My Story

Although I had prayed to receive Christ as a young boy, as a teenager, and into my early twenties, I was far from God and wanted to live life my way. The price I paid was a deep emptiness that finally became a hole in my soul. Nothing would take it away. At the time, we were living in Jefferson, Iowa. On a Sunday evening in February 1971, Kathy and I were sitting in bed, holding hands and praying together. My prayer was simply "Father in heaven, we want to give ourselves entirely to You and ask that You would give Yourself entirely to us." I meant every word and surrendered. God may have been waiting longer than I had. I felt nothing, no emotion of any kind; but the next morning, I woke up feeling like a light bulb--or, as we said then, turned on. Something was different! I was a changed man with the fire of the Holy Spirit burning within. As I did every Monday morning, working as a school psychologist, I had coffee in the cafeteria with one of my new friends before the school bell rang--not a Christian and perhaps an atheist. I don't recall having said anything, but I noticed that he was staring intently at me. He finally exclaimed, "Wait a minute! Something is different! You have changed! You are different! You have died! Vern, you are dead!" He nearly ran out of the building. The cooks in the kitchen were staring! At that moment we lost all our new friends. But I was on fire within, and by Wednesday it occurred to me that I could die from this. Kathy's experience was just as real but much quieter. It was like I had dove off a high bridge and made a big splash. She was there waiting in the water when I came up to take a breath. We have been together in this ever since. On Thursday I met a man, John, a young farm manager, and we spent some time getting acquainted. He finally said, "I've got two tickets to the Iowa State-Minnesota game tomorrow night. Would you like to go?" I said, "Sure, let's go." The next night, on the way back home, I was again thinking of my past week and all that I had been experiencing in my life. I asked myself, "Should I share this with John?" Before arriving at his home back in Jefferson, I began telling him of my recent and ongoing encounter with Christ. I didn't understand what had happened and didn't know what to call it. Later I learned it was described as a baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-18, 10:44-48, 19:1-7). John listened carefully and quietly asked a few questions. He invited me into his house, where his wife, Sandy, served us a snack. By now she was listening and was also interested. I am not sure of everything that happened at John and Sandy's house that weekend, but it must have been a struggle for John. Before making his own surrender to Christ, John (a big guy) punched a hole in the wall! I understood, and we were instantly bonded! And this was the beginning of revival.