Growing up, I could clearly see the destructive power of sin. Grace and salvation, however, were not introduced to me until I learned about them in Sunday school. When I was about five years old, one of my neighbors began riding the Sunday school bus to the Apostolic Faith Church....

Just two months after my wife and I were married, we were traveling over the Blue Mountains in Oregon one night shortly after midnight. We had noticed snow on the side of the road, but the freeway looked clear and vehicles were moving along at the posted speed. Suddenly our...

I thank the Lord for what He has done for me. I was born in Pusan, Korea. Though my parents were not Christians, they were honest and tried to raise their children to be good people.

When my father was fifteen years old, he went to Japan to earn money because,...

My heart is grateful to God for His mercy toward me when I was a wretched sinner. I was born in Ondo, Ondo State, Nigeria, into a polygamous and idolatrous family; my father had six wives and more than twenty children. Life was very tough during my growing up years...

My upbringing was in the way of holiness. Both of my parents were saved and they raised their children very strictly. It seems like I knew about the Gospel my whole life. At the age of twelve I prayed and asked the Lord to save me, and He did, but...

Losing something important can create major problems! Last summer, my youngest daughter and I had plans to fly home from California with her two toddlers after a family vacation while her husband and the rest of the family drove home. Unfortunately, the night before our early morning flight, she realized...

As a child, I had a good home and was raised carefully by my parents. Prayer and the reading of God’s holy Word were a regular occurrence, as was attending our local church. If any of those things could make one ready for Heaven, I would have been well on...

When something works for me, it seems that information needs to be shared so others can take advantage of it. By far the most important and best thing that has ever happened to me was experiencing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing else has even come close and I love...

As a child, I was taught the Golden Rule, which is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Growing up, I didn’t know where this saying originated, but considered it to be good relationship advice. After becoming a Christian at age twenty-three, I started reading...

My heart is grateful to the Almighty God for making me part of this glorious Gospel. I am one of the many fortunate children who were born and raised in it. My family was part of the Apostolic Faith Church in Cameroon, and my parents did not relent in their...

What a joy it is to know that Jesus loves me! Throughout my life, I’ve had opportunities to prove His love over and over again.

I grew up in a large family of seven girls and four boys. Before my birth, my parents had come to Dallas, Oregon, from Canada with...

A few years ago, I visited the country of Israel. One interesting aspect of the trip was seeing Orthodox Jews who live by the teachings of the Old Testament but totally disregard the New Testament. In a sense, they gave a glimpse of what Old Testament times were like, which...

Having the privilege to grow up being taught the Gospel is truly wonderful, but what is even better is to be born into it through the experience of salvation, which no amount of godly heritage can ever provide. This is something every sinner must receive for himself, regardless of his...

At the age of twenty I was married and working in accounting, which I did for many years with different companies. My husband and I had no children and did not want any. My focus was my career and becoming successful, and I always told myself that kids would just...

Kaye's Story:

It was back in 1974, in a little church in Fort Smith, Arkansas, when Jesus transformed my life. I was a miserable young mother at the time, having failed to find the happiness I longed for in life.

I was not born into a Christian home. My parents divorced a...

My parents divorced when I was very young, and I grew up without a father. My mother worked to support my sister and me, so she couldn’t always keep an eye on what we were doing.

At a very early age—ten years old—I began smoking cigarettes, which I stole from my...

The amazing old-growth trees in the forests along the northern coast of California literally took my breath away. I had never seen redwood trees before, except maybe in an encyclopedia. Craning my neck to peer toward the tree tops, I quickly realized that angle could not be maintained for very...

Tracing my “roots” back to 1907, my mother’s parents came to Ellis Island, New York, from Italy, eventually settling in the little coal-mining town of Centerville, Iowa. My mother was raised in a denomination where she was not introduced to the Christian faith and salvation from sin. My father’s family...

It was my privilege to be born into a Christian home. My mom was raised in the Apostolic Faith Church, where my grandfather was a pastor. She loved the Lord as a child and was saved at a young age. My dad’s mother also loved God and raised my dad...

“Just ask.” That sounds simple, doesn’t it? Recently, a couple of incidents—an email exchange and a remarkable statistic—prompted me to reflect on this common phrase and some spiritual applications from God’s Word.

As a building contractor, I periodically am involved in dealing with local bureaucracies to secure permits for construction projects....

Recently my husband and I made the decision to have a small house, officially designated by the City of Portland as an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU), built next to our rental property. We asked the designer who had drawn up the plans for our current home to come up with...

God is the Rock of my salvation, and He has shown Himself strong on my behalf for many years. Jesus found me in July of 1958 when I was five years old. I was not looking for Him, but He was looking for me.

My parents were not Christians at the...

Born in Ika Oku Iboku, Nigeria, I grew up attending church regularly. In my teenage years, while away at school, I attended another church and took part in the services by playing the organ and singing in the choir. None of these things made me a Christian. My heart was...

Music—I enjoyed anything related to it. At school, I was in choirs and bands, and during my high school years, I started a rock and roll band. Since it was just for fun at first, it seemed harmless. But it was not a good choice, and that decision was followed...

Typhoon “Louise” struck Okinawa, Japan, on October 9, 1945. Even though World War II had ended on September 2, this island had a large United States military presence, including ships in Buckner Bay and airplanes on land. The typhoon brought torrential rain that lasted for twenty hours, and wind that...

Growing up in a small city in Alabama, I had a mother who always attended church and who always took her children to church. My mother’s side of the family were church-going people. In fact, my grandfather was a pastor and bishop. So I loved church. After marrying and moving...

Growing up in the remote fishing village of Hooping Harbor, Newfoundland, made for challenging times, particularly during the winter. There was no transportation other than dog teams, no medical assistance, and a shortage of certain foods. However, our family was blessed to attend a small Apostolic Faith Church, which was...

Back in the year 1968, I had the wonderful privilege of attending Sunday school in the Apostolic Faith Church. I was just nine years old at the time and had been invited by my cousin, the late Reverend Robert Omaretseye.

My parents were nominal Christians, and my cousin came to our...

When my daughter, Catey, was in her second year of college, she made plans to spend four months of her junior year in Mexico as an exchange student. Though I had misgivings about her living so far away from home, there was comfort in knowing I could take my concerns...

Growing up, I went to a church where I was taught to know right from wrong, that Jesus loved me and had died for me, and that we should do our best to do what He wants us to. I’m grateful for that because it helped me have a tender...