One seems to find folk from every sect, religion, or lack thereof who have been called into the Holy Orthodox Church.
Like many, I was also raised Assembly of God, though my family was 'ecumenical' in outlook, and connected with the ministries of Oral Roberts and Kenneth Hagin. Once I left home, I attempted to be a Black Pentecostal and attended COGIC churches while at college. I became disenchanted quickly as I found out about the real world, so I left for the Army and became a nominal-Christian messing about with many ideas, some even occult. In late high school I had first heard of Orthodoxy, and begun to read some books my Freshmen year of college. Later while in the Army, I became a Messianic Jew and continued in this while I returned to college, then afterwards while a youth minister in an Assembly of God church. While at this 'post' my internal struggle with Orthodoxy came to a head. I ended up visiting an Independent Catholic group that claimed to be the "Orthodox Church" and also 'Celtic' like my heritage. I was with that group for a little over a year, and through my move back to Oklahoma, where my home was. Lacking any parishes of this Independent group, a friend talked me and my wife into visiting an Orthodox parish, and lo and behold! We found the real thing! Since Pentecost 2000 we have been Orthodox.
