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Koriane Campbell Testimony

So I grew up in a Christian household and have been going to church since I was in the womb of my mother.  I knew all the bible stories: Noah, Moses, Daniel, Paul, etc., and in 1994 accepted Christ as my savior.  Shortly thereafter I was baptized.  Even though I was young when this happened, I had a foundation that throughout my life was (and still is) being built upon. I knew in my heart that Jesus died for my sins and believing this was the only way I could ever be forgiven. But as a child, I was horrible.  I threw temper tantrums, talked back to my parents, yelled, etc. Then, in February of 2000, I went to a conference called Acquire the Fire.  It was at this conference that I realized my walk with God was not what it was supposed to be.  This was a turning point in my life.

 

The next seven years, throughout my youth group days, were going to be a struggle.  I went through six youth pastors in those seven years.  Because of this I became a leader in the youth and began to learn a little about the church  There were definitely times when I didn’t understand why things were going wrong within the youth. Why didn’t anyone want to stay? Why did God keep putting people in my life and then taking them out shortly after?  During my senior year, I slowly began to step down from my responsibilities within the youth.  I was tired of it.  I went off to college in San Marcos, and I was ready for a change.

 

During my first semester at Texas State, I was truly happy; I had joy.  Every Sunday and Wednesday I was at church, not because my parents were there to say, "Get up. Time to go to church," but because I wanted to go to learn, fellowship and have a deeper relationship with God.  Despite all this, I was human. I was sucked back into the worldly way of things and made poor decisions. Those decisions led me to sleep in on Sundays and skipping church on Wednesdays.  This was probably one of my lowest points in life ever.

 

During the summer of 2008 I made the decision to stay in Houston and not return to San Marcos. This is probably one of the best decisions I have ever made.  That summer I got myself back on track of where I needed to be in all my relationships (God, family, friends, etc.)  I talked to several adults about how things were going on in my life, and we prayed for me.  I told myself, my family, my friends, that I wasn’t going to go to CBC, that I wanted my own church, not one that my friends attended.  The first couple Sundays after I moved out of my parents, I went to CBC and fell in love with the church and people attending.  I was learning so much from Pastor Andy and Justin than what I had learned in years of going to church.

 

I knew that I needed to give back to God by serving and the opportunity to help in the youth came to me.  I was really nervous because I didn’t know any of the youth and I had never really worked with people younger than me.  I started off helping with Access and loved the girls that I got to talk and teach to.  After going to bible study (119 Conclave) on Fridays, service on Sundays, and talking to my girls on Fridays, my desire for Christ grew more and more.  This past year, I’ve been learning a lot about giving everything up to God.  There were times when I was struggling financially and God provided for me. I didn’t know where I was going to live and then God led me back home.  These past couple months He’s been teaching me about prayer.  Even just a couple minutes in the car on the way to work talking to Him makes a huge difference in my day.  I still definitely struggle day to day, but I know that God will never leave me and I love Him.  I am so excited for the next things in life: continuing working with the youth, graduating college, having a career.  I’m excited for where God is taking me.