My name is Rebekah Wilson and I am a member of the Dallas/Fort Worth Church of Christ in Texas. I am a Kingdom Kid, so I grew up as a member of the ICOC alongside my three sisters and brother. Being a Kingdom Kid, I always knew what “studying the Bible” meant. However, I did not fully understand the implications of being a disciple. When I entered the teen ministry, I attended a Teen Camp session that caused me to realize that I was going to hell because, although I grew up in the church, I was not a baptized disciple. This realization led to my nine-month journey of studying the Bible and becoming a disciple on April 8th, 2007; I was 14 and in my Freshman year of high school.
When asked how long I have been a disciple, most times, I will say that I was baptized in the teens, but did not truly begin living as a disciple until the campus ministry. Although I was considered a disciple, I was living this life very subtly. When I entered the Campus, I learned how important bearing fruit is, and how I was not doing this in any way. I learned a lot about my character within the first year. I was harboring bitter feelings toward my father for many reasons. I felt that he did not deserve my forgiveness any longer. Luckily, a wonderful sister asked me, “You sin against God every day; what if He decided you did not deserve His forgiveness anymore?” I was cut to the heart. I made the decision to forgive my father, even if I needed to do this on a daily basis. In addition to this, I learned that I have a difficult time trusting God with my life. As I became independent, God allowed me to endure hardship in my second year of school. I dealt with sisters with medical and psychological issues, which turned my world upside-down. Not only so, but I, myself, was being tested for numerous psychological disorders. Ultimately, I was diagnosed with various disorders which largely impact my everyday life, causing many aspects of being a disciple especially challenging for me. I began feeling like I was loosing control of my life and hit rock-bottom in my walk with God. I realized, after many talks with sisters, an impactful lesson, and reading through the books of Proverbs and Psalm that I needed to trust God with controlling my life and that He will always forgive me when I ask for it. My favorite scripture stemmed from this experience: “He..who keeps his oath, even when it hurts..will never be shaken.” – Taken from Psalm 15. This scripture helps me to persevere in my walk with God, even when it is so hard that it physically or emotionally hurts me. With this, I was able to see how wonderfully God can work in my life with all the talents He has given me. One of these talents is my gift to find things I love, learn everything about them, and master the skills that go along with them. In 2011, I observed at a preschool for Deaf children and fell in love with them. Because of this, I wanted to learn everything about Deafness, its culture, the community, etc. The skill with this, obviously, is ASL. I began taking ASL classes and joined the small Deaf Ministry in my region. I changed my major to Deaf Education, in hope to teach English at a school for the Deaf. My ultimate goal, though, is to one day lead a Deaf Ministry somewhere in America.
I started learning very quickly and noticed how God was using my skill to evangelize. Ever since, ASL and the Deaf Ministry has been a major part of my life. Because of this, I focused mainly on the Deaf Ministry at the World Discipleship Summit. Meeting the Deaf disciples at the Summit is absolutely my best memory while being a disciple, as I was so encouraged by their faith! I was extremely inspired after learning about what it takes to evangelize the Deaf. After hearing the Parable of the Lost Coin and how it relates to the Deaf Ministry and how God can use me regardless of how limited my ASL skills are, I started to form an awesome vision for the Deaf Ministry. I feel that God has given me many strengths, but the greatest would have to be my immense capacity to have incredible dreams for my future and the future of God’s Kingdom. I hope, that by the 2020 WDS, there is a Deaf Ministry planted in every state that has an ICOC church. This means we have a lot of work to do!
“35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
-Matthew 9:35-38
In the photo shown below, from left: sister Hannah, sister Leah, Dad, Rebekah (center), Mom, sister Sarah, brother Justin.
