Paulette's Story

I am a single mom with three boys. A year ago we were living in an apartment near Northminster. I didn't feel the streets around the apartments were a safe place for my growing sons to play. They were only allowed to play on the Northminster grounds. One Wednesday evening they were playing there while dinner was going on inside. One of the men came outside and invited them in, fed them some supper, and introduced them to the other children and young people that were there. From that night until this day those boys have been a part of the Northminster family. But I didn't join my sons at church, even though they begged me to.

Then one day we were displaced from our home with nowhere to go but to a motel. The people of this church became my friends during this time and I started joining my boys at services. Now I am a regular attender, a member, and soon will be baptized. I have accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior and am very excited about the life He has planned for me and my boys.

Northminster is a warm and loving church where people welcome you with open arms. I have no blood family in Richmond, but the people at this church are my family.

Carl's Story

For the first sixty years of my life I was not a believer. I had retired from a 30 year Police career with no clear sense that any of it had meant anything. Probably because of my choice of profession I had developed a cynical attitude and a very cold viewpoint on most everything. If I had any redeeming feature during this time it was love for my family, but not so much for anyone else.

Through a strange sequence of events I ended up visiting Northminster once to keep from having an argument with my wife, who had just became part of the Church staff. Everyone I met that day was very warm and welcoming and it was a pleasant but not life changing event. She convinced me to go one more time the next Sunday, and I was listening to Sammy's message when it hit me that everything he was saying was the truth and that God really did exist and even more unbelievable, He loved me, so much that He had given His Son so that I could be forgiven.

I accepted Christ as my Savior that day, and my life took an unbelievable turn from that point on. I experienced an intense need to learn more about Jesus and the Bible and found that most of my horrible personality traits were being addressed by the Holy Spirit and the changes I had failed to achieve in my own power were easy now. I realize that there is still more work to be done, but have complete faith that God will complete the work He has started in me.

Even though it is probably secondary, a very important part of this experience has been the wonderful feeling of being accepted in the “body of Christ” and the love and support of so many wonderful people. I really began to know this a few years ago when I lost my Dad, and the point has been fully brought home to me with my current illness. The outpouring of love, support and prayers has been wonderful.

[On December 26, 2008 Carl lost his battle with cancer. He has run the good race and now rests in the presence of his Savior. His assurance that this would be the case gave him amazing strength and peace at the end of his earthly life. If his story has helped you please visit In Loving Memory of Carl Murdock, Jr. and let us know.]

Logan's Story

I'm nothing but a tool in the hands of the living God. Literally, I feel that ever since the Almighty took a firm hold on New Year’s Eve 1999, there has not been a day that has gone by without the palpable awareness of being held in the mighty hands of this odd personality changing and affecting everything.

Let me explain … I grew up the child of missionaries, who left America for Salzburg, Austria to share the beautiful news of a peculiar God who put on our skin and bones and came to die out of love for us that we might be exposed to something extraordinarily great; something so true and glorious it moves people from one place to another-i.e. from America to Austria, or from darkness to light etc. Being well versed in Christian-ese [the language that Christians use with each other talking about God, faith and other burning topics etc.], after a while, I became somewhat immune to the beautiful news my parents were willing to give all for and I began acting like regular folks. It was far easier blending in with the crowd this way, for reasons that are understood I think, right?! … You see what I mean? (Think about it.)

After learning Guitar at age 11, music has always been something that I have used to communicate and process information. This is no different these days; and by that I mean, it’s very different. The difference lies in the truth of the information being communicated and processed. You see in 1999 walking through some forest patch somewhere in Germany, I met the living God while sitting on a tree stump. With music blasting in the background from a nearby “Neu Jahr Feier” [new years eve festivity], thoughts of the futility of these sorts of celebrations rang as loud and clear as did God’s strange voice. “We are all broken.” There’s just so much about life that hurts so much... and still at the “Neu Jahr Feier” we party like we’ve solved the world’s hunger problem, or finally found a cure for aids or cancer. Not saying we shouldn’t celebrate, just questioning why we do what we do. Another way of putting it, “Did we end up with something true or just a hangover?”

Long story short... the cross made it’s impact, and ruined me for good. Nothing any person could ever tell me would be able to match what I’d just experienced - the living God put on our skin and bones and came to die out of love for us that we might be exposed to something extraordinarily great in the midst of our brokenness; something so true and glorious is only seen in the cross where Jesus of Nazareth bled and died for our brokenness.

So, these days I truly have nothing unique to offer anyone except for my experience of the cross of Christ. Because the cross moves us from darkness into light, I use songs to communicate and process that one true and glorious truth, and celebrate it wherever I get the opportunity.