Life Experiences Used for God's Use
I was born in Toledo, OH, in 1964 into a Catholic family. I have memories of Sunday school with the nuns and how they scared me. My first memory is of the day my father left us. This was in the 60s and the Catholic Church frowned upon divorce, so my parents were excommunicated, which meant that my mother moved us to Idaho, where her family lived, and we joined her original religion, the Church of Latter-day Saints...the Mormons.
When I turned 15, I was asked to be a deacon in the church, which meant I was one of the youngest people to be placed in that position. The bishop informed me that the next step was to prepare for a year mission trip. I told him that I did not want to go on a mission. He told me that I would not be able to get into the higher levels of heaven if I refused. I informed him that I had no intention of doing so, and that I would be leaving the church. This led to several years of dabbling in other religious practices: New Age, shamanism, witchcraft, etc. I became disillusioned with all that and eventually became an atheist.
I became a Christian in 1996 after meeting my first wife because she told me that she would not marry me unless I became one. I pretended to dedicate my life to Christ, but did not feel it. It was not until a Family Life Conference that I finally felt the tug and truly gave my life to Christ. During this time, I became more involved in my medical career as a paramedic. I experienced some horrific events during that career that led me down a path that my first wife could not understand. Before we could reconcile, we grew too far apart and the marriage ended.
I met my current wife and rededicated my life to Christ. We opened a nonprofit organization that counsels First Responders and their family members to help them deal with the stressors the job can cause. I did not have those resources when I went through my stuff, so I decided that I would become one of those resources myself. My involvement with NBC was partly out of those experiences. I became a student at NBC in 1998 and earned my Bachelors in Christian Counseling. I earned my Master of Arts in Counseling from Colorado Christian University, and finally my Doctorate in Psychology from the University of the Rockies. I taught classes for the Counseling Cohort for several years. I retired from paramedicine in 2018 to work full time at our nonprofit. We are looking to expand our practice to a residential treatment center for First Responders to help them deal with PTSD, anxiety, and depression in an intensive therapeutic setting. We believe that this is the calling placed upon us by God and pray for His direction in the way we should go.
Dr. Daniel Crampton has been teaching for NBC since 2013.
Published: 12/07/2020
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