My name is Brett Holderbaum let me tell you my story…

Well, I was very rebellious and really did not care too much about others. I had just entered the Navy and was 18 years old. I learned about God from the Catholic Church and had an experience with God in fifth grade when I was being taught how to be an altar boy. They had us kneel before they lit a candle for the representation of the Holy Spirit being present, they lit the candle and I felt a wind go through me so much I got chill bumps. So I knew God was real but ... I didn’t know how to get close. I remember reading a tract on becoming a believer and said the prayer but couldn’t get close to God. I spent a lot of my teen years getting high and getting in trouble. I didn’t have a good relationship with my parents; my father and I really didn't talk. Really sad.  So my senior year in High school I decided to go in the Navy.

I went in the Navy in August of 1982 and boot camp was in Chicago. As we got close to graduating boot camp I read my orders and I was going to Virginia Beach, VA.  My orders were odd.    Everyone that was going to work on aircraft got orders to Tennessee except me.  I thought that was strange, little did I know it was God. So in November 1982, a man named Kyle Hodges knocked on my door and began asking if I knew if I was going to heaven or hell. Of course I said heaven because I was a pretty good guy (remember what I said about myself before I met Jesus).  Anyway Kyle spoke about the Gospel and we talked a little and he went his way.  A few days later walking out of the enlisted club I looked up to heaven and asked God, when will I find real Love?  The next day being I was home sick and depressed so I went for a walk and ran into Kyle.  We talked.  We got in his van and he explained the Gospel message about how Jesus died for me and how He loves me. So I said I wanted Jesus. I wish I could say that I walked all the rest of my life with Jesus.  I didn’t. I was deployed a few months later and had no support or discipleship. So I soon fell away but I would try reading my Bible or going to church but I didn't walk with God. So many years later after 2 kids and a divorce and many hurt people along the way I came to end of myself and decided to go to church. I went and went every week for some time and recommitted my Life to the Lord.

Since recommitting my life to Lord it has been a real journey and a learning process but it's been good. I'm constantly learning how to surrender to Jesus’ Lordship. He is so patient and loving. I spent about 8 years or so in church and in 2010 I embarked on another Journey with God. I was able to go to Colorado for “A Wild at Heart Boot Camp” and started questioning my walk and the Church setting. I was able to go again in December for the “Wild at Heart Advanced” and came back to church and realized I wasn't connected to the Pastor or the body. A week later in a Christmas service I heard the Lord say to leave.  And my wife, I remarried my lovely wife Sharon in 2008, (a total God testimony I will share with you at a later time) heard the same thing. So we left and then we visited a local church and we were praying about laying roots there. I just thought and I knew there was more and I wanted the more. So I had to have some surgery done and had some problems with it, so walking around the block with my wife , I told her I needed to get in touch with Greg Lancaster because I was told he was doing home church . So we did and we have been plugged in at VFN since February 2011. What a journey!  I have learned so much.  If I was going to say one of the most important things that VFN does it is Discipleship.  If I would have had that in the beginning of my walk with God I don't think I would have ever walked away from Him.  So learn how to abide; do discipleship and get plugged in to a healthy body of believers and watch God transform your Life.

If you’d like to invite the Lord Jesus Christ into your life as I did read more