Although those that know me would say no, there are still plenty of rough edges. He used that to smooth out some of the rough edges that were there. God put me in a church where I was challenged to love other people, even with whom I disagreed. I found myself a little bit aimless after that. My grandfather that I looked up to, I was named after. The Lord challenged me in regard to those things. And in my teen years, of course, I followed a trajectory that a lot of young men follow and was given over to lust, to sins of anger, and bitterness that were expressing themselves in some pretty destructive ways in my family. Sort of buttonholing everybody with Jesus. I was that kid that was arguing with any unsuspecting passerby. I was always surrounding myself with those sorts of things. And from a young age, I had experiences in church and in school where I was sharing my faith, defending the faith, becoming interested in theology, apologetics, and Scripture. I think I first made a profession of faith in Christ at about age three-so, very early on. I grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended church and Christian school throughout my upbringing. My mother had Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran backgrounds in her family, and they had landed on Baptist convictions by the time that I came around. I grew up in a believing home to Bible-believing parents. Mine is a pretty typical story, but one for which I thank God, because he chose in his grace to save me in, I think, what is probably the most normal way throughout the world, throughout places where the gospel has been, in countries and contacts that are evangelized where the church is established. I don’t have one of these testimonies that is flashy with lots of highs and lows, and dips and turns, and cliffhangers along the way. ![]() ![]() Q.: How did you become a believer? How did you encounter Jesus? ![]() Below is an edited transcript of that interview. (How does one say no to that?)Īlthough the podcast itself never made it to the proverbial airwaves, the recording was saved and made available to me. That’s why I was surprised and refreshed when a South African podcaster approached me a few months ago asking to interview me on a fairly simple topic: Jesus. Every now and then, I’m accused of having my head in the clouds.
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