miss a day, this went on for several years and the harder I worked it seemed the less money I would have. It seemed I would get ahead a couple hundred dollars and something would break, and I would owe a couple hundred dollars. Regardless of how hard I tried; I just could not get ahead. My wife Debbie is a very good Christian woman. She would go to church every Sunday and take the kids. I would not go because I had other things to do. But she never gave up on me. When she would go to church, she would ask to have prayer for me that I might come to the church and be saved, this went on for some time. One day I told her I would go to church this Sunday.

I went to church that Sunday and the Pastor was giving his sermon. I had a very strong pressure on my chest, and I felt like I was the only one in church and that the Pastor was talking just to me. I went back to church every Sunday after that for about a month and every Sunday I felt the same way. I didn’t know at the time, but a lot of prayer was being made just for me. The very next Sunday I was in church, and the Pastor gave a message that made me realize that I could not make it through life without Jesus. When the Pastor gave the alter call that Sunday I did not even hesitate to go. I prayed for God to save me, when I got off my knees, I felt different. It’s hard to explain in words but I felt like a big weight (the pressure) had been lifted off my chest. Since that day I have not touched a drop of alcohol. I do not swear or use bad language. The Lord took all of this away from me and the desire is not there. I praise the Lord for this every day.

When the Lord came into my life I changed. I wanted to go to church, to hear more about Jesus, and what I could do. My Savior walks with me daily and I have more than I could ask for in a Christian home. As time passed, I had a feeling that the Lord wanted me to do more. This is when I first heard that the FCF (Fellowship of Christian Firefighters) - Lexington/Bluegrass Chapter was starting. I went to the meeting and liked what I was experiencing. God was working in Lexington.

After I was saved and had been attending the church regularly, the leaders of the church asked me to become an Usher. I accepted the position and did that for a while. It was a very fulfilling position for me, and I was excited about church and God. It wasn’t long after that, that the church asked me to be on the board and serve as a leader in the church. I accepted that position and it too was fulfilling, but something still lacked in my walk with Christ and God.

I so wanted to be a part of the service and decided to take banjo lessons. I wanted to learn so I could be like my father-in-law, Bro. Bryan Jessup. After a couple years of lessons, I began to play on the stage with the quartet and we traveled all over playing and singing. Still, I felt more was needed.

While I was still serving on the board, a member of the church started a class, and I took it. This was a great step in my Christian walk, as it encouraged me to really search the scriptures and dot every I. I was still a fireman at the time and part of my duties was the teach the new recruits about the fire investigation division and how fire could be determined. This led me to start teaching bible study classes in our church. I was able to teach a class on Tuesday nights and we did this for two years with God leading all the way. During this same time, I was a Sunday school teacher trying to lead young minds to follow Christ Jesus, but I still felt that God wanted me to do something else, but what I still didn’t know.

I was in my last year of work in the fire service and was about to retire. All that year I kept feeling like God was talking to me. I knew God would talk to us, but I still had doubts that He would really talk to me. I kept feeling like he was talking to me all year long, so I finally stopped and listened. I just had this feeling that where God was leading me, was to go into the ministry as a preacher. I never thought of myself as a minister or a spiritual leader, but then God reminded me that He has been preparing me with all these other things in my life to do what He was calling me to do.

I went home one day and told my wife that I needed to go and talk to her father, our minister. I didn’t tell her why I needed to go talk, I just went. When I got to Byron’s house, he was sitting on the couch. I went to him and said, “Byron, I need to talk to you.” He said, “I have been waiting for you to come.” I then said in my mind, okay, let’s see if he knows why I came, so I asked him, “Do you know why I need to talk to you?” He replied, “You came to tell me you are going to preach.” I sat down and we had a very long talk.

It wasn’t long after that, Byron and some of the other preachers in the church, ordained me during a Sunday morning service. I have continued to work for God and Jesus Christ in the ministry and have been blessed to do so. Thank you, Father God, for trusting in me to be a leader for you.