Paul Suprak was introduced to Christianity by his uncle was young. His desire wasn’t to live for Jesus at that time. Though he remembers looking up to preachers and even wanting to be one, his heart was not given to Jesus. By the time he was old enough to make his own decisions, Paul didn’t even think about church anymore.
His former desire to be a preacher forgotten, Paul decided to join the U.S. Air Force. in 1967. It was there that he would become a heavy drinker. Paul recalls this was a dark time in his life.
I joined the US Air Force in 1967. After basic training was over and I went to Electronics Tech school, I began drinking and abusing the use of alcohol. After Tech school I got stationed at Nellis AFB, Las Vegas Nev. I continued drinking heavy and spending a lot of time in the taverns in North Las Vegas. I was getting into a lot of bar fights and my life was falling apart.
One day while sitting at the bar, a man to my right began to talk with me, he said that some people talk about a born again experience. I said to him: “If there is such a thing as a born again experience, I wish it would happen to me.”
This man was not to teach Paul how to live for Jesus. In fact, six months later Paul decided to accompany his friend Dan up the mountain for a weekend away. Paul wasn’t thinking about Jesus or being born again. He was just hoping for a weekend without getting in trouble.
Paul got more than he bargained for on the mountain. God was trying to get his attention. And in the midst of a weekend immersed in worldliness, Paul suddenly saw the light. He got his call to live for Jesus.
When we got on the mountain, Danny being into drugs, while I was a heavy drinker, offered me a mescaline pill and we both took one. We began to talk about the things that were wrong with the world. (Materialism, drinking, etc.) As we were talking about things that were wrong with the world, it was like a non-visible light shined on my life and for the first time in my life I saw that my life was really wrong. I told Danny that I could see that the drinking and fighting and bar life that I was doing was wrong. As the light was shining on the inside of me illuminating my evil ways, a voice began speaking on the inside of me. He said to me: “you keep going deeper and deeper into that lifestyle, and when you get into trouble you call out to me, O GOD! Then the voice said to me: “I’m not there, but if you turn from that I’m there.” Then the voice on the inside of me said: “there is a pedestal in you heart, you keep putting other things on that pedestal and pushing me back in the corner. Put me on the pedestal and live your life for me” As the voice was speaking to me my heart changed. I received a new heart. I was born again! I told Danny, “with all my heart I wanted to live for God.” When the voice or words of God spoke on the inside of my Heart, I received a new heart. I was born from above. Praise God!
As we were retiring to go to sleep in our sleeping bags, below the starry night, I said to Danny, “If it was the drug when I wake up tomorrow morning I will be back to my old self, But if it was God that changed my heart tonight it will be the same and I will want to live for God.
The following morning when I was awakening, I laid in my sleeping bag and the first thing I asked myself was: “How do I feel” I felt the same, with all my heart I wanted to live for God. When my wife came up to pick me up I was so excited about what had happened. I remember saying to her: “With all my heart I want to live for God, but how do you live for God?” I did not have a clue. I told her that my mother had a Bible at home. It was not read, but used to see if we were lying. I bought a bible and started reading the book of Mathew. As I was reading the book of Mathew I noticed that the bible was saying the same thing to me that the voice had said to me on the mountain.
Shortly after this I said to my wife, “Christians go to church, I don’t know why, but maybe I should start going to church. We started going to a Baptist Church and I officially went up to the altar to give my life to Jesus Christ. This is how I began my Christian journey.
Now Paul was excited to live for Jesus! He was ready. He was committed. He got his family into church, and they began attending faithfully. But then disaster struck.
In the summer of 1971, I received a call that my Dad had committed suicide. He shot himself in the head. He lived long enough for me to get back to Pittsburgh. I went to the hospital and sat next to his bed speaking to him about his need for Jesus. He was in a coma; I pray that he heard me.
Shortly after this I backslid and ran from the presence of God. The Holy Spirit convicted me. I knew right from wrong and I was doing wrong. I began drinking and smoking pot. I was on the run.
But God wasn’t giving up on Paul. He’d been called to live for Jesus, and God was going to keep pulling him back till he got the message.
One evening in 1973, after my wife left for work and I was watching our 3-year-old daughter, I opened my first can of beer and sat down on the couch. My daughter was in front of me sitting on the floor watching TV. I was not drunk or on drugs at the time. As I was sitting there, the voice began to speak on the inside of me as He did up on the mountain. This time He said: “You know what road you are on, you’re on the broad road that leads to destruction, But is it fair to take her with you. Because whatever way you live your life, you will raise her the same way”. I immediately got up from my chair, picked her up and put her to bed. I went into my bedroom and fell to my knees and ask God to forgive me and help me get back. For days it felt like there was a wall between God, and me that I could not get through. I was working at a cabinet shop at the time. There was a Christian named Tom who worked there. I went to Tom and told him that I had been backslid and wanted to get back to God, but there was this invisible wall that I could not get through. He told me he was having a prayer meeting Monday night and I should come. I went to his house and I rededicated my life to the Lord in prayer. I did not feel any difference at the time, but about three days later I felt the wall come down and I felt like I was back with God.
I have now been a Christian for 46 years. I have been married to the same woman for 46 years. I have three children and seven grandchildren.
As I look back on my life, one thing stands out to me. That night my life was changed on a Mountain outside of Las Vegas, NV.
Before that night, my life was one of alcoholism, abuse, and the absence of peace. No Christian influences. From that night in the summer of 1970 to the present, my life has become one of experiencing God’s blessings. He has blessed me and my family in so many ways over the years. Now my whole family is Christian.
As He told me 46 years ago, “Live your life for me”, This is my desire.
I want to live my life for God, in allowing Him to use me in ministering to His people.
Now Paul is determined to live for Jesus. He’s already obtained a Master’s degree in theology, but his passion calls him to continue learning. He wants to get training at Christian Leaders Institute so he can continue his passion to live for Jesus.
If your calling to live for Jesus involves training, Christian Leaders Institute is for you. Click here to enroll in courses today!
Experiencing revival is something that all of us wish for. But how often do we stop to think that before a true revival, a time of darkness must take place?
Matt Stuemky had to go through his dark times before experiencing revival in his soul. Though he was raised in the church, his ideas of Jesus were more about fear than love. More about forced obedience than loving submission. This fear-based understanding of God resulted in plummeting into sin when he was a teenager.
But God’s grace is always enough. He knew where Matt was the whole time, and when he was ready, God brought him back into His grace. After experiencing revival in his soul, Matt was even given a ministry calling to fulfill! Now, Matt serves with his wife as a Care Pastor in his church.
Knowing Light, Pain of Darkness, and Experiencing Revival to Love and Light… If I could summarize my life, this first sentence would be the overview.
Hello to my fellow Brothers and Sisters in Christ. My name is Matt Stuemky and I live in Weatherford, OK, United States. I grew up in church and accepted Christ as my personal Savior at the young age of 7 years old.
Growing up in a very strict, and highly ‘religious’ environment (legalistic), my understanding of God’s love was less about relationship and more so based on fear of hell. I grew up in an environment where I fully understood how the slightest sin separated me from God, but I didn’t truly know God’s grace, mercy, and life-altering love for me. As I grew older and made mistakes many other teens made, I dealt with separation from God due to an immense amount of guilt. Although God never moved, I moved away from him due to a growing sense of being unworthy of His love.
Over an 8-year period, I dove head first into a sinful lifestyle. “If you can’t beat them, join them”, seemed to be a standard for me in that dark time of my life. I tried to fill the void left by a lack of relationship with God with meaningless physical encounters, alcohol and other recreational drugs common to late teens and young adults. Nothing helped.
Finally, a year after marrying the one bright spot in my life (Annie), I relented and begged God for a relationship. Through all of the bad times, I developed a new understanding of just how important a relationship with God was, and just how valuable grace and mercy were to a sinner like me.
That rough patch in my life made me less judgmental of others and their shortcomings and encouraged me to love people right where they are in life. My wife and I eventually were invited into a small group leader role at a local church and God used that environment to groom us into the pastoral role we hold today. 13 years later we operate as Care Pastors at our local church. We love to love people. Good people, bad people, messy people…we love them all. Our dream is to see every Christ follower engaged in meaningful community together (small groups / “LIFEgroups”). I love to raise up, mentor, and train small group pastors that can provide intimate and safe environments for people to be real and vulnerable. Environments where real change can take place, real accountability is embraced, and where the Holy Spirit is free to move.
Another area of ministry heavy on my heart is men’s ministry. We live in Western Oklahoma where men take pride in a hard day’s work from sun up to sun down. We live in oilfield country where money is readily available to a hard worker. There’s no need for a college education to earn six figures here. These elements create a culture of spiritual apathy among men due to a combination of ‘wealth’ and exhaustion. They are often exhausted when they get home and it’s easier to disengage than to engage with their own wife and kids. I want them to experience a call to action to re-engage and to reprioritize where they spend their time, money, and energy. We need men to be leaders in their own homes again.
The Bible says people perish for a lack of knowledge. CLI will help me increase my knowledge and understanding. Combining that knowledge with the school of hard knocks I’ve lived through will help me be a better pastor to people around me. It will allow me to impart that same wisdom and knowledge to the leaders I help mentor and, in turn, to the people they mentor. I also love the fact I gain a network of fellow leaders to help me with resources, encouragement, and accountability.
Having the ability to earn a scholarship and further my knowledge is an incredible blessing. With a young and active family, affordability has been a key obstacle preventing me from furthering my formal education in ministry. Having the ability to complete this type of training for free is an absolute answer to prayers.
If there is any prayer I could request, it would be for me to more fully understand the wholeness of God’s love through a deeper daily relationship with Him. As that relationship grows in depth, I will become a better vessel for God to operate through and He can be glorified more easily and more often as I interact with the people around me. I also ask to be lifted up in my ability to remain focused on sticking to a daily spiritual routine.
There are hundreds – maybe even thousands – who are experiencing revival in the world today! Many of them are finding that God has an urgent calling for their lives. They’re finding that they need quality ministry training. If you’re looking for quality ministry training, click here to learn more about Christian Leaders Institute’s certificates and diplomas. Or you can click here t0 enroll in our first class right away!