Andrew was baptized in December 2022. If you have interest in getting baptized at Hope Community Church, you can learn more by visiting hopecc.com/baptism.
My story begins when I was very young. I was raised in the Catholic Church, where I was baptized as an infant, and faith had always been an important topic in my household. Faith was something that I always knew was important because of the way I was taught and raised, but I never knew why it was important. So, for a good chunk of my life, I viewed faith as important, but I always kept it in the passenger seat of my life so to speak, while I remained in the driver’s seat. All of this began to change though during my sophomore year of high school. Through many complications, doctor visits, and frustrating symptoms, my family and I discovered that I had an incredibly rare inner ear disease, called Cholesteatoma. According to Ear, Nose, and Throat specialists, if left untreated, it would lead to total hearing loss, or even death in many cases. The good news? The disease is treatable and has a high success rate! The bad news? Because of the invasive nature of the surgeries, I’d still lose a majority of my hearing and need to wear hearing aids the rest of my life. As a musician who dedicated a massive amount of time to writing, playing, and performing, this news was utterly devastating. I was about to lose the one thing I was most passionate about during that time of my life, but after many tears and conversations with loved ones, I knew I had to go through with the surgeries for the good of my overall health. So, the surgeries came and went, and after doing hearing tests, the doctors were dumbfounded. I lost NO hearing at all in my left ear, and only 30% of my high frequencies in my right. The doctors and specialists had no medical explanation, and that was the moment I realized God performed a miracle in my life and had greater plans for me.
After these events, I really started to explore my faith and what it meant to be a Christian. This curiosity lead me to the campus ministry, Cru, during my freshman year at the University of St. Thomas. It was there that I heard the Gospel for the first time and truly started to grasp who Jesus is, and why he needed to die on the Cross. During a spring break trip with Cru in March of 2016, I officially made the decision to follow Christ. It has not always been an easy road to follow since then, and there are certainly challenges that I have to face, but I can always rely on one constant: God is sovereign over all, and deeply desires to know us personally and have a relationship with us. This is evident by Jesus Christ’s work on the cross, and how he willingly submitted himself to that to wash us of our sin. I have decided to be baptized to publicly declare that I am following Jesus with my whole heart, and embrace being washed of my sin and brought into new life with Christ. While I was baptized as an infant, I wanted to make this decision as an adult and as a follower of Christ. While I know that the road ahead will still come with its ups and downs, trials and tribulations, I will continue to walk confidently knowing that I have the support of my friends and family, my church body, and our Lord Jesus Christ!
