Illinois

Since I (Chris Vokaty) was a young child, I have believed in God as a person, but did not understand how He wanted me to respond to His will in my daily living. Sometimes I attended church with my family on Sunday morning, but it wasn’t because I was being religious. It was just my desire to be accepted by them and be where I thought they wanted me to go. I didn’t become involved in an active church life or give too much thought as to what my obligations should be. I guess I was just “playing church.”

Then something began to happen inside of me. I began to feel a strange drawing to church and desired to really know what it meant to be a Christian. I didn’t understand it then, but now I believe it was the Holy Spirit calling me to follow Jesus. I began discussing my feeling with my mom, who was raised a Seventh-day Adventist. During our talks, she told me I needed to understand the truth about worshiping God on the seventh-day Sabbath. She even suggested that until I understood God’s true Sabbath, nothing else I studied from my Bible would make sense. So I decided to attend the Adventist church near Hinsdale Hospital, and went the very next Saturday morning.

It may sound strange, but after I found a place to sit, and during the entire service, I felt very emotional as I responded to the worship service's songs, prayers, and sermon. When it was over, I walked up to the pastor and told him, “I want to be baptized.” He was kind and thoughtful to me. After learning my name and address, he passed it on to Kenneth Parker, the youth pastor. The very next week we began to study the Bible together, and after five months we both agreed I was ready to be baptized in the service on April 8.

My parents and brothers came to church the day the youth pastor baptized me, and they joined in the celebration of my spiritual re-birth. I began asking God in my daily evening prayers to use me to witness and inspire others to follow Jesus. My brothers started to ask questions about the Bible and baptism, and they wanted to know if they could be baptized someday. As I helped them understand Christ’s desires for their lives, I began to realize the Holy Spirit was using me to be a witness not only to them, but to my friends and others I met.

It’s just amazing how, in less than one year, Jesus became the center of my life, and I am seeking to be like Him. It's wonderful to sense God’s awesome power as I witness and better understand each day how He is working both in and through me to reach others.

Chris Vokaty with Bruce Babienco, Lake Union Herald volunteer correspondent