Introduction:
This Testimony was written as I applied for Church Membership at my current Church in 2012. Its purpose was to share with the Membership how God had saved me. This is done by everyone that is currently a Member, and, because it is something that Church Members read while at Church, it was usually short in nature; maybe a page or two. Mine was not, which is explained below. I don’t think anyone had ever done more than a couple. So please keep this in mind as you read.
Much more could be said, but then I would be writing a book! 🙂 Enjoy!
A few weeks later, Paul and I would talk until 2am in his van about the deeper issues of life. We both knew we were wasting our lives and needed to change. After bantering about several ideas, Paul suggested we go to Church. It was as if he poured a bucket of ice water on me. “No way” I exclaimed. I wanted nothing to do with God or Church. In my mind, it was nothing more than a social club for losers. “Please” he begged. He described a Church he knew about that was different. It had free concerts. He wouldn’t stop asking. He was desperate. Unknown to me, he had already been once some time ago, heard the Gospel, and was waiting for someone to come along in his life that would go with him.
Saturday night came. He called to see if I was ready. “Uh,… I told Gary I was going to party with him tonight”. I really did not want to go and knowingly made plans to do something different. He was upset. “You promised! Come on, you don’t need to go to a party. You promised.” I could tell how much this meant to him. “Okay, okay, I’ll go” I relented. I drove over and picked him up. It was about a 40 minute trip from our house and very close to the beach where we surfed.
As we drove down the hill to where the Church was, there were cars parked everywhere. We squeezed my Volkswagen Squareback into a space fairly close to the Circus Tent where the concert was. We walked in through the back and saw a couple of thousand people enjoying the music. I was immediately struck by the variety of people there; long hair, beards, overalls, short hair, business suits. And everyone seemed happy. It was amazing.
Paul and I found some seats near the back. After a few songs he leaned over and said “Wow, the music is good!” The band played for about 30 minutes. I don’t remember much about the songs or the music. It was just different. They took an offering and passed around what looked like blank KFC buckets. When one came to us I was amazed at how much money was in mine. I had never seen anything like this before.
Eventually, a guy in his mid-twenties walked onto the stage and began speaking. He had a Bible and began reading from it. I don’t think I had ever heard someone read from the Bible before. I don’t remember where he read from or what the message was about, but it was about Jesus. He spoke about Sin, about Jesus dying, how he rose again, and how He was the only way I could come to know God. It was very simple, but as I’ve already said, I had never heard this before.
But it wasn’t until he began to pray that I had any immediate concern. I bowed my head and as I listened, he began talking to God. I don’t remember much of what he said, or even if I believed it. But when he asked those, that wanted to be saved and have their sins forgiven, to raise their hands, I immediately thought “yeah, right! Who would do something like that?” and looked up. There were hands up everywhere.
I bowed my head back down and began saying to myself “this is real, this is real, this is real”. And though I wanted to, I did not raise my hand. When he finished praying, he asked those that raised their hands to get up and come forward. Again, I thought, who in their right mind would… but there they were, getting up out of their seats and walking to the front. And the singing! It was as if angels were there singing that night. I was shaken to the very core.
I bowed my head again. I was panic stricken. I was suddenly convinced that this was real, that what I had heard was true, and that I needed to respond. All I could think of was how many times I had been at the top of a huge wave and been too scared to drop in. I did not want this to be one of those times. I knew if I did not get up and respond, I would leave and never come back.
And so I stood up. I looked down at Paul. His face was quivering and had that scared-to-death look on it. I turned to go up front unconcerned if he followed me or not. As I walked forward, I felt a gentle tug on my arm as he caught up with me and we went up together. We joined about 50 others up front, and were lead in prayer once more. All I remember is repeating and believing with my heart what we prayed.
We were broken up into smaller groups, given a New Testament, some encouraging words, and then prayed once more. As we left, we picked up a hitch-hiker who was headed down toward Newport Beach. He lived in a Christian Commune and so we offered to take him there. We told him our story, he invited us in, showed us around, and told everyone we met there “hey, these guys got saved tonight!” We then recounted our story over and over again.
Needless to say, it was an overwhelming night. We drove home that night exhilarated. We must have said “Wow”, and, “Amazing”, a hundred times, and nothing else, on the way home. When we got there, we prayed. We were still speechless. We had just met God. We knew we would never be the same.
And we weren’t. We went to school on Monday, drug free, sins forgiven, worshiping God. I stood with my small circle of friends. Someone asked, “So, what’d you do this weekend?” As each one answered with the same old thing, all eyes fixed on me as I said, “I went to Church and became a Christian”. No one said a word. Each one slowly moved backward and then walked away. I was left standing there by myself. And that was pretty much it from there on out. I was alienated the remainder of my Senior year.
That was almost 40 years ago. It has not been an easy Road or one without temptation, but it’s been the only one I can walk after what Christ has done for me. I justly deserve God’s Wrath and Judgment, but Christ went there for me instead and paid the penalty. I continue to be amazed at the depth of God’s Love and Mercy for me, a sinner, as He slowly makes me more like Christ.
Respectfully submitted,
John Hall
My heart rejoiced to the point of thankful tears over your sweet testimony to the power of God’s great love for those He calls to be His children. What can I say but praise God and rejoice that He drew you to Himself. Thank you for sharing this as I rejoiced at the power of God and your willingness to share. Love in Christ, your Sister in the Lord, Sally