Paul C. Stauffer III - Testimony
I accepted Christ into my life when I was 12 years-old. A number of things worked together to make this happen. First, I was taken to church every Sunday by my parents. Wherever we were - we went to church on Sunday. If we went camping, we went to the campground service or looked for a nearby church. If I was at Scout Camp we went to church. Second, my neighbor held a CEF club in their back yard. Nothing they said was new or surprising I just had not considered the need to take it for myself. I attended kids meetings at a Laymen’s Witness week at a neighboring church. Again I heard the message. Finally, I was in a church membership class with our pastor – Jay Saxe. He said, “If you were the only person on the earth, Christ would have to come and die for your sins”. Somehow that caught me. I knew I needed to take this for myself. So on Pentecost Sunday of 1974 I accepted Jesus as my Savior.
I was immediately excited about my faith. I wanted to drink in every bit of teaching I could find. I loved to sing praises. However, the other kids at church thought I was weird. They called me, “Church-Bird”. In school I was told things that made me doubt and later amend my faith. I was lead to believe that maybe the Bible wasn’t completely true. By the time I was in High School probably saw myself as a Deist or a Transcendentalist (both ideas I learned in a high school literature class). God was a part of the picture but he was far away and not involved in our day-to-day lives.
As a young adult I was in a young-singles Bible study we studied the book “Know Why You Believe” by Paul Little. This book often referred to another book, “Evidence that Demands a Verdict” by Josh McDowell. I began to grow in my faith and once again understood that the Bible is reliable and trust-worthy. It says what it means. Later we studied a book by Major Ian Thomas, “The Saving Life of Christ”. This book focused on a person’s inward relationship with Christ. The key verse of this book was…
Romans 5:10
“For while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His son, much more, now that we have been reconciled, shall we be saved by His life”.
Another key verse of this study was…
Philippians 2:13
“For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for
His good pleasure”
God was not far away! Through the living Christ He is near by His Holy Spirit working in me both “to will and to work for His good pleasure”.
Bibliography
Where Will You Go Following Christ?
As I followed Christ I went back to school at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) and I was actively involved in Campus Crusade for Christ. After college I was on staff with Crusade for close to two years. When I returned to Altoona in 1991 I joined Community Bible Church and was baptized by immersion. Shortly after that time I was asked to take over the church’s youth ministry. I served as Youth Pastor for about 10 years. After that I was on staff with a ministry called DiscipleMakers. I served served as an Elder (Pastor) at Community Bible Church in Altoona. That church later became Midtown Church. Presently, I am an active part of the Lighthouse Men’s Fellowship where I am a board member and Family Bible Study leader.
Know Why You Believe” by Paul Little
Copyright: February 2008 by IVP Inter Varsity Press
ISBN-10 0830834222
Evidence That Demands a Verdict:
Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World
by Josh McDowell, Dr. Sean McDowell, PhD
Copyright: October 3, 2017 by Thomas Nelson Company
ISBN-10 1401676707
The Saving Life of Christ
by Major W. Ian Thomas
Copyright: November 30, 1989 by Zondervan Publishing
ISBN-10 0310332621
The truth of the Bible doesn't change, but its critics do. Now with his son, Sean McDowell, speaker and author Josh McDowell has updated and expanded the modern apologetics classic for a new generation.
Evidence That Demands a Verdict provides an expansive defense of Christianity's core truths, rebuttals to some recent and popular forms of skepticism, and insightful responses to the Bible's most difficult and misused passages. It invites readers to bring their doubts and doesn't shy away from the tough questions.
Do science and Scripture conflict? Are miracles possible?
Is Christian experience real? Why does God allow suffering and evil?
These are just a few of the twelve most common intellectual challenges to faith that Paul E. Little encountered during his twenty-five years of speaking and teaching in the university. These questions need solid answers, and that's what a million people have already found in this clear and reasonable response to the toughest questions posed to Christian belief.
This book is simply written and will be of much help to new converts and defeated Christians in starting them off to a victorious spiritual life." -- Bibliotheca Sacra
"Major Thomas points out how many dedicated people, ministers, Sunday school teachers, and the like, have come out of the old life but never gone on to the full, joyous life in Christ. He writes with fresh insight into many Bible passages, and challenges Christians to walk on and take the victory that is already won." -- Faith at Work.
