After being converted and leaving Roman Catholicism, Adam joined an evangelical church in the area. He later attended a seminary in Poland, where he now ministers in a small but growing congregation in Krakow. He and his wife, Elisa, have three children.
Personal Testimony
I was born in Poland in 1987. Like most people in this country, I was raised Roman Catholic from birth and my parents led me through all the Church’s sacraments. Because of this, for most of my life I was convinced that I was a good person who was going to heaven. I thought my merit before God was earned by going to mass, participating in the Catholic festivals, and believing in the god of Roman Catholic teaching.
When I was about nineteen years old, my sinful lifestyle reached its peak. Unfortunately, I was blind to my sinful nature because I always compared myself to criminals and concluded that I was a good man. Additionally, being a Roman Catholic gave me a false assurance that my merit before God was greater than my sin. I was certain that, in spite of my sins, God would not be displeased with me because I did everything the Roman Catholic church required me to do.
Before I was twenty, I completed a job application that was greatly important to me. I did not have any doubts that I would be accepted—at that point I had a high degree of self-esteem. But when I heard that my application was rejected and I had not won the job, my heart was ignited with hatred against God. At that moment I looked intently into the sky and cried out: “God, I hate you!” From then on I lived with an increasing hatred toward God, convinced that He had frustrated the good plans I had for my life. Soon after, this disappointment was followed by a series of tragedies: some members of my family died, I lost several friends, and for a long time I could not find a job. The Lord was placing me in circumstances that deprived me of all self-sufficiency. I realized that I did not have any control over my life. I was utterly helpless. These and other factors caused me to think deeply about the state of my life. I was terribly disappointed, even angry at God, because I thought that in reward for my religious life He should have given me my desires. When this did not happen, my anger with Him increased.
A few months later, I was driving with my mother to visit family in a different part of Poland. Spontaneously while driving, I decided to take a detour to visit a friend who I had not seen in years—he lived in a town along the way. My meeting with him took only fifteen minutes, but I believe it was divinely orchestrated to bring me to Christ. During our conversation, I told my friend about my recent disappointments and I accused God of failing me. My friend did not seem to pay much attention to me while he typed away on a laptop. But when I finished, he responded to my complaints: “Adam, trust God.” It sounded simple—actually much too simple to me. I had heard this phrase all my life. But at that moment, the Lord used those words in a tremendous way. As I left my friend’s house, I was overwhelmed by those three words. I looked into the sky, this time with a changed heart, and I said to God: “If this is true, if it is all about trusting you, then I trust you. I don’t depend on myself anymore because I don’t know anything and I can’t do anything with my life. Please God, take over my life and do what you want to do with me.”
From that day forward, I began seeing significant changes in my life. I desired to meditate on God and I was excited to see Him work in my life. He was changing my heart and I felt compelled to read Scripture. I thought to myself: “If I believe in God, then I want to know more about the One who saved me.” I picked up my copy of the Bible, thinking that it was a huge book, and I quickly estimated that if I read about ten chapters a day I would be able to read the Bible four times a year. So I began reading. Three months later I finished my first reading, and my conclusion was that I had understood nothing. So I began at the beginning again. The more I read of Scripture, the more I saw sin in my life. The Word of God revealed my need to repent of sins that I had ignored all my life. More than this, understanding the Word of God allowed me to to see contradictions between Roman Catholic teaching and the truth of Scripture. Unable to reconcile both, I began to consider what I should do. On the one hand, I was passionate about the Word and excited that it was changing me and giving me a desire for the Lord. On the other hand, I was still officially in the Roman Catholic Church. Eventually, I saw how blasphemous were the teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, and I decided to officially leave that system—an act that the Catholic authorities viewed as apostasy. I wanted to have nothing to do with their false gospel and practices any longer. My family has never been able to accept or understand my departure from the Roman Catholicism. But the Lord had given me a new heart and new desires. I gladly removed from my life the things that had been leading me into sin, things that I enjoyed so much in the past. Now, after the Lord saved me, I experienced great joy in counting them as rubbish for the sake of Christ.
Looking back on my past and seeing the faithfulness of God in saving me, I know that by His perfect will He led me to my friend and used his witness to bring me to Himself. As a result, I started reading the Word which showed me the glory of the Lord, His holiness, and my sinfulness. My life began changing dramatically, and I came to trust Him with my whole heart. I became a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ and my life belongs to Him. “Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!”
Call to Ministry
After my conversion, the Lord gave me an unusual desire to read the Word. I read the Bible for hours every day. I did not consider this unusual—it seemed a natural and normal thing in the life of a Christian to spend much time in the Word. But now I see that the Lord had His purpose in giving me such a deep desire to study His Word and also to read different theological materials.
Soon the Lord showed me the joy and importance of being part of a local church. I found an evangelical church in my town that seemed good. Given the fact that the protestants constitute less than one percent of the population in Poland, finding any evangelical church within sixty miles is significant. I went to visit that small church in my town. It was a conservative church with mostly older people. There was one pastor who was zealous for the Lord but was not apt to preach. Because I did not see any other option, I decided to stay with them and continue my personal studying of the Word.
In the midst of this, I was exposed to clips on the internet that showed some people hurt by false teachers. I found myself becoming angry at those false preachers and I thought to myself: “If only I could meet with those people I would tell them what the Bible really says.” This is how my desire to preach the Word began. I was motivated to preach the truth of the Word of God so that people would not be deceived by false teaching. At that moment I knew it would be necessary to study theology before I ever became a preacher. I searched for evangelical seminaries in Poland and found only four. I joined the closest one and studied theology there for four years. During my studies, one of my professors told me that I needed to begin practicing ministry in my local church. He explained that once I graduated I would be a theologian, so I need to practice being a theologian and begin preaching in my local church. I was not willing to do this, as I did not think I was prepared. But the professor called my pastor and asked me if such a thing was possible. My pastor consented and allowed me to share from the Word one Sunday morning. During my first preaching experience, I thought that everything was terrible. I was not qualified at all to stand at the pulpit nor skilled to exegete the Scripture. My message was a compilation of teaching I heard from other preachers. But somehow, the people were impacted by my message and kept affirming me. Because of this, the pastor invited me to preach longer and more frequently. In time, by God’s grace I learned more about preaching and pastoring from good Christian books. The Lord helped me to improve in the ministry.
In the meantime, we met a few believers from the city of Krakow. They said they had been praying and meeting for years in their houses, asking the Lord to send someone who could be their pastor. It was precisely this time that my wife and I had been seriously considering leaving our local church because of the spiritual and doctrinal compromise. When we decided to leave, the people there blessed us and we left in peace. Shortly after, we moved to Krakow and planted the church of which I am now the only pastor.
