My Testimony

My Testimony & Walk So Far

Hello again! In case you forgot, my name is Chris French. I'm currently 20 years old and I was born and raised in Holland, MI.

I would like to share with you guys my testimonial, how I got to where I am today and how I'm doing so far!  I grew up in the church my entire life (non-denominational), but because I didn't understand the importance of what I was learning at the time this lead me to take the Word of God for granted, in every way. Up until I turned 18 I was just going to church because I 'had' to not because I 'wanted' to, my parents obviously knowing what was best for me made me go. As I grew older, so bored of going through the motions and seeing christianity as a religion and not a relationship, I unfortunately ventured out into what the world had to offer around the age of 15 during my freshman year of high school. Thankfully, because I was raised in the church, I was kept from going off the deep end because I had a biblical worldview established and Holy Spirit inside of me was continuously convicting me telling me what I was doing was so obviously wrong. "Oh but it's fun!" No, it's not, it was so empty and void the things I rebelled against God and my parents with.

As I continued to grow older (17, now a junior in High school) I only became more upset with myself being in a stagnant state of christianity. I wasn't growing, and I wasn't falling away. I had also come to a point where I put a box on God (which you never do!). I believed He couldn't hear my prayers and that He wasn't able to do certain things. Again I was stuck in stagnant christianity, but this time when I was in the middle of it a verse kept coming to the forefront of my mind, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Rev. 3:15-16 (NIV). Each time this verse came to mind I was convicted greater and greater, but I still didn't do much about it. It wasn't until my senior year of high school that I had a wake up call (when I was 18).

I began to see that the people I was surrounding myself with weren't the most beneficial, they influenced negative decisions, not that it was their fault, they were just as deceived as I was. At this point I was starting to distance myself from those people because I knew I had to, I started making better decisions for myself, but I didn't know where I was supposed to go from there. Then came summer after graduation. After high school I had no immediate plans, I knew I no longer wanted to go to college, but what alternative was there to do? As my conscience (and mom, lol) continued to pressure me into thinking about next steps to take the following fall, I remembered hearing about YWAM, so I decided to look into it a little more. After some consideration and prayer, I figured I would sign up! Little did I know, this would be the start of me stepping into God's call on my life!

Fall of 2022 I took my DTS (discipleship training school) with YWAM in Colorado Springs. Through this experience I grew so fast spiritually, because it's an accelerated environment where everyone is there for specifically one purpose, to know God and to make Him known. After three months of lecture, we had three months of outreach, my team went to Thailand! This is when I grew the most as there was a lot of things that tested my obedience to the Lord, and it was so worth it! When DTS ended I went home to Holland, MI in March of 2023. This period of time was very insightful for me as I was taking all that I had learned in my six months of accelerated growth, and I had to learn how to practically apply it all to my day-to-day life, though challenging, it was a success! I had become a new man! God took hold of my heart in such a radical way during DTS and shifted all my desires for His good purposes.

Some of you may already know, but God gave me a heart for missions, not for just anywhere though, for Japan! So while I was at home and working to save up some more money, I was able to go to Japan this summer of 2023, for the very first time to experience the country (by myself)! It was such an eye opening experience and I believe God confirmed my heart for missions in Japan while I was there, as everything went to plan while I was in Japan for the two weeks and his peace was upon me the entire time. I was also presented with so many different routes to take to start my journey of missions in Japan.

Anyways, fast forward a bit and I've been continuing to pursue God's call on my life and seeking Him out daily and it has been such an amazing and rewarding time! In the Fall of ‘23, I took a secondary school with YWAM in Colorado Springs called 'SOSM' (school of strategic missions). I took this school to learn more about long-term missions in general and how to go about it properly & sustainably so that I can be well sent to Japan!

That's pretty much about it for my journey thus far! Thanks for reading! : )