I was born on March 25, 1975, in Saint Joseph, Missouri and raised in a Christian home by two parents who love the Lord. We attended church regularly every Sunday and I participated in many church related activities, such as vacation bible school and church youth camp. However, in my teenage years I rebelled against my upbringing and turned to the world, leaving the church behind. In my pride I was convinced that I was too intelligent to believe the Bible because it was a man-made system created to explain that which man could not yet comprehend.
At the age of 21, I joined the US Navy. During my time in the Navy I traveled to Asia and came in contact with many eastern religions. I was drawn particularly to Taoism and Zen Buddhism, both which I began to study regularly. These seemed more acceptable to me than Christianity because neither required faith, instead they were based on a rationalistic worldview which required one only to accept that which one was able to understand. While in the Navy I also married, and my first daughter was born. After leaving the Navy in 2000, my wife, daughter and I moved back to Missouri where I started attending a Zen Buddhist temple. During this time, if asked, I would have emphatically stated that I was agnostic, believing that it was impossible to know if there was a God in the universe.
Life was going quite well, from a human perspective. I had a good job in the computer industry, had purchased a home, and had a family. However, in the spring of 2002 I lost my job, and that summer my wife told me that she no longer loved me and wanted a divorce. I was devastated. Even though I had rejected my Christian upbringing, I still understood marriage as a lifelong commitment. After the divorce I was lost, not knowing what to do, or to whom to turn. I asked for help from my Zen Master but was offered nothing to ease my pain. Therefore, I did what those do who are not walking with God—I immersed myself in work as an attempt to “keep busy” and avoid the reality of the situation. However, God would not let me avoid reality, he would get my attention. The following year the roof of my house was ripped off by a tornado and shortly thereafter my ex-wife informed me that she was planning to marry a man whom she had known prior to our marriage. My life was in shambles, and I knew at this point that there was no hope for me as long as I relied on my own strength, for I had no strength left. I recall at this time watching news coverage of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the awful atrocities that groups like Al-Qaeda were committing overseas. One incident in particular caught my attention, that of reporter Daniel Pearl. The horrible way in which he was killed shattered my world view that understood people were evil because they were taught to be through life experience, not because of any original sin nature. I now saw that Buddhism was wrong in assuming that our original nature is good and only corrupted by the world over time. I now saw clearly that man is inherently evil. It was at this time I started reading the Scriptures.
As I studied God’s Word, I was consistently astounded as the truth was opened to me through his Spirit. The real estate agent I purchased my home from was a strong Christian. He had befriended me and showed me love even when I was adamantly against “his” religion and wanted nothing to do with it. I think he was as surprised as I was when I called him and told him that I wanted to come to church. I attended church sporadically over the next year but was not yet sure of my faith. Then, on November 13th, 2005, I could no longer deny the absolute truth of the gospel and the fact that Jesus Christ is truly God, and worthy of my praise. I knelt in my home, alone, and prayed to Jesus, trusting in him and him alone for my salvation. The change in my heart was dramatic and I was given a joy and peace I had not known before. No longer was I satisfied with sporadic attendance, I needed to go and worship and be with other believers. I started to meet with my friend and to attend church with him. While there the Lord continued to work in my heart to do some amazing healing of hurt emotions from the divorce, and restored to me a sense of worth and acceptance as his son, whom he loves and will never abandon. It was here that God restored to me the years that the locusts had eaten, by bringing my current wife Megan, a godly woman, into my life. We were married in 2009 and, in addition to our oldest Elise, we have been blessed with three more children, Noah, Lilliann and Ethan.
As I grew in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, I became exceedingly convinced that the Reformed position was the biblical position. This was primarily through my own study of Scripture but was also influenced by reading men such as Spurgeon, Calvin, Packer, Murray and Van Til. The church I was attending was not reformed. While I had many friends there, who I do count as sincere believers, I could no longer agree with some of their viewpoints on what the Scripture teaches. Therefore, in 2009, my family and I started attending Northland Reformed Church, in Kansas City.
Prior to my salvation my thoughts centered on what would be the most marketable degree to get, what would further my position in the corporate world. After my salvation, the things of the world seemed strangely dim and my views on what was important in life were radically altered. I thought I would like to continue my education in theological studies; however, in the providence of God I was unable to start school at this time. As much as I wanted to start school, if I would have done it at that time, it would have been in my own timing and power and not in God’s. I still had much growing to do, and issues to work on in my own life, before I took on this area of study. The desire to continue to go to school never entirely left me, and after coming to Northland Reformed I felt the call to full time ministry.
With the approval of the Spiritual Council, I enrolled at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2011 under the mentorship of Rev. Randy Klynsma. In 2016 Rev. Klynsma took a call to pastor Omaha Reformed Church and Northland Reformed Church decided to call me as the next pastor in Kansas City. After graduating from Greenville with a Master of Divinity in 2017, I was ordained to the gospel ministry at Northland Reformed Church. Since becoming pastor at Northland Reformed, I have witnessed God growing his church in remarkable ways. One of the greatest joys I have as a pastor is to see people come to Northland, burdened by past sins, and see them receive freedom in Jesus Christ.
One thing I have learned from my past is simply this—if God can save a sinner like me, he can save anyone! That is the hope I wish to bring to people. I am so thankful that I have become a pastor within the RCUS denomination and given the honor and privilege of “feeding the sheep” of God’s flock. There is nothing more important in this life than the faithful preaching and teaching of the whole counsel of God, for the building up of the saints, to the glory of God who is to be praised forever and ever.
Rev. Christopher Campbell
Kansas City, MO