My Testimony- Part 3

This testimony is from Cooper Starnes. Cooper is the activity planner and youth pastor at Hazelwood Presbyterian church here in Waynesville.

My testimony is rather plain in many ways, but I am most thankful for what God has done in my life. I was raised in a Christian home. I was taught about the Bible, prayer, and God’s love for me. I do not remember a time in my life in which I did not know the Lord. However, there was a time when I began to take my faith seriously and made it my own.

When I was twelve, I started attending Faith Presbyterian Church’s youth group. Our youth pastor taught through books of the Bible slowly and deliberately. The Word began to affect me, and I realized that it was the only reliable and perfect guide in this life. I began to study the word and developed a love for it to the point that I wished I could go to seminary and be a pastor. However, since I was quiet and lacked eloquence, I decided that being a pastor was not my calling. Nonetheless I continued to study and increase my theology and faith.

By senior year of high school, I realized that I had no clue where I wanted to go for college or what I wanted to do. My last couple years of high school I put most of my time into working at my family’s restaurant, playing football and ultimate frisbee, and lifting weights while putting very little into my schooling. I decided to start at our local community college and get a transfer degree. I was strongly challenged by the world while at community college. God grew me greatly during this time and was faithful to preserve me through much pressure.

I then went to UNC Chapel Hill, where I met my wife Hannah. We started dating at the end of 2014 and were engaged March of 2016, our senior year. She remains the greatest gift God has given me in my life and ministry. During the fall semester of my senior year, Hannah and I were sitting in church on Sunday where I felt a call to ministry like I had never felt. It was as if I was slapped in the face. Hannah and I talked about it and we decided I should apply for seminary. My prayer was that if the Lord was calling me to ministry, he would allow me to get into seminary, but if it was not his will then I would be rejected. I was accepted and I stopped running from the call to ministry I had felt for many years. I am most thankful for Christ’s patience and mercy on me over the course of my life. He has brought Hannah and I through seminary, to a church, and has blessed us with our daughter Alison Reah. Titus 2:11-15 is my favorite passage of scripture and is a glorious teaching on the salvation we have in Christ, both in our initial justification and our ongoing sanctification. We have a rich heritage in Christ.