A lot of people have asked to read my testimony or have me put it up here. This is what was read before my baptism in April of 2009. This is my story to date...
About 6 months ago I came to a realization that I never in a million years thought I would come to. I want to go into ministry.. I want to go into prison or juvenile ministry in particular and help those who some would consider "lost causes" or "on their way to nowhere". If you would've told me even a year ago that this is where I would be in life I wouldn't have believed you. But looking back it all makes sense to me.
I grew up in a home where religion was not discussed. It was not practiced. It's like it didn't exist. When I'd ask why we don't go to church like most my friends the answer I got was " We don't need to go to church to be good people". So that's the attitude I took on growing up. Until I was about 15 then one day Tony Tello invited me to play basketball at his church, I had attended church with Tony on a few occasions but this time I was introduced to the youth pastor Ken Garner. Ken immediately broke all my stereotypical thoughts of church and pastors by doing a little trash talking on the court. I became a regular on Monday nights playing ball, getting to know the guys and getting to know Ken and it felt like home. I kept this routine until I was a senior in High School in 1996. After which I stopped going, lost contact with the Tello's, Ken and the church. And completely shut God out of my life.
Fast forward to 2002. I got married to Jill. We would attend her parents church from time to time but both agreed it was a little too traditional and well, just plain boring. Jill had spoken to the Haldane's about this and they invited us to come check out their church. When Jill told me that it was Jackson First Church of the Nazarene I told her that I had attended there in the past and that I really liked my time there. So we went. I'd like to say that I attended every week willingly and that there were never any fights to get me to go but I'd be lying. I was still struggling with God despite the fact He had brought me home to First Church. So I'd attend when it was convenient for me and when I felt like I needed God. We took the class to become members, I didn't fully fill out my application because I didn't need God then. Our marriage began to hit some very rough times, we separated, and finally filed for divorce.
We got into the messy part of the divorce one night at Friend of the Court where we met to have details about our son Caleb decided. It was the most painful thing emotionally I've been through, thinking of what this would do to him. Then something happened that to this day I cannot explain. After we were done, Jill and I met outside the building. And we just kinda looked at each other, we agreed to go get coffee to talk about things. So while we're sitting there we basically ask each other "what are we doing?" Something that night told me this isn't what I wanted. I wanted my family back. And I remember saying those exact words to Jill. And that night we agreed to call off the divorce and work through our problems and that's exactly what we did. Thanks in my opinion to God and to Caleb for saving us from making a huge mistake.
Something had changed inside me during that time. I started attending church on a regular basis. And it was almost like a fire had been stoked inside me, I wanted to do more. But had no idea what. Then Jill suggested we join a small group. I was hesitant, but agreed to try. And she told me we'd be in a group led by Danee and James Haldane which was nice because she and Danee have been friends forever and we had hung out with them before. This small group has helped me to grow in my relationship with God in ways that I couldn't begin to explain. But there was still a need to do more. And I mentioned to Jill a few times in passing that I had an interest in ministry but didn't know what kind or why. Then a story in the Cit Pat told of prison ministry and it was like God turned the light on above my head. That is what I need to do.
So I met with Phil and threw all this at him and he was very supportive and excited that I wanted to go into ministry. He passed my story onto Ken who met with me as well and I told him this whole story you just heard and I told him that I wanted to be baptized again. I had been baptized with my son Caleb when he was born but I felt like I needed to do this as a step in my journey into ministry as way to re-dedicate myself and my faith and my commitment to my relationship with Christ. But this isn't something new.. This is something that looking back all makes sense to me now.. I want to thank Ken for laying this foundation so many years ago when I was just a gym rat playing ball on Monday night's. Thank you for taking me in and giving me a place to be exposed to Christ's followers and fellowship. Who knew that 19 years later it would bring me to where I am today. Thank you to my wife Jill for forcing me to come to church all those times I didn't want to and for never giving up on me no matter what... And thank you to Danee and James for taking us into their group, helping me to grow and for their outstanding leadership in our small group.
Rob Gibson
4-9-2009
Looking out over Lake Michigan.
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