Tim's Testimony

Early Years
I was born in South Baltimore and was raised in Manchester, Maryland until the age of two. At that time my family moved to southern Pennsylvania. We stayed there until I was 11 years old. At this time my sister Dee was attending a bible college in Neosho, MO and my Mom felt very strongly that I needed to be in a Christian school that was affiliated with that college. So we packed up and moved to Missouri.

Christian Training
There, I attended a very strict school called Ozark Bible Institute where I studied the bible in great depth. I was also influenced by many Godly people that made a great impact on my life. One person who was a great influence on my life was a man by the name of Randy Snow. He has a great passion for the youth. He could have been a professional baseball player and was going to sign with the Royals, but he gave it all up to follow God’s leading him into the ministry. WOW, what an affect on my life that made.

Love of Music
In Missouri I grew to love country music. I knew that listening to secular country music was wrong but there just wasn’t anything in gospel music that was country like I wanted to listen to. I did very little singing because I was extremely shy but I knew that if there was one thing I would love to do it was to make gospel music that sounded like country music. Music that sounded so good that it would even appeal to sinners and they would listen to it and be blessed by God and maybe even be SAVED!

Along the way my father taught me how to play the guitar and I also took violin lessons when I was little but never really stayed with it. When I was 12 I recorded one song on a tape that my parents were having recorded.

Committed to Christ
I was 14 when I made my commitment to the Lord at a youth camp and felt a strong call on my life to the ministry. Even though I had grown up in a Christian home, it was there that I realized that if I were to die, that I would go to hell.
I remember those moments sitting in the pew, knowing that I had to get right with the Lord and at the same time worrying about what my friends at camp would think. I couldn't take it any longer... I had to get up and go down that aisle.
I gave God my heart in appreciation for what Christ had done for me on the cross. I was filled with joy and sense of completeness.

High School
Seven years passed in Missouri and my parents decided to move back to Pennsylvania. My dad is a truck driver for Wal-Mart and there was a new warehouse opening up in Clearfield. Thinking it would be similar to southern Pennsylvania, they packed us all up (me not wanting to go because it was my senior year in high school). We arrived in the MOUNTAINS and I started in the Clearfield Alliance Christian School. That is where I met my wife Jennifer, who was my high school sweetheart. She was the best looking girl I had ever seen. It was the usual perfect high school romance. I played sports and she was a cheerleader. My passion for Jen began to take over my passion for God.

Downfall
I had taken my eyes off of God and what He wanted for my life. Over the year and a half that Jen and I dated, we justified going further and further into sin. Our premarital sex resulted in Jen getting pregnant. I'll never forget how I felt when she told me the news. I was confused, scared, and ashamed. Abortion wasn't an option. Neither was adoption. We got married in spite of the negative opinions of others. Although not planned, our son Austin is a gift from God and great big brother to his sisters.

Redemption
We both had realized we had done wrong and repented, but I had felt as though I had really blew it with God and any ministry plans He had designed for me were gone. I had lost the song in my heart. I was asked several times after Austin's birth to sing in church and I would turn them down partly because I was shy and partly because I did not feel worthy. Over the course of the next 6 years I just laid under the radar so to speak. Our family continued to grow with the addition of our daughters Kathleen and Megan.

At the age of 26, I chaperoned a trip to Acquire The Fire, a Christian rally for teens. Ron Luce was preaching to the youth on not sitting back in church, but getting up and doing something for God. I was ashamed, for he was preaching to me. When he made a deal with the youth in that auditorium to stand up and do something for God, I stood up with the young people that night and silently made a vow to God that whatever door He would open that I would fill it.

When I returned from Acquire The Fire, God started opening those doors...
First, to teach the Sunday school youth class. He also opened doors for me to sing and the singing invitations became more frequent. Before I knew it, God was calling me into something bigger. I was feeling called to make a CD. That call came to be when my family and I released our first CD in November 2003. As for the making of the CD... well I could write a book about how God worked out every little detail! I’ve never seen God move and direct my life like he has in the past nine months. He is to be given all the glory, honor and praise for he has restored my soul!

The scripture I strive to honor and trust God for in my life is ...

Psalms 37:23... The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.