Bridge Community Church Harstine Island

I had been baptized when I was 10 years old.  This baptism was done through the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints.  I have since learned the LDS church does not follow the word of Jesus as it is written in the Bible, God’s one and only Holy word.  I have publicly renounced that baptism both verbally and in a letter to the LDS church.  I know that now, I must follow the word of Jesus and follow him and trust him with this life now.  One of his commandments is to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

When I was very young I began seeking something.  What I was looking for I did not know, I went to different churches with friends from school as at the time my parents did not teach me of the Bible or what was in it.  These church outings were sparse at best maybe attending different churches one every other month. 

At ten years old my mother invited Mormon Missionaries’ to our home and they began to teach my brothers and mother from the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  After the lessons we were all asked if we wanted to be baptized.  So, we were baptized.  I quickly learned I had a whole family I did not know about.  My father’s side of our family was all Mormon and when they learned of our baptism they started coming around and inviting us to family events. I was in Cub Scouting at the time and learned that the LDS church had a Scout group.  When I turned 11 years old I joined the Church Boy Scout Troop.  I continued to learn of the LDS doctrine and soon only had LDS friends as they taught us to be together in school and outside of school.

At about 15 years old my parents stopped going to church as they had a problem with the leadership in our Ward.  I was encouraged to make my own decisions about church at that time.  I enjoyed the fellowship and what I was doing so I continued to go on my own, most of the time riding my bicycle to and from church meetings and events.  These meetings and events were daily in the morning and about two times a week in the evenings and all day on Sunday.

As I mentioned before, I was a Boy Scout in the church and very active in that program.  The church leadership decided that when I was about 17 I had to move out of the Boy Scout program.  I explained to them how I was helping in that program.  They had already made their decision and were not going to change it.  I remember a voice inside me (or you could call it a feeling), that I was not to leave the Scouting program.  At that time I made a decision to leave the church and continue Scouting outside the church.

I continued my life outside the church most of the time following that voice inside, although not always right away.  I stayed in Scouting as an adult and continued to this day. 

One of the things I learned in Church was that by doing good things I would be fine and go to live with Jesus when I died.  I believed that and continued to do good things.  I had friends that were Christians and some Mormons.  The Mormons would always try to get me to go back to church.  I would tell them I will sometime in my life go back to church however now is not the time.  I would curiously inquire from my Christian friends what they did in their church.  Some would talk a little but it seemed most would change the subject.  Every once in a while I would listen to a televangelist.  This went on for about 26 years.  In that time I was married and had two children and raised them to adults. 

A new life in Christ !

When I was 44 years old I was a police officer and was injured once again on the job.  This time the Doctors told me they could not fix my problems and recommended I retire form that line of work. I had the voice again telling me I needed something more. Just what it was telling me I did not know.  I started a conversation with some Christian friends over dinner one night and they invited me and my wife to church with them.  This was the first time I had been invited though I had asked questions several times before to different Christian friends in the past.  I went to Calvary Chapel of El Cajon that Sunday and loved every minute of the service.  I quickly asked Jesus to forgive my sins and gave my life to him. I felt a calm or peace in my life at that moment.  My wife and I continued to attend until we moved to Washington.

During the time of my Injury and subsequent retirement my inter voice was telling me it was time to move away form San Diego.  Being born in San Diego, and my entire immediate family being close in San Diego I ignored this voice and tried to suppress its feeling.  I learned over my life this was not a good idea as bad things happened every time I did this. (Have you ever been hit in the head with a 2X4 and tried to ignore it?) But I continued to ignore it any way, and at times still do today.  Once I began to take steps for the move things started to fall into place in life.  My wife and I moved in December of 2005 to Shelton Washington.  We had never been in this area before and did not know anyone.  The closest people we knew in the area were our son and his family who lived about one and a half hours away in Kent and a cousin about two and a half hours away in Everett.

Since we had learned a little of the Christian life and knew we wanted to follow Jesus we began to look for a Bible based Christian church to attend.  We found several in the area and went church shopping, each Sunday attending a different church sometimes going back to one to see their service again.  We finally landed at Bridge Community Church on Harstine Island.  This was the closest church to us, as the property we purchased to live on was also on Harstine Island.

We did not know why we were called to this area of the world so our eyes were wide open looking for the reason and still are. One of the reasons I believe was to slow or life pace down to allow more time to learn about God and his plan for our salvation.  This plan is being carried out still.  At Bridge Community Church we have learned how to study the Bible, and have a fellowship unmatched this far in my life.  I still continue to do good things as I have always done but now I do them for a different reason, because I am following Christ not chasing him.  I know God has more plans for me and I am calmly waiting to see what my future will bring.

I have learned a lot in the recent past and the more I learn the more I realize I need to learn more.  I have a desire to show others Christ in my life through what I do and say, and I wish to teach others through any means given to me by the Holy Spirit.  My future will show Christ leading the way in all that I do.

On August 16, 2007, after receiving confirmation of my letter to the Mormon Church, I was baptized at Mason Lake by Pastor Howard Spear, during Bridge Churches’ annual picnic.  I did this to obey God’s command to be baptized and to show my faith in him to the world.