In the junior classroom on the first floor of the women’s dorm, Pastor Steve Lombardo was teaching a class on how to share your faith. I was there, just a few desks back from the front. I had my faith in Jesus but not a lot of courage to share that faith with others. Two years at FLBC changed that. In that class and others, I learned more than just facts about the Bible, but how it applies to my life. I realized I don’t have to save anyone. In fact, I can’t. Jesus does the saving; but I am called to be a witness and share God’s Word with others.  

Most of all, I’m thankful that FLBC not only taught me how to share my faith, but also gave me opportunities to do just that.  

During the summer, I served on the Bible college’s Majesty Team, and it was time to put some of that learning into practice. For the first time, I was teaching a vacation Bible school class and not just attending one. I wasn’t just singing; I was up front leading the singing. At Bible camps I was sharing my testimony and the Bible verses I had memorized. I loved it, and it gave me the desire to do it again.  

While I wouldn’t be on another Majesty Team from FLBC, eleven years later I would still be doing a lot of the same things. I was just doing it in a different country. 

My wife, Lisa, and I served as missionaries in Hungary, a country in Europe that had just spent 40 years under communism. Every summer we would go to different churches and lead English camps. We would teach them English songs to sing, teach a Bible lesson, and then have crafts and games. Yep, pretty much just like leading VBS on the Majesty Team. During the school year we would have a puppet show and a Bible lesson in the kindergarten class every week, exactly like the puppet ministry that I learned while at FLBC.  

We are back in the States now, and Joshua, our son who was born in Hungary, is a first-year student at FLBC. On Sundays, you will find me at Helmar Lutheran Church in Newark, Ill. I will be sharing my faith as I teach the confirmation class. And then I’ll join the worship service where I’ll be a few rows back listening to my pastor, that same Steve Lombardo who was my teacher at Bible college so many years before. 

Matthew Greven [FLBC 1991] is a member of Helmar Lutheran, Newark, Ill.