About Me
My name is Chris Edwards, and I am a worship pastor at Hill Country Bible Church, Hutto that was planted on Easter Sunday, 2007. I am 35 years old, and have been blessed by God with my lovely wife, Niki, and our two sons: Hayden (4 years old), and Parker (just born in May).
How did I become a Worship Pastor? I am glad you asked! Back in 2003, my wife and I were invited to church by our neighbors and we went. I enjoyed the music a lot…which was not a good reason to go to church, but it got me there. I hadn’t been to a church with contemporary music before. A few weeks later I ended up joining the worship team singing background vocals. Three months after that, the worship leader announced he was leaving (he was only temporary) and I was asked to be the worship leader.
Sounds simple huh? Well, that’s not the whole story. What my pastor didn’t know, nor anyone else in that first church back then, was that I was a drug addict and alcoholic. I was raised in a Christian family and went to church until I moved away from home, but at that point in my life, I hadn’t attended a regular church for 5 years or so. I considered myself a Christian, but in retrospect, I was far from it. I partied hard, I had abused everything from steroids and pharmaceuticals, to street drugs and alcohol. You name it, I had done it, and I took pride in that. Needless to say, I was not the best person for the job of worship leader. However, no one but my wife and I knew it.
I told the pastor that I was unworthy of the position, but the church was so small there was noone else. I told him that I didn’t know much about the bible, but that I would read it “in case someone asked me a question about it”. He told me that as long as I was making progress, that was good. In his defense, he had no idea what kind of person I was at the time.
So I held up my part of the bargain and read the bible. I quickly became consumed with it. I realized that much of the stuff I thought was true about Christianity was wrong! I realized how I was so wrong in how I lived. I couldn’t stop reading the bible. I completely stopped all the drugs and drinking because I couldn’t read the bible when I was high! I know it sounds crazy, but I got more out of reading it than I ever did from the drugs. Its not that I had to make myself stop…I simply didn’t want them anymore. It wasn’t even a struggle. I haven’t missed them since…and I never looked back. I found out later that this is what they call being “born again.” I was a “new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). God changed my desires. God completely changed my life, and I have been changing ever since to be more and more like Jesus.
I remember looking at the original worship leader thinking “He is such a good person. But I could never live that way…it must be so boring!” Yet here I was just a few months later doing all I could to follow his example, or better yet, follow the example of the one he was following, Jesus…and loving it!
Well, that’s my story. I almost wouldn’t believe it if it hadn’t happened to me. I am happier and more satisfied with my life now than I ever have been. However, that is not the reason to come to Christ… There are difficulties, its not always easy…the difference is that I am at peace because I now have hope.
Because Christ died on the cross to pay for all the sins I have ever committed (and even the ones I continue to commit), I have hope that when this life is over, my sins cannot condemn me. Christ has already paid for them in full. I am therefore given a clean slate…Christ’s clean slate. When God looks at me he sees His perfect son. Not that I am perfect, but that Christ is, and I am “clothed with his righteousness”. Since He took all my sins upon himself…I got his righteousness accounted to me in exchange. THAT is what Christianity is all about!
I can’t save myself no matter what I do. No amount of good works can ever get me into heaven. Only through Jesus’ payment for my sin, and my accepting of His clean slate can I get there. And all this is simply by the loving grace and mercy of God! Praise Him for what He has done!
-Chris
