Spiritual Formation Autobiography Although I was technically not born into a Christian family, my parents were saved when I was just age 3 and dedicated their lives to fulltime ministry. At age five I moved with my family to Knoxville, Tennessee to live and serve as missionaries on a church camp. We remained there for a short time before my father heard the call to become a pastor. We moved to Texas where my dad then graduated from seminary. The first church he pastored was where I accepted Christ as my savior and was baptized at age eight. Although this happened at a young age, I know that Jesus saved me and began to work in my life from that point on. In the middle of my third grade year we moved to Grand Prairie, Texas where my dad pastored a church for the next five years. Here I spent my time serving in the nursery and attending every youth event possible. This was home and it was where I believed I was closest to Jesus. However, God began to test my faith in ways I would have never expected. In February of my eighth grade year, a dear friend of mine passed away in a tragic car accident. He was the first friend I made in youth group and his death definitely took a toll on the church. Shortly after, my father stepped down from his position as pastor, claiming to be mentally unstable to lead a church. A few weeks later my mother served him with divorce papers. Within a matter of months, life changed drastically. I had experienced the loss of a friend and the loss of a complete family and was left with brokenness. When I should have been angry at God the most, he showed me how faithful he was. Jesus was my only hope and stability during this time. Instead of running away from him, he drew me unto himself and gave me joy. Jesus ... ... middle of paper ... ...what form of ministry I am called to, I do know that I am called and that there is nothing else in this world that I would rather do. I have a lot of maturing to do spiritually and academically but I could not be more excited to see how God leads me. One of my favorite quotes that sums up my excitement in knowing that Christ will continue to work in my life is from Mark Driscoll, “You are not yet who you will be, so keep repenting. But by God’s grace you are not who you were so keep rejoicing.” Although I do not know what is ahead of me, I know that God has a plan and a purpose for me and he is continuing to work in my life daily. My goal for this semester is to be more aware of his presence around me and trust him to guide me through each day. I want to be challenged not only academically, but spiritually so that I may be equipped to do whatever he calls me to do.
I spent every spring and summer in middle school doing mission work and community service. I loved the opportunity that it gave me to build relationships and share my beliefs with people I didn’t know. Little did I know that this would pave the way for a life-changing experience that I would encounter one day. Each spring my church would host a missionary event called “The Ignite Project.” I felt an urge to join the group, recognizing that it was a calling to profess my faith in Jesus. These mission trips helped me to go out
The Spirit hasn’t revealed the entire picture yet, but I know pursuing a Master of Arts in Ministry Studies, with an emphasis on Youth/Family is the correct path. In the future, I will be participating in the ministry full-time by either pastoring a church or working with adolescents in an Urban Youth Ministry. I have been chosen to serve as a Christian warrior carrying out God’s will in the trenches. My focus is to work with the “outcasts”, the ones who are very lost that most have given up on. I am committed to serving God, family, Christian brothers and sisters, and the
After seeing though the eyes of my pastor I’ve come to realize the importance of faith and committing to one’s beliefs. Returning to church after two massive losses has helped my mother in many ways and it has also taught me as a young man how small things that I could do would turn to have a big impact on someone’s life the same way my pastor impacted my life and the life of my siblings.
The seed of Christ was planted for me years ago. I did what I thought every typical Christian should be doing. I went to church and volunteered my time every chance I got. I home schooled my children and taught them the ways of God as I understood them. I had dinner prepared for my husband every night and made him lunch every day. However, on the inside I was hurting and miserable. Little did I know I was just escaping time while my sinful...
I was born on a Thursday in January and as soon as I was able, about a week and a half later, I was in church. That is where my spiritual knowledge started. That goes a bit too far back though to make this a two page paper. My actual individual walk with Jesus started much later. As I said, I grew up in the church and I appreciate that fact. All of my life I had heard about Jesus and the commitment that should be made toward Him and I stalled. For thirteen years I stalled in that commitment. When I was twelve years old, a good friend of mine, who was my age and the first person my dad baptized at our new church, was shot and died instantly. This affected me deeply. I still had the idea that there was no chance I would be done with life soon. His death really brought me into the realization that my time to see Jesus could be anytime and almost to the year anniversary of his death I was baptized. My best friend had come to visit us for Easter and she stayed up and talked with me until very late at night and stayed near me until that Sunday at church. It was very encouraging to me having most of my loved ones there and my dad baptized me that Easter Sunday.
Church was of utmost priorty until my parents separated when I was ten years old. My mother went from being a stay home mom to working full-time unfortunately attending church fell by the waitside. My best friend’s family, who were also my neighbors, ran a Christian church and she extended an invitation to my family. With the permission of my mother I commenced attending her church routintely and I absolutely loved it. The message that was delivered every time I attended was passionate, moving and provided me with a sense of fulfillment. Attending church help fill the void that was left when my parents separated. My mother has struggled with a mental illness for many years. After the separation from my father, she became angry and sometimes hostile. She eventually isolated herself and my siblings from all of our extended family. My mother’s mental illness made my childhood challenging but I grew to understand that she was battling some issues that were more than she could handle on her own. Regardless, I never questioned her love for me. Instead I prayed for her and I prayed for the strength to overcome any obstecles presented to my family and I. I am confident to say that between the trials and tribulations in my life lied a hidden purpose. I was built to endure and conquer obstacles that would mold me into the strong individual I am today. My experinces can allow me to use my strengths to help mend those that are broken. Becoming a
Religion and faith have been a part of my life since the day I was born. My grandfather has been a pastor at Selma Church of God for 39 years and my mom, along with my grandmother and aunts, run our churches worship team. One could only assume, I have spent much of my life in the church. From years of children 's church and Sunday school, I learned of God 's unconditional love for me and His constant willingness to forgive me of my sins. My family and teachers explained the crucifixion and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. As a child, I knew all these things, these wonderful things about my God and my religion, but it was not until my early teens that I began to thirst for more.
I remember when I accepted calling from the Lord when I was seventeen. As John Bunyan would describe in his writings, Christian life is like a pilgrimage. Though the journey can be painful time to time, but all steps of this journey is carefully planned by God so that the person would not be lost and come to Him. Likewise, the journey of my life is carefully planned by the Sovereign God.
I have been a Christian my whole life; when the church doors were open, I was there, and I enjoyed being there; it was like home away from home. Since I was young, I always wondered what God had in store for my life. There was nothing I was amazing at, no act in which I really excelled, and there were things I enjoyed and did well, but nothing that made me special. I remember praying as an eight-year-old, asking God to show me what he had in store for my life. It was not until I was seventeen that I would find out.
For as long as I can remember, I have gone to church. My entire life I have known this concept of Jesus and who he was. And for some reason, that was supposed to be important to me. As a kid, I could tell you the majority of the Bible stories, after all, I heard them all the time. Even at a young age, though, I could tell there was more to the whole Jesus thing. It seemed that some people understood on a deeper level what all this church stuff was actually about. As I began to learn more about this Jesus, I began to question why he was important to me and what he had to do with the life change in the people around me.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Growing up in the church has really shaped the way I live my life. My family started attending Roxana Church of the Nazarene in Roxana, Illinois shortly after I began going to their daycare when I was two years old. I grew up with the same pastor, Larry Lacher, for eighteen years, which was such a blessing. I was able to share times of joy and times of sorrow, times success and times of defeat, and everything in between with Pastor Larry.
Growing up my family never really went to church, we would go on the big holidays like Christmas and Easter but we never really went other than that. In the summer though, ever since I was little my parents would send me to camps at local churches or other things of that sort. At these various camps is where my relationship with God has flourished. My relationship with God is growing stronger each and everyday. This relationship affects my life in many different ways. It affects the decisions I make, the way I react to things, and my outlook on life. All in all, my relationship with God has made me the person I am
During my seventh grade year, my church went to a youth rally at a local church on weekend. Because of this rally and the message it sent, I realized and wanted to give my life to Jesus through baptism. It was awesome, I got home as a young teenager and actually talked to my mom about what it really means to be a Christian and to pick up your cross and follow him. So that very next weekend, my dad baptized me in front of the whole church on Sunday morning. It was an awesome feeling knowing that because of Jesus’ grace and mercy, I will be with him one day and spend eternity with him. Although I was on top of the world at this point, I still didn’t know fully what I had gotten into. So the next few years, I live the typical Christian life. I was trying to be the perfect person by doing the right stuff, I would try not to cuss, I would try to wear as many WWJD bracelets as I could so that I wouldn’t have to talk to them about Christ and they could just see it on my wrist, I would not join in on conversations with my friends that I knew were not right, I was just living life on cruise control.
As a child, I was raised in a catholic home yet never really lived a life for Christ. I lived between walls that were not the best to live in. While growing up I always had a passion and love for God, yet was never told anything about Him. I just thought He was someone to go to only when I had problems. As I grew up I fell away from God, knowing that He expected so much more from me than I had to give. Through reading and hearing God's word in church I turned my life around. I began believing whole-heartedly that His word is and always will be true and just.
When I was at the age of seven, I found out that my Grandmother, from my dads sisde of the family was very ill, her kidneys gave out, and she needed a transplant. I remember that day very vividly, i remember walking into the hospital room where she was placed at the time, and a sort of silence with a mixture of darkness in the room. We entered and the Doctor had told my family and I that there was no kidney transplant available for my Grandmother. It was a shock to my family and me. Everyone knew if there wasn't a transplant that she wouldn't make it. Yet my family did not loose faith, they kept on praying and praying just so that she wouldn't die. The next day my father recieved a call, and that call changed the way I felt about my religion and God. The doctor had told my father that my uncle that has been living in another country for over the past twelve years was going to donate one of his kidneys to his mother. I could not believe it but this event, and experience changed the truth.