JOHN LEUZARDER, a survivor of cancer and author of "The Gospel For Children", will give his and his wife Sue's personal testimony of being saved by the grace of a loving, merciful and sovereign Christ: "GOD SENT A BLIZZARD TO MELT COLD HEARTS".In 1976 John Leuzarder was laid off from his job where he worked and traveled extensively in a sales engineering position for over a 10-year period. Seeing an opportunity, he partnered with another salesman to form Advanced Environmental Technology Corp. (AETC) to deal with the emerging environmental problems associated with improperly managed hazardous chemicals and waste. Their company grew through a diversity of services including training, safety audits, packaging services, trucking, BTU recovery from waste solvents, acid neutralization, and chemical emergency response. In time they became nationally recognized for their expertise in the transport and on-site detonation of explosive and other dangerous highly reactive chemicals. AETC developed an array of remote control robotic devices for this purpose, the likeness of which are used by our military today. With wide acceptance from the emerging regulatory authorities AETC grew rapidly. – An average of 160% per year for the first 12 years. AETC reached $40 million in annual sales by 1987. Profitability during these years grew to 21% before taxes.
As AETC sales continued to grow, John Leuzarder and his business partner were able to diversify into a highly specialized trucking company, an insurance business (initially formed to capture commissions on their huge insurance premiums), real estate holdings to regionalize their growth into key market areas, and to satisfy John's partner’s personal interest, a jewelry business in Morristown.
All of John's dreams were becoming realities! He sat on a very prestigious committee of the American Chemical Society in Washington DC with 11 of the top research chemists in the US (MIT, Dupont etc.). He and his partner lectured in major universities across America, and developed a course on Chemical Compatibility and Safety for J.T. Baker Chemical Co. which John had the privilege of teaching in 26 states.
On the outside John appeared to be realizing the “Great American Dream”, but on the inside he was growing in anxiety, emptiness and even a sense of fear and despair. He found none of the peace and happiness that he expected, despite all he had accomplished. A temporary sense of happiness came only with the next big contract, exciting vacation, new car or learning to fly. Soon after acquiring these things, “the fix” was gone.
Although John didn’t realize it at the time, God was showing him that some of the things he had been taught as a child were not true, and that happiness and peace don’t come through hard work, acquiring goods, social prestige, or even reaching personal goals. Later as a 43 year old businessman at the top of his game, John grew more and more distressed by the emptiness of his life, the promise of happiness eluded him, and even more frightening was that now there seemed to be no way to get off the treadmill that he was on. He had become a slave to his businesses and possessions.
Despite wealth and prestige the burden on John's conscience was getting worse-not better. His marriage to his wife Sue was faltering and all hope of peace and happiness was slipping away. He tried his best to deny spiritual things, but he couldn’t shake off the idea from his Catholic upbringing, that hell loomed ahead of him. He had a terrible time facing the prospect of his eventual death.
Then in Dec 1986 John and Sue Leuzarder's lives were changed forever. Employees who had been praying for them presented them with Bibles- their first! A couple of weeks later at their annual New Years Eve party, 2 dear friends we’re providentially snowed in with John and Sue, and in the early morning hours began to talk to them about spiritual things. Listen to today's interview and discover how this blizzard was an instrument in the hand of a Sovereign God to lead John and Sue Leuzarder to a repentant faith in Jesus Christ.
Retiring on the proceeds of the sale of his businesses, John and his wife Sue were able to be involved in a number of faith based pro-life and pro-family organizations including Focus on the Family , The Family Research Council , Northwest Christian School , The Alliance Defense Fund and Today’s Choice Pregnancy Center. The Leuzarders also build interior and outdoor furniture and signs and serve on the Board of Camp of the Woods, in Speculator, NY which is now in its 107 year of Christian Ministry. John has also had the privilege of writing a book entitled “The Gospel for Children”, now in its 4 printing and 3 languages.
Today John and Sue Leuzarder are members of an Orthodox Presbyterian congregation in New Jersey. You can contact John at JLeuzarder@earthlink.net.
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