Personal Testimony of Brian Karcher How I came to accept Christ Jesus as both Savior and Lord When two Bible teachers from UBF invited me to Bible study on campus, I didn't know what to expect. Soon, I found that Bible study was so wonderful. I sensed God speaking to me through the Bible, which I had never studied nor even really read before. When I attended an Easter Bible conference, I saw a drama portraying Jesus' death and resurrection. The words from Matthew 28:6 suddenly came to life: "He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay." (NIV) For the first time, I accepted Jesus as my Savior who died in my place. Soon after this, my newfound faith was tested through my father's slow death from ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). At first, we argued over Catholicism. But God used me to witness the new hope in Jesus I had found. One week before he passed away, my father told me he had a dream about Jesus. He said he knew he would be with Jesus soon. I can only thank and praise God for leading me to Christ before my father's passing away, at just the right time. This was also a time when I discovered the faith of my grandparents, especially that of my grandmother. I enjoyed wonderful letter writing with her about the Bible. I thank God for her prayer for me to be a preacher. As time passed, I continued my college studies. The more I studied the Bible, however, the more angst built up. In 1992 I spent much time in prayer, more than any other year perhaps. I spent much time in a holy struggle with God. This was the time I took a journey to Russia. During that time, I felt like Jacob wrestling with God. I had grown up Catholic, but had left the Catholic church after beginning Bible study. Then, after five years of Bible study in UBF, I was considering leaving UBF. The same thing was happening in UBF to me that had happened in the Catholic church--I was going through the motions of religion. Soon, I was approaching my graduation from college. I noticed that I was attending a lot of meetings in UBF. I began to wonder why some people were enjoying sitting on chairs so much. No other organization I knew of had so many meetings. So keeping up with these meetings seemed so difficult, like a chore. Something was not settled in my heart. So, I put aside UBF and all religious ideas from my Catholic upbringing. I went to Russia to study the Russian language, the summer just before graduating. Since I had been praying for Russia, as many did in UBF, some people begain thinking that I was going to be a permanent missionary to Russia. In my heart I was going to study the language and to take some time off from so many meetings. Dr.Paul Hong and another shepherd noticed this conflict in my heart and prayed for me. My heart was still mixed when I left, but they continued to pray for me. I heard later that Dr.Paul and this shepherd (my best friend in Jesus) organized a prayer meeting for me every night while I was in Russia--every night without fail even though they all had so many other busy things to do. In Russia, I met God very personally. I had no intention of meeting UBF missionaries in Russia-- I wanted to avoid them. But I was so moved by one missionary named Abraham. I had traveled together with my Russian language class. Our class lined up to get tickets after going through the Russian customs office. While in this line a tall man, dressed in his best suit, holding a big red rose and a big sign with my name on it, welcomed me to Russia. He helped me carry my heavy bags to my dorm room. I was so moved by his serving me that I decided to visit him and the other missionaries in St.Petersburg. Caleb and Sarah welcomed me as if I were a son of theirs. I am eternally grateful for each of them. The prayers and serving of those missionaries, the prayers of my brothers and sisters back in Toledo, the prayers of Dr.Paul and Sarah, the prayers of my grandmother-- God heard them and opened my heart and mind. God led me to realize that I had accepted only a "half gospel", that is, I had only accepted Jesus' death for my sins. But I had not accepted the full gospel--Jesus' death for my sins and Jesus' resurrection for my life. God showed me my problem: I had not submitted my entire life to Christ. There were major parts of my life that I was holding on to. No matter what church I would be in, I realized I would have the same kind of problems until I started submitting my entire life to Christ. In other words, I knew Jesus as my Savior, as I had accepted Christ's atoning death for my sins. But I did not know Jesus as my Lord, as I had not accepted Jesus' resurrection for my life. Philippians 3:10,11 became my life key verses. I began to find unspeakable joy as I began to surrender my life to Christ, putting myself under his rule as my Lord and Good Shepherd. I found a living hope as I realized not only did Christ die so that my sins might be forgiven, Christ rose from the dead so that I might live a new life, and live it for eternity. Once I had the full gospel in my heart, God's Holy Spirit filled me and I decided to serve God wholeheartedly. When I came back from Russia, I realized why some people so gladly sat through meetings, served day and night, sacrificed so much and gave so willingly in UBF ministry. It was because they knew Jesus, who was crucified and who is risen! They enjoyed the fellowship of believers so much! They loved the word of God and passionately served God. I decided to commit my life to serving God's mission, preaching the full gospel--Jesus died for my sins and rose again for my life. 1 Corinthians 15 "1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve." (NIV)