I was born in 1953 and was raised, along with five siblings on a dairy farm in South-Western Wisconsin. We were not raised in a Christian home. The Bible was never read nor prayers made.
Early life was filled with boyhood things and farm chores. I do not remember that I ever thought about meeting God. One matter that bothered in early years was the fear of death. My father was an alcoholic. He was a good man in many ways to many people, but he was very hard on his family. He was a WWII veteran, and received a purple heart from General De Gaulle from France. My mother said that after being in the war, my father was not the same man that she had married. He was cruel when he was intoxicated. My mother was never like that, she was a very hard worker; she did the best that she could with what little she had to work with. I well remember when she, in her plight, joined the Jehovah Witnesses as they offered her a false hope that she maintains to this day.
When I was 16, a desperate situation led to my mother and three younger children leaving the home at my bidding, as I feared for my mother’s life. Such hard decisions eroded the joy of youth, making life hard. An altercation with my father led to my departure from the farm and being the only help available, the farm was soon sold.
When I was 17 I met a young lady who later became my wife. She was raised in a Christian home but was not saved at the time. She later professed to be saved. She ceased certain activities and seemed different. I attended some gospel meetings with her and her parents and God used a preacher, Mr. Stephen Mick, reading from Rom.1.28-32 to tell me of my need of salvation. Sad to say, the conviction slipped away before long.
God brought this back to me about two years later, while on a motorcycle trip with friends to Yellowstone National Park. A near serious accident left me shaken, knowing God had spared me and sitting on the bike, the conviction came “That if this being saved is real, if God brings me back to Wisconsin, I aim to find it.” We went on to Yellowstone from there, and then back home to Wisconsin. The last day saw over 1,000 miles covered alone to reach home. I arrived home on a Saturday night, and on Sunday, I went to see the man who had spoken from the end of Rom.1 in the gospel meeting. When I arrived at Mr. Mick’s home, his wife told me that he was in Ohio having gospel meetings. She gave me some gospel tracts and encouraged me to attend a gospel meeting that night in Blue River, WI. I did and was impressed with the earnestness of the preaching.
The next morning, a faithful Christian sister approached me at work and gave me some gospel tracts. She told me she was praying for me. It was striking that she cared for my soul. From then on, I started taking all the gospel tracts that people had given me, and looking up all the Bible verses that were in the tracts using a Bible I got from my mother. Not knowing Genesis from Revelation, this involved a lot of time. The first time the Bible and tracts went to work with me, I faced ridicule upon punching the time clock. It didn’t matter, as there was only one thing that mattered to me: If I could be saved, I wanted to be. Rom.3.10 “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one” was fastened in my mind.
An old school friend came on Thursday night and wanted me to go partying with him, but I told him, “Steve, I’m not going. I have found out that I’m on the way to hell and I want to be saved”. I stayed home, reading the tracts and looking up the verses. I went to bed with the Bible and the tracts, falling asleep with the light on. Awaking several times in the night, this thought came immediately upon awaking, “If I die as I am, I will be in hell.” In the morning, the same words echoed in my mind. Conviction of sin and a lost condition is so humbling as the Holy Spirit does His work. Jn.16.8. When I woke up in the morning, I looked up those verses again and took the tracts and Bible to work. When I got to work I went into the men’s bathroom and on my knees to pray for the first time since a young child, cried to God for salvation. I waited for a feeling, a flash of light, or something big to tell me that I was saved. But nothing happened. I arose and left, not knowing what to think. I started to work and later on, the lady who worked nearby approached and asked what was wrong with me. She asked if I was sick and I said “No”. She told me I looked awful and that I’d better go see the plant nurse. I said, “Kate, I found out I’m going to hell, and if I don’t get saved, that’s where I’ll end up.” She threw her hands up in the air and said, “Oh, you’re getting religious!” and walked away.
“I’m a sinner on the way to hell and I know that Christ died for sinners; why, oh why, can’t I say I’m saved?” In soul trouble this thought came to me, “Art, you’ve done everything that you can do, you’ve tried everything and you’re still not saved. So I walked over to where the Bible and the tracts sat on a small table. Sitting down, I looked at the tracts and the Bible and thought, “What’s the use, because I never will be saved.” That was the darkest moment of my life. I picked up a tract lying on the top of the pile, turned it over, and found there this verse on the back of the tract, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house,” Acts 16.31. I had read this verse before but saw nothing in it but this time it was different. Sitting there, that verse opened to me this way, “God isn’t asking me to work; He doesn’t want my money, my prayers; He’s not asking me to do anything but to trust His Son as my Saviour.” For the first time in my life I thought about the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the cross for a sinner like me. The next few words astonished me, “and thou shalt be saved.” I knew at that moment that God was telling me I was saved. I thought, “Can this be true, can it really be that simple?” What had been so dark was now absolutely clear as God revealed His Son to me.
I arose, remembering the stories of others who had been saved and how they knew what time it was. The factory clock stood at 11:50 a.m. on July 26th, 1974. Then I went and immediately told the aforementioned lady and I then met Buzz, my boss and a companion in revelry — I told him, “Buzz, we won’t be going to any parties together anymore. God just saved me from going to hell.” The Bible became precious to me, as the Lord Jesus had, and my constant companion.
Following soon after this came baptism and then being received into assembly fellowship in the little assembly, which now meets in the Mount Sterling Gospel Hall, Mt. Sterling, WI. After seeing God work in different gospel efforts over several years, a deepening exercise pressed as to the need of full-time work. Encouragement from a number of saints was so appreciated. I hesitated to go for fear of losing our children. On a memorable night in the fall of 1987 God confirmed to us through Lam.3.27 and Matt.21.28-31 that we should yield totally to Him and fulfill His will in His work. In 1989 my wife and I were commended to full-time work for the Lord. God has graciously led the way with souls being saved and having a hand in seeing an assembly planted. The grace of God has seen four of our five children profess to be saved. New work has always appealed to us and we plough in hope of seeing another assembly planted and saints aided in their testimony for our Lord Jesus Christ. We, with all the saints, are waiting for our Lord from heaven and desiring that He might have the preeminence. Col. 1:18.