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Testimony of Jesus Christ in the life of Santiago Continenza
Delivery Method: Spoken
Michael: All right. Santiago: Hello! I'm Santiago Continenza,
and I am thrilled to get to share my testimony with you-
what God has done in my life.
I am currently in Panama City Beach, Florida,
and it is Wednesday, March 13th, 2013,
and I am on spring break vacation right now
with some of my good buds from S.M.S.U., enjoying this awesome conference;
and, just a little bit about me: I'm 22 years old,
I'm an accounting major and, simply put, I'm a lover of Jesus Christ.
A little background, some- a synopsis of my life:
I was born in Maplewood, Minnesota in 1991,
and when I was 4 years old, I had something really tragic happen in my life.
I lost my dad to pancreatic cancer,
a really horrific event that happened in my life
that still kind of lingers with me today;
but, I'm glad that it happened at the age that it did.
Sometimes, it is difficult when you have a firmer grasp/
have known someone like a loved one long
to understand what it is like to lose someone
like an immediate family member.
When I was 5 years old,
that's when I made my first decision to follow Christ-
to have Him be Lord of my life, to have a relationship with Him;
and when I was 6 in 1997, my family moved to Brainerd, Minnesota,
and that's when I reaffirmed my relationship with Jesus,
at the church that my family started attending there
when we first moved to Brainerd.
Now, 2001- another interesting thing happened.
It still kind of has role as far as having shaped me in my life.
I- my family lost our house in a tornado, a really tragic incident,
and I understood what was like to lose things like toys,
but also, not just luxuries like video games and that type of thing,
but losing things that, you know, are necessities;
and that was just a really powerful learning experience for me.
2004: When I was 13 years old, my mom got remarried,
after having been widowed nine years, to my step-dad, Ed,
who is a remarkable man of God,
and I'm so glad that he and my step-brother both entered my life.
I didn't necessarily see all the good things that happened through it then;
but now, today, I'm just so thankful for their role in my life.
2006: I joined a rock band, Stoked Beyond Boredom, when I was 15.
It has been a really awesome thing; I play drums and percussion,
and I ventured into that at the age of 15,
and I've been a part of that band ever since.
In 2009, I graduated from high school;
2011: I graduated from junior college, both in Brainerd,
had a job at a local grocery store in the Brainerd/ Baxter area,
worked there for about a year-
a really good learning experience-
it's the only job I've ever had to date;
and, I'd say as far as my relationship with God,
two very powerful things happened in my life in 2011.
It was a very "landmark" year for me.
In February that year, right after I turned 20,
I attended a *** purity seminar for men that my church had;
and that just totally gave me a firmer grasp and understanding
of what it's like to be a Godly man,
to live sexually pure, to abstain from *** in all its forms,
to abstain from *** and those types of things;
and I had really struggled with that a lot, all the way up until the age of 20.
God has done wonders- totally changed that around in my life.
Also, in August 2011, I moved to Marshall, Minnesota
for college at S.M.S.U. to study accounting;
and the very first Sunday I attended church,
which is the home church I attend in Marshall currently,
that service- just everything in it, and Sunday school, too-
just really spoke to me- to my innermost being about
having identity in Christ,
and that I'm not identified by the things that I do, like play drums,
I'm not identified by my major of studying accounting,
or what I look like,
but I'm defined solely by what I do on this Earth for Jesus;
and that was just a really big, impactful thing for me,
and just everything about that service
just still resonates very much within me today;
and these last two years-
it hasn't been a- necessarily a recommitment to follow Christ,
but it has been a revitalization of my faith.
(Siren blaring aloud) There have been a lot of things,
(Siren blaring aloud) even though I've been a Christian
(Siren blaring aloud) most of my life,
(Siren blaring aloud) that I was really lackadaisical on,
(Siren blaring aloud) you know- I was lacking things,
(Siren blaring aloud) and Christ has really done
(Siren blaring aloud) a wonder in that the last two years;
and I'm still a work in progress- still not perfect-
but God has just really
shaped and refurbished those things in me.
I have a Scripture passage I'd like to share with you.
It comes from Matthew 20, verses 1-16.
This passage is called "...the Workers in the Vineyard,"
and Jesus describes this landowner, okay?
This landowner- it's really interesting.
He hires workers to work in his field early in the morning
and he tells them that he would give them
a denarii as their day's wages,
and certain other workers come later along in the day
and the master tells them
I will pay you your fair share for what you do working,
and also, people come on later in the day to do that, too,
and Jesus, or- the landowner says the same thing.
What I've been getting out of this passage recently is
after the landowner pays these people for their work,
it turns out that they all get paid the same wage: A denarius;
and that relates to our lives as Christians
in that some of us come to faith in Jesus
and relationship with Jesus early on.
Some of us don't come to know Him until high school or college,
until married, or having kids,
or some people don't even find Jesus until
they're on a hospital bed getting ready to die.
We all meet Jesus at various points in our lives;
and no matter how long we've known Him,
the main thing that matters
is that we have a relationship with Him.
That's really humbled me recently- is this passage,
the fact that even though I've been a Christian most of my life,
God is concerned about seeing new people come to relationship with Him.
Jesus is concerned with seeing us witness, those of us who are Christians,
to have a desire to see people come into His kingdom,
and new Christians are ultimately what Jesus is all about.
Like I was mentioning earlier, with my identity in Christ,
Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6 say
to trust the Lord with all your heart,
lean not on your own understanding,
and to acknowledge God in all our ways.
That's something that I've been striving to do all the more of late in my life:
To have all my trust- my full reliability- be on Jesus Christ.
Another Scripture verse is Colossians 3:17,
which talks also about that very important point of trust,
and that's something that is a daily challenge for me.
It's something that I want to just be able to share with people in my life
and to have an impact.
So, that being said, I'm very thankful for you
having listened to and watched my testimony.
God is good! He deserves all the praise!
One thing I will say in closing is
even though I have been a Christian most of my life,
I'm 22 years old- I'm still very young;
and one thing God's been teaching me lately is
life is not "microwave,"
that God is a "crock-pot" God;
that things don't necessarily happen today or tomorrow
when you want them to happen.
There's many things that God will choose to elongate
over the course of 10, 20, 50 years- who knows?
We have to be faithful, just as God is faithful to us;
and I hope this testimony spoke to you. God bless!
Date of Video: Wednesday, March 13th, 2013
Location: Edgewater Beach Resort; Panama City Beach, Florida
Filmed at: CRU Big Break Conference 2013
Filmed by: Michael Sterling
Testimony by: Santiago Continenza
Song Credits:
Phillips, Craig, and Dean- Let the Worshippers Arise
Song Credits:
Starfield- Reign in Us
Thanks for watching and listening! -Luke 19:10