Abby I.

When I was younger, my parents read me the Bible and talked about the different Bible stories. Through teaching at home, I learned that we are all sinful and we were going to be forever separated from Him, but there was hope. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23 says that for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Since Jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead, we get to spend eternity with Him. At age 5, I accepted Christ with my mom. I wanted to be a follower of Christ and I still do.

Sydney L.

I have grown up in FBC hearing stories about Jesus and all of the miraculous things He has done. I also went to a Christian preschool, and that is when I decided I wanted to accept Him into my heart. I have decided to be baptized today, because I trust in God and I know that He is my Savior, and that He died for my sins on the cross. I know that things will not always be easy but I know that I can turn to Him and put my faith in Him and trust that everything will turn out the way He meant it to be, which is also why one of my favorite verses is Isaiah 41:10: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Hailey C.

Hi! My name is Hailey. I am 12 years old and I’ve gone to Faith Bible for 12 years. I was very young when I accepted Jesus into my heart. I don’t really remember the event itself, but I’ve believed in Jesus for as long as I can remember.
Over the years I’ve learned a lot about God from my Sunday School teachers, my parents and my grandma. I’ve heard many stories about God healing my grandma and grandpa, how He’s answered prayers for our friends and family, and in my own life too.
I know that God loves me because God sent his Son down to die for our sins and God says that He will never stop loving us. Even through all my mistakes and my sins He still answers my prayers and listens to me.
Some verses that have stuck with me are:
Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Isaiah 43:5 – “Do not be afraid for I am with you.”
1 John 4:4 – “The Lord is greater than the giants you face.”
One of my favorites though is Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” It tells me that God has a reason for me to be here. I know He has me here to spread His love and His word but there are many ways that you can do that – I don’t know the way He has planned for me, but I am eager to find out.

Yukimi K.

Hello, my name is Yukimi. I go to Cedar Park Christian School and I am in 6th grade (12 years old).

I was born in a Christian family and I went to church every week. At church, I learned about Jesus and how He saved us from our sin by His death and resurrection. I also learned how we have to believe God, trust in God, know that we are a sinner, confess our sins, believe that God sent His one and only son to die for our sins, believe the trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit 3 in 1), know that we have to be saved in order to go to heaven, and also believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sin and rose on the 3rd day to become a Christian.

When I was about 3 or 4 years old, I talked with my mom about how I wanted to become saved and I prayed to God and became a Christian.

One time, I was missing a puzzle piece. I looked all over the house but I could not find it. I prayed to God and He answered my prayers. He showed me where to go and I actually found the puzzle piece. I had already known that God is real, but I became confident of that.

For Christmas, my parents bought me a devotional book called “Jesus Calling”. I tried to read it every day. It reminded me of a lot of things. One of them was how troubles come your way and just because you are a Christian, you won’t live a problem free life. I had a lot of homework to finish, my brother was bragging about how much homework he had finished, and my mom couldn’t do what she promised me and I was really sad, upset, and stressed. That’s when those words came to my mind. God calmed me down and helped me finish my work. I was really amazed and I got even more confident that God can do anything and He helps me whenever I need help.

At Sunday school, I learned about baptism and in the Bible, it commands Christians to get baptized if they can, so I wanted to get baptized as a step in following Jesus Christ.

Ella J.

I want to be baptized today because I want to show the world that I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and that He rose up again. I have been going to Faith Bible Church since I was born and I am thankful for all the teachers who taught me and helped me learn more about God. I accepted Christ when I was four by praying with my mom and I have been learning the importance of God in my life even more since then. My favorite verse is John 3:16 which is “for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” because this verse shows how much God loves us and made a way for us to be forgiven and have eternal life.  In the future I want to live by the verse Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” because in the future I want to remember that I can do all things with God in my life.

Megan H.

One of the earliest memories I have is of kneeling in my sister’s room, my mom crouched next to me, as I prayed “the special prayer” to accept Jesus into my heart. I remember sitting there afterward thinking, “Wow, that was easy!” Spoiler alert: it didn’t get any easier.
Fast forward several years and I was beginning to learn what it meant to make faith my own. Growing up in a Christian family was an incredible blessing; I can’t count the number of bad decisions I know I would’ve made without God’s influence in my life. However, I think it also made me complacent. God was just a fact of my life. I knew I was Christian and that I believed in God, but that was about it. Cue non-Christian friends asking very legitimate questions about my faith that I had no idea how to answer. That answer did come though, a few years later in the form of an apologetics conference my dad took me to.
I came out of that conference a different Christian. Not only did it give me an answer for my friends, but a solid basis of evidence and logic that grounded what I had known spiritually all my life. It felt like the last missing piece had snapped itself into place, in both my mind and my heart.
To this day, it still isn’t easy. I still struggle constantly to live out my life the way I know God wants me to. Even my baptism I’ve put off and put off because “I don’t like getting wet,” “I’m not ready!” “I don’t feel like I’ve earned it…” And yet, God wants me, weak and broken (and indecisive) as I am. To quote the book my mom got me when she heard I was getting baptized, “The baptismal pool seems dark, scary, and cold… but a life without Jesus is even darker, scarier, and colder, so I’m gonna go for it.”

Meghan T.

Hi, my name is Meghan and I’m a sophomore at Seattle Pacific University. I grew up here at Faith Bible Church. I accepted Christ when I was four years old but since I was younger, I also felt that I had to go to church, not that I wanted to go to church. It wasn’t until high school when I slowly wanted to come to church. Later, someone had taught me about being a friend of the cross vs. an enemy of the cross. A friend of the cross is a Christian who would sacrifice themselves on the cross like Jesus did. An enemy of the cross is someone who calls themselves a Christian but wouldn’t sacrifice their bodies because their minds and eyes are set on earthly things. When they asked which one do you identify with more, I felt ashamed, embarrassed and something I’ve never felt before, but not in a good way, when I said I “an enemy of the cross.” I knew immediately after I said that, that I needed to change my attitude and mindset and become a “friend of the cross.” When I prayed about that, I felt something I’ve never felt before, in a good way and I knew that was all God. That was also the moment when I realized I wanted to go to church, not that I had to go to church. I know it’s more than just going to church, but I also want to obey and serve the Lord with an attitude that honors and glorifies him. I’m thankful for what he has done for me. As some may know, I’ve been a Type 1 Diabetic for the last 15 years. It hasn’t been easy, but I’ve seen God’s faithfulness to me and my family, with my health and providing supplies that I need daily. My journey is no-where near over, it’s just beginning, but I’m excited to see where he leads me.

Sarah Z.

Hello everyone,
Thanks for taking time to listen to my testimony! My name is Sarah, I am from China and have been living in Seattle for 7 years. Generally, my coming to faith in Jesus includes a couple of steps: listen carefully and obey sincerely.
Since I moved to Seattle from China at the end of 2010, which was also my first time to be abroad, I intended to meet many people so that I could become involved in the completely new culture, along with enriching my spiritual life. I had once attempted to study Buddhism in 2012. Aside from making a few friends, I failed to be inspired and develop any interest and enthusiasm for it. After a few year’s struggling, I had a chance to know about Jesus. It was a Friday evening of April in 2015 when my friend, ZhenZhen, took me to ICF (International Christian Fellowship). There, it was the first time I heard about God’s words. It presented to me a new, holy world!
Honestly, I was definitely confused and a little bit frustrated since I could not understand the verses people were discussing. I felt I was isolated and outside of this new world, but I was obsessed with learning an interesting way of understanding life, and remained curious. Precisely because of the confusion and curiosity, I started to read the Bible. The more I read, the more I felt perplexed, but my curiosity developed. Afterwards, I began to write the verses down in my notebooks, analyzing their structure, studying their implication, comparing my understanding and others’ interpretation, exploring what-why-how questions following each verse. In order to understand the verses better, I determined to link my life with the verses, and exercise praying, repenting, appreciating and forgiving…I hoped I could have developed an ability of developing my life in a godly way. Each time, when I read the Bible, it seems that I am not reading a regular book, but a friend’s mind. He doesn’t speak but I can hear Him clearly. Except for reading the Bible, Jesus calling etc. books, ICF Friday nights service and group Gospel study is also my enjoyable time.
However, only listening carefully to God did not mean I had come to faith in Jesus, although it was a necessary step. The more important step is to obey God’s commandants. 2016 was my unforgettable year. I made the worst decision in my life, and became depressed for about one year. I had put my Bible aside and had no energy to pick it up for a while. But God had never given up on me. I repented and prayed when I couldn’t sleep. It was the first time for me to retrospectively consider how I had behaved in the past and then repent for all my wrongdoings, my sins that I could remember. Afterwards, I have consciously been replanting the new definitions and implications of repentance and forgiveness. Where there was hatred there now is love in my mind with a Godly view. With the help of God, I have been released from depression and have been transformed. I have learned a lesson on disobedience and obedience. I have embodied the lesson that following God does not only mean knowing about God’s words but also obeying His words, walking along the path God has built.
Today I have great confidence in saying that, after 3 years and 3 months of God’s working on me, I have come to Faith in Jesus.
Here, I also want to thank all of the people who have hosted and helped me approach God, they are my friends: Zhenzhen He, David, Young, etc. as well as my husband, Orrin and my son, Xiaolong. I love you all, because of all of you, I become today’s “me”. Thank you, Pastor Craig, for baptizing me.

New Book for May 

The Bible’s Answers to 100 of Life’s Biggest Questions by Norman L. Geisler & Jason Jimenez

As we grow in our faith, questions often come up that we don’t quite know how to answer in a satisfying manner.  Whether it is a question from a family member or friend or some personal issue we’re struggling with, we desire answers that are both biblical and insightful.

In this book, the authors provide clear and concise answers to 100 questions that cover a wide range of subjects relevant to the Christian faith.  Some of the questions include:

*What is truth?
*If God, why evil?
*Are science and the Bible compatible?
*Are miracles possible?
*Is the God of the Old Testament a monster?
*Isn’t it intolerant to say Jesus is the only way to God?
*How can Jesus be both God and man?
*Can I lose my salvation?
*What is the Bible’s position on capital punishment?
*Should Christians be involved in politics?
*Should Christians judge others?
*Why are churches so divided?
*Who determines what is morally right and morally wrong?
*Can all religions be true?
*Why are so many young people abandoning the faith?

At the end of each answer to a question, the authors provide additional resources to help you in further study of the subject – an application, Bible references, books, websites, DVDs, and online videos to watch. This would be a handy resource to have on hand to provide solid answers to those who ask and to help build confidence in your faith.

My sister left some big shoes to fill for planning and preparing Easter morning
breakfast. Annika had been planning Easter breakfast for many years. I was nervous we wouldn’t be able to pull it off without her; but thankfully we had plenty of help recipe testing, shopping, preparing on Saturday, then baking and serving on Sunday morning. This year we had cinnamon pecan French toast casserole, organic chicken apple sausages with onions and peppers, and berries with whipped cream. It is such a joy and blessing to spend time cooking together, then watching the fellowship and the full bellies Easter morning.

A special thanks to all who helped:

• Annika Velji (as a consultant)
• Christi Swanson
• Gifford Cheung
• Hsin-I Cheng
• Iris Sandbeck
• Kathy NIshimura
• Mike Kurtz
• Tiana Cheung
• Vickie Jo
• Yae Lee
• All the clean-up crew

Special Thanks to Camdyn Nishimura, Juliette Nova, and Quinn Sandbeck for cracking lots of eggs!