I began my path back to Jesus Christ about 4 years ago now and as I have said, yes, it was to get the girl. But let’s start this story at the beginning because it will help you make much more sense about Beyond Faith, my passion, and my message to the world when my story is completely told.
My father was a preacher back in the day before I was born; and so growing up we went to the church in our town like good Christians should. It was very much a “Turn or Burn” experience for me. The preacher spoke freely of Hellfire and if we did not change we were going to Hell. We were already in Church and doing the right thing, I thought, but this preacher is convicting us to Hell in about every other sentence. Many of the other church leaders took their cue from the preacher and we also very condescending and awful. In one Sunday school class the teacher asked my friend to read a bible passage. Well my friend, we were approximately 8 or 9 years old at the time, told the teacher that he did not have his bible with him. The teacher picked one off of the stack in the corner and gave it to him. Another boy, sitting beside my friend, said that he also did not have a bible. My friend gave him the first bible trying to be nice. The teacher threw the next bible across the room at my friend screaming “You will read that passage!” Apparently he thought my friend was trying to get out of the reading by handing the other boy the bible. I told my mother about this, who was unhappy with the church as is, and that was the last day I remember being in church.
That stereotype of what a Christian was and how they acted infected me wholly. I could not shake it at all and had no desire to ever call myself a Christian. I believed in a higher power; I always have, just had that feeling that God was there. But for almost 25 years, I kept those ideas of the church and the way Christians acted in church. I have known many Christians in that time with none of them ever treating me poorly or saying an unkind word. I would even get uncomfortable being in a church at a wedding! That experience all those years ago had tainted my views on the church as a whole.
As I said, I always felt there was a God out there, but I was not sure about this Jesus fellow that I hear so much about. I had heard stories and was not sure I would really believe them. I used to be a semi-professional magician so the tales of water into wine and making a cripple man walk or a blind man see struck me as mere cheap parlor tricks. Man hobbles in on crutches, you touch him, and he dances off the stage…you would be laughed off the stage yourself if you tried these tricks. I chalked them up to being in a different time and people not thinking the way we do. The resurrection was a bit harder to pull off and who knows if it actually happened. Yes, I get that the bible tells us it is true, but why should I believe that book more that the copy of The Wizard of Oz that I have on my shelf? Man wrote them both and so what gives one more credit than the other?
And then there was the girl….
I met Becky on Good Friday, the signs don’t stop there but that would be jumping ahead. We met through a friend of mine that she was dating at one time. It didn’t work out but they were good friends; both got the brother/sister vibe more than the love interest. When I saw her, it really was love at first sight. There was something amazing about this woman. I asked my buddy if it was OK if I asked her out. He told me it was OK, so I called her up and asked her out. And just as God planned it, she said no……….
Yep! She said no. But it was not a one of those firm get lost kind of no’s. There was some hesitation, and so I asked why not. Come to find out I had made the fatal flaw of asking her out on the same night the Bachelor was on…how foolish. 🙂
The relationship grew very quickly, and I knew this was really something special. However, she had a deal-breaker. She was very active in the church and her religion and I, well, was not even close. We debated and argued, and I could tell that she saw something special here too but that she could not turn her back on her faith. So I did want all guys in love do…I caved. I agreed to look into Christianity and ask the questions that bugged me about this religion.
My journey back started very slow, which surprised me. With so many Christians about I figured it would be really easy to ask any of them and they would be able to answer my questions. It didn’t happen that way at all. I found that many people have never questioned their faith or religion; sometimes I wish I would be so lucky! So they have not asked the difficult questions and did not know how to answer them. This posed a problem to me finding out what I needed to know.
Becky had a possible solution for me. There was a class called Alpha that her church was going to put on. At the mention of church I nearly jumped out of my skin, but she told me more about it. Basically it is a dinner and a movie date with a group discussion following. I refer to the class as Christianity 101 now. I reluctantly said I would go, and she brought up a great point: at least I will get a free dinner. Plus, Becky was a leader so I could join her group and she could deflect some of the heat off of me if I was uncomfortable.
We get there and we have out dinner in a “Movie Grill” kind of place. The people are smiling, friendly, and nice, but I am still waiting for that Hell-crazed preacher to jump out of the woodwork. To my surprise that never happened. Instead we listened to some music while we ate and then we watched the video. The man in the video, Nicky Gumbel, was a preacher in the Church of England. He spoke very calmly, personably, and even made a few jokes at the expense of the Church of England. All in all it was a very good video. The part that got me thinking was a list he gave of some of the more notable Christians; among that list were what I considered some of the most profoundly intelligent and scientific people the planet has ever seen including Sir Isaac Newton, Louis Pasteur, and Thomas Edison are some of the ones I remember. That got me thinking! If these great scientific minds, who question everything, believe in Christianity and Jesus Christ as the son of God and the human savior, then that is something I need to look into more! At the end of the lecture, Nicky asked for those that wanted to do so to bow their heads and join him in prayer. I did so and I prayed for guidance, courage to face my fears, and the strength to do what God asked of me.
At this time I was also blessed by God’s hand to meet, what I consider, one of the most powerful men in apologetics today, Bill Wilson. Bill is the editor and researcher for Josh McDowell, one of the leading authors on apologetics. Bill was huge in answering the direct and difficult questions I had about the Christian faith. He was straight forward, honest, and warm. With his guidance and what I was learning in the Alpha course I was well on my way on learning why we should believe in Jesus Christ and the Christian faith.
Well, it was time to bite the bullet, face my fears, and go with Becky to church. I was not happy about it, even if I was working on my beliefs, and reluctantly went. She is in the church choir and so she had to leave me in the common room, alone, to go get ready for the service. I stayed near the doors in the corner of the room for almost all of the 20 minutes I was there. I was still waiting for that crazy Christian from my past to tackle me and douse me in holy water or something. Instead a man came over and told me that he had not seen me before and asked if I was new to the church. I told him I was and he very genuinely greeted me and welcomed me to the church. We spoke for a few minutes, and I really got a good, warm feeling from him; something I had never experienced before in a church setting.
In the service, the senior pastor lead a wonderful service that talked about, of all the strange things, was God a Dallas Cowboys fan. I was awestruck! The service was not about how evil I was, he did not yell at me, and he did not even make me feel guilty. I felt something else entirely. I felt warm and cared about even though I was one of many people in the main sanctuary. He was funny and passionate without the anger and condescension that I had expected. The most amazing part was that I felt the kindness of God’s love instead of the God’s wrath speech I expected. And then it hit me, after 25 years, maybe I was wrong.
Since that time four years ago, I have read many things on the subject of apologetics and why we should believe. It is my mission, given to me by God, to not only walk that path again to try to bring others who were like me into God’s loving arms, but to also equip Christians with the answers to the tough questions so that they too can answer them when a searching soul asks.
Fast Facts
Hunter is in his mid thirties. He and Becky got married in November of 2005 in the same church where she sang in the choir. The couple does not have children yet except for two of the furry variety: a dachshund named Daisy and bichon frise named Noodle. They bought their first house “in the burbs” and are enjoying their time together. They both are leaders in their Sunday school class and help with new member classes in their church. Hunter has been approached about teaching in the church and he is looking forward to this new challenge God placed before him.
Hunter enjoys movies, TV, computer games, and spending time with his wife and puppies. He is a hockey nut and watches as much as possible. His favorite books are fantasy such as the R.A. Salvatore dark elf series and Harry Potter and he can be found often online in World of Warcraft or rocking out in Guitar Hero III!
Great testimony! Thanks for sharing – your article on Lunatic, Liar, Legend or Lord was well-said. I’ve begun a blog with the purpose of defending Christianity – it’s become quite a challenge. Good to read others. I’ll be back.
I’ve read your testimony before (and of course, lived through it with you). However, I love reading about it over and over again.
You’ve got a great site here Hunter. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the kind words you three. That gives me great encouragement!
🙂