Autobiography

by Rev. Casey Freswick
I was born in Bozeman, Montana, on December 7, 1954. 1 attended the Bozeman
Christian Reformed Church until I joined the Army in the fall of 1 973. I went to
catechism classes regularly and graduated from Manhattan Christian Grade School in
1969. I was never considered a rebellious son and was never in any serious trouble. I
would get into the normal hassles with parents, but we basically had a good relationship.
I can remember that the prayer life of my mother impressed me at an early age. I went
to young Peoples Society, sang in school choirs, was active in sports and always made it
to church twice a Sunday. During the summer months I worked on various farms and
ranches. Before I left for the Army I took profession of faith classes from our minister.
I basically did it because all my friends were doing it. However, when the class was
supposed to appear before the consistory I did not show up. I had never intended to. I
always thought that there were enough half committed people in the church and I didn't
want to be another hypocrite. An elder talked to me a few days before I went into the
Army but I said that I "just wasn't ready yet". I had no doubt that God existed but I did
not have any assurance of salvation nor was their any submission on my part to Jesus as
Lord of my life. I thought of myself as a fence rider but knew that this was not really
possible. As a covenant child I knew God's claim on people's lives was total commitment
to Jesus as Lord and total trust in Him to save me from my sin. I surely wanted to be
saved from hell, but I was not sure I wanted someone else telling me what to do.
The first few months of my years in the Army that saw the most dramatic change in
my spiritual pilgrimage. This was no gradual change, but one that could be called a
"Pauline" experience. I found myself in the same routine in the Army as I had at home in
my church. Getting involved in the religious opportunities at the Army post was an
escape and the social contact that I needed. However, I began to feel more and more
alienated from the vibrant people I met. Their practices were not what I was used to.
However, at a Tuesday night Bible study I submitted my life to the Lordship of Jesus
Christ. I can remember testing everything I had been taught in my formative years with
the scriptures. To my amazement the Reformed Doctrine I learned as a youth sprang from
the pages of the Scripture. (Bible reading had never before been a part of my normal
activities).

As I look back over this period of my life it is clear that there was a long period of
spiritual rebellion in my life. Like many CRC youth of my generation the question I asked
myself was whether I was elect or not. I can never remember a time in my childhood
when I remember feeling the comfort of God because I knew myself to be one of his
children. During my high school years this remained true.

I always believed in God and I always wanted Jesus to save me from God's judgment,
but I wanted to run my own life at the same time. I did not submit to Jesus as my Lord. I
couldn't see letting God decide what I should do. It was only after I lost control b. God
taking control that I became convinced that I was a child of God and that I knew the
glorious promises of eternal life were true for me. 'It was shortly after this experience
that I became convinced that God was calling me into the ministry of the gospel.
There were clearly different ways in which I viewed my conviction that God desired
me to be a pastor-teacher in the church of Jesus Christ. There was the initial stage of
wondering whether my call was dictated by emotions or by the Spirit. I know there was
emotion involved but that did not rule out the Spirit working through my emotions. I had
no experience in testing my gifts to see if they matched my calling. If I had gone by my
high-school records I might have been convinced that I was not to be a minister. But God
continued to work in my life and the call of being a minister was constantly
substantiated by verbal encouragement, by academic success and by my subsequent
ordination into the ministry of the Christian Reformed Church. Today I know of no other
vocation I would rather be involved in. I know that God has appointed me to preach the
gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the early years of my Christian life I struggled over the false concept that the
quality of my relationship with God depended on my quality of service. Such a lifestyle
of service can only lead to despair. Rather, it is because I know that God has saved me by
grace and continues to work in my life by the power of the Holy Spirit that I can truly
serve Him. Praise God for His wondrous and total work of salvation.

My continued involvement with the Army chapel program was a real blessing. I met
many people who impressed me with their deep personal love for the Lord. This was the
beginning of a broadening time for me as I began to experience the body of Christ beyond
the boundary of the CRC.

The remainder of my tour of duty was spent in Colorado Springs, CO. Through personal
contacts at Cragmor Christian Reformed Church I became exposed to the many fine
programs for personal discipleship that are printed and distributed by the Navigators.
It was during my Army days in Colorado Springs that I became aware of what I would
call a non-traditional CRC. Cragmor CRC was a Home Mission's church. I attended there
between 1974 and 1976. These three years were a great blessing. During this time the
church was experiencing rapid growth. I am sure that this experience was one which the
Lord used to give me a vision of a church committed to outreach and growth.
It was at Cragmor CRC where I first became involved in Congregational Evangelism
Training. Rev. Stan Mast was the leader of the training program. He attended a
leadership session at Coral Ridge. I was involved in the second wave of trainees. Pastor
Stan was the trainer I went out with most of the time. This training was a highlight for
me during my stay in Colorado Springs. It was certainly something which I was able to
put into practice. I lived on base and was constantly able to share the gospel with the
young men I lived with. I believe this has been and will continue to be a valuable experience
for me. It helps me understand what it is like to learn how to evangelize as a
lay person. My evangelism training started where the people of my congregations will be:
in everyday life. Since then I took a refresher course of CET with Rev. Hart at Calvin
Seminary. I also taught it to a number of people at Hope CRC(where I interned) and here
at Newton Covenant Reformed Church. I believe this is an effective tool in presenting the
gospel. However, I continue to refine my method of training in Evangelism based on the
changes in our culture. One example of this is a more explicit emphasis on presenting the
very concepts of God to the hearer. We can not assume people know who God is. It is
often counterproductive to talk about the divinity of Christ before talking about what the
Bible teaches about divinity in the first place. I believe that these experiences in
evangelistic outreach have given me the needed experience to train others effectively in
communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ.

After I finished my tour of duty I returned home and spent a year at Montana State
University. It was here that I confronted on a firsthand basis the intellectual rebellion
of man against God. The unity of evangelical Christians was very apparent here.
Christians stood out. Once more I was exposed to Christians from a variety of
backgrounds. I became involved in Campus Crusade for Christ, but also attended some
InterVarsity group meetings. While I had been confronted with the world's lifestyle in
the Army I was confronted with the world's philosophy of life at Montana State
University. This was my only exposure to academic training outside a Christian context.
Although I am deeply committed to Christian education I believe my time at MSU helped
me understand what committed Christians striving to live for the Lord experience in a
non-Christian academic setting.

My contact with InterVarsity continued when I attended Calvin College. I was on the
InterVarsity planning committee of Calvin for one year. Our responsibilities were to
organize weekly discussion groups centering around areas of discipleship and lead
weekly small group prayer sessions. This is where I met my wife, Bev. She was on the
same planning committee. We worked together on this committee for one year. It has
been a painful experience watching Inter-Varsity compromise it historic foundation. I
know many former staff members who share this sentiment.

During this time Bev and I became close friends and discovered that many of our
concerns and hopes for the future were the same. The following year Bev was a resident
assistant of one of the dorms at Calvin. We attended the same church and saw each other
more and more. Early in Bev's senior year we were engaged. We were married on June 5,
1981. 1 still had 2 years of academic work left at the seminary so Bev was busy looking
for a teaching job in the Grand Rapids area. The Lord answered our prayers and Bev
received word that she had been accepted to teach kindergarten at Plymouth Christian(a
Netherlands Reformed School) in Grand Rapids. She taught there for two years before our
first son, Peter, was born and we moved to LaCross, WI, where I fulfilled my internship
responsibilities.

My wife and I have thought a lot about the interrelationships between family, church
and my ministry. In my specific calling as a minister of the word and Pastor of the flock
of Jesus Christ my wife has no role. We believe that God has called me to the ministry
and that Bev is called to kingdom activity with a primary focus on the family, the nurture
of our 4 children. This does not mean that my wife has nothing to do with the church nor
does it mean that she has no impact on my ministry. I consider my wife to be a great
help in my ministry. She is a constant encouragement to me, a source of wisdom and a
prayer partner. Bev has taken up various responsibilities within the church community
just like any other Christian mother. She has led Coffee Break Bible studies and
children's story hour. I believe that God has richly blessed the women of our
congregations through her participation in the life of the church.
I believe that if I fail my wife as a husband or my children as a father I have failed
the church as a Pastor. My family is a priority in my life. I believe that the love I have
for my wife and children is the thing that keeps me from neglecting them. I love
children. I believe that God has established his covenant with families and that children
of believers are immensely blessed. I continually thank God as our family enters the teen
years. Far from being the dreaded years of rebellion I praise God for the commitment,
reflection and serious consideration my older children show as they are faced with the
claims of Jesus Christ.

Peter spent a few weeks in Ireland last year on a mission trip. Since there is no
Christian High School in our area we are homeschooling Peter. He is very diligent in his
studies and exhibits a high level of organizational skill and self control. Rachel loves
children and has worked as a "mother's helper". She is a talented athlete and has started
playing the piano for certain songs during worship. Ruth Ann is full of energy and is
always looking for little ways to show her love and concern for me. Paul is our youngest
and loves baseball. We Are also homeschooling Paul, who is now doing first grade work.
The girls are active at Northwest Christian School where I have been a board member for
7 of the last 1 0 years and am currently the treasurer of the school. All our children are
excellent students. I praise God for the family He has given Bev and I.

I enjoy getting to know people on a variety of levels and feel as comfortable meeting
and associating with people in a Bible study or on the golf course. My wife and I enjoy
having people into our home, as our family gets older these opportunities are increasing.
Since my family is from Montana our vacations there often include camping, fishing and
hiking in the mountains. We enjoy the outdoors as a family. Basically, I am a jack of all
sports and a master of none. This keeps things interesting and me humble.
It may be important to step back a few years to my academic training for the
ministry. The longer I trained for ministry the more I appreciated the role of education.
I learned a great deal of important facts while preparing for the pastoral ministry. I
also grew in my understanding of the relationship between "formal education" and the role
of the Spirit of God. I praise God that the Spirit is involved in every area of our
growth in Christ, including our growth via education in the word. This has specific
implications for the role of education within the church community. I believe adult
education is crucial to a congregation's spiritual growth and ability to help new
Christians grow in the Lord.

I ministered to the people in First Randolph Christian Reformed Church from
September 1 984 to January 1989. 1 grew in my understanding and effectiveness as a
pastor. When I came I was the new pastor, now I am beginning to realize why Paul
addressed those he wrote to as dear brothers. I am still the pastor of the church, but
the interpersonal relations have developed to a point where many of the people of the
congregation are now brothers and sister that I know personally. What a difference there
is between comforting a family in time of death after you have been in a local church for
I month compared to 3 years.

We left Wisconsin in January of 1 989. The first six years in Newton Christian
Reformed Church were difficult but God's work continued. I had been very open and
forthright with the congregation before I came. I had told them that the issue of women
in office was not merely an academic matter for me. I let it be clearly known that I
would be unable to serve in a church, classis or denomination where women were serving
in authoritative office. I did not think Newton CRC would call me unless there was
agreement on these issues. I did not want to put time and energy into the issues of
women in office, creation, homosexuality or the feminizing of God-language in the local
church. I accepted the call to find that the church had a conservative majority but a
minority of people who were opposed to the convictions I held.
The first six years of ministry in Newton CRC were difficult and challenging for a
variety of other reasons. Almost 80 people moved or left the church in my first six years
at Newton. Some continued the trend to move to other areas to farm, others relocated
because of the high cost of living. At the same time about seventy people joined the
church. This ma or transition has brought its own struggles. Many new members with a
variety of levels of spiritual maturity are now present.

During this time I spent three years on the Board of Trustees of Calvin Seminary and
was a delegate to Synod 1990 and 1995. These experiences pointed out to me the
absolute rieed to be unified as a denomination. Synod 1 990 was a key incident in my life.
First, it was the first time that my expectation of a life long ministry in the CRC was
shaken. I initially grieved and wept. There was a period of several months after Synod
1 990 that I was consumed with the affairs of the denomination. God graciously brought
other people and ministry opportunities in my life that soon changed this. I continued to
pray and work for repentance in the CRC until the Synod of 1995, which I also attended.
By 1 995 the local church was in unified in the basic convictions of Biblical truth and
the compromises of the Christian Reformed Church. Many members wanted to leave much earlier
than we did. We were committed to working with other conservative churches.
God blessed the counsels work and when the Newton church left the CRC no members left.
Our unity in Christ and God's word as summarized in the three forms of unity were our
source of unity. I praised God as a Pastor for this unity in the mind set of the
congregation. I remain thankful for the common commitment and the number of churches
who are now united in the United Reformed Churches of North America. Unrest, lack of
trust and inability to communicate all make ministry and vision an impossibility.
Newton Covenant Reformed Church is now united in its perspective on ministry. This
has enabled us to turn our attention to reaching out to our community and growing in our
faith. Our commitment to the inerrant Word of God is evident to a number of people in
the community. New people are joining the church who have different social and church
backgrounds. They are growing in their love for God, His Word and the Reformed
emphases on the sovereign work of God in our lives. I am thankful for this evidence of
God's work in Newton.

I have faced the same trials in my ministry which the church of Christ faces
everywhere: divorce, remarriage, suicide, dissatisfaction, homosexuality, abortion, drug
and alcohol addiction and tragic deaths. All these events have molded and shaped me as
God used them in my life individually and the church's life as a whole. God has definitely
been at work helping me grow in a number of areas as a result of my ministry. I am
thankful for the trials He placed me in. They have definitely proved to be the fire of God
to refine me and the hand of God molding me. I am thankful for the spiritual growth that
has accompanied 1 5 years of ministry.

I am thankful for the United Reformed Churches and our unity in Christ. I praise God
for the spirit of love and commitment to the historic truths of God's word as the
foundation for contemporary ministry. I am excited about the remaining years God may
grant me as a minister of the Word. I am more confident than ever that He will mold us
to be what He wants them to be. I am confident that He will lead His people in the future
and that His will for me is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Church in the
midst of a wicked and perverse generation. To God be the glory!

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