My testimony of salvation and call to ministry

At the age of seven, I became aware of my sinful condition and my need of a Savior. My parents had taken me to church since I came home from the hospital, and I knew no other lifestyle. They taught me the Bible and the ways of God, and they showed me that the only One capable of solving my sin problem was Jesus Christ. I received Him and believed on Him as He was presented to me—the Savior—and was baptized soon afterward. I continued my involvement in my local church as I grew and began seriously to memorize Scripture as I participated in Bible drills and structured Bible study programs for children. But with all the studying and memorizing, my heart was hardly affected. I’m convinced that I was saved then, but I didn’t understand what I had been learning by rote. It wasn’t until I entered college at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia, that the truth about what had happened to me when I was saved began to break through.

I began college in the summer of 1981 and started attending the First Baptist Church of Atlanta. Under the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, my heart began to soften, and I began to understand that there was more to being a Christian than just going to church, reading the Bible, giving a tithe, saying a prayer and being good. In the Fall of 1982, I met a man whom God would use to change my life forever. He introduced me to some of the finest preachers and writers who ever preached and wrote. I began to devour books and to long for visiting preachers to come to town. My hunger for God and His Word grew immensely, and the fellowship and discipling I was receiving from my new friend, along with the reading I was doing and the preaching I was hearing, were feeding that hunger.

In February of 1983, I learned the meaning of having Christ as my Lord and my Life, not just my Savior. I learned that I had been crucified with Him, buried with Him and had risen with Him to walk in newness of life. I was no longer a slave to sin, as I had formerly been, and I was now free to submit myself to Jesus as my Lord. I saw in the Word that it was His responsibility to keep me and that I didn’t have to worry about keeping my own salvation by my obedience or good works. My only responsibility was to continue to believe on Him. This knowledge was too wonderful for me, and I began to rejoice with an excitement about being a Christian that I had not previously known.

The College Department at First Baptist was phenomenal, and I made many friends and spiritual companions there. Out of that group had arisen a vocal ensemble called Sonlight, and I had longed to be a part of them since I first heard them. In the Fall of 1983, God opened that door, and I traveled with Sonlight for two years, getting valuable experience in witnessing, preaching and working alongside other Christians in a ministry. I saw many lives changed as a result of Sonlight, its members included. I had many hours to read and pray on the road and in people’s homes, and I took advantage of those hours.

It was in Sonlight that I heard God’s call to the ministry. Of course, every Christian is a minister, but I knew that God calls out some to preach the Gospel vocationally. I had never entertained the thought of being in vocational Christian work, but one Saturday afternoon, April 28, 1984, while on a Sonlight tour, my whole direction changed. I was rather depressed because I recently had been overcome by a besetting sin, and the guilt was gnawing at me during our free afternoon. A friend in our group realized that I was suffering and encouraged me to get alone with God and get things straightened out. I did, and as I read in Isaiah 6, I repented of my sin and heard God calling, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” In my heart, I replied, “Here am I; send me.” The next three verses leapt off the page, and I realized that I could do nothing with the rest of my life but follow Jesus and be His man, wherever that might lead. He continued filling my mind with visions of His plans for me and confirmed His intention for me to preach through a sermon by Dr. Stanley the following Sunday evening. I finished my education at Georgia Tech in September 1986, married that same month and began making plans to get out of debt and into seminary.