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FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD

Key Verse John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

I. A man thirsty for love

Hello, my name is David Hull from U.S.A. My life journey began on January 4, 1973. I grew up in the beautiful mountains of northeast Pennsylvania. I had one sister who was three years younger. My earliest memories were happy Christmas Eve's together with my family around the tree at Grandma's house. But gradually, I noticed arguments increasing among my parents. One night while I was sleeping, I was awoken up by a chair being thrown in the kitchen and my Dad crying. My parents decided to divorce. I was just eight years old. My mother gained custody while we saw my Dad on weekends. My parents soon remarried. My mother's second husband was abusive and an alcoholic. I grew to hate him and spent most of my time alone in my room. Sometimes he beat my mother. I wanted to rescue her but I just froze out of fear to be beaten by him. My stepmother was loving and caring. She asked us to call her "Mom". This caused trouble between her and my mother. They once got into a wrestling match right in front of us. It was an emotional tug of war for my sister and I. I despaired deeply. I wanted to find the perfect fairy tale romance to soothe my wounded soul. I was thirsty for love. But the problem was I could not open my mouth or approach even one girl. I had a deep fear of rejection. Many times when a girl I liked got the attention of another boy, I was heartbroken. So in high school, I joined various activities to impress others. I excelled in drama, singing, and dancing and wanted to be like Elvis Presley. I signed on to the tennis team. I hit the ball hard, and grew my hair long like the young Andre Agassi. But no girl seemed to notice. Finally, one girl who I liked did. I was elated. But only after two weeks, she broke up with me.

I was devastated. Suicidal thoughts entered into my mind. My mother entered a third marriage and was abused with harsh treatment and language. In order to escape the dysfunctional environment, I left the house and went to college and majored in theater. As I began my studies, I vowed never to drink a drop of alcohol after seeing its effects on our household. But after two years I caved into peer pressure through many wild parties. The repetition of failure and despair made me feel cursed by God. My attitude towards life became rebellious. I viewed pornography and indulged in immoral relationships. I felt useless as if I was going nowhere

II. I found the love of Christ

In an effort to fill my emptiness, I put in applications to graduate school to get back on track. In 1996, I entered Western Illinois University as a Directing student in the little town of Macomb, Illinois. In my directing program, I had a friend who was a UBF Korean missionary. He invited me to a Sunday worship service. I determined not to go because the night before I was at a party and had committed great sin. I felt too guilty to go to worship service as I sulked in bed. Suddenly, the phone rang. There was no way I was going to answer it, but something unexplainable led me to pick it up. It was my friend calling to tell me he was coming to pick it up to worship. I had no choice but to go. Upon arriving at the service, we pulled in front of a home. I looked around and said, "Where's the church? It's in a house, really?" When I entered I only saw one other female Korean student and two families. I thought this was kind of a strange church.  But on that day, the presence of God's love in this house church moved my heart. I found true Christian love and a joy that I hadn't experienced before.

I then began 1:1 bible study with Dr. Jim Rabchuk. Matthew 11:28-29 touched my heart. It says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." I began to learn that Jesus welcomed all weary and burdened souls like mine. This began to heal my love thirsty soul. By his amazing grace, Jesus took away all of my sins and life's burdens and pains in an instant. I discovered the love I had been yearning for all my life was the love of Christ. I gave up going to bars, parties, and seeking girls. I gave up listening to worldly music and began listening to Christian music praising God. I had become a new creation.

III. God's Love for the World

In 1998, I was invited to attend the World Mission report in Seoul, Korea. It opened my eyes to God's world salvation plan and gave me world mission vision. I began to see God's love for the whole world. My life focus had changed. I began to serve Jesus gladly, presiding and singing at Sunday worship services. I began teaching the bible to students and fishing on the campus. I tried to use my influence as a theater major to plant spiritual truth through productions I directed on campus. I graduated and received my Master of Fine Arts in 1999. I was then faced with a decision. On the one hand, I wanted to move to Hollywood to pursue my theatrical career and dream. On the other hand, I sensed God calling me to Chicago to continue my spiritual grow. Through my experience, I realized that decisions to do my will were fruitless and ended in failure. So I decided by faith to go to Chicago. As a result, God blessed me to have bible students right away. The first person I invited at Northwestern University to study the bible said, "yes". God also blessed me with a job on the campus and multiple promotions in a few years. In order to accomplish His vision, God began to train me. Through participating in Friday testimony sharing, 1:1 Vocal team, daily bread, common life, and so on, I could learn devotion, sacrifice, hardworking spirit, and how to serve others. God also established my family to be a blessing.

In 2000, I married Colleen Hull. She is so prayerful, passionate for Jesus, and also quite talented. She even has a black belt Tae Kwon Do. God has blessed our house church in many ways. He has given us a beautiful daughter, Danielle, who we pray to grow as a woman of prayer. He has helped us to feed His sheep both at UIC and Northwestern. Students from all over the world come to these campuses. Among them, God used us to bless students from China, Mexico, Nigeria, and Kenya to enable them to serve their own people with the gospel. There are also so many young American students who are thirsty for love like I was. I believe God is calling us to help them come to Jesus through bible study and find the source of true love. He has also given our house church vision and hope to pioneer a new campus within three years and possibly go as missionaries to Italy in His right time. We pray that our family can be used as an instrument of God's love to bless the world of our time.

One Word: God So Loves Me and the World