Hey Folks,

This is my story:

I’m 20 years old, I live in Clearwater, Florida and I am currently studying to be a Physical Therapist Assistant out of St. Petersburg College. I’ve been attending Gulf Coast Community Church here locally for going on 13 years under the leadership of pastors Jerry Cisar and Daryn Kinney. It is safe to say that in my life no one has been more instrumental in my walk with the Lord than Daryn Kinney. Since becoming a pastor at our church he has always been a major part of my life providing accountability, council, correction and most importantly he has been a friend. I remember the first time I met Daryn when he first came home from the PC; we had a time of prayer after church for those experiencing a sense of dryness in their relationship with God. I went up and Daryn prayed for me reading a verse out of Deuteronomy that I’ll never forget. Deut. 1:30-31,

“The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, ³¹ and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”

He reminded me that even when I don’t “feel” like God is around or active in my life that the truth of the matter is God is always fighting for me and carrying me as His son. Now I grew up in the church, went to Sunday School every week and if I recall correctly I was feared in the sword drills arena. Slowly though in my life I began to be less and less concerned about my walk with the Lord. I never stopped going to church or serving there in various ways, but it began to be a show. I knew what to do and say to “look” like a Christian yet I was not living a life marked by pursuing holiness.

My senior year of High School I really started to live a double life. I was going to parties and drinking on the weekends while showing up to church on Sunday acting like nothing was going on. I began to become callous to my sin. I had no real passion for the Lord, I was selfishly more concerned with having fun than pursuing God. Slowly, though, God began to work on my heart using my obedience in going to church, even though it was out of a selfish desire to maintain my appearance as a good Christian. I was being convicted through messages that Jerry and Daryn were preaching, I knew what I was doing was wrong but didn’t want to confess sin fearing how others would think of me especially Daryn whose wisdom and guidance I had begun to ignore even though he stayed faithful to me through all this. One day, while I was at work, something came over me and I felt a strong sense that I needed to confess how I had been living to Daryn and my Mom. I was terrified of what that meant but I knew that it would set me free from the condemnation had been feeling.

So I met with Daryn one afternoon and laid out for him all the things I had been doing, ways I had been deceiving others and confessed a desire to change. I still get emotional when I think of that interaction, I expected Daryn to get mad saying something like, “How could you?!” but he didn’t. He was so kind to me, expressing his forgiveness and really driving home that God has forgiven me and I didn’t have to work for that forgiveness, Christ had already done that. My life has changed significantly since then. I am more aware of God’s grace in my life and strive to live for Him constantly. I fail, a lot but his forgiveness is there for those to embrace it. Now Daryn played a large part in helping me see my sin rightly and helping me change but I dont pretend that he is perfect. I don’t try to make him out to be some saint that has all the answers. What he and Jerry are though, are men appointed by God to care for me and the others in my church. I am so grateful for them and the gift they have been to me over the years.

Anyway that’s the abridged version of my story. I hope that as you read this you began to consider the leaders in your own church and how God has used them to affect you, as you do that I ask that you write those thoughts down and send them to us. Lets rejoice together in how God has worked in our lives through these men.

To Him be all the glory, honor and praise.

Tony