from the PhD application (part one)

1. EXPLAIN YOUR CONVERSION EXPERIENCE. INCLUDE YOUR AGE, THE CIRCUMSTANCES, ETC.

At a very early age, (in addition to local church involvement) I attended a non-denominational Christian school, and every summer I grew up going to children’s camp at Bonnie Doone Plantation (owned and operated by the Charleston Baptist Association) in Walterboro, South Carolina. I accepted Christ Jesus as my personal, Lord and Savior one night at our camp chapel at the age of eight. That night, I will never forget. It was this night that I responded in faith to my Savior, Jesus Christ. I knew I was a sinner in need of forgiveness. I believed that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on a cross for my sins and I confessed my sins to Him. I committed my life to Him that night, and I have never been the same since then.

About a year later, I (along with my brother) was baptized on the last night of our church’s revival. I understood that baptism was an outward expression of an inward change—a relationship with Jesus Christ—but the fear I had of water kept me from immediately getting baptized. With a desire for God to use my life in extraordinary proportion and realizing I experienced salvation at the age of eight, I rededicated my life at the age of thirteen. It was here at my first youth camp, the summer after my seventh grade year in a new public school that I began to realize that salvation in Christ was a daily commitment to a daily relationship with my best friend, Jesus Christ. Jesus became for me more than a religion, but an intimate, growing, vital, and real relationship that would cultivate into daily study of His Word and a continued commitment to church and service.

2. DESCRIBE YOUR FAMILY BACKGROUND

I have grown up in a loving, Christian home. My father and mother are examples of Godly faith and perseverance. My father and mother has been active in local church work throughout their lives individually and their marriage together. My father has found his employments, whether he was a insurance salesman, shipyard pipe fitter, air force reserve man, or supply manager for Fort Jackson, to be his mission field. He has served his church families well as deacon, pulpit supply preacher, small group host, or Sunday school teacher. My mother has found her employment, as a public hospital nurse on the mother and baby floor, to be her mission field for over thirty years. She, as well, has been an active servant in her church families with my father, as nursery workers, vacation Bible school teacher, youth camp cook, and mission trip participant.