Croatia
Trading Fame for Jesus
How a life of success and emptiness led to a calling as a pastor.
I had everything: money, fame, a bright future. But I can clearly remember one gig. We were in front of 4,000 people. Five minutes into the concert, my thought was, “Is this it?”
My name is Marin Sestak and I'm from Varazdin, Croatia. When I was 14 years old, I started a band with my cousin. We dreamed of playing gigs, and soon, other people started hiring us. Every year, the gigs got bigger. Our success exploded with our third song, which hit 300,000 views on YouTube in a week. The next week, it doubled. It was a surprise how famous we became.
In 2012, Eduardo Rangel, a Brazilian missionary, came to serve at our church. He was like my mirror image. We were the same age, played the same instruments, and the same sports, but he was better. He was an improved version of me. I started to be bothered, not by him, but because he had something that I didn't. He had this relationship with God that I thought that I had. I was the biggest Pharisee that I knew. I never used drugs, got drunk, or smoked. I was the perfect kid in my eyes. “Look at my life," I thought. "I have everything, but this guy has the real relationship with Christ that I think I have." I became bitter, angry, and wanted answers.
God broke my heart on two occasions. First, he showed me that if he wanted someone like me to serve him, he could bring a man from across the world and place him before me. Second, he put me in front of his Ten Commandments and showed me that I had made up a false Jesus in my head, a Jesus who served me. That was the night I said, "You have to do everything new. I deserve hell. I need you to save me."
After realizing that Christ was more worthy than everything I had, I quit my band and tried to live for him. I had to find a job, and 2013 and 2014 were very difficult. I applied to 40 places and got zero responses. I know what God wanted for me was the opposite of what I wanted. I told my wife, "I will never be a pastor," but God wanted me to be a pastor.
I'm passionate about discipleship and expository applicational preaching. I'm working on equipping pastors from Uganda for preaching and discipleship, and I also work with other pastors and churches in our area because we want to be a unified church in our city. I used to think that by having everything, I would be satisfied with life. But after I encountered the living Christ, I understood that everything I need is in him.
My name is Marin Sestak and I'm from Varazdin, Croatia. When I was 14 years old, I started a band with my cousin. We dreamed of playing gigs, and soon, other people started hiring us. Every year, the gigs got bigger. Our success exploded with our third song, which hit 300,000 views on YouTube in a week. The next week, it doubled. It was a surprise how famous we became.
In 2012, Eduardo Rangel, a Brazilian missionary, came to serve at our church. He was like my mirror image. We were the same age, played the same instruments, and the same sports, but he was better. He was an improved version of me. I started to be bothered, not by him, but because he had something that I didn't. He had this relationship with God that I thought that I had. I was the biggest Pharisee that I knew. I never used drugs, got drunk, or smoked. I was the perfect kid in my eyes. “Look at my life," I thought. "I have everything, but this guy has the real relationship with Christ that I think I have." I became bitter, angry, and wanted answers.
God broke my heart on two occasions. First, he showed me that if he wanted someone like me to serve him, he could bring a man from across the world and place him before me. Second, he put me in front of his Ten Commandments and showed me that I had made up a false Jesus in my head, a Jesus who served me. That was the night I said, "You have to do everything new. I deserve hell. I need you to save me."
After realizing that Christ was more worthy than everything I had, I quit my band and tried to live for him. I had to find a job, and 2013 and 2014 were very difficult. I applied to 40 places and got zero responses. I know what God wanted for me was the opposite of what I wanted. I told my wife, "I will never be a pastor," but God wanted me to be a pastor.
I'm passionate about discipleship and expository applicational preaching. I'm working on equipping pastors from Uganda for preaching and discipleship, and I also work with other pastors and churches in our area because we want to be a unified church in our city. I used to think that by having everything, I would be satisfied with life. But after I encountered the living Christ, I understood that everything I need is in him.