My Story
Sunday school, training union, RA’s, Royal Ambassador motto, The Christian flag pledge, summer camps, VBS, revival’s, business meetings;……..you see the pattern. I made a profession of faith at the age of ten, in my bedroom, while listening to a “We Three Kings” album that had been purchased during a three-day revival that they had previously conducted. I anxiously waited for my Dad to finish his shower that night so I could share with him the news of my salvation. He came out of the bathroom and I looked up at him and told him what had just happened. He smiled, gave me a big hug, and said “One down, two to go!!!” Remember I had sisters!!!! And this pattern of life continued through Junior High, High School and into College.
I accepted a job with Brown & Root straight out of college and off to the big city of Houston I went. Moving from a town of twenty-five hundred (which now had an official red light) and landing in Houston was like moving to the other side of the world. God has blessed the career, but there were stretches that I could sort of relate to the prodigal son. Maybe not to the same degree, but surely recognize the attitude that was prevalent in that Bible story. At around the age of thirty, God orchestrated things in my life to get my attention as only He could. He always speaks the language that is specific to each one of us, and that language pierced my heart.
My plan was to seek out a good Baptist Church, reengage if you will and continue in the Christian path that had been instilled in me from my youth. I ended up at New Creation Fellowship, yes it was one of those!! One of those meaning, any church that did not have First, Second, Central or Missionary in front of the word Baptist. New Creation was a non-denominational, charismatic, spirit-filled church. I was only trying to reconnect with a friend, but still, remember that “sinking” feeling in my stomach when I pulled into the parking lot and could hear the praise team warming up!!! That friend and I reconnected, But God had different plans for me that I had not anticipated. That plan was not easily accepted, and yes it took many a night wrestling with God to accept this journey, but in the end, He is sovereign. I have often wondered what my future would have been if I had just said not today Lord, this is not my thing. Leaving that parking lot and refusing God’s new path that He had begun to lay out in front of me; clinging to the familiar instead of trusting God? I met my wife Amber at that church, we now have three grown children AND God continues to work out this journey in us together. We recently celebrated twenty-seven years of marriage, and God has so richly blessed us. I look back on this journey and see so many things that God has added despite my initial and sometimes hesitant reluctance. I am very thankful for the strong Biblical foundation that the Southern Baptist provided, grateful for the countless hours of Sunday School and Training Union and being gut-level honest that foundation has built a certain steadfast stability when the Charismatic flakiness would show itself.
Those moments of flakiness were rare, due to sound leadership who had great spiritual discernment, and that being combined with fresh teachings that the Holy Spirit had deposited in me. It seems to me at that time I was being retooled, refined, maybe even being redirected into an unexpected spiritual destiny. Learning to be more Spirit directed, empowered and developing the giftings that were in me, placed by God. The Bible became the living book that it is to be to all of us. I remember thinking even the children’s Bible stories that we grew up with became powerful. This spiritual transition was an exciting and confusing time for me, and only next to my initial salvation experience, being baptized in the Holy Spirit was the second greatest thing that had come into my life to date at that time. A FOREVER GAME CHANGER in this spiritual journey. The words Anointed, empowered became things in my life that were no longer things that you read about in the Bible, they began to manifest at GOD’S timing in my life as just being common in this new walk. While some of these things that I speak of were years ago, they are just as fresh, ever evolving as The Spirit continues to direct today in my life.
My wife and I and my youngest son Jonah currently attend Grace Community Fellowship (GCF West) in Katy, Tx. We have been members there for just over three years. That change of direction was another one of those unforeseen transitions in our life, but can I just say one of the most transformative moves we have ever made. God always has our best interest at heart, despite what our personal preferences are, always moving us to the next season, proper location, and surrounding us with the right people; He simply Loves us that much!! He just asked for our obedience in return. My personal mission statement is as follows, and all things I feel God is asking me to do, are measured by this heartbeat.
To encourage others in the ways of the Holy Spirit, to demonstrate by example the gifting's, the empowerment that only the Holy Spirit can bring. To bring the understanding of the scriptures to the believer that desires to be connected to their spiritual destiny. This requires a life of submission, humility, prayer, and study. 1st Corinthians 2:1-5.
In closing, my writing or teaching style is infused with everything that has shaped my spiritual life to this point. My parents, my pastors, my teachers, and my elders. Fellow believers and fellow friends…but none more than The Holy Spirit. Learning to follow His promptings, taking the risk of embarrassment and possible shame when you do not fully understand. Knowing that He speaks nothing to you that does not lead directly to Christ, is under Christ authority, or reflects the image Christ. That is an entire teaching series to itself but can be simplified to reflect a powerful life that is humble and submissive before God. My heartbeat is a mix of fundamental yet Spirit-infused, to bring transformation and God's power into any situation. If these teachings cross with your theology, it is not intended to cause contention or strife. It is just this man’s journey being shared through the pen to hopefully bring light into a dark situation, heart or circumstance.
We each have our own journey, let us share those experiences together!!!
1 Cor 2:4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of
human wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and power of God.