I have been asked to explain how I came to the PR churches and why, since I came from a non-church-going family in southwest Minnesota.  Up until I was about 20, I had only been in 2 churches in my life.  I didn’t really feel like I was missing anything by not going to church, but I did always feel like something was pulling me.  It is almost like I was searching for something but didn’t know what.  Maybe it was because I came from a family where love was never shown.

I came to Grand Rapids in 1976 after being laid off from a job doing road construction.  I had a sister and brother-in-law working at Keeler Brass and they got me an application and I got in there.  While at Keeler I worked with a girl that was PR and after about a year started dating her.  She asked me if I was interested in going to church and I didn’t really know if I was or not.  Anyway, I did go and kept going and eventually took classes with Rev. Van Baren and Rev. Hanko.  I was still kind of mixed up during all of this over the fact that I expected these people to be perfect and couldn’t seem to understand how they could call themselves Christians and for the most part weren’t living any different than I had up to the time I started going to church.  After about a year I didn’t know if I believed what I was being told or if I even wanted to belong to the PR church.

So, I started going to a Mennonite church where I thought the people were a lot closer, but after I was there awhile I discovered they almost had to be closer because there were only a few families.  After going there 8 months, I really missed the PR preaching and being told what awful sinners we are.  Anyway, I started going to Southeast by myself and took a class with Rev. Haak.  I eventually became baptized on Dec. 4, 1983.

Now after several years I stand in awe at why God chose an evil sinner like me.  I have also learned that just because I call myself a Christian that I am still sinful and can’t be throwing stones at anyone else because they aren’t living up to the standards I think they should.