Markus Gattner has experienced first-hand why sometimes God lets bad things happen to good people. As a German exchange student last year, Gattner was placed in a home in Lyman where the living situation was deemed unfit and he was in need of another host family.
Markus GattnerGattner had become friends with Byrnes High School classmate Zach Garrison. It was that friendship which eventually led the lifelong atheist on the path to accepting Christ. Garrison’s family took Gattner in for the rest of the school year.
His host mother, Kathy Rogers, said Gattner was raised in an atheist home and had only been to church a few times with his grandparents before coming to the U.S. He moved in with the Rogers family last October, and they began bringing him to First Baptist Church, Lyman.
“He said it was the first time he’d received a hug or any warm feelings since he’d been here,” she said of his early church experiences. “Even though he did not believe in God, he said it was the most beautiful and harmonious thing.”
Lyman First Baptist music director J.N. McFadden said he found Gattner to be a wonderful young man.
“He was just friendly and cooperative, and the young people loved him,” he said.
“I was just really impressed. Here was a boy who was never around Christians, and he was willing to sit there and listen.”
Rogers said Gattner was eager to learn about the Bible, but it was more from an historical perspective than a faith perspective.
“He was always open and very receptive, never defiant,” she said. “Our hope and prayer was that it was sinking in. He would see people at church pray for him.”
Rogers said Gattner was given a Bible at his going-away party in May, but he still had not accepted Christ.
“He was at home maybe a week and a half. One day he called and said, “I’m going to tell you something that will make you cry. Last night I accepted Christ into my heart,’ ” Rogers said.
And cry she did.
“It felt like you had watched your child grow and learn things and decide on their own,” Rogers said.
“You’re not there until you’re a Christian,” he told her. “That’s the most important thing you can do. I will be baptized because it’s not complete until you do.”
Rogers said Gattner had been planning to return for a visit during the summer, so he chose that time to get baptized at First Baptist, Lyman.
Gattner said his journey to Christ is indescribable.
“It was just something I never experienced before, so I figured there had to be something. I have to say, I grew up in a non-religious part of Germany and I was born into a non-religious family,” he said in an e-mail. “My grandma’s sister said to my parents right before I was born, ‘Do you want him to get baptized?’ And my parents said, ‘Well, when he’s old enough, he can decide for himself.’ So I made my decision and I’m really happy about that decision, and it definitely has given me a lot since I accepted Christ!”
Gattner said he now has a whole new perspective on life.
“I feel I’m happier and more open with people. It also gives me something to think about – why I was born and what the reason of life is,” he said. “I definitely think that it has changed my life and my view of life. I think I became a better person through accepting Jesus Christ.”
Gattner said he hopes to return to the U.S. after graduating from high school and attend North Greenville University.