Wonderful to be here. Thank you for the opportunity. It's been great to talk to many of you already, and I do look forward to getting to know each one of you better as well. I'm going to grab one of these books here, just to hold up my notes. This is a problem that you have when you're 6'6", and most people are not. Your notes lined up down at your belly button. I've got to look down here, so this helps me to keep them up higher. Well, as you know, I've been asked to give my testimony for the opening session, and I want to Share the things that God in Christ has done for me and before I come to do that I just ask that you once again Unite your hearts with me as I come to pray to the Lord on behalf of all of us. Let's pray Our father we do rejoice this day For the good things that you have done in our lives Lord and the good things that you are doing I thank you Oh God for the young people represented in this room tonight. I Lord, You have drawn them from various places, and I rejoice, O God, that they are eager to meet with You and to know Your Word better. I ask, O God, for each one individually, that You would bless them by Your Spirit, O God, that You would move upon them, O Lord, and use this weekend in a monumental way in their lives. Might You sanctify those, O God, who know You and save those who know You not. Lord, might this be the weekend when many sons come to glory. Do good to those who know You not, O God. And those who know you, O Lord, fill them up in their most holy faith. Might they be stronger Christians, better able to serve you in this their generation, having heard the preaching and teaching of your holy and blessed word. Visit with us, we pray. We ask it all through the matchless and mighty name of Jesus, our risen Redeemer. Amen. If you have your Bibles with you, would you please turn with me to Luke chapter 8, and follow with me as I read verses 38 and 39. Luke chapter 8, verses 38 and 39. Luke 8, 38 and 39. After our Lord Jesus Christ healed the man who was possessed with demons, the man who was bound with chains and shackles, whose life pictured the life of an unsaved man, Notice the words that we read at the end of this chapter, Luke 8, verses 38 and 39. Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged him, that is Jesus, that he might be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you. And he went his way, and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him." Well, it is my desire this evening, like this man who was greatly helped by the Lord Jesus Christ, to tell you the great things that Jesus has done in my life. I've been asked to open up this retreat by telling you my testimony of God's dealings with me in my life, in bringing me to His Son, Jesus, for life and salvation. Now, in doing this, so that we can cover this material in the most orderly way, I would like to cover three key areas of my life. You have it there in your outline. and they are the following. First, we'll consider my upbringing. Secondly, we'll consider my move to New York City. And then thirdly, we'll consider my conversion and present-day ministry. So let's begin then by taking up the heading of my upbringing. I was born in a middle-class neighborhood in a small city in Long Island called Holtzville. Has anyone heard of Holtzville, New York? Someone's shaking his head, that's not bad. We actually had an article written about us one time because Holtzville, New York, Holtzville, Long Island is where the IRS Center is. The IRS Center is in our little town of Holtzville. So that really is our claim to fame. I used to play handball alongside of the IRS Center. Didn't know one day that someone would write an article on our little town of Hotesville, New York. So, that's where I was born and raised. Long Island, Hotesville, the small little town. As far as God and the Bible and Jesus, these topics were never discussed in my home. I was telling some of the men at the table that I actually never heard John 3.16 until I was 22 years old. Could you imagine? I mean, that seems so unbelievable, being raised in a Christian home. And it wasn't until many years after I left my house that I heard John 3.16. So it gives you a little picture of how sad my condition was My father is a nominal Jew, that is, in name only. My mother is a nominal Roman Catholic, that is, in name only. And, therefore, neither of them were religious. So, basically, the holidays in my home, we had a Christmas tree on one side of the house and a menorah on the other side of the house. I guess, of course, one to represent Judaism, the other Roman Catholicism. So that was really my upbringing, spiritually speaking. No God, no Jesus, no Bible. Again, never heard John 3.16 until way after I left my home. Like most parents who don't know the Lord, my parents were divorced when I was 14 years old. And this was a tragic event in my life, indeed. When you have two parents in your home, it's great security and great comfort. Well, my parents didn't know God. They had no authority above their own selves. So, you know, basically like most marriages, listen, I'm not happy, you're not happy, we're out of here. There was no authoritative standard which was commanding them to say, work this out and do not get divorced because God himself hates divorce. So it was a terrible time in my life, my parents being divorced, but I believe that, nonetheless, God and His sovereignty used that event in my life, if you will, to put me on somewhat of a spiritual search. It became clear to me that something was wrong in this world and that there had to be truth out there. There had to be something of an authoritative truth, a rule, a principle. a person who we could know and follow and love, who would teach us the right way. Here in this divorce, I was seeing the ugliness of sin and self-centeredness in my parents, and again, they absolutely had the lack of an authoritative truth to govern them, and so they were divorced, and yet God used that time in my life at least to say there must be something out there which is right, and again, that was something that God would use as he would bring me to himself many years later. So, even though it was a bad situation, I think God intended some of it for good. But, unfortunately, as I started to search for truth, my spiritual search began in positive thinking and self-help material. Now, this philosophy, as most of you know, basically teaches us to look within ourselves for truth and for help, and of course this is exactly the opposite thing that the Word of God says. Truth is not to be found in us, it is to be found in our Creator, and so my spiritual condition got worse and worse. I was very into guys like Tony Robbins. Some of you in the back remember Anthony Robbins, Wayne Dyer. These were positive thinkers, and I would listen to them to find if I could get something to help the hurt that I had going within me, this lostness, this confusion, wanting to know truth in life. Also, at this point in my life, by way of spiritual things, I was very into martial arts. Kung Fu, if anyone's into martial arts here, karate for some years before that, and again, in martial arts, you have the whole yin and yang premise, and Taoism, and other types of Eastern philosophies, and all of those things, again, ultimately say, look within for truth. And, I was looking within, and I wasn't finding any truth. So, again, this martial arts theology, if you will, coupled with positive thinking, led me further and further away from the God of Truth, even Jesus Christ Himself. So, consider with me, secondly, then, in my testimony, my move to New York City. My move to New York City. After high school, at the age of 18, I moved from Long Island to Manhattan. Do I have a Long Island accent? Anyone used to hearing a Long Island accent? I don't know, maybe a little bit. So I moved from Long Island to Manhattan. Now, I started to go to Manhattan when I was 15 years old, because my mother remarried her second husband, she has a third husband now, but her second husband was a professional bowler, and he owned pro shops in Manhattan. What's his name? His name was Bill Lane, actually. Bill Lane, the professional bowler. That's a true story. Well, Bill Lane had pro shops all over Long Island, but he also had pro shop stores in New York City. So when I was 15, 16, I used to go with Bill into specifically Greenwich Village, and we would go and check on his pro shops and see how they were doing, et cetera, et cetera. Well, anyway, here I am. I'm a young person, and going into the city, and I'm utterly enamored with what I see in New York. I mean, it was just like the place where sin is running wild. It's the land of opportunity, if you will. And I thought, this is where I need to be when I graduate high school. I need to get out of boring Long Island and get into the city. So this is basically how I got introduced to Manhattan. It was through, again, visiting with my stepfather at an early age. So, here I am in New York. I leave Long Island, 18 years old, living in Manhattan, and I did many entrepreneurial things in New York City, and we could talk about some of those things offline, but probably the most significant thing that happened in my life was at 22 years old, I signed my first record deal for a group that I managed. Now, what kind of group did I manage? What kind of music? Anyone want to take a guess? What do you think? Rock, not a bad guess. Anyone else? How did you know that? That's right. I used to manage a rap group professionally. Can you believe that? That's right. When I was saved, my mom said, you went from rapper to reverend. What happened to you? It's just, God saved me in the rap industry. So I managed a rap group professionally. How did I get into rap? Well, rap was very strong in the late 80s, early 90s in Long Island. So we had groups like Run-D.M.C. coming to my roller rink and all kind of guys. So I got very into rap at an early age, 15, 16, 17, 18. When I moved to New York, I said, I'd love to get into this industry. Well, at 22, I signed my first record deal for the group that I managed. The name of the group is Intense. So we signed a record deal and then did a few singles, and ultimately the group wound up getting signed by Arista Records. And I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll talk about that in a little bit. So here I am. I'm 22 years old, I'm living in New York City, have my own apartment, managing my own group professionally. Probably if someone looked at me they'd say what? this guy's doing pretty well, pretty impressive, the group was on MTV, in the biggest rap magazine in the world, so you'd say, wow, pretty impressive, things are going well for this guy. Well, although all of these things might have seemed this way from one looking with an outside perspective, to be honest, inwardly, my life was at the worst condition it had ever been. Spiritually, I was in a mess. You see, although externally things were going well, people would look and say, wow, that's great. Internally, I was dying. My life was a mess. Things were going terribly. Now, why was this the case? Well, the answer is, because specifically, from the age of 18 to 22, when I signed that record deal, I lived a very sinful life, right? Like every other young person, apart from Christ, I was living according to the flesh. I was regularly out partying in Manhattan, drinking, smoking, committing all kinds of wicked acts and lawless deeds. Like Job says in Job 15 and verse 16, I was drinking an iniquity like water. And to be honest, dear friends, the consequences of such living was plaguing my soul. The Bible says sin is fun for a season, only a season. and grief comes in the morning. And, I was feeling grief in my life. I was feeling very bad. At this point in my life, by God's doing, I actually started to feel like I offended somebody. Interesting. Things were going well, externally. I had friends all over the place, all over the country, East Coast and West Coast. And yet, I started feeling like I had offended someone. I didn't know who. But I felt like someone was mad at me. Who would be mad at me? I had no idea. No idea. But this, at this point, I had no idea. But this is how I was feeling, by God's doing. You know, Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit. He says, when the Holy Spirit comes, He shall convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment to come. And I believe that God, the Holy Spirit, was breathing down my neck, and really showing me my sin. and I was feeling terrible. I couldn't find any peace and joy and fulfillment in those things which externally might have looked good to others. Well, not knowing what to do then, spiritually speaking, I thought that I would visit a small little Roman Catholic church around the street from my apartment. At this time, I lived on 27th Street in Manhattan, on Broadway, and there was a big Roman Catholic church the other direction. Well, I went to a small little Roman Catholic Church, right around the corner from my house. I've been in the Roman Catholic Church probably four or five times in my life growing up, and I thought, well, maybe I'll just go there and find some help there. And I continued to do this for three or four months. I was lunch breaks, I was again working out of my apartment, where my office was, and I would just go down and going to that Roman Catholic Church, and they had, I guess, a room here where they were having services, but on the other side, they had just this room where people would sit, and they had a depiction of Jesus on the cross, and I used to just look to Jesus on the cross, and I had two questions that came to my mind when I looked at him. The first question was, why are you there? Why are you on the cross? And the second question was, what are you doing there? Why are you there, and What actually are you accomplishing? So come with me thirdly then, having seen my upbringing, my move to New York City, to now finally my conversion in present-day ministry. As I mentioned spiritually at this time, I was feeling bad, guilty. Positive thinking didn't help. Nothing helped. I was living and experiencing the fruit of many evils in my life. didn't know how to shake it. My conscience was bothering me. I didn't know how to stop it. I found absolutely no relief in the Roman Catholic Church. Well, at this point in my life, God, by His grace, caused my path to cross with a man named Moses. I tell people I met Moses. And Moses asked me if I wanted to study the Bible with him. And I thought, huh, okay, I'll study the Bible with you. I had no problems with the Bible. You know, didn't know anything about the Bible. Okay, let's study the Bible. So, Moses, with a couple other people, started studying the Bible with me, and that was good, but unfortunately, the church that he was part of was the New York City Church of Christ. As I was telling some of our friends from Brooklyn, the Church of Christ is a cult, actually, and they teach a false doctrine of baptismal regeneration, or salvation, by being dunked in the water. Salvation occurs when you're under the water. Water washes away your sin, as opposed to what Jesus did on the cross, shedding His blood for sinners. And that's all because of a misreading of Acts 2, in verse 38. So, here I am studying the Bible with this group. and they have about eight studies that they do, and then you get baptized, and basically in the last study they say, okay, so you get saved by trusting in the water to remove your sins, and so my faith was in the waters of baptism to wash away my sins, and so I trusted in the water, went under the water, came out of the water wet, still in a gall of iniquity like Simon the sorcerer, not a true Christian. But, I thought I was a true Christian, because they told you that once you do X, Y, and Z, here's how you were born again. Okay? So, shortly after this, I ran into an old friend that I used to run with in the streets, a guy named Rene. Rene had been saved, but Rene had not been baptized. Ah! Well, this caused a problem for me, because you can't be saved unless you're baptized. And, the real problem was that He seemed like he knew Christ better than I knew Christ, and I had been baptized. So my theology started having a real problem, practically speaking, because I thought you must be baptized to be saved. He wasn't baptized, and he seemed more saved than I was. So, I decided to visit his church, a non-denominational church. And I told those leaders in the church that I don't believe Rene is saved because, according to Acts 2.38, he hadn't been baptized in water. And they said, what do you mean? Baptism doesn't take away your sins. Jesus does. That's what the cross is all about. And eventually what came about was several weeks of studying with this non-denominational church the issues of baptism and salvation. And they said, listen Rob, there's nothing you can do to save yourself. You're saved by faith alone in Christ alone. Not what you do or what you'll ever do. And as I said, this is definitely something different than what I was taught in the Church of Christ. So I began to study the Bible with them, and they, by the grace of God, were able to undo the false teachings of the Church of Christ, showing me their three or four water baptism passages that they know better than anybody else, but showing me how, when you have, for example, 130 verses that say you're saved by faith alone and Christ alone, And you've got three that look like they say baptism saves you. You don't throw out the 150 and camp on the three. You look at the 150 and say, how do the three fit into the big picture of all of God's Word? It was a basic principle of hermeneutics. Well, God used this small, non-denominational church in my life. to undo the false teachings of water baptism for salvation. So, here I was, it was 1992, I'm 22 years old, I'm sitting in my pastor's study, and I said, well, Alberto, if water baptism doesn't save you, and I knew they were all saved, what must I do to be saved? How do I get saved if I don't do something? And he said to me, ask Jesus to save you. And I thought, wow, why would I ask Jesus to save me? I never heard anyone point me to Christ. Well, he's the Savior. It makes sense that you would go to him to save you. He said, ask Jesus to save you. And I thought, wow, this is brand new. And as I read my Bible later on, I thought, of course they pointed me to Christ, because Christ is the Savior. And when you look all throughout the New Testament, Jesus points people to one place. Where is it? Himself. Come to me. All you who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to God but through me. I am the door. He that enters by me shall be saved. Jesus stands before all men and says, if any man thirsts, let him what? Go to the waters of baptism? Join the church? No. Let him come to me and I will give him rivers of living water within him. So this man pointed me to Jesus. Ask Jesus to save you. And I remember that night in his study, knowing that I was lost. What if baptism doesn't save me? I can't save myself. Positive thinking is a farce. The Roman Catholic Church is no hope for people because it's religion and not Jesus. And I just remember bowing my head and asking Jesus to save me. And I remember leaving Alberto's house that night, 22 years old. He lived on 49th Street between 8th and 9th Avenue. walked out of his apartment. I remember my feet touching the ground of the streets that I used to run, like a wild man, and thinking, wow, everything's changed. Everything seems so different. What's happened? I just kept walking home, back to my apartment on 27th Street, and it was kind of like... closure came to my mind, and it became apparent Nothing has changed. You've changed. Something has changed, but it's not outside of you. I changed you. And at that moment on, I realized that God had saved my soul. And everything else was still the same, but I was a changed person. Jesus came and saved me. And that night, the two questions I had concerning the crosswork of Jesus Christ back there in the Roman Catholic Church were finally answered. Because before that we had talked much about the cross. Why was Jesus on the cross? Well, because God's price on sin is death. But Jesus never sinned, so what was He doing on the cross? Answer, He was bearing my sin penalty in my place, so that I could be forgiven of the crimes I committed against God. And that, my dear friends, is the gospel. That's the good news. Jesus was taking my punishment in my place so that I could be forgiven. And that was the best news I'd ever heard. As I say, this is the gospel. Jesus on the cross became my substitute. He took my sins upon himself and bore God's wrath in my place. All the wicked crimes I had committed, He bore them and shed His blood. so that my record could be clear before God Almighty. My friends here tonight, if you're not a Christian, I bid you this night to look to the same Jesus who hung and bled for sinners like you. This night, I bid you to look to Christ. Stop looking within. Stop looking to the world. Stop looking to religious performances or churchgoing. Look to Jesus, the Lamb of God. He doesn't merely cover sin. He wipes it away. He's the one who God sent sinners to save. And he's the one that I turned to 18 years ago now. And when I asked him to save me, wonders of wonders, he did. Well, after I was saved by God's grace, I finished out my music contract. I was legally signed to the group for four years, and instead of just saying, hey, I'm born again, I need to break the contract, I honored the contract. While the group I mentioned earlier was signed to an independent label, They were picked up by Arista Records. Arista Records is the same record label as Whitney Houston, probably the biggest record label in the world at that time. I'm sure there are others now. So my contract came up. My group's on Arister Records now. So I had an option, of course, in my contract to renew or not to renew for four years. That's something you build into the contract. So the question was now, what am I going to do? Renew or not renew? Well, I'm a born-again Christian now. God has put a new song in my heart. So what did I do? Well, I walked away from Arister Records. I didn't renew my four-year contract. Arister said, you don't walk away from Arister. And I said, you do if you're saved. and God saved me, and I didn't want to continue in that industry anymore, because it promoted lies. So, I left Arister and went to Bible school for a year, New York School of the Bible, Calvary Baptist Church, 57th Street, still there. While I was in New York, I met a man who was going to Trinity Baptist Church, Montville, New Jersey. He was preaching open air. I preached open air with him for a couple years. This man influenced me and introduced me to the Doctrines of Grace, also known as Now, at this point, of course, the non-denominational church that I was part of would not have Calvinism. They didn't like that system of doctrine. So, at that point in my life, I didn't want to leave New York and go to New Jersey, which was very, very far away. So, I decided to go to basically a halfway house, if you will, concerning churches. And I went to the Christian and Missionary Alliance. The Alliance was founded actually by a Calvinist. A.B. Simpson was a strict Calvinist, and I'm not saying the Alliance are Calvinistic now, but I'm saying that in the Alliance they do tolerate Calvinism, the doctrines of grace. So if you're a Calvinist, they will, you know, take you into membership. Well, New York School of the Bible, for a year, went to the Christian Missionary Alliance, and actually went in one of their Bible programs for another two and a half years. And on the board, when I eventually went to be approved for ordination, they all read my doctrinal paper and knew I was reformed, at least in my soteriology, and they still approved me. I remember on the board there was one man who called me to come to his church. Eventually my wife and I would move to Queens and be at the church there for about another year before we'd go to Jersey. So, I remember the wife asking me, as they were getting to know me, they said, so, you believe in a limited atonement? And I said, well, I said, really, I believe in a definite atonement. And she said, oh, it wasn't, when people think of Calvinism, limited, it's not limited in its power, it's limited in its scope, it's definite. So, I had to correct her there. give her a little help in her theology. I believe in a definite atonement. All those for whom Christ died go to heaven. So, Christian Missionary Alliance. I'm there for about a two-and-a-half-year period, and I'm in one of their Bible programs. And while I was in the Alliance, God continued to reform me, not just concerning salvation, how a person gets saved, those five points, but also concerning the church, and concerning worship, and concerning the Lord's Day. And while people in the Alliance were reading such guys as James Dobson, I was reading John Owen. And I saw that there was a big gap in what was happening in my life as God was leading me spiritually. So, God was reforming me in the Alliance. And in God's providence, after being in the Alliance for about two and a half years, I received a call, my wife as well, and I'll bring her into the picture in just a moment. I received a call from a friend from New York, a girl who many of you know, I'm sure. A friend of mine and myself, we sent her to Montville, New Jersey, one Miss Christina Mesa, who would eventually marry Tony Volo from Anglewood Baptist Church. And my wife and I knew Christina from Manhattan, because we're all single and used to be friends. And they said, hey, does the Alliance have a night service? And I said, no, it doesn't. They said, why don't you come and visit Anglewood Baptist Church? It's a Reformed Baptist Church. And I said, that sounds good. We don't have a night service. You know, God's been reforming me while I'm in the Alliance, and I'd love to come and visit. So we visited Anglewood Baptist Church, Pastor Dom and Ron Abrahamson. Actually, Ron was just being called to the pastorate at that time. So, we went to Englewood, and we were just blown away by what we saw. We loved the preaching, we loved the people, we loved the godly and orderliness, and the worship, and the families, and the high regard for the Lord's Day, the local church, preaching, things that we had never seen anywhere else. So, this was 1998, by the way, if you're taking date notes there. So my wife and I, after visiting the Englewood Baptist Church for about six months, we transferred our membership from the Christian and Missionary Alliance to Englewood Baptist Church. I would be at Englewood Baptist Church for nine years after that point. And after coming to Englewood, Pastor Dom knew I had a desire for the ministry. And after being at Englewood for about a year, Pastor Dom asked me if I wanted to take up my studies, continue to take up my studies for the ministry, because I stopped once I left the Alliance. And I said I did. Eventually I would get enrolled in Grand Rapids School of Theology, headed up by Pastor Greg Nichols and others, Sam Waldron. And then, finally, I would be grandfathered into the Reformed Baptist Seminary, which formed out of Easley, South Carolina, and it would be from the Reformed Baptist Seminary where I would eventually get my degree in 2006. Now, what was I doing for work all this time? Well, I was working at AT&T Wireless in Paramus, New Jersey, or Singular Wireless, or AT&T Wireless. I couldn't keep it straight. They change like every month, right? They still do that, or now it's AT&T? But they changed all the time. It was, oh, so hard. I mean, you're ripping signs off and putting new ones on. And so I was there nine years. So I was working at AT&T full-time. I was in seminary part-time. I was raising a family. And it was a lot of work for many, many years. But again, I graduated in 2006, and then was called to pastor full-time at Grace Community Baptist Church in Cumberland, Rhode Island. When you're in seminary, you get a lot of calls from different churches to fill the pulpits, so I was filling many different Reformed Baptist Church pulpits when the pastors were away. on vacation or ministering somewhere else. And this church I had several opportunities to preach at and really just love the people. And Sherwood Becker was there for 25 years with this group. Now Sherwood developed heart cancer, a very rare form of cancer, and he knew he was dying and he asked me if I would come and replace him. That was his exact words, would you come and replace me? And so I went up there and moved my family up there, accepted the call. For six months they did an evaluation of my life, my family's life, and called me unanimously to be their pastor in 2007, and I've been there ever since. So, let me jump back to the real good part of the testimony, my wife. Okay, so my dear wife, Vanessa. So how did we meet? You all want to know that, right? Okay, so, 22 years old I was converted, and about six months before I was converted, and just before, right around the time I signed the record deal, I was working, I guess part-time, at a BBQ. I was talking to some of the guys, they know what BBQ is, Dallas Barbecue, 8th Street in Manhattan, you know BBQ, that's the place, right? I mean, that is the place to be, and that's got the best chicken in Manhattan. So I used to host in BBQ, if you could believe it, and lo and behold, one night, I'm not saved, this girl walks in, and I thought, my, my, my, isn't she pretty? And that girl was Vanessa Jackson at the time, and we both talked that night, met, like unsaved people do, exchanged numbers, and we wound up dating for about three or four months as unbelievers. And we had a godless relationship, and right after three months of dating is when the Church of Christ guy, Moses, came and said, you want to study the Bible. And even though the Church of Christ was wrong in their doctrine of salvation, they were right in their doctrine of sin. And I remember that man, Moses, opening up to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, where Paul says, be not deceived, know ye not that no fornicator or adulterer, homosexual, a drunkard, etc., etc., will enter the kingdom of God." And God nailed me at least on one of those points. And I said, I'm a sinner and I'm guilty. And I went back to Vanessa and said, I need to break up with you because we are in sin now. She said, that's an original breakup line, I've never heard one. So, this is what she said. So, I said, I need to follow Jesus. And she said, well, I think you're in trouble and I'm going to start reading my Bible to disprove what you're studying. And lo and behold, as she was reading the Bible, she became convicted of her own sin and was probably saved around that time. I would go into the Church of Christ for three months, I was baptized, again, not saved, came out of the water wet, and eventually would leave the Church of Christ because of the influence of that non-denominational church. Interestingly, she went into the Church of Christ stay there for a year, and then after a year's time, God caused our paths to cross, and, you know, for lack of words, God used me to get her out of that group. And that's it. Once I got her out of that group, I didn't want to have anything to do with women and her. I had no interest in that. I wanted to serve God. I wanted to learn my Bible. I wanted to preach Christ. I was not interested in all that, you know, what I viewed as nonsense at the time, for me. especially because of my background, and I just said, I just want to serve the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and leave that peace alone for now. So, Vanessa and I probably got together maybe once a year with some friends, and basically after about three and a half years of being single now and separated, I decided to call her and say, you know, would you want to go out? We went and got some tea, started talking, And long story short, we got back together and eventually got married six months later. And it was short engagement because I knew her now for like four and a half years, you know, five years. And we've been married 14 years ever since. So, dated as unbelievers. God saved us. Separated. Three and a half years later, got back together. And 14 years later, here we are with a wonderful relationship. and three children to boot. So, I've got my oldest son, Joshua, is 13, so we just got a teenager. My daughter, Moriah, Elizabeth, is 10, and Samuel is 8, going on 25. So, that, in a nutshell, I don't know the time, Mitch, that you give for testimonies. That is my testimony. And, honestly, I've got to say, through all of this, God was so merciful to me. I was not looking for God. I never thought about Jesus. I know as an unsaved guy, I used to think that God and I were like this. And then I read the Bible and found that we were like this. And that the problem was my sin. That God was angry at me. God was the one. Remember I said earlier, someone was mad at me. Well, I didn't know God was mad at me. When I read my Bible, I saw God is angry at you. And your life is an abomination before Him. You're stinking in His nostrils. All of your sin, your drunkenness, your lies, your fornication, all of those things, God is angry with you. And I saw in my Bible that God could consign me to the lowest part of hell because I'd broken His laws time and again. And I just kept reading the Bible. And these men witnessed to me and said, all that's true. But God in love sent His Son into the world to die for people like you. And as I said earlier, that's the greatest news in all the world. A criminal like myself could go free because someone paid my price for it. And again, if you're not a Christian here today, consider those words. Consider the gospel. Consider Christ. Consider your life before Jesus now. And if you don't know him, ask him to save you. Ask him to make you a Christian. Not just a churchgoer, but a real Christian who knows God. Whom to know is life eternal. Know the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners. That's all I have to say about myself and my testimony. Do you guys usually go to nine with a few minutes? Sure. So I asked Pastor Mitch if there are any questions, because I didn't give you everything. I tried to give you the highlights. Any questions about my testimony, my background? Something was not as clear as it needs to be? Someone's got to have some questions. What do you think? Any questions? Paul, anything? Go ahead. How did you figure out that's the route you wanted to take when you... Okay, yeah, you said you liked rap, but... I mean, of all the jobs, how did you figure that was the one that... I mean... Yeah, that's a great question again, I was um, I was very influenced with rap music from time was 15 or 16 and Yes Yeah, can I turn the mic or should I just say it? Yeah, so um Okay, Joelle's asking, how did I know that I wanted to pursue the rap industry? Is that right? How did I know I wanted to pursue the music career? Yeah, as a job, why did I pick music management? Right? Yeah, so I'm 15, 16, totally into rap music, into breakdancing. Don't laugh. totally into graffiti, the whole hip-hop culture. At that time, there was a friend of mine, a Caucasian girl, she put out the first rap record ever as a Caucasian girl, was my very close friend, along with another guy. I met her manager, a guy named Sam Jacobs, who managed Dana Dane, who's a famous rapper, before your time. And I saw him, what he did, and how he managed my friend, and I thought, that's something I'd like to do. So what I did is, when I would buy, of course, all the old records, Run DMC and LL Cool J and Beastie Boys and all those guys, EPMD, I would look at the back of the records and I said, who's managing these people? And who's, of course, the manager of all of those guys at that time, and still now, mostly Russell Simmons. So when I went to New York, I knew that I had to basically hook up with Russell Simmons and get into the music industry. And basically, though not hooking up with Russell directly, I hooked up with one of his employees, John Scott, who worked for Russell Simmons. And I asked John if he would essentially teach me how to manage musicians. John managed Brand Newbians, and he basically taught me the ropes. And after I was at Rush, not working for Rush, but there for about a year, I started my own management company. And so basically, I said, I looked at a guy like Russell Simmons, and I said, I want to be like him. And I, I got as close as I could to him, and followed what he did, learn from one of his employees, and then did it on my own. So, does that sound? Yeah, so that's how I knew. I knew I always had a gift for organization and promotion, and usually artists really lack in those areas. So it's a great compliment, you know? So they can't manage themselves for anything, but I knew how to manage them. They were talented. I tell people I have no talent, I don't. I can't paint or sing, barely. They were laughing while I was singing the song. But I know how to manage well, and I know how to organize and promote. And that desire eventually found its outlet in artist management. Yes? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good question. So, Elizabeth's asking, I'm saved now, and I'm in the music industry, and I have a contract to fulfill. I probably had, oh, maybe a year and a half left on that contract. So, how was it acting and operating as a Christian in that industry? It's difficult. I had a guy work for me, and I made him pray when we had lunch. Ernie, from Brooklyn, actually. He's from Brooklyn, Ernie. And I made him pray. Ernie, we're going to pray. I become a Christian. He had no problem with that. And we need to pray. And I've got a picture. I should have brought it, actually. But I've got a picture in my photo albums of me. Now, when I say shaved head, I don't mean bald, but short, short hair. Before it was popular like it is now. But I'm in my office and I've got all these Run DMC and LL Cool J and things. And I'm in the middle there with my Bible. And it's just a classic picture of God saving a guy in this industry. So it was very difficult to do, but I did it. Told my group I was saved, and they basically had an Islamic background, and that made for interesting conversations. I remember my artist, My artist wound up, he actually died, he had a heart problem, very young, he died at like 32, sadly enough, he had a heart problem, his heart was too large. But I remember the first time he went to the hospital, after my contract was done with him, he was in the hospital, I heard that he was in the hospital, spoke to his mom, his name was Dion Blue, that's his real name, and so I went there in the hospital, and he had a Koran, and I remember I'm saved now like three years, and I said, Dion, you don't need that, you need this, boom, and I signed it right on top of his Koran. You need God, you need Christ, and he was probably too weak to respond. But he needed Jesus, not, you know, Muhammad, the false prophet. So, yeah, so I basically sought to walk uprightly, to honor my contract, and just to be a Christian, and really not to compromise. Obviously, I had to stop going out to places I would go to, and it was hard. But I did it by God's grace. Yeah, I lost a lot of things when I was saved. I tell people, God came and messed everything up, and I thank God for that. Everything I thought was right, He came and just cleared it and showed me it was all wrong. And then, slowly but surely, He started showing me what was right, and this thing left, and all the friends left, and all of that. And what do you call that? It's called losing your life. Jesus says, if any man comes after me, You know, he will lose his life. Let him what? Deny himself, take up his cross. And it was painful becoming a Christian. I had no Christian friends. I didn't know these things. God saved me and I'm following him. And everything the Lord has taken away, one thing at a time. And then in his grace, he's adding this and adding this. And brings Vanessa back in my life. And then starts taking me to school. So it was a radical transformation. But God is gracious. but I didn't really have much of a religious background, but sort of did. Did you go to church as a kid at all? and I've got a Roman Catholic mother, and I'm a Baptist pastor, so we've covered the whole gamut. I mean, we really have. Now, I'm thankful that my mom and dad are both pretty open to the gospel, because they know me. They know this kid who is 22 years old, wild, rap industry, and then all of a sudden he's reading this Bible. There's no way to explain that. My mom said, what did you do? You fall out of bed one day, hit your head, and think you want to start reading the Bible? I mean, that's what she said. I just said, no, but God saved me. And, as a parent, you're like, what's happening to my kid? But, of course, now my mom reaps the benefits of it, 18 years later, and she sees a family man, and a husband, and someone who loves his kids, and all that stuff. So, she rejoices in the fruit, because the fruit is good, by God's grace. Any other questions? I do yeah, so what I'm saying is is that The first thing I learned when it came to Reformed theology was Calvinism, or the five points of Calvinism, which only deal with salvation. How a person gets saved, right? Tulip, T-U-L-I-P, right? So, it talks about how a person gets saved. So, I became a Calvinist, and I was in that non-denominational church, and they said, We're not going for those doctrines. So, instead of having a problem with the people that led me to Christ, I'm still friends with them, by the way, I said, okay, I need to go into another setting, not necessarily the Reformed Baptist setting, but somewhere where I can continue to figure these things out. That was the Christian Missionary Alliance. When I was in the Alliance, I not only came to embrace Calvinism, which is really the bottom rung of Reformed theology, I then came to embrace what is the Christian Lord's Day or Sabbath, what is regulative principle of worship, what is the church, raising children, and all of those things in a Reformed way. So it was a full-blown reform theology, not just Calvinism. So this is a good point just for you guys. I mean there are a lot of guys today who are preachers and good preachers who are what I call Calvinistic Baptists. They hold to Calvinism, and they're Baptists, but they're not Reformed Baptists. When you say Reformed Baptists, you're talking about confession of faith, 1689, covenant theology as opposed to dispensationalism. You're talking about a regulative principle of worship, not free for all. So what you guys get in your Reformed Baptist churches is really full-blown Reformed Christianity, not just Calvinism. Thank God for men that are Calvinist. No problem with that. Thank God for them. Good men. But you need the whole picture, because there's so much more than just Calvinism. Thank God for Calvinism. But there's so much more when it comes to Reformed theology. All right. Anyone else? Time to end. Thank you for listening. Let's close in prayer. Our Father, we confess ourselves to be debtors of your free and sovereign grace. Lord, you said in your word that salvation is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God who shows mercy. I thank you, God, for arresting me in my sins and showing me the glories of your Son, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. And I pray, O God, that you would take the things that were said this night and use them for good in the lives of these young people. O God, encourage those who know you. and draw those to you who know you not, so that they may come to be sons of the living God. O Lord, move amongst us, we pray. Let none escape from the impress of your truth. We pray it in the holy name of Jesus. Amen.