Dalton Kirchner

My whole life, I grew up in church. I even went to a Christian school until 8th grade. I believed in God but didn't really have a relationship with him.

6 Years ago, when I was in the 6th grade, I woke up to my mom on the phone crying. I got up and found out that two of my cousins had died, and I didn't know how to react, so I went to school as if nothing had happened and bottled my emotions.

I got into a relationship that pulled me further away from God. I eventually broke that off, and in my 8th-grade year, my Aunt Jane died. Which really hurt because I was very close to her.

Once I got into high school, I started to try to grow my relationship with God. I was really struggling when another family member of mine died. I was trying to figure out why all this had happened to me and struggled with it a lot.

In my sophomore year, I got a girlfriend, and she invited me to her youth group, and I finally started to strengthen my relationship with God. But then that relationship ended, so I didn't know what to think. By the time my Junior year came around, I had a better relationship with God.

I was going to church every Sunday. At the end of 2023, the pastor at my church passed away unexpectedly, and after that, I felt a very strong calling to go to a youth group that I had attended in the past. I started going every day. I got a girlfriend that I started inviting to church, and for the first time in a while, I felt very happy.

Once the summer came around, I attended my first-ever church camp and was having a fun time but also a hard time cause a lot was going on during that week with my relationship. On Wednesday, June 17th, 2024, I was at the chapel that night and was trying not to cry the entire time. Once worship started, I went down to the altar and was singing, and not long after that, I was on my knees in tears and asked Jesus to take everything that I had struggled with in my life, and he did.

I was saved that night at church. I got up after that and felt so relieved cause all those emotions that had been bottled up were just gone. After that night, me and my girlfriend are still together for 2 years now.

I'm reading my bible more often. I'm attending college in digital media. I want to be a youth Pastor as well and look forward to seeing what God has for me every day, and I thank him every day for that experience that night.