My First Memory Of A Young Girl

There are many events that have shaped my life and also cause me to pursue academic work and create goals here are Colorado Christian University. The one that stands out the most is my recent church planting experience and my desire to learn more about the Lord and become better equipped biblically to serve my parishioners. In this essay I will discussion how this major event has transformed my life and also cause me to venture further in my education and seek a degree here at Colorado Christian University (CCU). As a husband, a father of five, and a Pastor, I maintain a pretty busy lifestyle. But one things for sure is that I have always had a tug to finish my degree. My wife is a great supporter of education and has always encouraged me to finish what I

I made friends and started to thrive again. I started attending Emmanuel Episcopal Church in town. I always offered for anyone interested to come with me. Some would come with me, mainly as a way to get off campus and try not to be a Cadet for a little while. The liturgy helped to ground me. The Ritual of the Communion gave me comfort and I continued to heal. I stopped rebelling and started to care about my studies and made friends. My Military Science teacher Norman Smith (aka Big Sarge) asked if I would like to attend his church with him and his wife on a Wednesday night. There was something different about this church, something that I had seen in other churches but never felt. Not even in the Episcopal churches that I had been to. The Church was what they referred to as an Agape church. It was not in a building with grand stained glass windows and gold and silver crosses, priests in clerical garb. It was a hotel conference room with nothing but chairs. All of this was very new to me. I didn’t know anyone other than the couple that I had come with and this was NOT a church. I was thinking that I had been duped and taken to a sayonce. The people were very warm and inviting and treated me as a part of their family. But I had remembered Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them."

My faith and how I lived in my faith made serves as a lasting example to believers in Christ (Lindslay, 3). In life, I believed that all work that I did was spiritual work for the betterment of the Lord’s kingdom. Whether I was writing, ministering, eating out, or simply talking with friends, all work, all things, all I did was for the advancement of the Lord’s kingdom. For the work of “a Beethoven” or the work of a “charwoman” were all the same in my eyes; for both the workers, their work should be “offered to God” and done “humbly” “as to the Lord” (Eshlemen, 2). Although I struggled with cynicism, this way of living life challenged and brought new meaning to my life (Lindslay, 3). This idea on the life I lived and how I lived the life I was given serves as an example of Colossians 3:17 for Christians who wish to live and long to live in similar fashions (The Holy, 237). This way of living my faith truly required me to be quite public and open with my thoughts and beliefs. My faith was not always outright and public. When I was young, my family was my first spiritual influence (Eshlemen, 5). My faith started when I was young, but was shattered with the death of my mother when I was ten years of age (Lindslay, 1). This tragedy shook who I thought God is. The death of my mother affected me deeply. In fact, in college, I denounced the protestant

In recent days I had the opportunity to go back to North Carolina for a few short days. There, with a heavy heart from a loss in the family, I had nothing else to look towards. I’ve always heard of individuals finding peace, faith, blessings, and love of Christ from attending church. I’ve never been a person who put their faith into a higher power. As I was growing up my parents never wanted to force me into any religion without me knowing everything about it and choosing which route to take on my own. As the years treaded on, I never bothered myself to learn about the many different religions and what each stands for. So I used this opportunity as mine to attend church for the very first time. I attended the Roman Catholic services held

On the 10th of August, I received a telephone call from Doris, telling me that we needed to meet at mom’s house for prayer. A friend, who was like a sister, was going through some things and she needed a word from the Lord. Linda would always say that we needed some faith-believing saints around who knew God

The lessons I’ve received from transitioning through the church as a child, youth, and adult member have taught me a number of lessons; patience, reverence, and empathy are all traits I’ve strengthened, and they have undoubtably helped me through my high school career. Taught how to ask thoughtful questions, I’m unashamed of my curiosity. Our faith is not always one of direct answers— even our most devoted

day, a very good friend of mine and her family invited me to their church. I was reluctant to go,

I began exploring faith with my Christian wife, Gloria, about six months ago, and made the decision to attend church with her. On the first day of attending church, I was approached by a fellow parishioner

Growing up I was always told religion was false and that I was above my friends who were Christians because I believed in science. My mom was raised by Catholics, but when she graduated High School, she vowed to never be religious again. My father enjoyed feeling more elite over the “religious plebeians” that worked for him. I remember having an argument with Victoria Henderson in 3rd grade because I believed in The Big Bang and she was a creationist. Everyone took Victoria’s side, and I learned it was better to just not talk about religion. In high school, I began reaching out of my comfort zone, and also questioning what my parents had ingrained on me as a person. My first religious experience was dating a boy named Luis who was Catholic, as my mother was raised. He was only allowed to date Catholic girls, so I

I grew up in a Christian home, with both my parents fully devoted to their faith. They would take me to church every Sunday and I would learn so much about this person named God. They also took me to Sparks, Cubbies, Awanas, TNT and eventually youth group. So I grew up knowing so much about God and memorizing scripture through the Awana programs. Also I remember every other morning waking up early in the morning, before my dad had to go to work, to my dad singing out so loud, “Devotions, Devotions!” and we would learn about something new that morning, give or take if I was actually awake to learn. A thing that was cool that I really liked about those devotions was when my dad would tell us verses to remember he would sing them to us so that

Over the span of four months, each week I would regularly meet with a former colleague of mine by the name of Terrion Austin. Terrion recently moved from Nebraska to Tennessee, due to his job opening that presented itself that would allow for him to be closer to both him and his wife’s family. Terrion reached out to me over the summer, due to the fact that he was extremely unsure in his faith. He felt that whenever he read the bible he was never felt satisfied once done reading. This frustrated him tremendously. In addition to his frustration, Terrion was often confronted by members from his job that would frequently ask him questions that he did not feel he could answer. Moreover, his inability to answer did not come from a lack of knowing the bible; however, it was quite the opposite. Terrion, like most young Christian, grew up

That is the “event” which occurred in my life about which I have chosen to write. Obviously there is a great deal of information to be articulated when making such indictments on an institution such as the Church; an institution I believe to have no equal and for whose well being I have great passion. Attending CCU should help be to gather that information and learn to articulate it in a manner which is edifying to others and glorifying to God. I believe the foundation or the standard that is missing in the Church is the Bible. From what I have gathered I find no other source of truth more consistent with Christianity than the Bible. The Bible says this it-self and countless early church documents concur. The Bible is sufficient in and of itself for all information the Christian needs to become justified. I want to become equipped to articulate this point well and to have information to back up what I say. I want to know the Bible. I want to know its origins. I want to have all the information I need to discern truth in a world and a culture where we are being taught intentionally, with bad intentions that there are no absolutes. (No pressure ) Robert Blauvelt 8-8-15 970-616-2444

Ever since I was a young boy, my family would pile into our old 15-passenger van and drive to church each and every Sunday, without fail. I didn't really understand it at first, it was just something I had to do. When I was around 6 years old, my mother encouraged me to accept Jesus Christ as my lord and savior. I hardly understood what it meant, but I went through with it, much to my mother’s excitement. Years passed, and my understanding grew. Up until I was around 13 years old, my faith had no correlation to my actions. I could recite bible verses for hours, yet I couldn't say what any of them meant. That all changed one year at Camp Selah, a Then, in the year 2014, my faith took a turn for the worst. I’d had a testing first year of high

The naivety of my childhood caused me to believe that I was not good enough, that I had to change myself in order to gratify the people of my church and maintain my dad’s good image. Whenever I went to church, I felt that I had to completely change myself in order to keep everyone happy, everyone but myself. As I got older and figured out that it is impossible for anyone to fully fulfill the expectations of others, I realized how restricted I had been my entire life. I finally came to the realization that people were putting me in a box unsuitable for me and expected me to fit in

I always knew about the bible, it would be very hard not to when you live in a Christian household and not to mention my dad being the Senior Pastor at my church. These going through the motions continued into my teen years and being a typical teenager, I start to question why I was doing the things I would do. During all the questions I asked I started to drift away