Since I am being baptized tomorrow morning, instead of a standard sermon, I have decided to give my testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n
Narrowing down 55 years of God’s love and movement in my life to fit within a 20 minute window has been no small challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n
There are at least three different angles I have considered touching on – Books, Events, and People.<\/p>\n\n\n
Influential Books:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n
Radical <\/i>by David Platt \u2013 which I read on the\nway back from my first trip to Haiti.<\/p>\n\n\n
The Power\nof Positive Thinking<\/i>\nby Norman Vincent Peale \u2013 which first introduced me to the concept of mindset,\ndecades before I really explored the possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n
The\nGrowing Up Pains of Adrian Plass<\/i> by Adrian Plass \u2013 which showed me Christian writing full of humor, vulnerability, and authenticity.<\/p>\n\n\n
Shadow of\nthe Almighty<\/i> by\nElisabeth Elliot \u2013 which illustrated a soul sold out to serving Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n
Mere\nChristianity<\/i> by C.S.\nLewis \u2013 more recently helping me solidify the basics of my theology.<\/p>\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
Influential\npeople:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n
My parents<\/p>\n\n\n
Youth leaders like Tom and Marcia Kuhn during high school and Tom Shepherd during\nmy college years<\/p>\n\n\n
Pastors like Bill Clayton, Jack Haskins, Mark Van Valen, and\nPhil and Connie Dicks<\/p>\n\n\n
Friends like Mark Kline and Kate and Storly Michel\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
Partners\nin ministry like Tim Price, Jamie Hudgins, all our missionary friends in Haiti,\nand, especially, my wife<\/p>\n\n\n
My four kids, who have taught me so much about life and faith<\/p>\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
Influential\nmoments:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n
My first\ntrue friend, Pete Haskins, arriving in town when I was in 3rd<\/sup> grade<\/p>\n\n\n Death of my\nfriend Phil during my Junior year of High School<\/p>\n\n\n Goodwill\nCamp in MA \u2013 my 1st<\/sup> exposure to poverty and its effects<\/p>\n\n\n The close of my senior year at Wabash College \u2013 when God redirected me into youth ministry<\/p>\n\n\n My decision to\nattend Asbury Seminary in 95<\/p>\n\n\n Meeting\nMelissa in 99, marrying in 2000 and moving to Florida<\/p>\n\n\n My Dad\u2019s death\nand our return to Indiana in 2002<\/p>\n\n\n Transition\nout of youth ministry and into teaching in 2005<\/p>\n\n\n My first short term mission trip to Haiti in 2010<\/p>\n\n\n Moving to\nHaiti in 2013 \u2013 the best move for our whole family<\/p>\n\n\n Our return from\nHaiti in 2020 \u2013 where I learned about spiritual growth through pain<\/p>\n\n\n Coming on staff at Sardinia Baptist Church in 2023 – where I feel like the next chapter of my life will unfold<\/p>\n\n\n There has never been a single pivotal moment that I could point to and say, “This is where I first met Jesus”. I used to think that was a weakness in my testimony – I wanted something dramatic like the drug addict whose life is turned on a dime by an encounter with Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n But I realize now that I am fortunate to be able to look back and see so many times when God was at work in my life, gently guiding me toward discovering those “good works” which He “prepared in advance” for me to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since I am being baptized tomorrow morning, instead of a standard sermon, I have decided to give my testimony. Narrowing down 55 years of God’s love and movement in my life to fit within a 20 minute window has been no small challenge. There are at least three different angles I have considered touching on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4566"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4567,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4566\/revisions\/4567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}