Even Me

by Jeff Estep

    Like many others, I grew up in the church and accepted Christ at a young age.  I was lukewarm for quite awhile- I was very active in my youth group and I believed the Bible to be true, but my pride kept me from allowing people to see my faith.  I was more afraid of what people thought of me than I was of God.   Thanks to good parenting and the grace of God, I never got myself into trouble; I remained more or less pure in deed, although I wasn't seeking Christ with all of my being.   That's what I knew I needed going into my senior year of high school.

    I had no passion for lost people.  I thought, "Yeah I'd like to see people come to Christ," but I was unwilling to really let God use me.   Then I went on Faith Quest, an intense Christian retreat my senior year of high school.  While I was there, I reaffirmed to Jesus that I wanted him to be in complete control of my life.  God honored my decision in a big way.  That summer, I went on a mission trip to Juarez, Mexico.  There God taught me about compassion and love, and I got to really minister to people for the first time in my life.  I went back to Juarez the next year, and at a national youth conference, confirmed that I felt God calling me to some kind of ministry.  That is, I guess, the birth of this web-ministry for me.

    Up until awhile ago, I believed that God used evolution to create the world.  I didn't think the issue was that big of a deal.  I reasoned that I could believe in both.  Then one night while I was flipping through the channels on my TV (instead of doing my calculus homework, oops) I came across a cable access program that was showing a video by a Creationist named Dr. Kent Hovind.  His research fascinated me.  I wrote down his name, looked it up on the web some months later, and plunged into Creationism.  You see, after seeing Dr. Hovind's video, I felt God ask me to accept Creationism by faith.  God had always provided for me in the past, so I accepted that God would give me the evidence I needed to defend my beliefs in the face of opposition.  And boy, did He!

   I learned over 100 arguments against evolution, and sought opportunities for debate.  I shared my beliefs with my youth group, and some of them showed interest.  Two of my young brethren, Jason Bryant and Tony Paul, became very interested in Creation Ministry.  Believing that we are obligated to tell what we know, we decided to start some kind of Creation Ministry.  We wanted to start a class at our church that would give the evidence against evolution, and that is still in the works.  Then we decided to expand to the Internet.

    And here we are!  A young ministry, made up of young Christians, but God is with us.  And He will oversee our ministry, and use it to reach others with the good news of Jesus Christ.  That is what this is all about.   It is so amazing that God could use even me, a young college kid from Elkhart, Indiana.  God can use anyone who is willing to surrender their lives to Him.   Giving Jesus total control over your life is the smartest thing you will ever do.   It is so awesome to be used by God!  I never thought I'd be writing articles for a website, articles written for the sole purpose of ministering to others.  But now I'm writing often and I can't get enough of it!  God will take you where you never thought you'd have the courage to go.  Your faith will grow in ways you can't imagine.  And all it takes is for you to say "Yes!"  Just tell God you are willing to go where He leads you, and when the journey's complete, you will know you have seen the Lord at work!