The Greatest Decision I've Ever Made...

I was 9 years old when I decided to follow Jesus. I was raised in a family where faith was an important part of life, in a "one-stop-light" town about 30 miles east of Charlotte, NC. I remember as a young child my parents becoming Christians and being baptized, and the impression that it had on me. Mom and Dad took my brother, Adam, and I to church almost every Sunday. I knew the Bible stories, sang the songs at church, and was generally just a good kid. So needless to say, at the age of 9 I don't think I had any big regrets and I hadn't done any hard time in prison. But it was at that age that I began to realize that there was a little more to this God-thing than knowing the answers in Sunday School.

I'll never forget one day I told my mom that I thought I wanted to become a Christian. So we talked and eventually I even spoke with the pastor of our church. He asked me if I knew what sin was and as only a 9 year old can say it, I replied, "It's the bad things I do that God doesn't like." Then he asked me, "Do you know what Jesus did for you?"

I had heard the stories of Jesus most of life but I think that was the first time I really understood my need for a Savior, and I responded, "He died so that my sins can be forgiven." It may sound funny to say it, but when I was 9 years old I made the greatest decision of my life. I didn't necessarily understand it all, but I knew that I was a sinner in need of God's grace. And that night I asked Jesus to become my Savior and my Lord.

My life hasn't been perfect since then. I've been through times where I felt so close to God, and times when I wondered how I had gotten so far off track. But you know the truth . . . God has never given up on me. That night in 1987 when I asked Jesus into my heart, He came in and he's never left. And I'm so thankful because following Jesus has given me purpose… it has given me peace in the middle of some difficult storms in my life.

The decision to follow Christ has led me where I am today. To meeting and marrying my beautiful wife, Karen. To my call to ministry when I was 15 years old, to my early career in music, to helping start The Journey and serving God for nearly a decade in New York City, and now to starting The Journey and living here in Boca Raton.

It's the greatest decision I've ever made, and it's the greatest decision you will ever make, too!