Below is the biography I first submitted as part of our application to TEAM (The Evangelical Alliance Mission ), our sending agency, They are partnering with our home church Victory World Church to send us to the mission field full time.
I thought you all might like to here some of the background story that got us to where we are now. Please enjoy this glimpse into the life of a missionary in the making...
My story begins before I took my first breath on this earth. My mother and father were already the proud parents of a baby girl, my older sister, Karen. However, they also wanted a son. For several years they tried and tried, but with no success.
However, in May 1973 my parents found out that they were expecting another baby. Several months later, once they learned from the ultrasound that the baby was going to be a boy, my mother went straight to the church where they were members, and dedicated my life to God, much like Samuel’s mother in the Bible.
I came into the world on January 4th of 1974 with a calling already placed on my life, as my Mom had already made a vow to dedicate my life to God even before I was born. Looking back it seems my parents always raised both my sister and I with this idea and notion that we were both unique gifts from God with special callings on each of our lives.
By the age of 7, I had accepted Jesus into my heart as Savior and Lord. I don’t remember the exact day, but I do remember my parents inviting our pastor at the time, Rev. Cooper Marshall, to our home to ask me some questions, making sure I understood what salvation meant. Once they were convinced that God had indeed entered my heart, that next Sunday morning I walked the center aisle of our church with both my Mom and Dad beside me for support.
During my childhood years, I remained active in church. I loved Sunday School, and tried not to miss a Sunday. My teachers over the years really helped me mature in Christ. In fact, even at the age of 37, I can still remember many of their names and the lessons they taught me.
Once high school ended and I entered college in 1992 to study music, many of those with whom I had grown up faded away into their respective paths that lead away from Atlanta. Ironically, God chose to keep me in Atlanta for school, so I stayed active in my home church. Their was no such thing as a “happening” singles ministry at our church, but those whom God left there began to form strong bonds, as in our late teens and early 20’s God began to focus our hearts on him and define the callings he had placed on our lives. We studied the Bible and prayed together and encouraged one another in our faith.
In 1997, right before I graduated from Georgia State University, I was introduced to Brandy through a mutual friend. It was clear from the start that God had knitted our hearts together. Looking back over our 13 years of marriage, it is clear that our common love for Jesus, our passion to serve Him, our sense of calling to missions, our tendency toward evangelism, and our love for one another has strengthened our relationship with God and with one another.
As I look back, I remember a constant stirring in my heart towards missions, and an excitement about hearing visiting missionaries speak at our church all through my childhood even up to the present. Always in my mind, like a stirring movie soundtrack, was the theme that I was called and destined to serve my Savior. Every so often, my Mom would remind me of God’s calling on my life by retelling the story of her dedicating me to the Lord before I was born. There was always a feeling in me that God had destined me to serve Him. It was if God was the magnet and I was the metal with the Holy Spirit being the magnetic force that always seemed to be tugging me ever closer to Him.
I call Jesus the “Relentless Pursuer of My Soul”, because in spite of His salvation work in me and knowledge of His calling and purpose for my life, I have found many ways to run from Him. Each time I ran, He would come after me. Each time I ran, I did not run as far, and I did not stay gone as long as the times before. He knew that one day I would run after Him just as hard.
Now I look forward to the calling God has defined for our family – moving to Bologna, Italy this fall to live and work as church planting missionaries with TEAM (The Evangelical Alliance Mission). If you’d like to know more about the work ahead of us, or how to get involved, please visit our website at www.theverners.org or give us a call at 770-837-2846.
