“My Coming Out Story” by Rick Brentlinger

I grew up in a King James Bible believing Baptist home and church in the 1950s. Dad was a deacon, Sunday School superintendent and the adult Sunday School teacher at Northside Baptist Church, part of the General Association Of Regular Baptist Churches (now North Park Community Church), Lima, Ohio. Mom was also a Sunday School teacher and held Bible studies in our home for the neighborhood kids. My Pastors, Rev. Spaulding and later, Rev. Richard MacIntosh, who eventually became a Professor and Dean of Students at Cedarville University - GARBC, would sometimes preach on hell. Sermons on hell and salvation raised a lot of questions in my young mind. In response to my questions, Mom led me to trust Jesus Christ as my Savior when I was eight years old. Knowing that God loved me and had made me His child through faith in His blood was a life-changing experience even at such a young age. Many good people have the wrong idea about having a personal relationship with God.