Growing Up and Growing Together
“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7).
It has been a long road from false religion to Christianity and from a rocky relationship to a beautifully redeemed marriage, but Brittany Haas is grateful she and her husband John are growing in faith and impacting others for the Kingdom…with a little help from Love Worth Finding with Adrian Rogers.
“What a blessing Love Worth Finding Ministry is to me,” she wrote to us recently. “I hear it on the radio at 92.3 Pure Radio in Louisville. My husband and I text back and forth constantly about what we’re learning. God bless you for putting this on to be such a guiding light to so many. Every sentence that comes out of Adrian's mouth is perfectly translated through the Holy Spirit to answer a question or uncover a truth and essentially reveal God to me in a way I can understand in my spirit.”
Finding a Firm Foundation
The daughter of teenage parents, Brittany grew up in Harrison County, Indiana, either living with, or right next door to, her grandparents, who followed the Mormon religious tradition. “I was baptized in a Mormon church when I was 8,” Brittany said. “I really didn’t know that (Mormonism) was anything other than Christianity.”
When Brittany was in high school, her grandfather reconnected with Christian friends and gave his life to Christ. He began talking with Brittany about Jesus.
“He started eating up the Bible and just praying for hours,” she said. “He’s always been a very gentle man and a man of faith, but it was like his eyes were opened. In the Mormon church, you don’t talk about Jesus. The focus is really on Joseph Smith. On works. On being good enough. On being worthy.”
Once she understood she could never be worthy or have the power to save herself, Brittany came to see Jesus as both Savior and Lord. She gave her life to Christ in 1996 while at an InterVarsity campus ministry conference.
Brittany’s faith grew as she went on two mission trips to Guatemala. She loved the Lord, she said, but she loved her old life too.
“I kind of walked away from God and married my high school sweetheart who was not saved,” she said. Brittany learned the hard way why the Apostle Paul admonished Christians to marry believers. (See 2 Corinthians 6:14.)
“He was addicted to drugs and alcohol and pot and anything else. He and my brother and sister and mom and dad all partied together,” Brittany said. “We had children. I wanted us to be in church regularly. We got invited to one 45 minutes away, and by some miracle, John agreed to go.
“The preacher was a recovering heroin addict and shared his testimony. We went again the next week. …He invited people to ‘share what you’re dealing with: anger, stress, unforgiveness, whatever.’ When it got to John, he said, ‘drugs and selfishness.’ And as soon as he said that the wall broke. He literally quit everything right then. He realized he had a Father in Heaven who loved Him and he was being healed from the inside out.”
Tearing Down and Building Up
John and Brittany renewed their vows…this time as believers. “We began doing everything together,” Brittany said. “No more drugs, no more paraphernalia. Our kids began reading Bible verses with us and praying with us. We’re out witnessing. It’s just a miracle for real.”
John and Brittany have been living for Christ for 14 years with no looking back. It’ hasn’t been “happily ever after”—they’ve lost loved ones and faced difficulties as all do—but God has engineered blessings.
Many of their relatives have come to faith in Jesus, including Brittany’s mother, sister, and brother.
As they’ve followed God’s leading in ministering together, Brittany and John have seen Him weave joy into their lives.
“About five years ago, my husband’s nephew and his wife, JR and Misty, out of the blue, needed someone to take their children (then ages 10 and 12). We were able to take the boys for about five months. The whole family got saved.”
JR and Misty, in turn, started a recovery meetings at the Haas’ church. Through them, Brittany met Natalie, who introduced her to a young woman God directed her to serve, Lacey.
The Haas kept Lacey’s new and then drug-addicted baby, Tristin, while Lacey completed rehab. That was three years ago. Lacey’s life has completely turned around. The Haas keep Tristin daily after daycare until Lacey gets off work.
“That all keeps me accountable and continuing to have grace and mercy,” Brittany said. “It makes me grow. Talking with them, doing life with them.”
Thinking back on the story of her upbringing, her journey to Jesus, her husband’s miraculous conversion, her family members coming to faith, and her connections with others in God’s family (including LWF), Brittany sees her life as perfectly woven together.
“God just has everything worked out so beautifully,” she said.
