C'mon Bud, they're waitin' on the Word!
My Story
I was born and raised in the "bible belt" of this great country. My parents were ( and are to this day) two of the finest people you could be blessed to know. Along with my two brothers and one sister we were raised mostly in the country approximately 40 to 50 miles north of Dallas, Texas.
during our upbringing, my siblings and I were at church it seems whenever the doors were open. Sunday morning and night, along with Wednesday night were a regular thing, while Friday night was a special time for us boys to attend/participate in our churches equivalent of "Boy Scouts" for Christian boys. I believe there was a (similar) class for the girls also.
At approximately 10 to 11 years of age we began attending a different church denomination than I was accustomed to. Having been raised attending the "Assemblies of God" church, we began attending the "Church of God ( 7th Day)". my older brothers were in their teens, while my younger sister was only five or six years of age. With me being in the middle of us 4 children (as far as age goes) I imagine it affected us each differently. However, at my age, although things did change somewhat, life goes on and you adjust.
My senior year of high school I attended and graduated from Spring Vale Academy high school in Owosso Michigan. This was the boarding school of the "Church of God (7th Day)" and it was truly a special senior year!
Most of my adult church life was spent moving from one church/denomination to another trying to find the one that was right for me. Not wanting this to become an autobiography, I'll skip ahead.
As each church, one after another, didn't seem to have what I needed, I decided there was no point in being there. From there it was a quick and continuing spiral downward. Suffice it to say that the next 20+ years of my life were spent growing used to and accommodating my sin. I was the King of justification and rationalization. Fast forward to a courtroom where I had been told (even by my own attorney) to expect a 3 to 5 year sentence and to be aware that it could be more. Okay, so you're wondering, hold on...how did we get to here? Well... Alcohol, drugs, and everything that went with that lifestyle is how we got to here. I believe that in a testimony for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we should not spend too much time on the sinful acts that accumulate during a life of disbelief and disobedience. All right, let's move forward.
But God..... In the midst of my sins, caught my falling soul, and brought me to his Son. He opened my blinded eyes, unstopped my deaf ears, and showed me the cross where He died. I had heard the gospel message many, many times and yet I was hearing it (spiritually) for the first time! there is a song (written by: Squire Parsons) that I sometimes sing now that says it all. It says: He came to me...yes, He came to me... When I could not come to where He was, He came to me. Bound by my own sin I could not come to Him. As the Scripture says, "with man this is impossible; but with God all things are possible!" If you are saved (as I am) you should be smiling and saying Amen right about now! If you're not, check yourself!
Oh yeah, about the courts..... I stood in the courtroom and told "my story" to the judge (who had replaced the judge I was supposed to see) and he looked at me and said I don't believe I'll be seeing you again unless it's in the house of God singing and/or preaching his word! The only time I spent behind bars was back when I was arrested. From the time I was arrested, it took close to a year and a half before I was brought to trial. It was during this time that God "arrested" me!
He has called me not only as His child, but also to His service, and after a pastorate of close to seven years, I have been blessed to be able to serve God (with the help of my wife) as an evangelist to the body of Christ (the church)! My (our) desire from here forward is to uplift and edify the body of Christ as He wills! As we begin to embark on an evangelistic ministry singing/preaching the words of God, as well as being instruments of giving whatever, whenever, however and to whomever He has ordained!
OK, you are up to speed now! That/This is who I was, and now am in Christ! I am.....
.....Gr8ful 4 Grace,
Greggory Dale Hall
(A.K.A. the DOGpreacher)
[that's another story]
