lord. I remember getting up out of my seat and heading toward the alter…..it felt like a load was lifted off my shoulders…..almost like I was floating. Since that day my life has been changed…..I’m not saying It’s always been perfect but I am saying that I have felt God’s presence in my life. Even during my time at Auburn, when I was tempted with so many worldly things, the Holy Spirit was right there convicting me, reminding me to seek him.
After graduating from Auburn in the fall of 2003, my wife and I moved to Riverside and began looking for a local church……. and boy did we find one…..we first visited Eastaboga in the Spring of 2004 and have been worshipping there ever since. We love it….
I’m so thankful to see how the Lord has blessed my life and my family since we’ve been at Eastaboga. It is truly a great place to belong and I’m excited to see what God has in store for our future.
Ben,
I spent a WHOLE lot of time in Chandler Springs as a kid. In fact Bro. Rodney's parents live in the house that my grandmother grew up in and the house that my great grandmother lived in when I was a youngin'. World's smaller than we think huh?
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