Austin McIntosh
Minister to Students

   My Christian life began, as many others did, with being
born the son of a Baptist preacher.  Every time the church doors were open, I was there.  To be honest, I am not
sure that I remember a time when I did not know God was there.  So when my Sunday School teacher told me what
I had to do to be a Christian, it was a no-brainer for me.  I prayed and gave my life to God, and was baptized a couple of months later.                                                                                                                                                
   Life went on pretty normally for a while, and then my family and I moved to Northern Africa to be missionaries.  We all coped surprisingly well, and had a great time. 
After a couple of years, we moved to Scotland and that
is where I spent most of my formative years. 

   I do not believe I ever really questioned my faith in the sense that I came close to saying that I was not a Christian, but I was certainly challenged a lot.  Very few of my friends went to church and I was living in a secular world surrounded by well educated, cynical people.  At least once a week I would be pressed and asked about my faith; why I went to church, how I could believe in something I could not see, why did I not do the things everyone else did?

   At the time, I hated being constantly questioned and mocked about what I believed.  Every now and then I would get to share my faith with a friend in an effective way, but those occasions were few and far between.  Several times I just got so tired of being the ‘good kid’ and seriously considered forgetting my faith.

   Fortunately, God got me through everything. Now I am very thankful for having to go through all of that because it helped me understand my faith better, so that when I got out on my own in the real world, I had already answered some of those tough questions about life and faith.

   If you have any of those kinds of questions, I would love to help you answer them!