Tim's Discipleship Resources

My testimony is personal to me. My story of how Jesus called me into his family can't be denied or taken away by anyone. It's my story and is irrefutable. I hope you feel the same way about your story too!

WHAT WAS MY LIFE LIKE BEFORE CHRIST?

I grew up spiritually dead in my youth and was completely clueless to the meaning of Christmas or Easter. I was baptized as a baby, and I remember my father and I going to a church service one time when I was approximately five years old. That was the extent of my spiritual upbringing. I literally did not know Christmas was the celebration of Jesus’ birthday. In fact, when I was 19 years old, a girl in college invited me to a Christmas service. We worked together at the college coffee shop and (during the invite to the church service) I asked her what the significance was of going to church during Christmas because it had never been taught to me. I knew nothing about the Ten Commandments. Public schools taught about the “Big Bang” theory as the center of creation, and I was never taught to question it or ask for scientific proof of evolution.

HOW DID I COME TO KNOW CHRIST?

Shortly after proposing to my best friend and future wife, Beth, I asked myself this question. One day, my wife and I are going to die and what happens then? That question, while engaged to Beth, was the first time in my life when I began to think bigger. As a result, the scales began to fall away from my eyes. I started attending church, typically during the first month or two of each new year. But the desire to continue attending church would fade away usually by February of each new year and I repeated this cycle for the next few years. Fast forward to 2009, when Beth was pregnant with Timmy, and the Holy Spirit revealed to me that billions of cells need to come together in the exact right sequence in order for a baby to be born. I knew there was no possible way Beth or I could take any credit for this. Something bigger is in the midst of Timmy being knitted together in the womb. Timmy was born, perfectly healthy, and I was amazed by this miracle I experienced. Then I became motived to really begin to peel this onion back to figure out who created Timmy. Shortly after Timmy’s birth I was in financial trouble. God knew it was best to strip me of my pride and reveal to me worshiping money is not a good safety net for life. Thus, I was ripe to accept Christ. In 2010-11 Tom Morgan and Gary Friesen were lead a bible study at the Grubb & Ellis office in UTC on Tuesday during the lunch hour in the office where we worked. About a year after the study group launched, Grubb & Ellis entered in bankruptcy proceedings and as a result the organization withheld our broker commissions. Understandably, everyone who attended the study was distracted and frustrated, but Tom and Gary remained faithful witnesses to Christ and continued to lead the Tuesday meetings. After the bankruptcy was announced, I was the only person to participate in the next study along with the leaders Tom and Gary. Little did they know, I had been ready to publicly accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I had no knowledge of the Romans 10:9 verse, but I was in prayer for the prior month hoping someone would ask in public so I could answer and proclaim I need Jesus and I am on his team. During that Tuesday study in February 2012, Tom asked me, “who is Jesus in your life?” I enthusiastically replied, “Jesus is my Lord and Savior” and I felt great joy for about half a second. I was officially part of the team. “I did it, I am in” I thought to myself. Shortly after the half second went away, I immediately felt the fear of the Lord come upon me. Why? Because I knew everything about me had to change, and I had no idea where or how to begin that process. (At the time, I did not know about sanctification.)

WHAT HAS CHANGED SINCE ACCEPTING CHRIST?

Shortly after accepting Christ, the Holy Spirit guided me to begin attending Sunday church services, and I would also bring Timmy. Going to church was foreign to me. My brother-in-law Swain joined and on the first service Swain attended with me, I thought to myself, “I’m not going to attend that Church anymore”, but Swain enjoyed the service and wanted to go again. I couldn’t break his heart and say no, so I continued going. God uses people for his purposes, and it was because of Swain I attribute myself in developed the disciplined habit of attending Sunday services. Between Sunday services, the Tuesday bible study group, AM radio listening to pastors’ sermons, I was on my way to learning, growing and developing a relationship with Jesus. Then Tom introduced the Tuesday Bible study group to Craig Duhs who was about to form a group called San Diego Business Marketplace Ministries (BMM) aka Taco Wednesdays where we would meet once a month for Christian men in the business community to come together in fellowship. Approximately 6 – 12 months later Craig was introduced to Wayne Shuart who had recently moved to San Diego from Arizona. Wayne had a heart for discipling men, and he made a big impact on the Christian community. In 2014, Wayne put together a six-week workshop providing guys in the BMM group with an overview and materials on how to disciple men. I attended the weekly workshop, and I quickly realized I was “drinking water out of a fire hose.” The goal was to begin teaching others about Jesus when the workshop ended. When Wayne asked me if I had been in prayer to disciple a man, I told him I don’t have the knowledge to teach others yet. Wayne immediately turned around after my statement and introduced me to my now best friend Sean Bradford. Sean generously taught me how to have a relationship with Jesus over the next 18 months. He had only committed to 12 months, but I just couldn’t get enough. Eventually the Holy Spirit convicted my soul, and I felt guilty about taking his time away from other potential disciples of Christ. Soon thereafter, I started discipling men and thus the birth of my discipleship ministry was born. The fruit of Sean discipling is beyond my capacity to put into words of how impactful it was on me. First, it changed me as a husband, father and I realized the necessity to be a leader of my household. Sean gave me an example of what a Christian looked like within the family unit and as an entrepreneur in the marketplace. The impacts of discipleship on me will have multi-generational effects. I became a bold soldier for Christ and entered the world confidently ready to fulfill the plan, purpose and destiny God had planned for me before the world was formed.

What has changed in my life since accepting Jesus? In short, everything! II Cor 5:17. My wife is the best person to ask for an honest assessment since she knew me before Jesus and after accepting Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit. In 2012/13 while I was at a counseling ministry at the Church of Rancho Bernardo, I memorized the following verse: Don’t copy the behavior or customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Rom 12:2 NLT. As a result of accepting Christ and the Holy Spirit dwelling within me, I have stopped following the customs and behaviors of this world. Since accepting Christ, the Lord has introduced me to some amazing faithful men. I would like to thank my teachers mentioned in my testimony, to whom, I owe a double portion of honor.