2019 Chattooga High School graduate, Dalton Bray has heard his calling and is ready to answer it, but he could use a little help from his friends to make it possible.
Bray has recently started a GoFundMe to raise money for tuition to go to Ozark Bible College.
“I never really had a set plan on what I wanted to do after graduation, so I went straight into the workforce and helped my family pay bills. I did, however, experience what felt like my first real encounter with God during my freshman year of high school in 2016. I got saved at Summerville Pentecostal Worship Center, which is where I actively attend, and God started to transform me. My church also introduced me to this college called Ozark Bible Institute- a school that teaches young people how to spread The Gospel through ministry,” Bray said.
“OBI also has a choir that goes around the country leading churches in worship. A few months after hearing about them I found out that the choir was scheduled to perform at my church. So skip forward a couple months to them coming. While they were at the front of the church singing and ministering to us I had this huge conviction in my heart and I started debating whether I should attend or not. Well, one of the guys stopped singing and came to me and started praying with me. I prayed my heart out and I decided I wanted to follow God. I wanted to give up everything -and I mean everything. This included the plans I had at the time of getting a high paying job , buying whatever I wanted and just rushing into life. I realized that what I wanted did not align with what God wanted and I felt led to attend OBI, to further myself in the study of God’s word, to grow my personal relationship with him and to effectively minister to people, especially young adults and teens. Loving God is the greatest commandment he has given us to follow,” Bray said.
“I’m trying with everything in me to follow in Jesus’ footsteps to not only lead people to him but to have him know me. Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:21-23 this;
21-“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.
22-Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and driven out demons in Your name, and done many miracles in Your name?’
23- And then I will declare to them publicly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me , you who act wickedly.’
These are some of the scariest verses in the Bible, and it’s because so many people do works in Jesus’ name but they don’t have a relationship with him. I am building this relationship with him and I’m eager to just dwell in his word and learn under Godly teachers with other students that have the same desires as me. I won’t be one of the many who Jesus declares to depart from him. Jesus will and does know me and will continue to, and I desire for others to have this type of relationship with him. I want others to feel so loved by God that they can’t understand it, I want to effectively lead people to Christ for theirs and his sake. I hope to encourage others to go out and minister to others. Being a Christian to me is loving God with all of your mind, body and soul. It’s doing what he tells us, to go out into the nations and spread the Gospel, minister to people, have discipleship, and to have a relationship with him to where we walk in the spirit daily. Going to this school I know I can achieve the Goals placed in my heart by God and I know I will be used to further his kingdom,” Bray said.
Bray has raised $355 of his $5,000 goal.
About OBI:
Ozark Bible Institute and College is located in Neosho, a thriving little city in Southwestern Missouri, located at the Gateway to the Ozarks.
For over 50 years, Ozark Bible Institute has been training men and women for the ministry by providing a thorough knowledge of the Word of God and practical experience.
Many former OBI students are actively engaged in pastoral and evangelistic ministry, Christian education, missions and other facets of the Lord’s work.
There is definitely a need for a conservative, Pentecostal, holiness-oriented school.
We want to fill that need.
