My Testimony

My testimony comes in four parts. It covers different times in my life.

Part one: I was born and raised in the Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky. While I was raised on the mountain tops, I was in the valley my whole existence there. My grandfather was a man of God. I lovingly refered to him as "Papaw." Papaw pastored a church, ran a farm, and a sawmill. The sawmill was sourced with logs he got himself. Him and Mamaw had ten kids. I was raised Pentecostal. Specifically, I was raised holiness. This meant no television, strict attire requirements, and clean language. Men had it easy, women did not. They could not cut their hair or wear pants. Papaw got sick and would not go to the doctor because of his faith. After four years of being bed ridden, he went on to glory. At the time I decided not to believe in a God that would let a man of faith suffer like that.

Part two: Fast forward to my teenage years. My family had, by all accounts, backslid. We had TVs and we were not any different than anyone else in the world. At the age of 9 I had discovered pornography after we had got a desktop computer. At 13 I had my first beer. When I got to high school I befriended some seniors and began to sneak out and drink whenever I had the chance. That freshman year I tried marijuanna for the first time. I didn't care for it much, but my friends loved it. I saw the opportunity to make some money and started buying wholesale at 16 and selling it. At 17 years old I split a half gallon of bourbon with and friend and decided to go for a drive. I ended up in a ditch at a trailer park. That morning the trailer park manager ask me, "Son, I can call the cops, or your dad." Realizing the chances of a dui, I replied, " Please call dad." I have never seen my mother cry like that and I doubt I ever will. I was still drunk. So, I went to bed to sleep it off. My senior year my Dad informed me he had got a promotion that required a relocation to Georgia. I could've stayed and went to college, but I decided to follow my family.

Part three: I arrived in Cumming, Georgia the summer of 2013. Fresh out of high school in a county of 23,000 people I moved to a county of 100,000 plus. As you can imagine, I did not fit in. I attended the university of North Georgia and started working at a car wash. Selling alcohol to minors was frowned upon in Georgia. I decided to purchase a fake ID from a college friend back home. That keep me drinking until I was 21. In 2014, I joined my Dad's company as an hourly employee. I worked 45 hours a week and went to college in the evenings. I made friends at work and began partying with them on the weekends. Their were more people and I was making more money, but nothing had really changed. I was using a popular app called Tinder to meet girls. It worked great. On my fourth date, I met the woman that I would eventually marry. We moved in together not too long after. I didn't have time to go to college anymore, besides I was making great money for a 20 year old. I started working full time. I was successfull in my career and got promoted to supervisor at age 22. I couldn't manage people and only stuck with it for a month until I decide to go back hourly. After that, I started with a new company in a sales role. I hoped to gain some communication skills and get rid of some of my shyness. It was the most stressful time of my life. I purchased my first home and moved to Cartersville soon after.

Part four: I was not very good at selling things. After many sleepless nights and the weight of the world on my shoulders, I didn't think I could last much longer. I was driving to a customer site, listening to a country rap song called "Lord Knows," when God met me in my truck. At that particular time I realized just how horrible of a person I was. I also realized that there was a God and he was sitting in the truck with and he didn't seem to care that I was a horrible person because he was letting me know just how much he loved me. It was so overwhelming that I couldn't stop crying and I couldn't believe it, I had not believed in him all of this time. I remember screaming, " No, No, noooo." I looked to my left and there, on the side of GA state Highway 20, stood three crosses. I believe God was telling me that the only way to Him was through his Son's sacrifice on that day. I told my wife about that story in our living room and how low I had been. She reacted similarly. We started going to the church that was less than a mile from our house, what a coincidence that church was so close, I think God moved us there for a reason. We were both baptized there and are very thankful for the open arms of acceptance from the pastor and congregation. That pastor ended up leaving and starting a church plant called Life Change Church. I followed him and soon found out I was called to be a youth pastor. That is what I am waiting for today. In the meantime, I lead the set up of the office we borrow for service and teach when the opportunity arises. I am happily married to wonderful woman and we have a little girls who is 1.5 year old.

I hope this testimony speaks to your heart and blesses you!

Logan Crouse