Drew McConnell
contingent staff
I’m from Lexington Kentucky and I grew up in a family of believers that attended church every Sunday. I would have professed faith in Jesus from a young age, but it was not genuine saving faith. I didn’t follow Jesus I only followed what I wanted to do and my sin. I was born a sinner but I really noticed myself loving my sin in high school. I would put my identity in my performance, how people viewed me, I made many idols, and was living in and for my sin. From a worldly view I had everything my flesh wanted but it still wasn’t enough, I still wasn’t satisfied nor fulfilled. Looking back at this dark time in my life I would say that in high school I wanted Jesus to be my Savior but not my Lord and you can’t separate the two, He is Savior and Lord.
When I moved into college my freshman year at WKU, I met Chase who was a CO staff member. Through reading the Bible with Chase this was the first time I started to take Jesus seriously and actually read the Bible by myself. Through this time in the Bible I began to see the perfect loving life of Jesus and the way He calls His followers to live. I felt conviction for the first time. This was the first time I fully realized the things that I was doing were sins against Jesus on the cross. I wrestled with this as I was reading through the book of John and during this time I saw the perfect life Jesus lived, His death on the cross for me which I deserved and that He raised from the dead defeating sin so I can live with Him forever. This is the Gospel of salvation and my need for this Gospel became clear when I read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. This passage said the unrighteous will not enter the kingdom of heaven and listed off examples of the unrighteous and I fit that category perfectly. I asked Chase about this passage and he pointed out that it was past tense because it was written to Christians, and that you are seen as righteous in Jesus by faith. He also pointed out that the unrighteous lived for those sins and the righteous in Christ now try to kill those sins. This is when the Lord saved me and softened/regenerated my heart. I quickly realized that the unrighteous was not past tense for me it was present. I started to love Jesus and hate the sins He hates. That is when I turned from my sin/repented, trusted in Jesus as my Savior AND Lord, and Treasured Him over everything else. I finally began to faithfully follow Jesus as my Savior AND Lord, and not just a profession of faith but real genuine saving faith!
Since the Lord saved me around February of 2023, I started to live my life for the Lord and not myself. This practically looked like striving to kill and fight the sin in my life. Jesus has given me so much fulfillment and peace being able to rest my identity in Him. I got baptized into my local church as a member in October of 2023. Since then I have been really plugged into the church. The Lord quickly gave me a love for Himself, His people, and the lost and gave me a desire to share the Gospel. From this God given love for Himself and others, He has given me the desire to join CO staff as I saw how the Lord used CO to reach me, I now want to reach more college students with the Gospel.