Hi, I'm Kurt Wallace, pastor of
Freedom
Fellowship
Church . I grew up in
Plainfield, NJ in a home with a dad and mom but did not have a spiritual role model.My teen years of life consisted of promiscuous living filled with drinking, drugs, thievery, and on and on (I am sure you see the picture).I grew up very much afraid of my dad, especially when he was high or drunk, which was often.I remember very vividly when at the age of 16 he kicked me out of the house and shot at me and my brother with a 32 pistol.In 1980 at the age of 18, I joined the United States Marine Corps.
While serving my country I continued to live a destructive life doing many illegal activities.My behavior for the first five years of my Marine Corps career was worse than my previous years as a teenager.I learned to beat the system because in my job I was privy to when random drug tests were being given.I continued to party a few more years away, not realizing how bad it was - but that all began to change in 1983.
While stationed at
Willow Grove, PA I met a young lady who was also there on active duty.
Willow Grove is a military installation where reservists were trained primarily on weekends.This duty required me to work many weekends.This female Marine (now my wife) and a very close friend of ours persistently invited me to the Base Chapel for Sunday services.Finally, during the Easter season of 1984 at the age of 22 I decided to accept their invitation to go to the Base Chapel.It was at that service that God began to penetrate my heart deeply. I realized where my life was headed and soon became very uneasy and somewhat afraid of the future.I still denied, rejected and fought this feeling, ending at that time with no remorse or change of heart.I knew about God and Jesus, because I had spent some time in church growing up.A few months later, around June of 1985, one morning while I was lying in bed, I heard a voice.This voice was very distinct to me.This voice while not audible, was penetrating through every fabric of my heart, mind and soul.This voice said, “Kurt, you have heard it before, but now if you do not receive my Son, Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are going to die and go to hell.”This was very real to me!I immediately felt sorrowful for what I was doing with my life and I wanted the change.You see, I had known about Jesus and that He had died for me but I had refused to respond to Him.This spiritual confrontation got my attention.I knew I had to make a choice.Life, its meaning, my purpose: everything was very confusing.But through God’s silent but loud voice I began to realize how much He loves me.That morning I cried like a baby as I accepted Jesus in my life.I asked Him to come into my heart.I asked Him to change my heart, my life, everything.He did it!I no longer go on drinking, or engage in illegal or immoral behavior.Let me tell you; I know I am still not perfect, and I have many challenges.I have learned that I need to trust Him every day in all circumstances.Jesus gives me strength for the new challenges I face with each new day.I have come to believe in my heart that God really does love me.Romans chapter five, verse eight says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Since receiving Jesus as Lord of my life many things have changed, (my values, my dreams, my relationships, and much more has changed for the better).I have a strong desire to both love God, and to love others.I have learned how to forgive others when they have hurt me.I forgave my father for all the abuse that I received for so many years. Now my dad and I share a respectful relationship and I take every opportunity to tell him about the forgiveness that is found in knowing Christ, even for his sins.I am praying that one day he will accept Christ and share in the joy that I now have.I have learned to look to God for strength when making tough decisions, like when I quit smoking.I used to smoke 2-3 packs a day for over 8 years.I also gave up drugs.I trusted God to change me.My vocabulary even changed.I used to use five explicit crude and vulgar words not fitting for any ears to hear and God even took care of my language problem. As I said earlier, I know I am not perfect, but I serve a God who is.I know I can trust God as I follow Jesus.
I hope my story has encouraged you to seek Him today.Surrender your life to Jesus, He loves you, and He has a great plan for your life.Do not be like me and throw away years of your life doing your own thing.God created us to live for Him.Nobody can promise anybody tomorrow -- so why don’t you trust Him today?
I invite you to open your Bible to see what God has to say through His written word (the Bible), today and read; John 3:16; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; Romans 5:8; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-10.
As you are finishing reading my story I pray that today God will touch your heart in a special way.
.jpg)
