My name is Larry Heidinger. I grew up on a farm near Stickney pretty close to where I currently live. I am a self-employed auto mechanic and run a small cow-calf operation. I went to church off and on all my life and did my share of partying in my earlier days. It seems like I always knew who Jesus was, but that was as far as it went. I knew facts – there was no relationship. In 2 Peter 3:9 it says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” I thank God for being patient with me. When I look back at how I lived my life then and contemplate what would have happened if I were to have died, I’m pretty certain I would have gone to Hell.
The turning point in my life was probably back in 1999 when my wife and I read the Bible together from front to back in a year. We attended some Bible studies and got more involved in church, all the time growing closer to God and striving to know Him better. I came to realize that it takes more than just going to church to get to Heaven. You need a relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ. No one can get to Heaven on their own merit. It says in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Then in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Wow! There’s no way that I could try to live life my way and get to Heaven.
God has revealed himself to me by His love, grace, mercy, and through the power of the Holy Spirit. This has given me great peace, understanding and direction for my life. I have been blessed with my wife, Leanne, 5 children (Justin, Amber, Melissa, Sierra & Cora) and 2 grandchildren (Kalee & Kahne) and so much more.
It is my prayer that you will be blessed by reading our testimonies and other information on this website. We would love to have you come be a part of our church family at the Lighthouse!
I want to share with you how God saved me. And I want to make sure God gets all the glory.Because there was nothing I could have done to be saved.In Romans it says that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”.It doesn’t say that once I was good enough or had done enough good things, then he saved me.No, while I was yet a sinner.
I grew up on a farm in a little town here in South Dakota.My family always went to church.If we didn’t go, my grandpa would call and want to know why we didn’t come to church that day.I don’t know if that is why we went or if Dad truly wanted to go.My dad was only saved like 7 years ago or so.Anyway, I went to all the Sunday school and stuff and learned all the stories.But that was all it ever was to me…. Stories.When I graduated, I went to college.And since I was not around any of my family anymore, I let loose.I had no one to impress anymore.I started drinking a lot and tried drugs.After about 3 ½ years of that, my counselor suggested that I take a semester off and think about what I was doing.So I did, and didn’t go back.I had found a job that paid pretty good so I forgot school.Shortly after that I met a girl and after dating for a while I asked her to marry me…. Only because I thought she was pretty and all that shallow stuff.I think we got in more fights than anything.Anyway, we were chasing after that ‘american dream’ until she got pregnant with twins.She stayed home, which put a strain on our finances but daycare was crazy up there, so we had no choice.We were still fighting daily.Then shegot pregnant with the second set of twins.This pushed us over the edge.I tried to pay the bills (which we had a lot with all the toys….) but just kept falling behind.She decided thatshe would deal with her problems by going to the bar at night and get drunk and hanging out with different guys there.I decided that I wanted to go back to church to help deal with my problems (which she hated, she hated religion).After a couple weeks of going to church, I would come home to the door being locked.So I went to my brothers house to stay.I probably could have come back had I stopped going to church, but I really wanted to go.I was not saved at all yet, but something was drawing me…. God.While I was out of the house she said she was going to pay the bills.When she finally let me back in, I found out that most of them were very behind, including the house.Slowly I began to loose all my ‘worldly stuff’, including the house.After that, God provided a nice house to rent that was in a good area for the kids and was in my price range.It was a blessing.By now I had left the church I was going to and was really searching for a biblical church (the last one was just dead, not on fire for God at all) and I was reading the bible and listening to christian radio.One day, I heard a teaching from a man named Ray Comfort called ‘Hell’s best kept secret’.After hearing that, I knew I had sinned against God and that I needed a savior.I put my trust in Jesus Christ and his work at the cross.I don’t know if I was saved or not before that day, but I do know that I was saved that day.
After that, she ended up moving out (cause I had the rent in my name) and left the kids with me.Shortly after that, I moved back to South Dakota and filed for divorce.God has recently blessed me with a new home and a new wife.He has blessed me far more than I could hope for.For sure more than I ever deserve.I love the Lord and just want to serve Him in whatever way he has planned for me.That’s my story.
