Erwens Martin: Brown Scholarship Recipient

Learn more about the Harold and Mary Brown Endowed Scholarship.

I was born in the hospital in Cap-Haitien and I still live in the city with my family.  I live with my parents and five children, I’m the third.  When I was born, my parents were Catholic, and as I was growing up my mother converted to Christianity.  So, I grew up going to the Catholic church and the Baptist church, both of them a major part of my life. 

When I was 13 years old, I started feeling a push towards God, and because my family was kind of mixed up, I felt led to be reading my Bible, a truth that didn’t come from my mom or my dad or their churches.  After middle school, I really made a decision for Christ, and I live close to a great church led by Emmaus professor Pastor Childe, and that is where I am a member. 

Because it was God’s Word that converted me, I have really become someone who is passionate about the Bible. But the more I read, the more I wanted to know and understand. I was always researching and asking questions and trying to figure things out, and I have heard lots of different opinions and theologies.  

I also always loved math and engineering, and had lots of dreams for my life, but one night while I was sleeping, I had a dream of being a pastor who taught the Word. I started thinking about this and began to realize that this might be a calling from the Lord, not just a dream.  

I had a friend from church who was going to UNCH (a university in Northern Haiti), but he kept telling me that he was hearing good things about Emmaus University, where they don’t only teach the Bible, but also follow it. I didn’t know anything about going to school to study the Bible, but I just kept praying and asking for peace. Every time I took a small step towards it, I could see the next door open.  Eventually, my friend from UNCH brought me to Emmaus, and I felt such joy and peace in my heart as soon as classes began.  

That was two years ago, and my very first class was the Pauline Epistles. Immediately, I started getting answers to my questions and learning HOW to study the Bible in context and in ways I hadn’t known before. 

I was SO hungry for more of the Word, and I was so grateful to be at Emmaus because suddenly I was learning and understanding and thinking and hearing and growing and debating and being challenged by the Word!  I had an Old Testament Intro class right after that and started to see how the Bible works together and the true message of the Bible.  

I don’t know exactly what God’s got for my life, but I do know that I love to study, share and teach the Bible. I love to help people understand more about it. As I work to teach in my church and community, I could see the Lord putting me on the path to be a pastor, or maybe a teacher, I don’t know. I love praying with and studying with people, and I know if I keep taking little steps, He’ll keep opening the door to what He has for me.

I would love the prayers of His people, that I would always put the Lord first in my life, and that I wouldn’t get comfortable with lots of biblical knowledge like the Pharisees, but that I would be hungry for more.  Pray that I would be humble as I grow, and that God would hold me in his holiness.  Pray for my faithfulness, pray for my family and siblings who have still not yet converted, that they would come to know Him!