Daniel Wood

Worship Administrator/House Church Overseer

 

House Church: Philos

 

As a son of the founding pastor, I have been part of FCC since I was born. I grew up believing in Jesus, God the father, the Holy Spirit and the bible as His written word. Baptized in water at 12 and by the Holy Spirit at 15, I had seldom strayed far from God. At 16, during a trip to Romania, the power of the Spirit came on me and I began to speak with the gift of tongues. While all this would appear to be the outworking of a "Christian", I still had a deep longing inside me for more—and an even stronger propensity to do everything I knew was wrong. When I was 17, I took a trip to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City to attend the One Thing conference. There I encountered not just God, but Jesus in a way I had never felt. That would be the moment I knew beyond ALL doubt that I had truly been saved from my sins. The Lord showed me that it was possible to believe that you could be saved, live as though you were, and go through all the motions—even receiving power from the spirit—and not know if you are truly saved. Even though I truly was saved, my journey to making Jesus Lord of my life wouldn't come for a few years.

 

By college, I had both grown in my faith and folly. I had been reading God's word "religiously"; usually trying to understand how I could stop sinning. By God's grace I never broke any natural law. However, immorality tore at my heart. In the summer after graduation, I remember a conversation I had with a friend in the middle of the street in front of my parents home. We talked about life and with tears I told him that I couldn't live the way I had been any more. That was moment I decided to follow Christ and become like him—the moment I declare His as LORD.

 

In 2006 I was appointed to lead worship—a task I was not particularly excited about. I didn't like the sound of my own voice and I had no team of musicians to help cover it up. I can still remember clearly the first Sunday I led. I knew that I needed more prayer than practice and no amount of preparation was going to bring the presence of God in that place. That was the day I realized that I was a result of HIS work, instead of him being the result of mine. That day I knew God has a vision for my life and I wanted to know it.

 

While I still fight temptation and frustration, I know that my hope is in Christ and that I can do better every day. I have peace and joy and I'll never go back to how I lived before Jesus got ahold of my life..