While growing up in the New Orleans area, I was not a part of a Christian family and I was exposed to lots of people with detrimental life styles. I witnessed family and friends go through alcoholism, drug abuse, divorce, and even incarceration. When my parents divorced, my sister and I moved with my mother to Shreveport where she remarried. Jerry, her new husband, was not a Christian, but gave us a good home. We lived far away from town on a lake and I had a long bus ride to school every day. A couple of the teenagers on the bus were Christians and began witnessing to me. Although I wasn’t sure what they were all about, I was grateful for their friendship. They would invite me to youth events and I eventually went and enjoyed them.
When they finally got me to go to church, I really felt out of place. One Sunday, one of my friends asked me point blank if I was a Christian. I desperately wanted to say yes, but since I wasn’t really sure what a Christian was, I said no. He then began to share the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man from Luke chapter 16.19-31. When he talked about the Rich Man going to Hell and begging for a drop of water to touch his tongue, I knew I would have the same fate. I knew that I was fallen, finite, and fouled up. He then told me about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and how if I trusted in His sacrifice, I could be forgiven and have eternal life. I trusted in Christ right there in the church parking lot and was baptized on November 8, 1980. I was discipled by this same friend, David. He would challenge me to read my Bible and go to Bible study. Soon my mother and my sister began attending church as well.
When I graduated from high school, I joined the Army National Guard Band to pay for college. Boot camp was my first major challenge in my faith. I really had to trust Him to get through this challenge. As a freshman at LSU in Shreveport, I felt alone and wasn’t sure what direction I should take. My mother divorced Jerry and I had the privilege of leading him to the Lord. The Lord again provided the friendships I needed. I also met Gina at the BSU. Her parents had a television show for children and a camp as well. She had grown up doing ministry, so she has taught me so much.
I began preaching at churches, missions, and nursing homes. We took mission trips and did outreach on campus. During my senior year, I sensed God calling me into full time ministry. I traveled to Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, TX to check it out and enrolled the next semester. Soon after that Gina and I were married. Towards the end of seminary, we felt God calling us overseas. We found a position with the International Mission Board in Malawi, Africa. Emily, our first daughter, was just a baby, and we were nervous about bringing a newborn to Africa. They needed an administrator for a rural clinic and an area pastor for the 40 plus churches that had been planted. It was an intense time of ministry for both of us. Over 70,000 patients would visit the clinic each year and we would share the Gospel with all of them. We also traveled to many of the churches to teach.
At the end of our two years "in the bush" we headed back to the U.S. not knowing what the Lord had in store. I enrolled at Southwestern again while we searched for a place to serve. I soon accepted a call to Liberty Baptist Church in Dallas, TX. It was an inner-city church, but I felt up to the challenge. In the three years I was there, we reached many of the people in the neighborhood for Christ. We also added two more girls to our family. Madison was born and 18 months later, Caroline was born.
While serving at LBC, my former Sunday School teacher contacted me about a church he pastored in Plano, TX. He was in a terrible accident and needed to move to Houston to be closer to his physicians. He had 36 surgeries and even wrote a book about it. This small church was in need of a pastor to help them reach this rapidly growing area. The church was smaller than Liberty, but I sensed God leading us to Murphy Road Baptist Church. We did experience enough growth to think about a new building. We baptized 37 in the first year and we started a second service. Finally in 2004, we opened our new 20,000 square foot sanctuary and education wing. We added two boys and a girl in the Forrest clan: Seth, Luke, and Olivia.
In 2008 I felt the Lord leading us in a new area of service and on April 27, 2008, I accepted the call to become the pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church. This is a growing church and a gracious church. I love the people here and know that God will use them to reach this community in Granbury, TX. It has been an incredible journey up to this point and I look forward to what He will do next.
