Hi!
I'm Brady Stephenson. I was born and raised in the western part of Texas in the United States. I live near San Antonio, Texas, with my wife, Amy, and have two adult children. I'm honored that you have visited the site, and I pray it has blessed you. This is my testimony and an account of how I have arrived at my current walk of faith.
If you still have questions after reading this, please get in touch with me. :)
Please know that I don't claim to have all the answers.
The answers I do have are based on my current understanding of Scripture, which is rooted in a trust in Messiah that all believers are called to live out with reverential fear and trembling.
In 1996, I was "born again" and came to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior while attending Harvest Fellowship Community Church (a non-denominational congregation) in San Antonio.
I was involved with children's, ushers, car maintenance, prayer, altar, and other ministries. In 1999, I was asked to serve as a deacon at the church due to my active ministry involvement. In 2001, my wife and I shifted our focus to lead a weekly Bible study for the college- and career-aged young, single adults.
After several wonderful years in this ministry, it seemed as if the group had reached a plateau in their spiritual growth... as did I. In 2004, my wife and I began praying that G-d would move in a mighty way in our lives and the lives of our students. We prayed that He would remove whatever sin or stumbling blocks were present in our lives that prevented us from knowing Him better and walking closer to Him. We prayed that He would change whatever needed to be changed, fix whatever needed to be fixed, and move us in whatever direction was pleasing to Him. We weren't struggling—our faith was strong— we just wanted more of our Lord.
We continued in this prayer for weeks... months... a year.
In the fall of 2005, after almost a year, the Lord answered our prayer through two young men who visited our weekly Bible study. They arrived unexpectedly and quietly listened to our discussion. They thanked us and promised to return the following week. They did so and again quietly listened to the study but began asking very polite yet pointed questions about what I was teaching versus what the Bible actually said... especially regarding Jesus and who He is.
The goal of our group was to study the Word to develop a closer relationship with the Living G-d through His Son, Jesus. The young men challenged some of my teachings as being unsupported by Scripture. I pointed to the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, teachings from the Council of Nicea, and other similar sources. These young men claimed that some of the teachings of the early church fathers contradicted Scripture and the historical person of Jesus. After researching their claims for several weeks, I found they were true. I was shocked and ashamed that I had been so mistaken and had taught these errors to others.
During my research, I was challenged to strip off centuries of accumulated dogma, bias, and error that had crept into the teachings of most churches today and instead examine my Savior in His context. That context is that of the first-century Jewish Messiah who lived out a Jewish faith in a Jewish nation and had twelve Jewish men as disciples. In that context, what did the faith of the disciples look like? What was their relationship with Messiah like? Did that match with how I was living and teaching others to live as disciples of Christ today?
If not, what had changed, and who changed it?
When?
Why?
And by what authority?
After weeks and months of examining Scripture and history, I found that I had not been living according to the ways my Lord and Savior established when He walked the earth. It has been (and continues to be) a great joy and honor to study the ways of the Lord, whom I have come to know by the name His parents gave him: the Hebrew name Yeshua. I find great joy in sharing what I have learned with others on this journey to know Him as He is revealed in Scripture.
Check out my "Working Out My Salvation" article when you have a minute. It is a collection of the initial questions I wrestled with and the answers I found that led me to where I am in my faith today. I welcome any thoughts and feedback that would help correct or clarify it.
If you've made it this far, thank you for your time. :)
May the Most High bless you out of His great abundance.
- Brady
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