Tim’s Testimony
I am the middle of five children, born to a pastor’s family of a small church in Bucks County, Christ Community Church (https://www.ccc-nlc.com). Homeschooled since the first grade, my parents had a profound influence on my early years, pouring into my heart the truths of the Bible, and of the gospel message. At the age of five, I prayed to give my life to Jesus, but in the coming years it was clear who actually ruled my life: I did. I knew the ABC’s of Christianity, and if you asked me who Jesus was, and what hid did at the cross, and I could tell you the answer, quoting John 3:16 for verbatim. But my life proved that it was only head knowledge. I professed faith but possessed it not. Yet, the seeds had been planted, and praise the LORD, he had a plan to give them growth.
I was invited in 2013, my first year in high school, to go to a Christian camp in New Hampshire called Camp Impact. Here, morning and evening, the Gospel was preached, and people worshipped with a passion that I had never seen. Scripture was being opened up in an exciting way, and God didn’t seem so distant, or unimportant. It was heavenly. Yet, I returned home from that mountain top with a spiritual high, but an unchanged heart. Sin still reigned in my heart that year, just as every year before, but not without my conscience grieving within. Something wasn’t right. I wasn’t right. The next summer when I returned to camp, it was in hopeful expectation for a permanent transformation.
Although I cannot tell you the moment, nor the sermon that Spirit used to bring me to repentance, I can tell you it was the truth of his glorious gospel that was the catalyst. Jesus was calling me to surrender. He came to redeem me from the kingdom of darkness by shedding his own blood on the cross as a payment for me, where he drank every last drop of the wrath of God. He was not calling me to factually acknowledge him but commanding me to repent and trust in him as my savior and my LORD.
Now I wanted to know Jesus personally. Help was found from the pastors there, as I asked for advice on how to read the bible and to memorize scripture. Better yet, I wasn’t going back home alone, for the Holy Spirit was within me, beginning to bare the fruit that comes with repentance. I was coming back a new man.
Since then, my passion has steadily shifted away from myself, and to God. Other people started taking notice of my change. I began dating my first and only girlfriend Hailey, (my now wife) right after my transformation. Further, I was invited to partake in two internships at North Shore Baptist Church in Queens, NY (https://www.ns-bc.org) which supported the camp. Here I was able to discern the calling God was placing on my life to pursue ministry and developed skills for youth missions. Back in Pennsylvania, on my community college campus, Hailey and I were able to be leaders for the Christian groups. God has given me a passion to know the scripture, for the sheep to be fed, the lost to be saved, and for Christ to be glorified.
My story, like others, is a testament to saving power of Jesus, and to the effect that his life, death and resurrection have had on his chosen children. If his death gave me new life, and life abundant, then it is only fitting that I give all that I am and have back to him. He has given me the most amazing present, and I want to make that gift known to the world: the gift of eternal life.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story… you could call it my Tes-Tim-ony. 🙂