Pastor Nolan Ruby, Wasatch Front Baptist Church
Salvation Testimony
I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour on December 3rd, 1998 when I was 15 years old. I had been in Empire Baptist Temple (the Church I was raised in), all my life up to that point, as my parents joined the Church as a newly married couple before I was born. I had made a confession of faith as a child with no real understanding of my sinful nature or what it meant for my Lord to have suffered for me personally. I began to understand in my early teen years that I was indeed not truly forgiven of my sin, and by the time I was 15, I knew and openly confessed that my young “profession of faith” had no bearing on my eternal destination, but I could not seem to move forward from there. There were several Godly men in Empire Baptist Temple at the time who I looked up to a great deal, and they were persistent in only talking with me about whether I had accepted my need for Jesus Christ. These men never allowed me to put off the conviction of the Lord for too long, and I am eternally grateful to them for continually confronting me over my need for Christ. On December 3rd, late in the evening, everyone else had gone to sleep in my childhood home except for me. I was alone in my room thinking on whether any of this “Christian Life” was really something I believed in or wanted anything to do with down the line. I had a book from the Church (as I was a student at Empire Baptist Academy), which I was supposed to do a book report on. The book was a collection of sermons from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. I started to flip through the book and came across a chapter entitled “HOW TO BE SAVED.” At this point, the preaching at Empire Baptist Temple as well as the chapel services at the academy were all focused on a man’s need for salvation, and I was under a great deal of conviction. When I saw the title of the chapter in that book, “HOW TO BE SAVED,” I remember making the decision to read that chapter, and if I understood nothing more after I was done reading that chapter, I was going to write off any further feelings of need concerning salvation or the Christian life and do my own thing. Well…The Lord took me up on my “ultimatum,” and made my need for his forgiveness truly clear. I understood very well that I was a sinner, and that Christ had given his life on the cross for me personally because of my sin. I tried to tell myself that I needed to remember exactly how I felt in that moment, that way when I arrived at school the next day, I could tell the Principle (who was the assistant Pastor of Empire Baptist Temple) that I needed to be saved. The Lord however reminded me that I was the one who had challenged him with a foolish ultimatum, and that I was going to accept him or deny him right there and right at that time; there would be no waiting. I humbled myself before the Lord that night, and I asked him to please not let me go my own way. I acknowledged before him that it was my sin that required his crucifixion, and putting my faith and trust in him, asked for his forgiveness. He saved me at that moment, and no matter where I have gone from that day to this, to include the multiple combat tours as a US Marine, I have been assured of my salvation before God because of God’s grace and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Surrender
Upon my public profession of faith, I was baptized into the membership of Empire Baptist Temple in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Not to long after that (August 1999), at Empire Baptist Temple’s summer youth camp, I acknowledged the Lord’s call upon my life to the ministry. The acknowledgement of this call did indeed take place then, but the total and absolute surrender to this call did not take place for another 20 years. I enlisted in the delayed entry program of the US Marine Corps in November of 2000 and left for basic training in July of 2001 immediately after graduation from Empire Baptist Academy. After my honorable service discharge, I took a position with the South Dakota Department of Corrections in 2005, where I worked nights and went to Bible School during the day. I later took a position with the South Dakota Division of Veterans Affairs in 2007 where I served as a Veterans Service Officer and a Disability Evaluation Coordinator. I received my BSc. from Great Plains Baptist Divinity School in 2012, and my MSc. from Great Plains Baptist Divinity School in 2018. My total surrender to the Lord’s will for my life took place much like my salvation. I was alone in my office before the Lord, having reached a point in which I was completely aware that I was unable to serve him in my own way, but rather would be required to serve him as he would demand of me. I will never forget the sweetness of the fellowship with my Lord Jesus Christ after that day. Understanding that I would be required to serve him, by him, through him and to him, and not by or of myself. It remains one of the most precious conversations that has ever taken place between me and my God. Between the time that I left my career with the Division of Veterans Affairs, I have worked in many capacities as the Lord has drawn his calling in my life to a conclusion resulting in a decision that will bring him glory going forward, and I praise the Lord for his work in my life.
Personal History
Pastor Ruby was born and raised in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the “Great Plains” (as they are called), of the United States. He was brought to the House of God from the very earliest days of his life, and accepted Christ as his personal Savior at the age of 15. Having been baptized into the membership of Empire Baptist Temple, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota shortly after his salvation, he began to understand the call of God upon his life to be a servant of the Lord with respect to the preaching of God’s Word at the age of 16; though this call would take maturity and no small amount of the grace of God to fully submit and yield to.
Pastor Ruby joined the United States Marine Corps’ delayed enlistment program on November 10th, 2000, and went on active duty with an assignment to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, in San Diego, California for basic training in July of 2001. He was assigned to an anti-terrorism battalion out of Camp LeJeune, North Carolina as an infantryman “heavy-guns” Machine Gunner. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2002, (Operation Enduring Freedom), the Persian Gulf in 2003, (Operation Safe Passage), Haiti in 2004, (Operation Secure Tomorrow), and finally to Iraq in 2005, (Operation Iraqi Freedom), where he would sustain wounds resulting in the receiving of The Purple Heart (the US Military’s award for being wounded in combat).
Upon his honorable discharge from the United States Marine Corps, Pastor Ruby moved back home, and took a position with the South Dakota Department of Corrections as a Correctional Officer. He worked on the mental health ward, which housed inmates classified under disciplinary segregation, infirmary care, and death row. He also filled the roll of Disturbance Control Squad Member, as well as later being promoted to S.O.R.T. (Special Operations & Rescue Tactics.) During this time, he began attending Great Plains Baptist Divinity School, where he received his B.Sc. as well as his M.Sc.
As he continued his training at Great Plains Baptist Divinity School, he took a position with the South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs, where he worked as a Veterans Service Representative, and crossing over to the Federal Department of Veterans Affairs, he served as both a Veterans Service Officer as well as a Disability Evaluation Coordinator for the Department of Defense. It was during this time that he met his wife, Rachel. They were married in 2008, and he and his wife have three children, Lochlen, Addelise, and Rawlins, and they are the joy of their life.
Pastor Ruby has filled the rolls of teaching at a K-12 Christian academy in his home church, as a Professor at the Great Plains Baptist Divinity School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as a volunteer chaplain in corrections, as a Martial Arts Instructor as well as speaking as an instructor for the Crisis Management Institute, a ministry of personal defense instruction for churches. By the guidance of the Lord, and the leadership of his Pastor, he accepted the position as the Pastor of a work in Salt Lake City, Utah, in August of 2020, which later became the Wasatch Front Baptist Church, organized out of Empire Baptist Temple, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on July 4th, 2021.
What he and his wife enjoy most is the service opportunities afforded to them in the work of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.