During all 3 services on June 2, we will be asking Venture Partners to vote on two new trustees.
At Venture, a trustee is part of our core leadership team that works with pastors and staff to shepherd and care for the church especially in the area of financial health and accountability. The pastors and trustees have unanimously agreed to put forward two men to the church to be added to our trustee team. If you have questions or concerns about the appointment of these men, please contact Austin at austin.rammell@daretoventure.org
Frank Kemp Testimony
I was very fortunate to grow up in a loving, Christian home where we attended church 3 times a week. I never knew anything except Jesus in my life. That being said, I didn’t experience a significant, radical transformation in my life. I never had the mountain top conversion story like some people. I felt like I didn’t have a great story to tell others. However, my experience was much better due to the faithfulness of my parents. They loved and served God daily, so I had the greatest example imaginable to follow and learn from.
I remember when I was 6 years old walking the aisle and telling the preacher I wanted to be saved. We prayed, and then I went straight into the pool to be baptized. At 6 years old, my understanding of the commitment that I made to surrender my life to Christ wasn’t great. However, ten years later, when I was 16, I realized that I was still a sinner in need of a Savior. This time I had a much better understanding of who Jesus is, what he had done for me on the cross, and that he wanted to redeem me. At this time, I surrendered my life to Christ and started living for him.
I wish that I could say that I never strayed from his word, but that would be untrue. I’ve had ups and downs in my Christian walk, but I have never regretted my decision to follow him. I am living under his grace and mercy, trying every day to serve him, and desiring to have an impact on those that I come into contact with.
Lucas Beatty Testimony
Ever since I was born and baptized as a baby, Christ has been a part of my life. I was raised in a Christian home and blessed with a fantastic example of how a home can be lead by the Lord. My parents had us in the church and we participated in many activities associated with helping others in the community. I was blessed to learn and grow alongside of some strong Christian influences in my family and our church family.
When I went to college, I fell out of the discipline and practice of seeking God. I fell deeper into sin and I gave in to living the easy way in life. This is a fun life and it is easy for the devil to persuade us to follow what we want to do. Towards the middle of my college road, I was blessed to have a mentor from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He encouraged me to lead Bible study with a few other leaders on the football team. We created a really cool, consistent group of guys on the team that were able to seek Christ together (and some of us still communicate our weekly Bible reading to this day). Through all of this, I was still a consistent sinner, with little regard to how this could affect my relationship with God.
The best part about my time in college was the opportunity to meet the love of my life, Ari. We met while in a similar place in our spiritual journey. We prayed together from the beginning of our relationship but we were still not living the faith centered life that we knew we were capable of. We went to church together from time to time and we pushed each other to be better people. And then we got engaged and decided that we really needed to prioritize our relationship with God. We agreed that our love for Christ had to be more than our love for each other. Placing Him first would allow our love for each other to last forever.
We started seeking a church home and after a few years we were introduced to Venture. We had never heard the Bible explained in the way that Venture’s team of pastors does. It became very clear to us that this is the message we had been searching for. It was and is clear to us that we need as many people as possible to hear the Bible in this way. Venture is real, humble, and Christ-centered. The humble servants can be found all over this church. It encouraged us to dive deeper into our daily reading. Ari and I started by reading the New Testament in 90 days and it transformed our walk in Christ. We built a discipline of reading the word that fulfills holes we have had in our hearts for years (some days we miss our reading because life happens). We know that we are still sinners but Jesus’ love for us makes us strive to be better every day. Ari and I have had some tough physical and mental trials that I would not wish on anyone. But we would not wish to change anything, because we know God has a plan for us. Our trials and experiences have molded us into who He wants us to be.
Through all of this, over the last 10 years I have had headaches almost every day thanks to college football. About 8 years ago, the frustration and pain drove me to a very low point. The weight seemed too heavy to bear. At my breaking point one night, God came to me as if he was sitting beside me. He said: “The devil will not win.” At that moment I realized that physical and mental pain is only temporary. I realized that none of us will suffer as bad as Jesus did. I was not instantly healed, but I had a new perspective on life and overall submission to God’s love.
Over my journey I have learned great lessons. I learned that when you take the easy road, it makes for a hard life; but when you take the hard road it will make for a beautiful life in Christ. I learned that we have to understand sin in a humble way so that we can help ourselves and others try to walk in Christ’s teachings. I have learned that many people have been hurt by other people in the church (across the world). I have learned how to talk to those outside of the church in a way that encourages them rather than makes them feel inferior or far from Christ.
Ari and I had been talking about getting baptized together as adults and we finally made it happen. It was one of the most beautiful days of our lives to be baptized with friends, family and our church family! We will continue to urge others to make that spiritual jump in their own lives.
It is an extreme honor to be asked to be a trustee. I will take the responsibility seriously and I will do my best to listen to the ways in which God wants the church to grow.