Growing up in a churchgoing family, Corban, a 19-year-old young adult from Montana, never imagined his life would drift so far from faith — or that God would draw him back through unexpected friendships and grace.
He recently shared how his life was transformed in an interview with Carla Lefebvre, Montana Conference communication coordinator.
Q: What was your life like before faith became real to you?
CORBAN: I grew up in an Adventist home, and we regularly went to church. I had the notion that since God loved me, I was saved regardless.
After asthma forced me to quit football my freshman year, I had too much free time and didn’t know what to do with it. That summer, my friends and I decided to try some alcohol. Since it was “fun," we started partying more.
By mid-junior year, things weren’t going too well. I had a growing conviction about my actions. Partying more and harder became my escape, and eventually I started smoking weed.
I grew more unsettled and unhappy. My conscience really bothered me. I hated everything about the way I looked, talked, breathed — everything. I was not at all happy.
Q: What changed in your junior year?
CORBAN: Some friends from the Christian Faith Club at school invited me to a meeting. I wanted to find new friends and hoped things would be different. The kids I met there were good examples of what a Christian should be.
At the next meeting, a guest speaker in his early 20s shared his conversion story. His history was so similar to mine, and that started to get me thinking.
A little later, my best friend left the state for a week. Alone and unhappy, I began to rethink everything.
I admired how the three friends who invited me to the Christian Faith Club didn’t need to drink or smoke to be happy or enjoy their evenings. I saw I didn’t need to be living the way I was. These friends were public about their faith, but didn’t force it down my throat.
I thought about the speaker’s story and asked myself, "Am I really happy?" I started thinking, "If nothing changes in a year, I’m done living."
So I decided to cut down on drinking. At one party, I suddenly didn’t want to drink. I told my friends, “I think I want to be a Christian.” They were shocked!
Q: You had a transformative trip to Idaho. What happened there?
CORBAN: I went with a friend to a lake in Idaho and took my Bible with me. It was a wonderful week reading the Bible and just hanging out with my friend’s family — and there was no weed around!
After returning home, I realized I didn’t crave alcohol anymore. I still wanted to smoke weed, but one day, when a friend offered me enough weed for a month, I instinctively declined.
That day, the desire just left me, even though I was still around friends who smoked.
Gradually, I lost interest in parties and stopped going because there was nothing there for me — I felt out of place. Although I still loved my friends, it just wasn’t for me anymore.
I started feeling a lot happier, and I stopped hating myself so much. I made more Christian friends, studied the Bible, took notes, watched sermons and just spent time with God. I wanted to chase God and know what love was.
Q: How did your baptism come about?
CORBAN: Sabbath morning of this past Montana Camp Meeting, I heard Ron Halvorsen Jr. speak and felt very impressed. I had been doing Bible studies for about a year and had thought about being baptized. But I just felt that now was the time.
I texted Jim Jenkins, who had been my pastor in Bozeman, and asked to be baptized Sabbath afternoon. He made the arrangements and I did it!
Q: So what is your experience now, and do you have any plans for the future?
CORBAN: I’m glad God’s love isn’t what I thought it was. Even now, after changing so much, I still need His grace every day. It’s not about my "good" days and "bad" days, as if some days I need more grace and others less.
On "good" days, God is working through me. The "bad" days are just what happens when I’m in charge. I am a "saint" because of what Christ has done for me, yet, at the same time, I’m still a sinner.
Now, I’m trying to respond to God’s voice more and just do each moment what He calls me to do. Sometimes it’s to go talk or pray with someone — which I don’t always feel like doing — but it’s always rewarding. I just want to live for Him day by day.
