Samuel Drawbond
Home State: Florida
Prayer Requests:
Testimony:
I am from a small town in the panhandle of northern Florida. I grew up fishing, climbing trees and raising calves or chickens for some extra spending money. Every Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening found me sitting in church. I accepted Christ as my personal Savior around the age of 7; it truly was a childlike faith. Just like every other kid going threw adolescents, I wondered about my life; what is it worth, do I really believe in God? Let me pause here just a bit to say that while I was growing up, I had a severe case of asthma and had a couple close encounters with death, none of which I remember well. Today I know that God didn’t let me die for some reason. There is nothing like staring death in the face to evaluate why God is still giving you breath. When I was going threw adolescents, I kind of shrugged God off. I wanted to be comfortable with my life. I didn’t want let God have 100 percent me at His disposal; I wanted to keep some parts of my heart hidden from God. Through all of this I could feel God tugging at my heart, trying to draw me closer to Him. I knew He wanted me to follow Him with all the effort I could muster. Finally, when I was 17, I was about to set off for Africa on a missions trip. During some of the training instruction I felt that ever-pulling tug from God to place my entire life, my dreams and my future into his hands. Finally, after what seemed like world war three going on in my heart, I let go and let God. From then on I have been in a continual process of learning to seek God’s plan for my life. I knew that I am never to live entirely within my comfort zone; second was that I needed a heap more knowledge of the Bible and how to live life as a servant of the most high God. This brought me to BMW. The first time the idea of coming here popped into my head, I totally dismissed it as, ‘that way too difficult and uncomfortable for me!!’ And to spend another three years of my life just sitting in class reading out of boring old books.’ But God worked on me for about a year though close friends and I finally I ended up at BMW!! The BMW program is so much more than I expected it would be. The classes actually apply to the Christian life, the work training is intense and the people around Teen Missions are some of the most solid, sincere, godly examples one could look for. I have been incredibly blessed with a church family that stands behind me, the best family in the world (yes, I’m bias) and a student body that is dedicated to a Christian life of service.
