Nick Brown – Pastor
What is your story?
In my mid teenage years, the “Hound of Heaven” came after me and drew me to Himself. As a 15 year old, I collected various gospel tracts that area churches would leave at my door, and often found myself reading through them trying to understand what salvation was. In need of more answers, I started visiting churches in the area to find out more about the gospel. In this journey, I was instructed to “Ask Christ as your Savior and you will be saved.” I instantly did that (because that was what I was told to do), and the very next week I was baptized and ready for the Christian life. However, there was this sense of Holy Spirit conviction in my soul that I was not a genuine believer. This left me disturbed because I thought I had done all the ceremonial things that “religion” had told me to do. I had gotten on my knees, asked Christ to be my Savior, and I even did it in the presence of a pastor! In Jesus’ passionate pursuit of me, He directed me towards the study of the book of Romans. After about a year of study in this book and listening to the Word of God being taught at church weekly, the answer became clear: When I had asked Christ as my Savior, I didn’t really grasp the reality of my sinfulness. I had admitted I was a sinner, but in my soul I did not really believe that my sin was deserving of something as fearful as God’s holy judgment or awful as condemnation in hell. I truly thought I was a good person who had made mistakes in life, but was good enough to go to heaven because I had never done something so bad to deserve God’s judgment. To me personally, salvation was a ritual prayer that had to be said like a magic password. However, the book of Romans showed me that there was nothing good about me, and that I absolutely deserved the judgment of God resulting in an eternity in hell. Through that study of Romans, the Holy Spirit revealed to me the reality and just condemnation I deserved as a result of my sinfulness and utter depravity. During that season of life, the gospel became real to me and I became a born again follower of Jesus Christ; and I’ve been imperfectly striving to live out the effects of the gospel ever since!
When did you come to Collierville Bible Church?
What pastoral and ministry training have you had?
National Association of Certified Biblical Counselors