That
is a great question, the short answer is that I am a sinner saved by the
gracious saving blood of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The follow up
question to this would be: how did you end up where you are?
In
childhood Sunday school classes, I can remember being taught that Jesus was
different because he was the only man who never sinned. Well, my thought as a “good kid” was that I
would be the second. Then the death of my older brother led me to ponder
life. When I was six, my eight-year-old
brother passed away from a genetic bone marrow disorder. Coming from a family with a mother that found
her identity and comfort in Christ, I was led to understand that Ike, my
brother, was now in heaven because he accepted Christ as his savior. I did not fully grasp this concept at the
time, but God used it in my life to lead me to see the need that I had for Him
to be my savior. It was not until almost
two years after my brother passed away that I understood that I was included
in Romans 3:23 which states that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of
God,” and that Romans 6:23 applied to me when it says, “the wages of sin is
death” meaning that I deserved death and the kind of death that meant I would
spend eternity in hell.
So,
finally understanding that I myself had failed in my attempt to be the second
man to live a sinless life (which was a sin in and of itself), I knew that I
was in need of a savior. God used my
mother’s instruction alongside years of Sunday school classes and children’s
programs at our church to let me know that the rest of Romans 6:23 was also
true, “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I knew that this meant that I had to have
what Romans 3:25 refers to as “faith in his blood.” God brought me to the understanding that out
of his grace he gave me a gift, a free pass from his wrath, which was through
his son Jesus Christ paying the penalty for my sins. I placed my faith in the truth of that offer. During an invitation offered by my pastor
during vacation bible school followed by believer’s baptism, I made my faith in
Christ public.
I can really identify with C.S.
Lewis when he says, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our
conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”[1] Just as my original curiosity and questioning
about the gospel arose out of the pain of losing my older brother, God
developed my life and my closeness to Him through further painful times. Through the pain of my parents divorce, God
showed me what it meant to have a perfect Father in heaven in contrast to my
earthly father. Through several moves
during my school years I learned what it meant to walk with God because I did
not have any other friends to walk with.
I also learned how God provides as he did bless me with good friendships
with other people that love him.
In the shadow of my parents’
separation and the subsequent move during the middle of high school, I found
myself in the most miserable state of my life.
I was very discontent and unhappy.
God brought me to understand my lack of joy, being due to a major block
in our relationship. Prior to this time,
I treated God as the Lord of my life, meaning that whatever he said went. Well, under the pressure of the pain, I
decided that doing things God’s way was not working out the way I wanted it to,
so I was going to go my own way and gear my life toward making a lot of
money. God has gifted me with a good
brain and I always excelled in school, so I concluded that I could be a doctor
and make a lot of money. God brought me
to a point that I had to say, “Lord, I cannot take this feeling in life
anymore. I want my relationship back right
with you. What do you want?” I felt the Lord leading me that the thing that
our relationship lacked was my following him in my future plans, and that his
plan for me was for me to follow him in ministry to others through the
pastorate. Submission to the Lord’s will
and plan has led to peace and joy in my life.
The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful
education. I have a BA degree in
Christian Ethics and Computer Science from Union University and my Masters of
Divinity in Pastoral Studies from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I was blessed to serve First
Bible Church in Decatur, AL for seven years as the Pastor to Students, and I
have recently taken a new position as the Campus Pastor for our new campus that
we are starting in Madison, AL. Also, in
March of 2013 I married my beautiful, lovely wife who loves the Lord and is my
partner in life and ministry, Brittany Campbell. Brittany is a nurse and loves to show the love
of the Lord to patients she cares for.
