I was raised in a Christian home, taught to pray and was fortunate enough to hear His praises sung daily. All of this still did not keep me from becoming saturated with alcohol, drugs, sex, music and the overall opposition to the desires of Christ until my early 20’s.

I was 22 years old, and after years of living in a life not involving Christ, I came to the realization that there was a hole in me that no amount of alcohol, drugs, sex, friendship, family, music or anything else was ever going to fill. I knew that I had to allow Christ into my life in order to fill that vacancy in my soul.

There’s no hole in my soul anymore. I understand that He has a purpose for my life that all of my previous living will one day  be used to help someone else fill that void in their own life. I have found that reading the bible and communicating with God through prayer occupies that hole in my heart and fills it with joy.

I grew up in a home without a father. When I was 8 months old my father was arrested for armed robbery. I tried to fill the void in my life with many things. None of them satisfied the longing in my heart.

One night when I was 21 years old I heard the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. I realized that night that what was missing in my life was not just a father but I needed a Savior. That night I placed my faith in Jesus as my personal Savior from my sins.

Ever since that night I have had joy, peace, and a purpose in my life. Jesus’ Father became my Father! Now the void in my life is filled with the Only One Who could fill it.

Well this says to tell of your life before Christ. Well I didn’t know Christ till I was an adult, so that will be a little long…You see I was born to an atheist home, my mom and dad were divorced when I was only 2, so I was truly born into sin. Not my own of course but my life was not off to a good start and I only made it worse the older I got. Mom remarried to a man who was no more Christian than she was, but his family was and they tried to get me to church but I rejected it, because I didn’t feel like I belonged in his family because I was only his stepson. Even though he adopted me I never really felt like family. When I was about 10 there was a VBS at a local park and I joined in and wound up join the church they were from. Well without encouragement from home I wasn’t learning anything and therefore not growing in Christ. Anyway I eventually got baptized and saved without even knowing why or what I was doing. I think I did it because my friends were and I wanted to fit in. You see for me fitting in was a big thing because I was the school and neighborhood punching bag. I was picked on daily I had no friends all the way through school. Because of this I sought anything I could to make friends. This led me to stealing, drinking, drugs, and adultery. But it also led to more dangerous things. I developed a bad temper that most of the time I took out on inanimate objects, but occasionally it would come out on someone. Two occasions that come to mind, one was a fight with a kid at school that almost killed him, the other was my younger brother. According to my mom because I don’t recall what happened, I know it happened just don’t remember it, mom says that when my brother made me mad I got up walked across the room and picked him up by his throat and held him 2 feet off the floor till he was blue. My anger could have killed him but it wasn’t him I was mad at. I was mad at my life. When I was a freshman in school I made a move that would change my life forever, and I wish I could say it was finding Christ. One day a couple of friends and I went into my garage to get high sniffing gas, I got so high I passed out with my nose in the can. I should have died, but God stepped in and my two friends realized I was in trouble, even though they were just as high, and they pulled me to safety. When my mom found out what happened she assumed I was trying to kill myself. I wasn’t, I was just being stupid. But she freaked and had me committed. I spent six weeks in a hospital being evaluated. At the end of those six weeks I had to go before a review board to determine what they should do with me. They told my mother that I was suicidal with homicidal tendencies and should be locked away permanently; mind you I was just 15. Now that’s a heavy rap to lie on a kid. But mom took me home, now here’s the kicker to that story, I have never come close to killing neither myself, nor anyone else ever again, nor have I seen another psychiatrist since leaving the hospital. The next year I went to live with my stepfather in Ohio. While living there I was introduced to drinking and smoking dope. And my best friend and I broke into a bar and stole a bunch of alcohol. Its amazing I never had a record growing up. As a senior I joined the army, and this is where the hospital caught up with me. To join you take a physical, they didn’t catch it then but 8 months later on the day I was supposed to leave they did. The result, permanent medical rejection. Ouch, this was my dream, down the drain.

From here I moved in with my girlfriend who became pregnant shortly after. I stayed with her for one reason, my son. When he was about 1.5 I left her, met someone had an affair and she got pregnant. Well that didn’t work out and I went back to my first child’s mother. A couple of years later we had another child. I tried to make it work with her, but I cheated on her constantly. After a few years I just knew it would never work so I left. I met another woman and she wound up pregnant. In case you lost count at this point I’m at 4. Once again that didn’t work out either.

Shortly after the end of that I met my second wife. The one I married for love, but she didn’t. it lasted only a month before she asked me move out. I continued moving from relationship to relationship, never finding the one I should be with. Because of this I have one more son, he is 5 now. In 2000 I moved to a small town in Michigan where I soon joined a motorcycle club. To join you had to be a vet so I lied and came up with a military background. I spent 7yrs with them lying to people I called brothers, lying just to belong, lying just to fit in. Till I joined the club I never really knew what it meant to belong or be excepted for me, but I wasn’t really being excepted for me, they excepted my lie.

In 2008 I moved to Kentucky for my job, then in 2010 I moved to South Carolina also for my job. Not long after moving to Sc my son who worked with me went to a customer’s house and was witnessed to. But my son not ready for the message came home and passed it on to me, but I wasn’t ready either. A few weeks later I went to the same customer’s house, we started talking and soon discovered he had witnessed to my son. We continued to talk and he witnessed to me, we talked about bikes, and God, and church. I still wasn’t ready for the message but God was working hard on me. That customer gave me a new testament meant for bikers, in it was testimonies from bikers. Well one day while waiting for my supervisor at work I started reading those testimonies and before I knew it I had the desire to go to church. So that Sunday I did. I soon found myself seeking a permanent church and came to First North. I joined the first visit and have been on the right path ever since. But I needed more, one Sunday morning I was watching the testimony of Renee Hedgepath and was struck by how similar our stories were. While watching I was struck with a feeling in my chest to go down and give myself to Christ, this time for real. So I did, although I did not pray to receive Christ that day, a week later while doing a demonstration in E.E class Rev. Simone asked if id pray to receive Christ, while he thought it was a demonstration I took it serious and prayed then and there to receive Christ that was on 10/10/10. I was baptized on 11/7/10. Since receiving Christ I have been blessed many times over. I’ve been going through a lot of turmoil in my life, but the more I turn to God and Christ for help the more I’m blessed.

Since finding Christ I have found an inner peace, things that use to trouble me no longer do, I am more sensitive to things that I wasn’t before. I strive to learn all I can about God, and Christ. I strive to serve the Lord. My friends and family have seen a change in my attitude and beliefs. My friends at church see a man that wants to get as far from his past as he can and get as close to God and Christ as he can.

There are days I still wake thinking I don’t deserve Gods love but then I’m reminded of my favorite verse. 1st timothy 1:13 even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief, and this reminds me that I am worthy of Gods mercy.

I feel very fortunate to grow up in “Mayberry”.  My extended family consisted of cousins, aunts and uncles that lived within a 5 mile radius.  My pastor lived next door.  So when I say Mayberry, I mean Mayberry.  Andy would be envious.

The doors of our church opened each Sunday mornings and nights followed by a Wednesday.  Going to church at these times was as normal as brushing my teeth.  I’ve never had a cavity by the way.

When I was 13, all of the sermons and lessons begin to stir inside me.  I knew I was a sinner and I believed in Heaven. At the age of 13, I knew I needed to take the step what I had watched many do.  I asked Jesus, to acknowledge me as one of his and open the door to heaven for me.  I remember telling my dad I wanted to tell Pastor Pope of my decision.  He and I rode for miles until we found him.  It was a special day in our community.  Everyone called everyone to let them know.

Life went on as normal.  I was a good kid.  Being in such a controlled environment, I didn’t have much room to go.  High school was testy for me.  I was introduced to alcohol and tried to fit in. I was called “farm boy” after 3 schools merged.  Having to work all the time, I didn’t have time nor energy to play sports.  This led to a gravitation to the “wild crowd”.  I’m glad that 4 years went by quick.  College came and wow, I didn’t realize how sheltered I was.  I felt very different than the crowd.  It wasn’t that I didn’t have the cars or the clothes. It was so much more than that.  I realized I had a foundation and a place to go for peace that so many people wanted it but did not know where to look.  I knew immediately that the world does not truly care.  It was so evident.  God got me through my college years.

Life now is not perfect but I still don’t have cavities and trying to teach my kids to brush their teeth regular.  I am also trying to raise my boys on a routine of learning about the savior who saved their mom and me.  It is a joy to hear your son Christopher say, “dad, I really cant wait to get to heaven.  It’s a joy to see your son, Braxton go through the waters of baptism even though he is shivering from pain due to his eczema.  When asked why, Dad-I want to show everyone I’m on God’s team”.  My prayer is that Thomas, my youngest will realize that he too is a sinner like all men are and that there is only one way to heaven.  I can’t wait to hear him say, I believe in Jesus as my savior.

When the world turns on my boys and they realize that true love only comes from one place (OUR CREATOR), They will always stay near the truth.

I was the owner of a large Automobile Agency. I had it all, I married my first love, I lived in a mansion on the ocean. I thought I was the king of Florida.

On May 24, 1997 I prayed to receive Christ. I had suffered my first wife divorcing me, my father’s death and the loss of my automobile dealership in a 60 day period. I attended Church, in Cape Coral, FL. That day I was born again and 2 weeks later baptized by immersion. 3 weeks later I was arrested on 13 counts of bank fraud. The total potential sentence was 315 years in prison. During the first week in jail I received a visit from former customers who were Christians. They explained that they had seen my arrest on the news and prayed for me at their church. The Lord inspired Mary and Joseph Vilbig to tell me that I was going to have 3 miracles occur. 1) That I would have a qualified lawyer. 2) That I would be released on bond. 3) That I was not going to go to prison for a long period of time and that the Lord had a new wife chosen for me. They went on to tell me that this new wife would be a godly woman and that she would wait for me while I was in prison. They added that she would help me learn the word of God and that we would marry upon my release. They continued to tell me that God had a special call on my life and that I would become a minister to the captives. I thought of this prophecy as wishful thinking. But It came to pass that I was appointed the chief public defender as my attorney, I was miraculously released on bond with no money, and I was led to FBC Indian Rocks. The first person I met when I entered the door was Jami. She was a greeter and Sunday school teacher. I met pastor Charlie Martin and he welcomed me without judging me.

After serving only 25 month’s in prison Jami did wait for me and we were married upon my release. The Prophesy “Came to Pass” Today I serve as Pastor of Prison Ministries and I have seen thousands of men and women receive Christ. I am happier than I ever could have imagined.