The seed was planted very early in my life to know the Lord because of the strong and steady godly testimony of my mom's trust in the Lord's love. I would remember seeing her read her Bible and the little devotional book, "The Upper Room," before she would go to bed. My Uncle Tom had a real love for the Lord and was always faithfully serving Him in church or a camp meeting. This had a big impact on me as a boy growing up.
As a family, we would watch Billy Graham on television every time he would have a crusade. It was a big thing in our family, and we would listen every night of each crusade. During the years of listening to Billy Graham, the Lord would bring more and more conviction into my life about my need for salvation.
The Lord also used another evangelist and the preaching of the Word of God to bring more conviction into my life as a boy. Every summer, Evangelist Lester Roloff would hold tent meetings at the Fair Grounds in Mt. Veron, Illinois, where I grew up. My dad would take the family almost every evening during the meeting. I can remember asking my mom,'"Are we going to those meetings tonight?" On one hand I really wanted to go, but on the other hand I did not want to go because of the conviction God was bringing into my life.
Then our family moved to a dairy farm in Wisconsin where I was a freshman in high school. After we settled in, the next year we joined the Methodist Church in Mosinee, Wisconsin. On the Sunday morning we joined the church, we went in front of the church and had prayer. During the prayer, I invited Christ into my life. Only the Lord and I knew of my decision at that time.
I did not really grow much in the Lord until after I was married. It was then Joann and I started attending a Baptist church in Waupaca, Wisconsin. It was there that God started working in my heart about the importance of being faithful to Him in every area of my life and being a spiritual leader in my home.
After attending First Baptist Church a few years, God used one of the real loves of my life to help me see that He was not completely first in my life. I loved and enjoyed sports with all my heart. I sincerely felt everything was in the right order in my life.
Then God brought an unusual test to show me an area that I needed to completely give over to Him.
The Pastor and deacons believed the Lord was leading the church to start a Christian school. I was hoping and praying they would not start one for a very wrong and selfish reason. I wanted my sons to go to a school that would have a sports program more than anything else. They started the Christian school, and I did not send my sons be cause I knew they would never have a sports program. They only had 22 students in grades K-12. After one year of struggling with the conviction of making a decision based on sports rather than helping my sons spiritually, I went to the altar and confessed my selfish sin and enrolled my 2 sons in the Christian school...and then God took over!!!
God used that decision to change the whole direction of my life. In Matthew 6:33, it says if I will seek the Lord first, He will add the blessings. In Psalm 37:4, it says, “Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of thine heart.” Because of my great love for sports, God used it in my life and led me to help start a sports program at this little school in rural Wisconsin. We not only started a program, but I was give the opportunity to be the coach. That was the beginning of the sports ministry that God had for me all along. He was just waiting for me to put Him first so He could give me the desire of my heart. The blessings and experiences of this ministry expanded to 44 years of coaching many sports, both girls and boys, and it is from this rich, vast expanse of experience that I speak from in my series called Front Row Seat; all across the country I get to share the same gospel truths with your audience that I learned from sitting in God’s front row seat.
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