Kenny was baptized in December 2024. If you have interest in getting baptized at Hope Community Church, you can learn more by visiting hopecc.com/baptism.
Having grown up in a Christian household, I was no stranger to church and the message of the gospel from an early age. One Sunday afternoon after church, when I was perhaps 9 or 10, I made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior.
Fast forwarding 10 years or so, I was in the “honeymoon phase” of becoming a young adult and was confronted with many situations which challenged my personal convictions and beliefs as a Christian. I fell prey to these temptations and attempted to justify many of my choices, chalking it all up to this “just being a phase” or finding some other excuse that might absolve me from judgement or guilt. It wasn’t long before I’d turned almost entirely away from Jesus and replaced him with all kinds of new idols – pleasure, relationships, professional success. I was now seeking true and long-lasting meaning and value from these things. And as a result, I was in a constant state of emotional back-and-forth and was plagued by ongoing guilt and shame.
After years of not having a church home of any kind, my girlfriend (now wife), Jenna, and I began attending Hope CC on a whim. Neither of us had had been actively pursuing a relationship with the Lord but had come from church-going backgrounds. God was tugging at my heart, encouraging me to seek Him out yet again. Over time I realized that perhaps my original understanding of God’s salvation had been very one-dimensional: my childhood acceptance of Christ was made mostly out of concern for my eternal salvation. I came to understand that Jesus’ death on the cross accomplished so much more! That by his blood we are forgiven from our sin and have access to the Father through Him, and that He truly desires to be in relationship with us. In time, I decided to recommit my life to Christ and pursue a relationship with Him.
Since then, God has worked in my life in countless ways. Jenna and I got married, and through the process I was amazed to come to understand how marriage is intended to point us to Jesus. Having the common foundation of God’s grace has been essential in marriage and has helped each of us to be confronted with our sin and how much we need a savior. God has also opened my eyes to his will by way of his Word and has drawn both my wife and I deeper and deeper into his family of believers. He’s given me an enduring hope that, while this life brings struggles, we ultimately serve a great God who has eternal plans for us!
I am getting baptized to publicly declare that I have been brought from death to life by the blood of Jesus Christ! I have been saved by grace, not because of anything that I have done, but because of what He did on the cross. He has forgiven me of my sin and adopted me as his son. Praise God!
While there are many Bible passages that have been of key importance in my faith journey, here is one that comes to mind as having been particularly impactful, Hebrews 2:10-11:
“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.”
