Co-Founder's Testimony - Alex

I wasn’t always the kind of man you’d expect to drop a career, enroll in a Master of Divinity program, and build a company around faith and a love for Jesus.

You’d probably picture someone raised in a Christian home — a guy who’s been serving in church since he could walk, studied Scripture for years, and dedicated his life to loving others like Jesus does.

But maybe that’s part of the problem with how we view faith today.
Maybe those expectations — that picture-perfect Christian background — are what keep so many people away from Jesus. They kept me away for 22 years.

Yes, the world offered its temptations. I chased comfort, pleasure, and everything that promised satisfaction but left me empty. But it wasn’t just the world that hardened my heart toward God — it was the religious mindset I saw in others. The judgment. The hypocrisy. The rules without relationship.

That combination left me an outspoken atheist… and even filled with hate toward Christianity — and Jesus Himself.

Growing Up Without Relationship

My family started out attending a small Catholic church. I went through communion, sat in pews, listened to hymns, and learned how to behave.

But I never learned who Jesus really was.
Church felt like a rulebook, not a relationship.

Soon, we became “CEO Catholics” — Christmas and Easter Only. I’d sit through mass, tapping my foot and counting the minutes until we could leave for pancakes at Denny’s.

I didn’t understand the cross. I didn’t understand grace.
All I learned was: be good, sit still, follow the rules.

Later, my mom, a deeply spiritual woman, wanted us to explore other faiths. So we joined a Unitarian church — inclusive, open, a little bit of everything. It was her way of helping us discover truth for ourselves.

But what I learned there was that when you try to pick and choose pieces of every belief system, you end up with something that can’t save you.
It felt good, but it wasn’t true.

As 1 Corinthians 8:6 reminds us:

“Yet for us there is one God, the Father… and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things.”

So, I decided to ditch religion altogether and just focus on being a “decent person.” Why chase something that felt fake when I could just enjoy life now?

Watching Hypocrisy Up Close

As I got older, the world around me kept shaping my perspective.

I saw people leave church parking lots and immediately curse each other out in traffic. I saw Christians judging others while hiding their own sins. Men holding hateful signs outside of pride festivals while cheating on their wives. Friends who wore “Christian” labels but partied hard and tore others down.

And honestly? I wasn’t innocent either. I was drunk, prideful, and selfish — but at least I wasn’t pretending to be holy while doing it.

So between the pull of earthly temptation and the push of judgmental religion, I became a bull-headed atheist.

When God Said “Enough”

By my junior year of college, I was drowning.
Parties. Drinking. Depression. Empty pleasures that couldn’t fill the hole inside me.

When false rumors spread about me around campus, I hit rock bottom.
And that’s when a friend invited me to church. Normally, I’d fire off some sarcastic excuse — but this time, for whatever reason, I said yes.

That Sunday, the AC was broken. We sat under a tent in the Florida heat, sweating through the sermon. But I remember thinking, this feels like it’s for me. Every word hit home. Even my friend leaned over and said, “Dude, it’s like he’s talking right to you.”

That day, something in me shifted.

I started going back. I met a girl — a strong Christian woman who would later become my wife and the mother of my two kids. And when I went home for summer break, I ran into an old friend — a divine “coincidence.” He told me he’d been saved and was going to seminary. We stayed up all night talking, and before he left, he handed me a book that would change everything: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

Lewis, once an atheist himself, wrote words that pierced my heart:

“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

That line hit me hard. If Jesus was real… nothing else mattered more.

The Moment Everything Changed

Even after that summer, I still struggled to believe. I prayed the same prayer from Mark 9:24:

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”

Then one day, in a random church in San Antonio — hungover, tired, and not expecting much — God met me there.

The sermon was about Nicodemus. The same story I had just read and watched in The Chosen. Every word felt like it was aimed straight at me. My whole body shook. I started to cry.

When the worship team sang “Holy, Holy, Holy,” I raised my hands and gave my life to Christ.

A New Mission

From that day forward, everything changed. I continued serving as an Army officer, but I felt a new fire inside me. On my final deployment, I finally had the courage to wear my faith openly.

I built community with other believers. We shared the gospel with anyone who would listen. We encouraged each other through dark times. We watched people find Jesus — not because of us, but because the Holy Spirit was working through us.

That’s when I realized my passion isn’t a career. It isn’t money or comfort.
My passion is Jesus Christ.

So I went all in.

I left a secure job with great pay and benefits to follow my calling — to spread the Gospel, to build community, to be a fisher of men.

Because that’s what it means to be a Rebel in Faith.

To stand firm in Truth.
To love instead of judge.
To live for eternity, not approval.

The world calls it reckless.
I call it obedience.

And to all who walk this path beside me — never forget:

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” – Galatians 6:9

We are Rebels in Faith.