Story: Kenny Stokes

"I grew up in the Christian Church, in an evangelical free church, a good church here in South Minneapolis. And I grew up learning the Bible verses, you know, learning the Bible and going to Sunday School and going to worship and I had my little tie on when kids used to wear ties all the time. In tracing God’s work in my life I remember, I distinctly remember, 6th grade, 7th grade or so knowing that I wasn’t right with God- just knowing that I didn’t trust Him, I had no affection for Him, I had no love for Him.

"I mark that as a moment in time as I look back on it, that the Bible opened up to me."

And so I just lived in that for a season and then when I was 15, I remember right before my 16th birthday I remember laying in my bed and trusting Christ based on verses that I’d learned as a kid; simple verses like John 3:16 “for God so loved the world that He gave his only son, whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” and I believed. And I mark that as a moment in time as I look back on it, that the Bible opened up to me, you know, I open up the Bible and I understood things and I was drawn in and I read it through that year as a 16-year-old."