How I was Saved
By: Darren Hertenstein
Tags: Christianity, Jesus, Saved

People always talk of a ‘Come to Jesus’ moment. This is mine.

I came to the hard truth that I’ve never truly had a relationship with Jesus. I was always under the illusion that your relationship with Jesus is relative to your relationship with Church. It is not. It is deeply personal. Below is my story, that I’ve been prompted to share with a wider audience. He wants my story to effect and save others.

This past weekend I went on an expedition called Man Camp with my church, Crossroads. Prior to the initial sign up I set my alarm for 5:50 AM so that I might get signed up and go, but like a boy I delayed my awake time a half hour after the sign ups and signed up for the wait list. Looking back on this I think God intended for me to instead be on this specific trip, with the Wolf Pack I was assigned to. What happened this past weekend was amazing, liberating and life changing!

I went into the experience only expecting to meet some guys and get to know some new people. What I got instead was a walloping from Christ. He absolutely singled me out and he let me know he was all in if I was as well.

Thus my journey began on finding someone from M*A*S*H* to talk to. The M*A*S*H* group was a group of prayer warriors, there specifically for people to reach out to. I searched out, only to see them continuously redeeming other souls and hearing “now is not the time”. So I kept walking from our camp site to the barn, back and forth. Finally I was staring into our fire and thought “If I continue down the path I’m on, this is what waits for me”. I walked back up to the Barn, continuing my search.

After the end of an event I saw Michael walking away from the side Barn doors and introduced myself. Michael grabbed Steve and we talked. I opened up to these two strangers about my problems with Lust addiction and how I always heard Glenn Beck say that “these are other men’s daughters, would you want some other man to treat your daughter like this” which always hit me hard because I have a daughter of my own. That I’ve tried for years to beat this on my own, only to be sucked back in.

We talked some more and they helped me hear what God wanted me to say and so we prayed. In that prayer I asked for Jesus’s help in combating the addiction. I asked him to save me. This was beyond powerful and drove me to tears. I cannot be more thankful to Michael and Steve, they truly are warriors for Christ.

The most powerful moment came later that night, when my group was sharing during our Challenge Coin time. It can only be described as the most epic 2 hour campfire talk ever. We all opened up, and prayed together. Most of all, I opened up completely to these 11 strangers and laid all of this out for them as well. I had already shared earlier that I had been saved, this was me describing to them what I’ve been saved from. My Wolf Pack surrounded me, laid hands on me and prayed over me. I was absolutely driven to tears of joy.

While handing out our coins our group leader gave each of us a word of encouragement. To me he said “Darren, I think you know what you need to do”. Some may have seen this as underwhelming, but it was the most powerful thing he could have said to me. It was like Jesus was screaming at me, telling me to just listen to Him.

After arriving home on Sunday I had some time to reflect on everything that happened. I was still pretty overwhelmed by the whole thing and I was thinking on what I’d always heard Glenn Beck say and at that moment I heard “Those are God’s daughters”. This was a powerful revelation that brought me to my knees and to tears.

I am absolutely beyond grateful for these men and this experience. I’m excited to have been saved and continue on from THAT point to live for Jesus. I cannot wait to see what He has planned.