Testimonies

Peter

I grew up in a Christian family near Philadelphia, and put my faith in Christ at a young age.  I then began a long and industrious career of playing at "the Christian game;" on Sunday making everyone think I was a good kid, but really living for my own pleasure and reputation.

The love of my life growing up was music (particularly playing the trombone).  I set my hope in excelling at music, primarily by getting accepted into various honors bands.  During my junior year of high school, the Lord took almost everything away from me: my health (I got mono and was laid out for a full month), a girlfriend, and district band (I was too sick to go, so I never got to audition for the next level).  I was pretty devastated, but the Lord used that time to turn my heart away from these idols and toward himself.

I spent my last two summers in high school working as a counselor at a Christian camp.  Through some influences there, I first came to grips with the Lordship of Christ over my life, an understanding which bore much more fruit during my time in college.  Graduating and getting ready to attend Bucknell University then became the most traumatic time of my life, as I was devastated to lose the relationships I had been building for many years.

Coming to college (where I majored in music), I made an unstated decision to keep my distance from people so as not to go through such pain again in four years.  Enter Mark Fodale, the DiscipleMakers Staff at Bucknell at the time.  Mark lovingly confronted me on this issue, challenging me to believe that God had sovereignly placed me at Bucknell and then to act on that belief.

Thus continued the Lord's work of making me to be more like Christ.  Mark helped me begin discipling younger students at Bucknell so I could call them to a follow Christ as well.  When I graduated, there was plenty of pain (because I had begun investing in relationships again), but it wasn't at all like the separation after high school because my hope was set in the Lord rather than my friends.  In addition, the Lord called me to give up my "baby" of playing music so that I could give my life to serving him by ministering to college students.  The choice to give up the trombone was difficult, but not nearly so devastating a loss as it was in high school.

I was so changed through my time at Bucknell and compelled by the vision for making disciples of the next generation that I eagerly joined the DM staff team upon graduation!  Now I get to spend my days teaching the Bible, discipling younger men, and calling all to give up everything to follow Jesus.  There's nothing else I'd rather be doing.

Erin

Although I didn't grow up in a Christian home, I began attending church when I was about 8 years old.  At first I was primarily attracted to the church because of the relationships I began forming there.  As a child, I always had a difficult time making friends, but at church I felt loved and accepted no matter how "cool" I was in the eyes of my peers at school.

As I grew older though, I began to realize that there was much more to church than warm, fuzzy feelings that came from feeling accepted.  During my high school years, the Lord placed in my life a Sunday school teacher and youth group leaders who began to show me a fuller picture of what the Christian life is really about.  I distinctly remember one Sunday school class when my teacher, Steve, shared his testimony.  He talked about his relationship with Jesus and how that relationship had changed every aspect of his life.  As he shared what the Lord had done to save him from his sin and bring him into a relationship with Himself, Steve broke down in tears.  This greatly impacted me, as I immediately realized that my relationship with Christ was not nearly that deep, such that it would move me to tears or motivate me to make major changes in my life.  But although the Lord grew me during those high school years, it wasn't until several years later that the Gospel really sunk in deep for me as it had for Steve.

When I went away to Lafayette College, my life changed dramatically.  In high school (just as in my younger years), I had continued to be somewhat socially awkward, always on the fringes and never in the "in" crowd.  I occasionally had a date for high school dances, but for the most part guys didn't take too much interest in me.  This changed when I went to college.  All of a sudden, I discovered how to be a flirt and attract guys' attention.  I began to place my identity in the way attractive young men were responding to me.  As I pursued this idol, I naturally drifted farther and farther away from the Lord, only going to fellowship meetings and Bible studies when it was convenient for me.  But the Lord was working despite my stubbornness.

Over Christmas break, when I was away from the idols I had been pursuing, I began to reflect on my life and my rebellion against the Lord.  The Lord brought to mind some of the talks I had heard at the rare fellowship meetings I had gone to.  I knew that what the DiscipleMakers staffworker had said, week after week, was true: even though I looked like a pretty good person on the outside, inside I was a wicked sinner, desperately in need of God's grace.  I knew that the way I was treating men was wrong and selfish, even though most of the other girls on campus were doing it too.  I resolved that when I went back to school, things would be different.

By God's grace alone, I was able to keep this resolution.  As I repented of my sin and stubbornness, He began to change me from the inside out, and he even began to use me to minister to others.  I began to learn how to submit every area of life to Jesus, my King.  At the end of my freshmen year, this culminated in me breaking up with my boyfriend because I was convinced from the Scriptures that it was what the Lord wanted me to do.  At that point in my life, I had never before given up something so precious to me for the Lord's sake.  But I had finally become convinced that He was more precious than any earthly thing, and as I continue to walk with the him, I become more and more convinced of that every day.  I praise God for his goodness to me!