Larry Vold
Salvation Experience
My parents introduced me to Jesus through the way they lived and by bringing me to church with them when I was a child. The Lord spoke into my heart through memorizing Scripture as a child while attending vacation Bible school at the Baptist Church my family attended. Scripture memorization laid the foundation for that special moment when Jesus came knocking at my heart’s door as an elementary-aged child and I opened it, asking Him to come in. Throughout the years that followed (and even those that preceded) I sincerely believed God loved me and wanted to lead me. Opening my life to Jesus in 3rd grade, however, brought about an even greater confidence of this.
My life as a child of God wasn’t stretched or challenged in any significant way until I reached high school. It was there I started recognizing the difference between those who really knew and followed Jesus and those who didn’t. For my freshman year, I took a passive posture toward following Jesus which began to erode some of my convictions about my faith, leaving me to appear much like any of my friends—even those who didn’t know or walk with God. While I didn’t see what was happening to me, my faith was truly being tested and I wasn’t passing the test. Thankfully, at the end of my sophomore year, the Baptist church where I had received Jesus’ gift of salvation, hired a youth pastor to focus on the spiritual formation of the teens that attended there. This youth pastor’s personal concern for my life and example as a believer turned my life around. I realized I could no longer straddle the fence and be passive in my walk with Jesus. I realized that to follow Jesus meant denying myself and picking up my cross daily to follow him (Luke 9:23). During the middle of my first high school summer camp, I went forward in a meeting at the invitation of the speaker, to fully give my life over to Jesus and His plans for me.
This was a significant turning point in my life. I suddenly found myself concerned for the spiritual well-being of others. I wanted others to know Jesus like I knew him. I wanted the joy and love I felt deep inside to be shared with anyone I met. I became somewhat of an evangelist on my high school campus. Many of my classmates were introduced to Jesus through my testimony and also through inviting them to attend my church youth ministry. The Lord did something very special in those years—as hundreds of high school students from four high school campuses near my church became Christ-followers. I witnessed the power of the gospel and the way God loves to use anyone who is willing to be used for His work!
After high school, my goal was to become a career fire-fighter. I felt that by having this kind of vocation, I could remain busy as a volunteer in my local church and also do something very exciting with my life. But God had other plans. As I was finishing up my fire science courses at a local junior college and pursuing various fire departments for interviews and testing, a young high school student started attending our youth ministry. This young man was deeply entrenched in the Occult and was manifesting characteristics that showed me the reality of the spiritual dimension just as Ephesians 6:12 states, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Watching God’s work in delivering this young man from his bondage to sin and the devil through the gospel, made me yearn to be more involved in seeing others find freedom through Jesus Christ. God used this season in my life to call me into vocational ministry. Soon after receiving this call, I enrolled in a Christian liberal arts college and got my degree in Christian education while serving as a part time youth leader in the church’s youth ministry I had attended from childhood.
After graduating from college, I was hired by a local church in San Jose and began my work as a full-time youth pastor. This was an amazing time in my life, but the church went through some struggles which eventually resulted in letting me go. But God used this also to strengthen my trust that I could trust what the future held for me. Eventually, I was led to serve as a youth pastor at The Neighborhood Church in Castro Valley (now known as 3Crosses) where I’ve been ever since.
I met my wife at 3Crosses through a student-ministry event that solicited the help of adults. She was one who came to volunteer and it wasn’t long before I fell deeply in love with her. We married in 1982 and in time, God blessed us with three children—all girls! We all enjoyed an amazing season of life with my serving in various positions in the church before eventually becoming the senior pastor in 1996. In 2019, I stepped away from my role as senior pastor and yet continue to serve in our church as pastor of spiritual care. I will never stop thanking God for his faithfulness in allowing me to serve as a pastor in various roles for all these years in such an amazing Gospel-centered Church! He’s been so faithful and generous for giving me a beautiful wife and loving children who are now adults. My wife and I celebrate 39 years of marriage this year and the joy of three beautiful grandsons (and maybe more some day!). Life isn’t easy or perfect, but God is working out everything for my good and His glory (Rom. 8:28)!
Now that I’m in my 60s and recognize that it won’t be too long before I leave this world to enter the glories of my heavenly home (which I also realize could be at any moment—God knows the number of our days as Ps. 139 reminds us!), I think of a few things I wish to convey to the younger generation. First, I would remind them to value and leverage their youthfulness to the glory of God. I didn’t, and most young people don’t realize the blessing of being young! Ecclesiastes 12:1 states, “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them.’” To be young is a gift for so many reasons. Youthfulness allows an almost limitless supply of energy. So much can be done because young people have so much energy! If that energy can be directed toward gospel-centered endeavors, so much good could come to our world! So be thankful for being young and USE your youthfulness to bless others with the gospel of Jesus Christ!
The second thing would be to hold on to the truth of God’s Word no matter what the cost. And the cost for doing this will be great, indeed. We are living in times when God’s Word is under attack as never before. Even so-called pastors and churches have jettisoned the precious Word of God and chosen any number of sources to direct their lives and ministries apart from it. The prophet Amos spoke of a time when there would be a famine for “hearing the words of the LORD” (Amos 8:11). Amos’ prophetic warning applies to us today more than ever. There’s a famine of God’s Word everywhere today. It’s hard to find churches these days that without apology, teach that God’s Word is the trustworthy source of divine revelation which must be the rule of our faith and practice. And of course, it’s even more rare to find individuals today who hold with strong conviction that the Bible is God’s unalterable Word!
Lastly, I would encourage both young and old to love God with all their heart and love others as they love themselves. Let love be what we’re known for so that we can be used to share the message of hope found in Jesus Christ everywhere we go.
If you are a senior and would like to submit your testimony, we invite you to contact us for details on how you can participate. We would love to include your story!
