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Through a simple prayer followed by a friendly invitation, I found my salvation in Christ.

By David Broadley

In June 1976, my wife Barbara went to England to visit her parents together with our 8-month-old daughter Michelle. Sometime before they left, our home was visited by a Mormon group who were going from door to door in our area. Their visit left me with some confusion as to where I stood before God.

When Michelle was born, I had several conversations with Peter, a fellow teacher in the staffroom where I taught at Oak Flats High School in Wollongong, a regional city here in Australia.

I knew Peter was a Christian. We discussed whether Barbara and I should have our baby daughter Michelle baptised. He advised me against it.

If I had no faith, we would simply be doing it for traditional family reasons. He gave me a copy of a booklet, What is a Christian? by John Chapman. I read this and underlined the parts I had questions about. I later discussed this with Peter, which I found helpful.

A Request

I clearly remember that day, after the Mormons left, I went downstairs on my own. For the first time in many years, I knelt down and said a prayer. I prayed, God, if You exist, I pray that I might know You.

For some time, I thought I had forgotten about that prayer, but later realised that God had not. Around this time, I was involved with the service club that was running a project called ‘Operation Blood Pressure’.

One cold evening in June, while Barbara was away in England, I was due to have a meeting with some nurses who were going to conduct random blood pressure checks. But only one nurse came, a young lady called Dianne Case.

We now had the meeting to ourselves, and she asked me, “Do you go to church?” I replied that I didn’t, so she talked briefly about her faith and invited me the following Sunday for a meal at her home to meet her husband, and then to go along in the evening to her church for a service.

Life was very quiet for me at that time as Barbara was in England with our baby. The invitation was most welcome, and I was happy to go.

An Invitation

I went for a meal at their home, and later we went to the church. It was called the Lighthouse Christian Centre in Wollongong. The service there was not what I expected and unlike anything I’d encountered before in a church.

The first thing that hit me was the bright lights and the lively music. The church was very friendly; that evening, the talk was given by Pastor Bill Beard on the theme of knowing Christ. He gave the challenge that if there was anyone who did not know Christ, to set out on the road to discovering more about it. He invited people to pray a simple prayer.

Then he gave a call to those who had prayed the prayer to come out to be prayed over as they set out on their own road to discovery. I went forward for the prayer. There were also a number of other people who subsequently received prayer for healing and other things.

People were also praying in tongues, which I had never heard before. I found this a little confronting, so it was quite a relief to be led off into a side room where I received a copy of Mark’s Gospel and was encouraged to read it.

I have no memory of any subsequent follow-up from the church and I was never to attend a service there again. But I was on the road and took it seriously. I read Mark’s Gospel and other parts of the Bible. Then I discovered that I had a dusty Bible on my own bookshelf, so I began to read that.

Conviction

Each evening I read the Bible faithfully and with great interest. One evening as I was reading John’s Gospel, Chapter 14, where Jesus spoke to His disciples His final words in the Upper Room. What happened next still brings tears to my eyes.

Something came over me and I wept over the words of Jesus, for I now believed in Him. At that moment I received the Holy Spirit, though I didn’t understand what that meant at the time. But I knew that something radical had changed within me and that life would never be the same.

A few days later, I described what happened to my friend in the staff room. “Congratulations,” he said, “You are now a Christian.”

Now I was no longer on the road to discovery. On 6 July 1976, I arrived at my destination as I found my new life as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I was now home, but the Christian journey was to stretch before me as I would grow in understanding of God’s word and the love of Jesus.

For me, the journey really began in earnest that evening long ago at the Lighthouse Christian Centre in Wollongong on that Sunday in late June 1976. I thank God for using Pastor Bill Beard for touching my heart as he presented God’s word that Sunday evening. I now walk the road every day as God’s person looking to serve and witness for Him.

My wife Barbara subsequently became a believer as well. I now have two children, Michelle and Daniel, and six grandchildren whom I pray for each day. I pray that my grandchildren too will know the beautiful road that leads to personal salvation in Jesus Christ.

To Him be the glory for great things He has done!

Amen.

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Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko.