TESTIMONIES OF CHRIST - CHAD MOYER

Hi, my name is Chad Moyer and I’m a freshman at Penn. I’m so incredibly honored to be able to share my story with you this morning, and truly attest to the fact that God is working every day to bring us closer to Him.

My life before Christ was a continual struggle to find the answer to a puzzle that I couldn’t comprehend. My church back home always taught me that Jesus Christ was my personal Savior, but I never fully understood what that meant; I thought my “moral image” was enough to have people think I was holy.

I thought going to church and Sunday school, using my rationality and perseverance through my struggles was enough to earn my salvation. Internalizing my suffering created this inner sense of bitterness towards many, but I kept a smile on my face and only truly trusted myself. Something was missing.

The summer before college, I started to hang out more with my neighbor and close friend, who became Christian during her first year at Penn State. Before she was a Christian, I couldn’t see anything minutely wrong with her, but now she seemed even happier than before.

Her passion for life and for others was simply overwhelming, and I couldn’t understand why she had so much faith in a God that I had “known” all my life. Why did she seem to coast through life while I struggled so much? I coveted her life, and deep down, suffered even more, frustrated that I couldn’t experience what she was going through.

I headed off to college without any expectations knowing full well that I didn’t need to impress anybody nor would I be judged by anyone. With things changing so rapidly, partying blinded my eyes to the fact that I wasn’t adjusting as well as I had hoped.

Being a student-athlete at a division one school was an entirely new experience, and quickly I found out that it just added to my struggling whereas before, my love for the sport had helped me deal with them. During the weekdays, my life spiraled out of control, and it seemed to me that the only way to feel better was to go out on the weekends.

But each Monday morning, I woke up feeling a little more than physically sick. Little did I know that God was using the time in my life when I felt the weakest to make me stronger, and more importantly, bring me closer to Him.

After an incredibly tough week of school and a very crazy night, I woke up feeling surprisingly well one Sunday. I have no idea what compelled me to do so, but I got out of bed, and walked down to DRL by myself: something I would never have done on my own will. I don’t really remember how I heard about this church or even what time services were at.

During worship that morning, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit for the first time. Nothing I had experienced on earth could ever compare to it. Pastor Young seemed to preach straight to me, and somehow, God took away all thoughts and memories of my struggles and gave me a taste of His awesome love. The seed was planted, and this curiosity, this hunger for more grew inside of me.

A young adult really reached out to me after service, and I signed up for a family group soon after, but didn’t really get into it. I remember one day I came back from swim practice and my roommate said that this Asian kid had stopped by. He was going to leave a note, but apparently he just added his name to my buddy list.

I found out later that it was one of the small group leaders. Why would somebody even care about one kid who showed up twice to family group? The other leaders kept pursuing me, and I was still confused as to why that young adult took the time to talk with me.

I kept going to church every Sunday, and as I hungered for more, God started giving me more visible signs of his power and mercy. At times, although I might not have seen His purpose immediately, God was using every moment to bring me even closer. This past winter, I decided hesitantly to miss most of my winter break and go to Florida to train with the team.

I regretted my decision so much because I would have to sacrifice those two or three weeks of time with my family. We were planning on training for about five hours each day, and my anxiety continued to grow past the point of worry.

I was anxious about logistics, my relationships with other team members, and just having the strength to get through the training. But this trip showed me that God is so much bigger than my worries here on earth – I felt strangely comfortable in this new environment, I grew very close to my roommates, and His strength was more than enough to get me through the strenuous practices.

Before that trip, swimming had drawn me so far away from God by adding to my bitterness towards some people on the team, and from just an overall dislike of the sport here at Penn. I realized through this week that He has control over everything, and it became so clear that the one person I can always trust is God.

Although I had decided to put all my trust in the Lord, I was still living a life in the world, and one night in January, I realized that a relationship with Christ is all or nothing. God revealed to me the things that I was still holding onto. 1st John 2:17 says, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

Also from Luke 9: verse 23, “Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.”” I’ll be the first to admit that it was tough giving up the things of this world, but the hope I have in Jesus Christ is far greater than anything this world could ever give me.

By no means am I perfect, and I still have my struggles, but through a personal relationship with Him, I know that I have hope of a better day, when this world has faded to dust, and I can walk hand-in-hand with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God has continually changed me over the past few months after I dedicated my life to Christ, and I’ve realized that there is never an end to His awesome power and love.

He’s given me a passion for the lost, an incredible sense of joy, and has even begun to use my story to help witness to my non-Christian friends. I have a profound sense of respect for those of you who’ve never strayed far from the path, but it was during these times of struggle that God revealed himself to me, and I will never forget how it felt to live without Jesus.

Matthew 5:14-16 says, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

I’m not afraid to tell the world the Good News, and I stand before you this Easter morning as a living testimony that Jesus Christ has risen!

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