“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” —Isaiah 12:2
I came to Christ very young. I was always taught to react to my sin in a negative way and to realize the only way I could experience freedom from guilt was to turn to Christ for salvation. It was a very simple gospel, and it really got hold of my heart. I was five when I walked the aisle, and I can’t measure my life a whole lot before that.
I would say at this point, I didn’t have a handle on the reality of the power of sin—so as I got into junior high and highschool, I came to understand better how the gospel transforms lives. It was watching another highschool girl’s struggle that changed things for me; I shared Jesus with her, and I saw such a change in her life that it was a kind of flash point for me. I recommitted my life to Christ at that point. I was never a bad kid, but seeing the stark contrast in her made me realize I needed the same.
Fast forward a few years to when I was in college ministry, and a man told me that going to seminary was the way to make your life count for the gospel. At that point, I decided to make my life count by not going to seminary. I always felt a call to do ministry, so when the opportunity came to help start the Special Ministries program at Grace Community Church, I was all in. I met Joni Eareckson Tada through that, and I served as chairman of the board at Joni & Friends for the first twelve years after it was founded. I went into full time ministry after that.
We’re all called to ministry, so whatever your vocation, it’s your life’s work as a Christian to make Christ known. And that’s something you can only fully understand as someone who has a relationship with God because of your salvation. Our salvation is central to missions in the same way. Because we know God’s love, we can extend love to others through ministries and programs anchored in the church. But we do medical ministries, give food and supplies, and offer tangible help through the church to create relationships in which we can share Jesus. Christ is the only answer to the problems of pain, suffering, and evil in the world, and I can share that hope with others because I know God personally as a loving Father and the Savior of my soul.
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