What does maturity mean to you? Are there any scriptures or passages that come to mind?
When I hear the word maturity, I think about someone that has grown. I expect people to grow with age, so I expect older people to be mature. And so when they are not mature, it’s like something is off. You are supposed to be mature. One scripture that I think of when it comes to maturing is Ephesians 4:13. It’s our theme scripture for the conference.
Reflect on your walk with God until now. What factors would you consider most important in your growth process?
In terms of growth, definitely people, like-minded people. God has really used people to help me. It’s one thing to have people around you and another thing entirely to have like-minded people.
If for instance when we got saved our goal was to stop listening to secular music, if you don’t have a wise guide who has been saved longer than you, you can get stagnant. So I would say being under authority.
At my local church, my youth pastor is a mentor over my life. My closest friends and family keep me on track when they see me doing something against my character or against what a child of God should look like. They can always call me out on that.
And then there are extra resources in the form of sermons on YouTube and other social media platforms. I learn a lot listening to different sermons or podcasts.
Music definitely helps me a lot too. I get very connected with music, so I make sure I am listening to spirit-filled music and that really helps me.
Mentorship is key among all. There are people in my life that speak to me all the time and have oversight over me. I think it’s important to have a few mentors that you can go to about specific situations. And because they have known you in different seasons of your life, they can speak on it from a position you haven’t seen. Mentorship has definitely helped me a lot with my growth.
What were your initial struggles when you gave your life to Christ and how were you able to overcome them?
One of my major pain points before getting saved was an addiction to pornography. It started when I was really young. Even after I got saved, I kept struggling with it. There were moments when I had different people to talk to about it.
When I went through the discipleship program after I got saved, we were paired up with people to keep us accountable. I remember sharing it with some believers. I was just trying to do all the right things to overcome it, but I was still addicted. I would go through certain months where I wouldn’t watch porn and then one day the temptation would hit hard and then I would fall and start the cycle all over. Years upon years of just going back and forth and trying to get freed from it.
The way the Lord helped me, time after time, the conviction stayed heavy. That was just the Lord telling me that He was still chasing after me. Also, God spoke to me through people at different points. About seven or eight years ago, Uncle George said there were some leaders in sexual sin and that they needed to stop.
I remember calling Uncle George and confessing to him. He called me to his house and we talked about it. Even after that, there were times I still fell but having someone I could confess to, someone who prayed over me at that moment and continued praying for me, helped in no small way.
I grew out of it with time. The whole time, I was trying to fix the problem on my own and that was my biggest issue. I thought I could do everything. But I realized I had to get to a point of absolute dependence on God and that was how I eventually overcame it.
Finally, tell us one fun fact about yourself
I really love swimming. It’s one of my favorite things to do.