Sometime between 1994 and 1995

Calvary Chapel Merritt Island, FL

Before my 1st spouse and I got married in September of 1995, we dated and lived together in sin for about 18 months.  There had been that tragic abortion of our twins, and our lives were increasingly chaotic as we lived outside of God’s will and truth.  We were living in Merritt Island, FL and one of my best friends and his wife, from Cocoa Beach high school, had been attending Calvary Chapel of Merritt Island and told us about it.  Soon, she was motivated for us to start going to church, which is what she had grown up doing.  I was reluctant to go, no doubt because of our sinful life, but I eventually agreed.  What irony that the person who would become my greatest spiritual enemy, was the person God initially used to get me exposed again to His Word and Spirit. 

The pastor’s name was Malcomb Wild.  He was from England and between his great accent, his Rod Stewart haircut, and his inspiring sermons, I found myself intrigued and willing to keep attending. I remember being impressed with his sermons, perhaps compared to the sermons I had heard in the little Southern Baptist church, in Grant, AL, where my mom and I had both been baptized, when I was in the 11th grade.  But while we were attending Calvary, I noticed this husband and wife I saw sitting on the front row, right in my line of sight, each Sunday morning.  I didn’t know what it was at the time, but there was just something special about them.  To me, it looked as if God was very real to them, and that they had an actual loving relationship with Him.  I never met them, but even from afar they stood out to me as to what I now know to be true salt and light, just as Jesus taught.  Between Malcomb’s truth filled preaching and teaching, and this godly couple, God was setting me up.  One Sunday morning, it seems to me that the Holy Spirit, whispered to my heart, “Come closer. There is so much more.”  From that time on, I made God’s word and church a consistent part of my life, but it would be another fifteen years, until I came to that full surrender of everything to my Master and Lord, on October 30, 2009.  Nevertheless, those seven words are incredible to reflect on, in the light of what God has done in this life and ministry.  He showed me the salt and light in that couple in Merritt Island and eventually gave some to me.