My Story

My hope was forgiveness. My continued pain was the unfulfilled life of serving my Lord. A strong desire to serve God had never left me. I concluded that my sins were too great for Him to restore my life into His service.


But to my amazement, God was to take the broken pieces of my life and not only forgive me, but restore me into a powerful ministry that I could never have imagined.


My heart was broken, and God would use my broken heart to save me from the ravages of sin. I was to learn the depths of not only His forgiveness, but also His grace and mercy. Like the Apostle Paul I was to declare that if God could forgive and use the worst of sinners, me, he can forgive and restore you as well.


One night I went to a church service. It was a church that did not know me from the past. I sat in the back ready to make a quick exit after the service. I did not want to answer the probing questions that would embarrass me to say I was once a pastor, but I had fallen from the ministry. My life is now in ruin.


At the end of the service, the pastor started talking about communion. He talked about our Lord’s sacrifice of his blood and life for my sins. He told of the resurrection and the hope of eternal life. I wanted to run out the door, but I was glued to the chair. Tears were shooting from eyes as the emblems came to me. Never did our Lord’s Supper mean so much to me as then. When I arrived home, I said to the Lord you arrange that just for me, thank you!


I wanted to go to church regularly now. My new Christian wife from our Lord and I found a church. I took the pastor to coffee. I wanted to tell him who I was, a fallen pastor. Part way through my story he stopped me and said he also fell, and God had restored his life and ministry. Then he said life changing words to me. He said, “God loves you Steve!” Oh, these words were like cool water to a man dying of thirst.


For several years this pastor and other mentors taught me how to live with God. They helped me back onto the path of life in our Lord! My restoration into service was slowly. First I led a Bible study, then a life group, then I became a board member, and finally an elder. Just a few years ago I was ordained as a Pastor.


In 2005, I was given a $100 and asked to invest it in the Kingdom of God as an illustration of the Parable of the Talents. I prayed that God would show me how to use the $100. I asked God if I could be a part of whatever blessing it became. At that same time my wife’s sister in the Philippines was praying for a church in her remote community. I enlisted the help of others and that $100 became Grace Chapel. We attended its dedication in 2006.


For the next several years, my Lord continued to grow my relationship with Him. In 2011, my family and I moved to the Philippines as missionaries. Now in 2014 we were 22 new churches in remote areas of the Philippines. We have many care programs in the name of our Lord Jesus. These ministries of love are regular feedings for malnourished children, school scholarships the less fortunate children, health programs, and support for pastors, clothing programs, and most of all the hope of our Lord Jesus and His saving mercy and grace. Many lives and communities are being transformed with the loving care of our Lord.


My life is fulfilled and overflowing. The prayer of that seven-year-old boy, me, is being answered.


“And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all
.Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:14-16 NASB).

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