After being baptized I fell back into this cycle of anxiety and sin. I put off God and told myself that he would be waiting there for me whenever I was ready to act like a Christian. Fear of man, fear of the world, and hopelessness were all things that consumed my life. I continued going to church but did not act like I was a believer throughout the week. I continued to be sinful without repenting or thinking about what Christ did for me. I was constantly filling voids with friends or activities. 

I continued this way for a while during high school until the Lord changed my heart. Through months of people pouring into me and the Lord revealing my sins and my need for Him, He saved me. He showed me that I was putting my hope in people and activities. I was putting my hope in things that would fail me. But the Lord became my rock, and he has proven himself time and time again. Most of all he has proven I can trust Him through his death, life, and resurrection.

The Lord also showed to me over time that I am not responsible for my conversion. It is not through baptism that you are saved, but it is through believing in Christ and trusting in him. I used to think it was up to me if I was a good enough person and that I had to deserve God's Grace. But that is not true. We will never deserve God’s grace. Which is why Christ had to come.

Left alone to ourselves we are helpless in our sin and can never be saved by our good works. I would have never chosen the Lord if he did not choose me first. God shifted my heart through hard circumstances and showed me I’m not in control. I’m so thankful that God in his sovereignty pursued me and placed people in my life to point me to the Gospel even when that was not what I was searching for. As Titus 3:4-7 says, “4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

My parents were hard-working, affectionate, moral people, but they were not believers in the gospel of God’s grace. They worked hard to be “good people” in the hope that things would turn out well in the end for them, but it was sports, relationships, fun, and music that brought me temporary peace. I spent long hours as a child listening to my big sister’s albums. I played and sang to all kinds of music to make myself feel better and to cope with the anxieties of living in a suffering and angry world. At other times, I’d head to the basketball court to gain satisfaction from competing in sports and driving up my endorphins for hours.

I lived on shaky ground. Spurgeon said, “Live entirely upon Christ; living by feelings is a deadly form of life.” As I entered my high school years, things became more difficult. I was getting closer to full-blown adult responsibility which caused anxiety. Would I go to college? What would I study? Would I like my career? Would someone ever marry me? In addition to those heavy questions, I had to deal with the physical and relationship challenges of being a teenager and navigating interactions with the opposite sex. So much nervous fear!

I studied psychology at Fordham University. My love for deep conversation with others was something built into me by God, but I was still a stranger to Christ. The things that my flesh wanted to pursue – “freedom” (illusory), independence, the ability to live the way I wanted—was too much to resist. So, I stopped attending catholic mass in the first year of college. The priests gave no assurance of eternal life. I was well aware of the commandments but had no power to keep them and no answer for the guilt of violating them. So, I drifted away from “the faith.” I knew that the pagan religions were bankrupt of credibility, eternal wisdom, and the hope of salvation and thought that there was nowhere else to turn except pleasure (Ecclesiastes 2:1- 15). So, wine, women, song, and “whatever pleased me” became my pursuit. My conclusion was the same as Solomon’s – “all is vanity.”

I lived this way for 6 years and then moved to California at age 27. The Lord sent 4 witnesses to me in the first 5 months I lived alone in the San Francisco Bay area. I responded to the fourth, my cousin, by receiving the simple promise of forgiveness and eternal life by faith and in prayer. The LORD had been pursuing me and working in me all along (Hosea 11:4; John 6:44)! A coworker who had witnessed me for months invited me to her church where I grew through the faithful witness and love of God’s people there. A whole new world opened up to me (Psalm 119:130) and the preaching of God's whole counsel gave me satisfying answers to my questions and emptiness. He showed me my purpose and future, gave me His presence within, joy to go with my sadness, and a Savior to walk through life with. He also gifted me with my precious wife, Sheila, and we’ve enjoyed a very full 31 years together full of grace, truth, and His faithfulness. The Lord has shown me the good works that He had prepared beforehand for me (Ps. 16:6, 11; Eph. 2:10) and has crowned my days with lovingkindness regardless of my performance.

Now, I am enjoying the “crown of the aged” – grandchildren (Prov. 17:6)! God is so good and so worth following, no matter what hardships come my way, and He has promised me that I will dwell in His house forever. His praise will continually be in my mouth (Psalm 34:1). I encourage you to call on His name, too. He receives all who do!

I’ve called many places home: Ohio, New Jersey, Maryland, back to New Jersey, with a few years in Virginia for college thrown in the mix. After we got married, John and I moved to Delaware for a short stint before taking the big leap to California for a promising job offer. In short, California didn’t work for us for many reasons, and COVID made it even worse. The South, Georgia specifically, beckoned with family and a major airport nearby. So am I a Jersey girl? a California wannabe? a Southern Belle?… I like to think I’m a little bit of everything.

I grew up in a Christian home, with my parents working for Christian organizations and our family active in a local church. I remember my dad kept his Bible on the kitchen table reading it with his Daily Bread devotional. In the first grade, I prayed the sinner’s prayer but I did not truly understand grace until college. At Liberty University, it became my desire to know my faith on a deeper level so I studied Religion. There I learned so much about evangelism, the book of Genesis and Romans. I studied Bible theology and church history.

After college, I went home to work with my family in our restaurant called Soupy’s. Shortly after the restaurant closed, my dad had a brain bleed requiring emergency surgery. Sadly, he remained immobile for 11 weeks as we cared for him in and out of various hospitals and rehab facilities. After a difficult three months, he passed away.

After losing my dad, I found employment working at a hospital in the ER. Hospitals had become familiar over the course of my life, so they weren’t as intimidating as they once were. I worked at several hospitals and eventually took a position in population health at a primary care doctor’s office until I met my husband.

Through all the storms of life, I know my faith in Jesus has been the unshakable source of peace and strength to sustain me through it all. Christ died for me. As perfect as I thought I was, I am reminded daily that I am a sinner in need of grace. Grace is God’s kindness to the undeserving. Romans 5:8 says, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” I’m thankful for His grace to me!

In the mornings we read the Bible with Jack and a children’s book that says,
“His Grace is Enough,

Its so big and so free,

His Grace is Enough,

For both you and for me”

Over the course of my life, I’ve helped care for my grandfather who had Parkinson’s Dementia. While in high school, we lived with my grandmother who also had dementia. After getting married, I discovered that my mother in law, Barbie, had progressive memory loss from a traumatic brain injury, and I cared for her until her passing last year. Now my mom has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Dementia. I’ve been walking with memory loss for what feels like my whole life, so I know it all too well.

As I walk through the weeds of Alzheimer’s disease with my mother, I am constant in prayer as I need to lean on Christ to get us through. Please be praying for my mom as she has to battle this disease. Pray for our young family as we all walk through the storm of Alzheimer’s together.

After being shown that I was a sinner in need of saving, the trajectory of my life changed, but because of my sin, selfishness, and hard-heartedness, my struggles with sin continued and continue still. Our Freedom in Christ is the most glorious thing and the Holy Spirit guiding and speaking into our lives is such a gift and blessing. But, like a sheep I stray from the path, I forget His promises and His commands, and I think I know the way on my own. I love the comparison of myself to a dumb sheep who would fall off a cliff if it weren’t for our Shepherd who leads us, guides us, and protects us. God is faithful, His promises are true, and I continually learn the depth of my sin and my need for a savior every single day. The more I learn the depth of my sin and my need for a Savior, the more I know that to live all of life in light of the gospel and life joyfully for His Kingdom, I need to spend time with God: in His Word, in prayer, and corporately with our Church family. These practices and habits become more and more important the longer I spend with my Father in Heaven, and when I am filled in Him, I can pour out for others and love those around me as He loves me.

Please pray for Lauren and I, that we would lose our lives for Christ (Matthew 10:39) and be drawn closer to Him in our marriage. Please pray that the Lord would give us wisdom, discernment, love and patience in parenting our three beautiful girls, Callie, Annie, and Lillian and that we will joyfully point them to Christ!

I don’t remember a time in my life where I did not know something about Jesus. My parents came to faith a few years before I was born, and they prioritized having our family in church and teaching us the Word of Truth, especially my mom, since she homeschooled us and spent time reading Scripture with us and sharing what the Lord had taught her. I specifically remember being afraid as a kid, and she would read the Psalms with me. When I ran to her after reading Revelation for the first time, she was there with encouraging words. When I’ve wrestled with confusion over decisions and frustrating relationships, she has always been ready to share the Word with me and help me get God’s light in my mind.

Even so, there was a lot I never internalized or understood as a kid. It feels like God has always been present in my life, but it took a lot of years for me to see much of Him there. I was 16 or 17 when I started reading the Word myself and getting to know the Lord personally. In college, I was introduced to theology in a way I had never been before. The structure of my faith and knowledge of God grew up slowly and surely, while I did. It’s been extremely gradual, but it’s beautiful for me to see how God has been with me all this time.

Because of His grace, I’ve never experienced destabilizing doubt or seasons of turning away from Him, and I think there’s much of the Lord that I’m still learning and experiencing for the first time. I always think I know so much, and I’ve got the Christian life down pat, until I round the next corner and learn that I don’t. Graciously, He keeps helping me along. I am so thankful for His sovereignty and grace in my life.

I am blessed to have wonderful, godly parents who steeped me in the Word of God from an early age. Raised to know the truths of the Bible, I grew up understanding right and wrong and lived a moral, principled life. Yet despite being both biblically literate and doctrinally sound, I was blind to my self-righteousness and pride like the Pharisee in Luke 18. Just as that Pharisee saw himself to be holier and more pure than the sinful tax collector, I too, viewed myself to be more righteous than those in my social circles. Because my life was characterized by devout rule-following, I often belittled others and judged their sin, thinking I was better (Obadiah 1:3). I would separate myself from those I deemed sinful, but never looked at my own heart (1 John 1:8). In my own eyes, I had mastered true godliness; but I had become a cold, calloused, habitual moralist (Jeremiah 17:9). What I thought was righteous living was really fruitless attempts at earning favor before God and man, and the tone of my prayers was like that of the Pharisee: “God, I thank you that I’m not like the other people who are deceitful, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11).

At age 15, a faithful friend challenged me to examine my heart. In self reflection, God opened my eyes to discover the magnitude of my pride and the depth of my sin before a Holy God, and I saw with complete clarity that I deserved eternal punishment (Romans 6:23). My sin was great: I had rebelled against God and sought to exalt myself above Him through my good deeds. I had gone my own way, living according to my wisdom yet countlessly breaking either the letter or the spirit of God’s commandments. I was bound by the power of sin, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, and in and of myself, I was lost without hope (Titus 3:3). Through His Word, God showed me that my moral and right living could not atone for my sin and earn a right relationship with God (Ephesians 2:8-9). I was completely and utterly unable to make even the slightest contribution to my own salvation. But what I could not do, God did – and in doing it, He did it all, sending His own Son into the world to die on the cross for my sins (Romans 5:6). In repentance, I turned from my pharisaical thinking and cried out to God with the tax collector, “Be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13). In faith, I looked to Jesus and received the complete and sufficient atonement for every past and future sin (Acts 13:39). In justifying me, God pronounced me righteous with the very righteousness of Jesus (Rom 5:18).

Life after salvation has not been perfect, as I often wrestle with my self-righteous tendencies to return to the Law as my guarantor for salvation. But oh, how free I am now to walk not in the flickering comfort of my own righteousness, but in the perfect, unwavering, and enduring righteousness of my Savior (Philippians 3:9)! Through Christ, the shackles of shame and guilt have been broken and I no longer live weighed down by my performance. Instead of striving to God, I’m now abiding in God.

My purpose has been made clear: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. I’m no longer wandering in a wilderness of meaninglessness and fear. Through the Gospel, I’ve been given a framework for battling my propensities for cynicism, anxiety, and depression. I’m learning that there is no room for doubt, fear, and self-pity when my heart is set on God who is faithful, good, and sovereign. Brothers and sisters, God will never let you down (Rom 8:38-39)!

As my wife and I look forward to meeting our first little one in November, please pray that God would be preparing us to be faithful and godly parents. Pray for the healthy development of our baby, as this is a high-risk pregnancy due to Hannah’s type 1 diabetes. Lastly, please pray for God’s provision, as we desire to be not only spiritually but materially prepared to raise our baby.

What I failed to realize at that time was that there is a difference between believing in Jesus and making him Lord over my life. I definitely hadn’t surrendered my life to Christ. I was still living only for myself and my own pleasure, and I had no remorse or conviction over my sin. I thought I was a pretty good person. I kept the Ten Commandments mostly. I don’t think I even realized that there were other things that were sinful. I didn’t murder anyone today? Check, I’m good!

Things began to change a few years after Davis and I got married and we got involved in a good local church. Through faithful teaching of Scripture, I began to understand more and more that I was living a lie and that I was lying mostly to myself. I was a sinner, bound for hell, and nothing the world offered could save me, least of all my Christian ‘resume’. In 2017, the Lord used one particular sermon to lead me into great discomfort over the state of my salvation. I can’t even remember what the message was about, I only remember sitting in the congregation feeling like if I didn’t get up and do something immediately I was going to explode. There was a call to baptism that Sunday and I rededicated my life to Christ and was re-baptized on the spot. I finally realized my sinful arrogance in trying to be lord over my own life and gave all control over my life to King Jesus. I understood then that my salvation was not in my good morals or my service to the church. I was saved through faith alone in Christ alone.

I see now how the Lord in his mercy used so many things in my life to ‘hem me in’ during those years that I was wandering. I know without a doubt that he was gently guiding me back to himself. I am constantly amazed that God would choose to save a sinner like me, and I pray that he would continue to sanctify me and use me mightily for his kingdom and for his glory!

My name is Mike Wolf and my wife, Angela, and I have been attending Christ Church for about 6 months.  We have two adult children and have lived in Georgia for the last 20+ years.  We own six pizza restaurants in Savannah and are heavily invested in commercial real estate. My wife leads a restorative ministry domestically and abroad. I grew up in a Christian home and was deeply impacted by my mother.  She represented Christ in a beautiful and attractive way.  I recognized my need for a Savior while attending a Christian summer camp when I was eight years old and turned my life over to Jesus.   

Jesus has impacted my life deeply, and I have been able to grow in my faith over the years through a number of important experiences.  I taught five-day clubs with Child Evangelism fellowship when I was a teen which helped me learn to communicate Biblical truth in a way that a child could understand. I attended two years of Christian high school and four years of Christian university. During my time in school, I was blessed to be able to take many classes on the Bible and theology which has helped to ground me in good doctrine. I was very involved in our last church leading small groups, serving on the finance team, and serving as a deacon. About fifteen years ago, Angela and I read a book on world missions that changed our lives.  We became extremely passionate about world missions and have traveled all over the world to see how God is working in different cultural contexts.  We support missions with both our time and resources and consider world missions a key pillar in our lives.  

As time has passed, I have become more and more aware of my sin and the incredible grace and mercy God has extended to me through the incredible gift of Jesus.  I am unworthy to spend eternity with Jesus, but He actually wants a relationship with me and wants to spend eternity with me. I have grown to count on Jesus no matter what I am facing in my life. I have found that through the difficult times in my life, Jesus has been an incredible comforter and that He has always seen me through the darkest of times. When I fail to trust Him, I am filled with anxiety and worry over issues, but when I give the problems to Him, I feel an incredible sense of calm and surety. One of my favorite verses is Philippians 3:10-11. I want to be more like Jesus, to experience His power, recognizing that participating in His suffering is critical to becoming more like Him.

Hey guys, my name is Jared Stephen, and I am the husband to my beautiful wife Abigail and father to our precious baby Isaiah Noah. I first heard the gospel in the sixth grade at a middle school church camp that I was not happy to be attending. Being a shy middle child who was raised in a secular home, Christ was someone that was unfamiliar and distant from me. So, being told I had to attend a camp for youth at a church that I knew nothing of was a nightmare. Little did I know that this youth camp would be a life changing experience for me. For it was through this experience that God opened my eyes to the mercies of Christ that had been so foreign to me.

The first few years of my sanctification process was chocked full of doubts and fears in regards to my salvation. The greatest promise that was shown to me was that of the Perseverance of the Saints, a theological truth that we see in Philippians 1:6 which states, “He who has begun a good work in you will perfect it to the end". The key insight here is that the endurance of my faith does not rest on my shoulders but on God and His Son’s work on the cross. Yet, I still was burdened with legalisms that clouded my eyes from finding rest in Christ. About four years later, I was baptized and decided that I wanted to study theology in college. I am currently a student at Gateway Seminary.

The most eye-opening factor that has changed since the life- transforming mercies of God captured my heart is my ability to see my faults and rely on the power and work of Christ. Although I am still prideful, selfish, and have ignored His Spirit at times, God has continued to prove to me that He is the one that holds me fast. This is a reminder that I cherish and give glory to God for daily.

I am inspired by the servant-hearted leadership and shepherding of our Elders at Christ Church. I am encouraged by the Spirit's work within the members around me. I am grateful for my brother and sister Jacob and Kelsey Garriga for their patience and guidance this past year. I am blessed with having a community that seeks to delight in Christ’s compassion and live all of life in light of the gospel!

I am the first daughter in a family of 3 girls born to Portuguese Catholic parents from Newport, Rhode Island.  They married in 1969 then drove across country to California where I was born 11 months later. I was raised in the Catholic church until age 18 when I stopped attending and was determined to decide for myself what I believed and how I would live.

As a young girl, I had a general idea of the values my mom wanted me to adopt, but they were so contrary to what the culture was doing, that at the age of 12, I finally succumbed to a worldly lifestyle just to fit in. By my 20th birthday, because of debilitating health challenges, I could no longer do whatever I wanted. That put me in a low mood. The ways I so boldly lived had become undesirable. I separated myself from friends and my normal activities.  While on a family vacation at the coast that summer, my childhood  friend  visited us at our beach house and was very sure that Jesus was all I needed.

I returned home, with a strong desire to know why my friend was so confident in his opinion, so I unearthed my Sunday School Bible. I read verses like 1 Peter 4:2-4, “For remember, when your body suffers, sin loses its power, and you wont be spending the rest of your life chasing after evil desires but will be anxious to do the will of God.  You have had enough in the past of evil things the godless enjoy...Of course, your former friends will be very surprised when you don’t eagerly join them anymore in the wicked things they do, and they will laugh at you in contempt and scorn…”

A month passed and one day as I was reading in the book of Romans, I had a great sense of my own personal sin against God. I understood that my sin deserved to be punished and that Jesus was on the cross for me!  I was overcome with peace, joy, gratitude, and hope in my beautiful Savior! Only 3 weeks after this time, my mom and I began attending a solid Bible church just 15 minutes away from home. He gave me a love for His Word, a passion for holiness and and a desire to view all of life in light of the gospel just as we say here at Christ Church! I am filled with gratitude that we are no longer strangers to God and foreigners to Heaven, but members of God’s very own family, citizens of God’s country, a part of God’s household! Amen!