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Hello!
Just started to look through the forums, and noticed Pastor Scott’s message about ‘Get Started and Introduce Yourself’. So..am obediently answering the call.
My name is Kevin Modglin, and I’ve been going to Cross Christian Fellowship for about 4 months now.
Am currently in Albuquerque, NM, but grew up in Los Angeles, CA in a suburb called Westchester just north of LAX airport and only about a mile from the Pacific Ocean. Being fair skinned and a computer geek, I rarely ventured outside but do miss the humidity and fresh seafood.
Am going to CCF Bible College because I want to grow deeper in my relationship with Jesus, build character, and to be ready for however God wants to use my life.
I grew up in the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, accepting Christ during confirmation. When I was about 24 years old, a friend from work introduced me to the Independent Fundamental Baptist church, and got involved with a new church that was starting in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. It was there that I started getting into the Bible and really learning doctrine, as well as helping out where I could with the A/V ministry, ushering, and with a couple of building programs as the church expanded into the neighboring units of a business center.
It was there that I made sure of my salvation by accepting Christ again and was baptized. Even read through the bible once, though there are parts (Numbers, 2nd Chronicles among the most notable) I just skimmed through.
Eventually, I left the Independent Baptist Church when I could see that my heart was getting cold and unloving. It is a good thing to realize that without Christ, we are sinners who will burn in Hell – but the message can’t be consistently from the Old Testament. I found that if I constantly was focusing on sin, it was all that I could see – I couldn’t see in others (or myself) someone that Jesus dearly loves and sacrificed His life for. I was missing out on grace.
For a short time, I started attending Calvary Chapel Golden Springs in Diamond Bar, CA back around 2004. Being an introvert, a large church like Raul Ries’ church was too easy for me to leave right after the service without getting involved. Eventually, I ended up back at another Lutheran Church in Diamond Bar that was a lot smaller.
In 2008, I finally was able to leave the traffic of Los Angeles and moved to Sunnyvale, CA in the heart of Silicon Valley. It was a comfortable place to live, vibrant, convenient, worldly. It was easy to let the things of the world crowd out a desire to live for Jesus.
By 2011, my focus was on preparing for a comfortable retirement and not having to live in apartments anymore – which meant buying a house (and moving out of California). I had family in Albuquerque, and with an opportunity at Sandia Labs it seemed like a good place to live out the rest of my days. After moving here, I looked for a church to call home but soon gave up and stopped going to church altogether.
God had not given up on me thankfully. Though I had achieved what I wanted on Earth, I felt empty and without purpose. The job at Sandia Labs caused a huge amount of stress in my life. Even went through a time where I had been away from God for so long that I no longer believed there was a God. Everything going on in my life culminated in a suicide attempt in March of 2016, when I finally surrendered my life to the Lord without holding back.
It took a while for me to work up the courage to go back to church, which I finally did after Easter 2016. In 2015, I started to regularly stream the Sun morning, evening, and Wed night services from Calvary Chapel Golden Springs. It was a Sunday morning in December 2015 that Pastor Scott filled in for Raul Ries, and shared a message that touched my heart. It was amazing to find out that Scott was pastor of a church in Albuquerque!
Coincidentally ;), the 2nd Sunday after I started going to Cross Christian Fellowship there were applications available for Shepherd’s School – the same time I was wondering where God would take me. I’ve lived for myself and found it unfulfilling and empty (vanity and vexation of spirit), but God saved my life, the old man is dead, and my life belongs to Him. I’m excited to see how God will use my life!
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NKJV
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.For God will bring every work into judgment,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.P.S. My avatar is from a Japanese Anime called ‘Ruroni Kenshin’. Kenshin is a fictional character who is set in the period of Japan after the end of the Shogun, called the Meiji Restoration. He’s a kind, wandering samurai without a master (ronin) who protects and helps people. I’ve had this avatar for years – initially connected via Gravatar to my GitHub account. Maybe I’ll change my avatar someday if I learn the art of taking selfies. Or more likely I’ll leave it as-is for a conversation starter about the possibility of God using me as a missionary to Japan.
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