Brad is a happily married father of three teenage children. He came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ after the Lord brought him out of a lifetime of activity in the LDS church. He is now an avid student of the Bible, a graduate of a Calvary Chapel School of Ministry, worship leader, and pastor of a small independent fellowship. He currently resides in Boise, Idaho.

Brad's Story of Leaving Mormonism and finding the Jesus Christ of the Bible (excerpted from www.LifeAfterJoseph.org)

   "To understand my life now, you would have to get a glimpse of what my life was like not so very long ago. You see, I was raised a Mormon. I come from a very active Mormon family and, with a few temporary exceptions, I lived it quite consistently throughout my life. In mid-2006, my life would have looked something like this:

   I was a Gospel Doctrine teacher in my local LDS ward, teaching the main adult class during church every Sunday. I was the holder of an LDS temple recommend. My weekends were spent hanging out with my LDS friends and family. I was one of the most successful real estate agents in my area, mostly owing to my network of LDS referral sources and clients. I owned a nice home and had some fun toys - guitars, a boat, nice bicycles, a music recording studio. I would have guessed at that point in my life that not much would ever change. I loved the town I was living in and planned to live there the rest of my life. I loved the career I was in and planned to stay in it for many years to come. I loved my friends and looked forward to watching their kids grow up alongside of mine. And I loved my religion. I loved my religion so much that the only thing I really desired in my life was a better and deeper conviction of it. In mid-2006 I began a quest to really understand my LDS religion better and gain an unshakeable testimony of it. This journey started with a book – a biography of the first LDS prophet, Joseph Smith.

   Within the first chapter of this book, it became obvious to me that this was a different sort of LDS book than I had been used to reading. Written by a historian, it dealt less with faith-promoting stories and more with actual historical accuracy than did the writings of church leaders and lesson manuals that I was used to reading. I began to read about things I had never before been exposed to, things that were very troubling to me. This was to be the beginning of a process of discovery that would lead me to the realization that the LDS church could not possibly be what it claimed to be – namely the only true and restored church on the face of the earth. I began to realize that the Mormonism I had been taught my whole life was an airbrushed and sanitized version of what the church’s real history and doctrine were.

   I think that I initially had some small idea what this realization would mean in my life at that time, but it turns out that I had no real concept of what its eventual impact would be. Within months, I, along with rest of my immediate family, had officially resigned our membership in the LDS church. My business suffered an immediate impact. No longer would my loyal client base have anything to do with me and, in some cases, began actively working against me. Over the next 12 months, we slowly lost nearly all of the material things we had come to enjoy. The boat, sound equipment, guitars, and such were sold to make ends meet. We were forced to sell our home just days before foreclosure. The thriving business was reduced to nothing. My friendships disappeared and relationships with my extended family became superficial and strained. While this time in my life was certainly the most financially devastating and spiritually harrowing that I had ever experienced, I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. Why? Because of what happened to me one day in September 2006 on the bank of a river.

   Through a series of divine appointments, I had found myself attending a Calvary Chapel and being pastored there by a gifted and understanding servant of the Lord. The word of God, as contained in the Bible, had begun to come alive for me through his teaching, and its message of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ was becoming clear.

   On that cold September day, with my old life crashing down around me, I accepted the Lord as my Savior, and accepted His sacrifice for me on the cross as enough. Some would say I was born again that day. I would say that I truly died that day, and that Jesus Christ was born within me. I have a real feeling now that the Lord is methodically taking apart my old life in order to create for me a new one. While I am still very much in the middle of that process, the Lord has filled my life with new relationships, new opportunities, and a new hope for the future – a future dedicated to serving Him."