I first attended Malvern Baptist Church at the age of four. As a young toddler, I never understood the meaning of attending church, nor was I given an option to stay at home because my parents brought the entire family to church. As I continued to attend Malvern Baptist Church on a regular weekly basis, I developed a lot of friendships that have assisted me in growing up until this day. I was never enthusiastic about learning in Sunday school, nor did I understand the concept of attending Sunday Service. I was only attending church for a few reasons: friendships; involvement in activities and enjoying the fun in games and sports. As I grew older in the church, I started to understand more of the reasons why I was there and the concept of the Bible. I began to understand God's love for humanity as I continued to learn more from Sunday services and schools every week. In the year 2000, a missionary pastor by the name of Stephen Hawkins of Operation Mobilization was one of many guest speakers that really spoke out to me. Out of the Sundays that he preached in, there was one particular Sunday that impacted me the most. His testimony made me come to a realization that there's a great need in the world in hearing the message of Jesus Christ as the Son of God being sent to the world to save sinners. I wanted to become one of the messengers to take the Gospel into the world and tell the love of God and that day I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour.
On December 22, 2002, I declared my faith in front of my family, friends and
Malvern Baptist Church
that I am a firm believer; that God sent His only begotten Son in a replacement for my sins; that Christ was crucified on the cross and resurrected in three days and that I may spend eternity with our God.
After the declaration, I did not live out my faith in acknowledging that God is in control of my life and surrendering my life to Him in obedience. It took a couple of years for me to realize that acknowledging that Christ is Lord and Saviour with my mouth is not as easy as acknowledging through my actions. Throughout the next couple of years, God slowly changed me, but one particular event tested my faith out and was my first time seeing God perform a miracle in my life through prayer. My grandfather was admitted to the hospital with lung problems and the doctor told us that he had a maximum of twenty-four hours to live. My brothers, along with my cousins and I, knew the power of prayer and decided to faithful pray to God for His healing power. Within the next couple of hours, our prayer was answered and the doctor told us that a miracle had occurred: my grandfather would be fine and would go on to living for another 18 months in the hospital. During the days which I visited my grandfather, I always had a Gideon Bible to read, getting to know more about the Gospel, and throughout my readings, I began to understand God and His intentions more along with His love.