Daniel McNaughton

Background: Dad was a pastor. Had a major faith crisis at 14 where he went through some things that made him question if there was a God. Then met God in his backyard and God changed him. Went to his pastor and asked “if there is a God, then why is my mom so ill?” (She was bipolar) and “How do you know that the Bible is God’s word?” His response was that he thought he needed to repent, pray and turn back to God. He left there an agnostic because he couldn’t “just believe”. Felt that that part of his life was a very dark time. Played basketball to have something to live for because he thought there was no God. When he met the Lord, he didn’t want to be in a place where basketball was “the god”. He wanted to go somewhere where he could meet Christian people and know God. He got a scholarship. He met his wife there and found a good foundation.

Coming to Christ: Went through a massive depression because nothing would satisfy. He decided that life was no longer worth living. He had some powerful experiences growing up in the church. He wanted to take two months to find a God and if he didn’t find Him, he would commit suicide. After two months of searching, he still hadn’t found anything. At the end of the two months he went to a revival where a faith healer was present. Had a torn hamstring. Went up to see if he could be healed. When he was about 4 feet away from the minister he smelled alcohol on his breath. When he got a little closer he knew that the minister was a bisexual. He felt that there was no God. On the way home he decided that he was going to tell his brother about his plan. His brother was very upset and didn’t help him. He was outside trying to determine where he was going to kill himself. Then he had a thought “if there is a God and I’m going to see him soon, I want to be able to say ‘I looked for you and I didn’t find you’”. He looked up into the sky and said, “If there’s a God, let me know”. The presence of God descended. It started to rain even though there were no clouds. The Lord spoke to him and said “those are my tears, I’m hurting because you’re hurting.” He immediately wanted Christian friends and wanted to be around people. He said, “I’m going to pray for these people and they need to be saved before I leave high-school”. He prayed for them and looked for opportunities and they began to come to the Lord. By the end of the year there were 35 students in the high school who came to the Lord.

What is a disciple? “A disciple is one who learns to do what Jesus does.”