Back in early 2002, a friend at the call center where I was employed let me borrow a copy of the Christian magazine Charisma. On the cover was a picture of Goths. This immediately caught my attention.

At the time, I wasn't too informed about Goths, just like most other people, and assumed that they were probably Satanists and they probably all drank blood. I wouldn't want to hang around these kinds of people.

After reading the article, my opinion changed, and I realized that it was not right to judge somebody by the way they dressed, even if it was a little weird.

I was a Sunday School teacher at the time and taught high school students every Sunday morning. An idea struck me. I wondered how people like this would be treated at our church. I came up with the plan to have a skit with my Sunday School class where we came to church dressed as Goths.

I decided to call my character Boris. Each of the youth chose a name for their character.

The skit went over really well, and we decided to do a concert for the unchurched kids in the area as Ex Nihilo, our Christian Goth band.

In March 2003, Ex Nihilo performed its one and only concert at the church where I was a member in Eastern Kentucky. We sang the song "Jesus Freak" by DC Talk and several other songs. We invited other singers and there was a short devotional. We had a guitar, fog machine, strobe lights, the whole works. The kids loved it! It was modern, hip, and still portrayed God's love in a non-judgemental way.

Unfortunately, there were two older men there who were offended by the way we were dressed and set out to "bring me down". They spread lies that I was a Satanist and was leading the children into witchcraft. They compared me to Jim Jones and said that I was starting a cult. They rallied the church deacons and I was asked to resign from teaching Sunday School.

This was the most painful experience of my life, as I felt abandoned by the church and went through an extreme test of my faith. My family was so hurt by these events, and it put a strain on my marriage and caused all of us to go through a time of great depression. Because of this event, my family no longer attends church.

Well, that was in 2003, and I am now living back in California. For awhile I was a member of a Goth/Vampire club and had a great time with the Goth friends I made in the group.

No, I don't drink blood or worship Satan, but I did enjoy hanging out with my friends and watching the looks that people gave us when we are out in public.

Boris was scheduled to make a cameo appearance in the independent film "Illegal Smile". Officer Sullivan is walking down the sidewalk when he confronts Boris. He lets Boris pass and when he does, Sullivan turns around and stares at him. The scene got left out from the final cut of the film.

Am I Goth? Well, I don't dress this way all the time, for one thing my job wouldn't allow it, for another, it takes too long to put on the makeup and then clean up afterwards. But I do like the look, I am drawn to dark things, I love horror, and I think that there is a part of me that has always been Goth, even before I understood what it was.

Click below to watch the Boris Video