MY TESTIMONY

I was born and raised in a Christian home.  I ran with "Christian" friends, I hung out with Christians, I even went to church every Sunday.  In everybody's eyes, Brian Center was a Christian.  It was not until 1994, at the age of 25, and shortly before the birth of my first child that I actually gave my life to Christ.

See, from the age of 15, even though many believed me to be a Christian, I was living a double life.  One life showed me to be a guy that had it all going for him.  I was a successfull High School Athlete, I had lots of friends, I was even nominated for the Fellowship of Christian Athlete's, Athlete Of The Year award in 1987.  Then there was my other side, this was a side that for many years, I believed was harming no one, you see, I was addicted to pornography.  Without my permission, this addiction was stealing my ability to have real relationships.  It was causing me to isolate myself, and to seek acceptance through pornography.

I was married in 1991 to my wonderful bride, now of 17 years.  We dated for 4 years, all the while I was hiding this awful addiction.  I was working hard to keep it from her, because of the shame that I felt and the sure pain it would cause this wonderful woman.  Shortly before the birth of my first child, after 10 years of struggling with my addiction, I finally accepted the free gift of Salvation, found in the person of Jesus Christ.  I stood boldly in front of my church July 11th, 1994 and confessed to all in attendance that I was addicted to pornography, what a burden that was lifted.  Shortly after that time, I began to feel the call of God on my life to the ministry.  This is a call I ran from for 13 years for various reasons, mostly because I still struggled with my addiction.  Life was good for a couple of years, another child was added to the family, things were good.  Like most men, during that time, I began to take things for granted, I began to place credit for all the positive things in my life squarely on my own shoulders.  However, I found that what was happening in reality was I was drifting farther and farther away from my relationship with God.  As a result, I began to fall back into my addiction, but this time I would go even deeper.  So deep in fact that on Valentines day of 2006, as my Bride was handing me my Valentines Day gift, I looked this beautiful woman that had stood behind me through all the previous struggles, I looked her in the eye and told her, "I am done, I don't want to be married to you any more".  Of course I was laying all the blame for our "Bad" marriage on her.  I was so blinded by the lies of my addiction that I could not see the truth.  I did commit to her however to seek counseling.  This is something that we did for several months.  Then on Oct 16, 2006, I walked into my job as Operations Manager for a local trucking company, little did I know that I would be home that day by 11:00 am and unemployed.  That day would begin a journey for me that would lead me back to Jesus.

March 16, 2007, after being out all day looking for a job, I was home, tired, and frustrated.  I begin to flip through the channels looking for something to numb my senses.  I came across an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show".  The subject of the show that day was a book titled "The Secret", The secret to a life of abundance".  Being unemployed, that title appealed to me, so I began to listen to this panel of people talk about, all you really needed in this life was positive thinking, and abundance would come your way.  But as I was listening, something amazing happened.  Jesus showed up, and for the first time in my life I felt I heard the audible voice of God.  God was telling me "I have given you a life of abundance, I have blessed you with many things, but you have chosen not to honor me with your life".  That day, I locked myself in my room, and for the next forty five minutes I wrestled with God.  I cried, I prayed, I got angry, but after all of that, I got up from that floor, and made a committment to God that wherever he would lead I would go.  It was with that commitment that God began to renew the call on my life to the ministry.

I believe that God has allowed me to experience many things in my life, he has allowed me to stray, and learn some very hard truths.  I believe he has allowed that to happen in my life, so perhaps I can help other men avoid the same pitfalls that I have.  God, the creator of the universe, has filled me with a passion to see men come to know him.  God has given me the ability to be 100% transparent concerning the truth behind the lies of addiction.  And he has blessed me with a boldness to speak the truth to whatever audience I am speaking to.

Do you know Jesus?  Do you walk, and talk with him daily?  If you don't, invite him in, he is waiting to fill you with more joy than you could ever imagine.  And through Jesus Christ, you can see the same victory in your life that I have been able to experience in mine.

Brian C. Center, President, CenterMark Ministries

Phillipian 3:13-14  kjv

President/CEO:  Brian Center - centermarkministries@gmail.com

Vice President: Carl Center - centersh1@cox.net

Secretary: Ed Smith - smiths007@pgtc.com

Treasurer: Brad Sill - bandlsill@cox.net

Member: John Pianalto - giopianalto@yahoo.com

Member: Tim Moore - tim.moore@greenlandcomposites.com