SID: Now, pastor Derek Snodgrass had a praying mother. He was trained, get this, to fast and pray and read the Bible, at seven. But at 17 God audibly told Derek what the name of his church that he pastors today would be, and that it would attract the broken and the unchurched. That same year, he had a life changing encounter with the Holy Spirit. Derek, tell me about that.
DERRICK: Yeah. So Sid, growing up in my family, it was normal for us to fast. It was normal for us to pray. And even though we weren’t saved, my mom really just gave us that training and it started off small, three or four hours a day, but then it grew to something even greater.
SID: You call three or four hours a day small?
DERRICK: Yeah, it was small for us. Yeah. Yeah.
SID: Okay.
DERRICK: But eventually it would grow into something to where she was really just planting that seed within us, to when we truly had our own walk with God, that would be a part of our pursuit of how to seek the Lord.
SID: At 16, you really got serious with the Lord. What happened?
DERRICK: I got serious about the Lord, Sid, and I just asked God to fill me with the Holy Spirit, baptize me in the holy ghost. And so there was a revival coming to our church and I went to the service, completely focused that I wasn’t going to get anything less than what God had for me.
DERRICK: When I went to that service, we went on the altar, in Pentecostal, we tarry. It’s when you go to the altar, you just call on Jesus. And I began to envision Jesus dying on the cross. I began to envision his sacrifice for me, and I began to call on Jesus out of my heart. And I remember for the first time, Sid, I felt the power of what I know now as the Holy Spirit, kind of pushing me back on the outside of me.
