I was raised in the church nursery with Godly parents that raised me in the ways of the Lord. I was baptized at the age of 9 or 10 at my church. I prayed a little prayer, signed a little card -- I was saved or so I thought. I went to college pursuing a degree in acting and was actually "on fire" for the Lord at the time. For the first semester of college, I was strong. I did not drink. I did not have physical relationships with girlfriends, so I seemed to be doing well. What I thought was my Christianity was only behavior modification, I was like the "whitewashed tombs" in Matthew 23:27, "which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones." That was soon revealed. In my second semester, I dove into a world of sin and moral filth. After a year and a half, I left college to pursue acting professionally in Los Angeles. I soon became a popular character on General Hospital and with that notoriety and fame; I fully immersed myself in the evil of Hollywood.

Through all of my sin, God in his awesome and patient mercifulness had a plan for me and He pursued me. "For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Matthew 9:13 Over the last year, my girlfriend and I were getting serious and I knew I couldn't marry someone unsure of their salvation. In my hypocrisy, I told her all about the Christian life while living none of it. See, I knew most of the right answers but obviously that had not been enough. I had convinced myself that, "Oh, someday when I'm married or I have kids, I'll live for Christ." I thought the decision I had made when I was 9 or 10 gave me a Get Out of Jail Free Card so I could live my life however I wanted. I had perfected the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde routine. At the prompting of my friend Ky, we began visiting Grace Community Church about three or four months ago. I was searching for a watered down Christianity to fit our lives but I got much more than I bargained for. Ky also convinced me to sign up for the Shepherd's Conference, so I began to brace myself for what God was about to do in my life.

When Ky, and two of his friends, Kit, and Bryan (a future Master's Seminary student) arrived in LA, we stayed up until 4:15 doing battle with my stubbornness against God's will. God used Bryan as an instrument to illustrate that God has drawn a line in the sand: on one side is the road to hell, where my life was headed; on the other giving Christ lordship over my life, a concept I had never fully grasped. All the times in my youth, any rededications I made were based on emotion or obligation. For the first time in my life I fully understood what it meant for God to want all of me. I was humbled and broken. I saw I was going to Hell on the road that I was on, but even still, God wanted me and not only that, he sent his only Son to die so he could have me. He died for me! Through his awesome and infinite mercy that is incomprehensible to me, he has chosen to save me. In submission to Him, for the first time in my life, I truly repented, gave all of me and I was grateful for it. I turned 180-degrees from my old worldly self, getting rid of things unpleasing to God in my life.

On the Thursday of The Shepherd's Conference, I filmed the death of my character on General Hospital. In God's sovereign plan, I also died that day to my old life. I also found out I had been nominated for an Emmy, but it just didn't seem to be that important. Through His strength alone, was I able to turn from those things, like never before because I had truly submitted to His lordship over my life. "For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:20-23