Let's go back in time to July
1971,
I was 14 years old at a Methodist summer camp. I was a total
non-believer, until one night at a service I felt the
unmistakable awesome presence of the Holy Spirit and I no longer
was a non-believer, I became a knower! I immediately excepted
the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord. Jump to the future,
1996,
I was about to turn 39 years old, I was a wife, a mom twice, had the
job I always wanted, attended a great Bible teaching church...yet
felt there was something more for me to do in serving the Lord...I
asked the Lord to reveal what that "something" was to me, then went
about my normal life as usual...until:
It wasn't long after I had watched
the "Matthew" movie that the Lord used Bruce Marchiano's portrayal
of a Joyful Jesus to spark the beginnings of a new ministry He was
about to birth.
One evening while I was at a nearby
mall just sitting on a bench, along comes this guy all dressed in
black. As
he walked by I asked myself, "Now what would Jesus do with that
guy?" The answer was so clear, I could see it in my
mind's eye! Jesus who was beaming with so much joy would walk over to
the Goth guy, with the biggest smile on His face, put His arm around the
Goth's shoulder and walk around the mall talking and laughing with
him and sharing the Gospel. He would shower that guy with so much
unconditional love, totally ignoring what he wore and how he looked.
He would look right past the makeup and piercings, and so on. 1
Samuel says: "For the Lord does not see as man
sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at
the heart."
It was at that unforgettable moment the Lord
spoke
to me: "I want you to go to them." You can not imagine
the shock I had upon hearing this. I literally looked around to see
WHO He was talking to, and I said
"Are You talking to me, Lord?!" It
took quite a while for it to sink in that 'yes' He WAS
talking to me. (After all, I did ask for Him to reveal
that 'something' to me.) My first thoughts were "oooooooooh man...what
am I gonna do now?!" Yet in my initial horror of it all, i
soon experienced the immense love that He has for these
Gothic souls, that was also sent into my own heart, and it made the unknown task before me somewhat less daunting. It
was then that the Lord opened my eyes and heart to how very
much He loves these people, I was consumed with something I had
never felt before....it was an all consuming love, that only a
Heavenly Father could feel for His children...I believe that He let
me feel only a glimpse of that love, if I got the full impact of
that love, of His...it would have blown me away......
So, after many confirmations from many different sources, that 'going to the Goths' was
what He wanted for me, I said "Yes, Lord."
still 1996
~ The ministry started out as a trip to
the mall every Friday night, or as the locals called it: "Freaky
Friday." The Punks and Goths would show up every Friday night,
and now, so did I. This was a crash course in learning what my
mission field was to be!
The mall ministry lasted two years, and during that time I met some pretty
fascinating Goths! It didn't take long before
'the called' (meaning: me) found that she was actually one
of these Goths...but a 'Christian Goth'! Go figure.
During the time of the mall ministry the
Lord led me in a different direction, the Internet.
1997
~ ChristianGoth.com was born! The web site started out small
and simple for the Christian Goths that were out there. At the
time there were very few true to the Gospel of Jesus Christ
web sites out there for Gothics, the other ones that did exist
were questionable, at least to me. I vowed in my heart that ChristianGoth.com would be and remain the template for which future
Christian Goth web sites would be.
2009 ~Twelve years later it has become one of the largest Christian Goth
web site ministries in the world, so I have been told - to
God be the glory. I believe 'CG.com' was the pioneer flagship
of all CG ministries online.
Web sites
have come and gone in the twelve years, but 'CG.com'
continued to grow and update regularly and meet the needs of the CG
community
as a source of
inspiration and encouragement to members of a Christian subculture
of folks who felt they 'were the only ones' (as in being Christian and Goth.)
I receive emails almost on a daily basis telling me of the
overwhelming joy that people experience at finding such a web site
made just for them. Stories of how their relationship with the Lord
have taken on a wonderful new path, or how their families now understand
them. Then there is the occasional story of suicidal thoughts/plans ending
because of being led to the web site. To God be the glory!
Who would have thought that the idea
of a joyful Jesus divinely placed in the mind of a director named
Regardt van den Bergh, and the artistic God-given acting talent in
Bruce Marchiano who the Lord used to play this type of Jesus, would not only
change so many lives world wide, but be the cornerstone for the
calling of ChristianGoth.com into being, and the profound change the
Matthew film made on the web site's founder, me!
In February (
2008), I had the joyous honor of meeting Bruce Marchiano in person for the first time after eleven years of letter
writing back and forth. So, there you have it, THAT is how ChristianGoth.com was born.
May
2009,
I was ordained as a pastor by brother frank minucci, to God be the glory!
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