Bill Rogers

Testimonial
I was always a pretty curious kid. I remember getting a hammer for my 5th birthday. The next thing I knew I was climbing on the plumber’s truck (he was there trying to dislodge the oranges my brother had tried to flush down the toilet). I climbed up on his truck and bashed in his windshield. Just a curious kid, right? Thankfully, that curiosity spilled over into other areas as well. I had a Sunday school teacher named Mrs. Sallstrom who always tried to answer my questions. A few years ago, we crossed paths and she said, “Bill, do you remember all those questions that you used to ask me? Questions like….okay; the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, right? Well, how did they go to the bathroom? Did they have those “Portable Johns”?” After trying to answer a lot of questions like that she finally sat down and challenged me as an 8 year old, saying, “Bill, you need to start reading the Bible for yourself to find out all these answers”. So, I started trying to read the Bible and found that it answered many of the questions that I had been asking. When I was ten years old, I came to the realization that I needed and wanted to have a relationship with God. I began to understand that by asking his son, Jesus, into my heart that he would be willing to take care of the things that were separating me from him, so I prayed asking Christ to come into my life and take control of everything. That was a pivotal moment in my life. My curiosity had led me to some important discoveries. At the same time, my curiosity was leading into some dark places as well. I had been saving up money from odd jobs and my father had been saying all along that I could buy anything I want with it. I decided to test him and said, “Okay, I’d like a subscription to Playboy”. He paused and said, “Well, it is your money . . . do what you like”. In a strange way, I wish my father had said no. So here I was, probably the only 10 year old in my hometown that had a subscription to Playboy. After about a year of reading both the Bible and Playboy, I started feeling convicted with that still small voice saying, Bill, if you really want to grow as a Christian, you are going to need to get rid of all those magazines. We lived in the country, so I walked almost a mile with all those magazines in a garbage bag. I remember when I threw them in that dumpster, I felt a sense of peace and relief inside. Over the next few years, God brought some mature men into my life to help me grow as a Christian. One was my cousin, Robert, who had been caught up in the music and drug scene of the 60s. His life made a 180 degree turn when he came to Christ. He took an interest in me, and helped me to grow in my faith. I went on to University of Georgia and got involved in my brother’s fraternity. Before I arrived, some of the brothers had taken a 65 Cadillac, cut the top off of it and raced it around Athens before setting it on fire behind our house. As the firemen were trying to put out the fire, some of the brothers stole the fire truck and drove it around trying to spray people. So this was the peer group I found myself with: a bit crazy, but some wonderful men. Out of those 100 guys, there was one who, although soft spoken, was serious about his relationship with God. Bert took an interest in me and helped me to grow in my faith while introducing me to the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. As I approached graduation, I looked back on my life and saw how God had brought certain men into my life when I was at different crossroads that helped encourage me to make right decisions. Although I didn’t always choose the right path, those relationships helped me to continue to pursue following God. When I started thinking about what I wanted to do with my life, I couldn’t think of anything else that I would rather do than to help to coach others the way that I had been mentored along the way. I joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ and began an interesting faith journey. As I look back on my 20+ years with CCC, (13 being in Romania), there have been many opportunities to come alongside people who are hurting and in transition. While in Romania, I read “Wild at Heart” by John Eldredge. I remember one of the quotes: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” I started thinking through some of the dreams that I had not really had the courage to pursue in the past. One of these dreams was to study counseling and to one day be able to come alongside hurting individuals and their families like I had been doing in ministry, but with additional training and experience. Since finishing a Masters in Clinical Counseling, I have found that the training has helped me have more insight with others. I count it a blessing to be a part of the Life Builders’ family and to be able to mentor others