My name is Justin Barthelmes and I have lived in the Piedmont/Anderson area my whole life. I grew up in a Christian home where I was in church from the time I was born. I grew up knowing a lot about God, Jesus, church, and what was expected of me. At a young age, I walked an aisle, prayed a prayer, got baptized, and thought that my salvation was secure because of those things. As I said, I knew a lot about Jesus and God but what I didn’t know was how to make Him the Lord of my life. I basically went through the motions of what was expected of me to be saved. To me, salvation was something you did and not something that you received. I knew about sin and I knew that God didn’t like sin but I didn’t realize that my sin separated me from God.

            Growing up I was very active in church and, by many accounts, a pretty good kid. What people didn’t know at the time was that I was living a double life. I was the good church kid to many people, but I lived life on my own terms. I was bullied in middle school. In order to make the bullies stop, I did all the things other kids were doing so that I would fit in. My identity was found in what other people thought of me.

            The summer before high school I had a reality check by God. He used a boy in a small group I was helping lead to show me that I was not His. God showed me that I was living a lie. I may have deceived people around me but I never deceived Him. It was in that moment I realized that my sin separated me from Him and that Jesus was the only one that could bring me into a true relationship with God. That night I cried over my sin, repented of my sin, and made Jesus the Lord of my life! After that night I began to live for Jesus.

            I wish I could say that my life got a lot easier after that but it didn’t. Because of my new relationship with Jesus, I had to get rid of some toxic relationships I was holding onto and that made me unpopular again. I began to be bullied again but I was still able to find joy because my new identity was found in Christ and not what other people thought of me. I was not a perfect kid after my conversion and I’m not a perfect man now. What I am is a sinner, saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Ephesians 2:1-9

1 Corinthians 12:8-10