Who I Am

So, on this post, I felt like I would share something with anyone who is reading this. Basically, I felt like it would be good for me to post a short version of my personal testimony of faith.

I had to write this for my application for my summer mission trip to Honduras. It is always important to know where the person who's writings you are reading is coming from.

Anyway, enjoy.

My name is Doug Arno. I am a college student from Carthage, North Carolina, I wish to participate in this project for I am attempting to open my eyes to differing forms of missions leading up to my hopeful acceptance into the Journeyman program of the International Missions Board.

I grew up in a Christian home and always knew of the story of Jesus, how He came to earth, lived and died on the cross, and then was resurrected three days later. I first became a Christian when I was seven years old and was baptized at a church in Nashville, Tennessee, however I do not consider this to be the moment where I truly gave my heart to the Lord. I would profess my faith, tell others that I was a Christian, but upon reflection I feel that it was a faith that was not grounded in the true ways of living in Christ.

When my parents divorced when I was 14, I went through a two to three year stint where I could be called a “believing agnostic,” meaning I believed that God existed and I still participated in acts of worship and praise, but I did not believe in the god that I had been raised to believe in, the nice old “Grandfather God.” However, I feel that this time of disbelief has had a result in my life that has made me an even stronger believer in the word of God and the ultimate transforming power of the Gospel.

When I was a senior in high school, I could feel that there was something moving within me, namely that I needed something. I felt that there was something missing in me, and through various experiences, what I found was that I was missing the personal relationship that I yearned for with Jesus Christ and God. Over the course of that school year, I returned to having times of prayer, to knowing and believing and attempting to live in God.

This all culminated in July of 2005 when I traveled to New York City with my youth group for our annual summer mission trip. One of the days on the trip, my group made a detour to visit Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. While we were there, I took a seat in one of the pews, knelt my head, and began to pray. I prayed for God to have mercy on me, I prayed for God to come and be in me, I prayed for Christ to be able to reveal himself in me and my actions, I prayed for forgiveness. As I prayed, I felt a sense that I was not alone, that I was truly in the company of God. I consider this instance to be the moment where I truly became a follower of Christ and one who He would call friend.

Since that day, I have continued to grow in my understanding of faith. I left home that fall to attend school at the University of North Carolina, where I became involved in the Baptist Student Union (now Baptist Campus Ministries) on campus. Through the friendships and fellowship that I have found here, I was able to realize another great truth that God had yet to reveal to me, and that was a heart for missions.

In March of 2007, I traveled to Sao Paulo, Brazil, for a week long mission trip working with children in the slums on the eastern side of the city. It was in the time leading up to that when it was placed on my heart the call to the missions field. The current minister at the BCM, Lee Sullens, was himself a former full time missionary, and in weekly one-on-one discipleship times, he and I have worked through the confusion that has accompanied my transition in mindsets, from a very self-centric view of “what is God’s will for me?” to “how can I use my life to fit into God’s will?”

And that is my testimony in faith, how I grew up in a church, how I fell away for a short, desperate time, and how I ultimately returned to my faith in order that I might give God more honor and praise for I truly do not deserve the blessings that I have received. To close, I would like to share my two favorite Bible verses. These two I apply to my life at all times, and I feel that these will share just who I am.

So that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1st Peter 1:7

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1-2