Testimony of Randy Hillebrand

Cross Plains, a small town in south central Wisconsin, is where I

was born and raised. The Catholic church in our community is where my

family attended mass every Sunday. And like my four older siblings, two

brothers and two sisters, I also went to Saint Francis Xavier Grade

School which was run by our church. After eight years of parochial

schooling, I then attended Middleton High School in a community

approximately eight miles from my home. Following graduation in 1976,

I enrolled at Madison Area Technical College to study in the field of

electronics. Two years later I graduated receiving an Associate of

Science degree in the field. With this training I was able to obtain a

job in the area of Quality Control in a company that produced

main-frame computer systems for hospital use. It was while I was

working in this position that I came across 2 unusual fellows, the kind

that I usually only had contact with when they picked me up as I was

hitch-hiking. They were born-again Christians. Throughout my time

there, one of the two specifically made an impression on me, a man by

the name of Mike Clemens. He lived out his faith before me with

confidence and conviction, something that I admired, even though I

viewed his beliefs as nothing more than a crutch. Our friendship grew,

and even years after we both went our separate ways, we still stayed in

contact with one another. Even when I was later married, Mike was in my

wedding. By this time in 1980 when I was married, my spiritual

condition could be shown by the fact that I was an agnostic on my way

to being an atheist, even to the extent that I told the priest that I

wanted all references to God taken out of the mass. My new wife

Annette and I moved to Bartlett, Illinois, since I had been working for

the past month and a half in Chicago as a Quality Assurance Engineer.

During this time Annette and I started our own business which we

operated out of our home. It was through this venture that the Lord

started to open, not only my eyes, but those of my wife also. As I

stated earlier, Christianity was nothing more to me than a crutch that

many needed to hold them up as they hobbled through life. To my

surprise though, I started attending seminars of and getting to know

people who in my eyes had it together and that were also Christians.

And as I attended more and more seminars where they closed by telling

quickly how Christ had made a difference in their lives, I started to

listen. Not that I wanted Christ of course, but I wanted the success

that He seemed to bring. So at one of the meetings, I finally

approached a man that was a Christian and asked if I could become like

him in my approach to people without becoming a Christian. He flatly

stated "no" and told me that I needed to pick up a copy of the Bible

and read the Gospel of John. His advice I followed, though not stopping

at John, I read the whole of the New Testament along with some of the

Old Testament books. This reading was supplemented with six other

Christian books on various subjects as well as with Christian radio.

After a four- to five-month study, God revealed to me that He was. He

did this as His Spirit opened my eyes to the truth that Jesus Christ

was who He said He was, that He died for my sins and rose again from

the grave. And when I realized that this was true, I then knew that

there had to be a God (John 1:18). So on August 18, 1982, sometime

around 10:40 p.m. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. It is also

interesting to note that about the time I started my study, my wife had

just accepted Christ and was no doubt in prayer for her pagan husband.

Since that time, I felt God's leading to attend Bible school, and

the following year after I was saved, my studies began at the Moody

Bible Institute. Then in May of 1986, three years later, I graduated

with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Evangelism. Since that time I have

been involved in various ministries such as being a Chaplian's

assistant at Cook County Jail, doing street evangelism to the homeless,

was treasurer and board member of The Cornerstone Church, and for a

one-year period, the interim Pastor of the same. While Pastor, I was

licensed and commissioned as a minister; and this day, May 30, 1989, I

am seeking ordination through this same body.

In the future I hope to serve God as an evangelist through ministry

in the local church; and if He would someday lead, as a missionary in a

foreign field.


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