Bob MacLeod - Hickory, North Carolina
- Details
- Parent Category: History
- Category: Personal Stories
- Published on Sunday, 19 November 2006 18:30
Bob MacLeod - Hickory, North Carolina
I was born to Christian parents in 1966 in Okinawa, Japan, where my father, who was in the Air Force, was stationed. From my first days I heard the gospel and of my need of a Savior. A few years after returning to the United States we lived in McKeesport, Pennsylvania where I went to Sunday school at the McKeesport Gospel Hall. As a child I never had to be convinced that I was a sinner and needed salvation. I had a fear of being left behind at the Rapture. Sometimes at night I would listen at the door of my parents’ room; I wanted to assure myself that they were still there, that the Rapture had not occurred.
As I got older I spent several summers with my grandparents in Hickory, North Carolina, where I regularly attended meetings at the Hickory Gospel Hall. During one visit, at the age of 10, I remember sitting in a meeting during which Mr. Jesse Howze, a man from the congregation, was preaching the gospel. I don’t remember specifically what he spoke about but I became convicted of my need of a Savior. As I sat there on the bench, I simply accepted the truth of John 3:16
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son. That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
...that “whosoever” meant me, and I accepted the gift of God’s Son as my Savior.
I was baptized in the Atlantic Ocean in North Carolina at the age of 14 while on a retreat with the Carolina Christian Fellowship church where my parents attended at the time. I was received into assembly fellowship in the Hickory Gospel Hall at the age of 18, and have been in happy fellowship ever since.