I know that I need to announce Baby D's new name and show you the good pictures from our family picture session, but something much more pressing is on my heart, and I must share it with you.
Sometimes God brings events and people into your life that change you forever. Yesterday was one of those days for me. Our church had an event yesterday for the people in our community. Joy, hope, tears, passion and love are only a small sample of the emotions that I felt after leaving the building yesterday. I have been blessed and honored to begin new friendships and I pray, that the people we ministered to yesterday felt loved on, cared for and immensely blessed. Below is a news clip from a local station about what our church tried to offer to the community.
Over 24 hours after the "hoopla" of this event, I am seeing, more than ever, why I wrote a post, just over 6 months ago. However, what I can see now, even more clearly, is EXACTLY why I love these people that also call my church home. Over 300 volunteers turned out yesterday, not because we wanted personal glory or gain, but because we all know, very deeply, the One who has changed our lives forever. It is with Him in mind, that we offered ourselves, our possessions, our time and our hearts to a hurting group of people.
But what those people may never know, is exactly how much they touched us. They will never know or see the conversations that I had this morning with our youth and how those youth left that place feeling better about themselves.
They will never see or know of the conversations Luke and I have had about how we will never be the same. They may never know that I will think of them often and praise God for all of His creations. What an amazing church, but better yet, what an amazing community. Thank you Lord for giving me this blessing and for changing my life.
This is the original post I wrote on September 3, 2008. Although this post is getting rather long, I hope you will stay with it to the end. You're almost guaranteed a laugh!
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More Than Bricks
Dictionary.com defines church as "a building for public Christian worship" (plus about 14 other definitions).
However, I know that church isn't a building but rather the people who fill it. I am so incredibly blessed to attend and be a part of an amazing church. Initially, Luke and I were attracted to Rich Fork because of the former pastor. He had such a way of expressing deep Biblical truths but with an air of ease so that new believers (or even non-believers) could understand and seasoned believers felt challenged. When he announced that he was stepping down as pastor, my heart sank. He was the biggest reason we'd chosen that church. What if the new guy sucked?
Let me take you back to April of 2002. Luke had moved to North Carolina to start working for my step-dad as a traveling furniture rep. I was still in Arkansas, finishing up my senior year of college. On May 4, 2002 I graduated and loaded up everything I owned and moved. It was the best move of my life. I was engaged to a wonderful man and moving into a fresh start. Luke and I had started to meddle in scripture and prayer but I was, by no means, a believer.
We had regular pity parties because we had no friends in our new town. We spent a lot of time hanging out with my parents and their friends. They were great but they weren't our friends. We bought a house in June of 2002 and I moved in while Luke continued living with my parents (yes, that's right). We were married in December of 2002 and quickly found some friends that we loved to hang out with. However, due to some outside circumstances, we once again found ourselves friendless. That's when we aimlessly wandered into the doors of Rich Fork.
Luke and I met the Madisons in our Rich Fork 101 class sometime in the Spring of 2003. Little did we know that they would continue to be close confidants and a connection to the most amazing group of friends. They invited us to their Sunday School class and Luke and I quickly realized that we had found a group of people to fill the void of our college friendships. God was graciously providing. I gave my life to Christ and found that these people, these believers, were actually a lot like me. I was amazed.
Luke and I had just gotten settled and involved when our pastor announced he was leaving. We talked about whether or not we'd move churches, since, as I said before, he was a huge part of our love of Rich Fork. We decided that we liked our friends too much to leave so we'd just stick it out, for now. I don't remember ever praying out this decision...now I think that's funny, and scary.
It's so obvious to me now, how out of touch I was with the whole "church" scene. Clearly there was an obvious choice to succeed our former pastor. When they announced that the nomination committee had chosen Michael, I jumped to my feet and applauded. I remember thinking so clearly,
Wow! Why am I standing up? This is really exciting! Wow, I'm really yelling. Okay, calm down, calm down.
In the following weeks we voted, as a church body to have Michael as our senior pastor. When the ballot came to me, I thought
Wow, so this is how this works. Some people may not like this. There is a possibility that he may not be our pastor.
Then it hit me. Why am I here? What does this church offer that all the others don't. The answer was incredibly simple:
The People.
I could go anywhere else, to any other corner in our town and find God. The only place that could find my home, my church home, was with these people.
In the last 5 years, God has continued to confirm that for us. We have the most amazing group of believers that we humbly call our friends. They hold us accountable, challenge us and, most importantly, point us to God. Most of them are also pretty stinkin' hilarious.
If you look over to the right side of this page, you'll see a long list of bloggers, over half of which are friends of ours who call our church home as well. I love these people for so many, various reasons. The least of which is because of the building I met them in. This past spring, Luke and I ventured down to the youth area. It's a decision I will never regret making. Once more, God led us to amazing people. Youth I feel privileged to call friends.
Check out these videos and pics and you'll see, just as I do, exactly why I love these people and I feel incredibly blessed to call them friends. They are hilariously amazing, unconditionally loyal and, most incredibly, tolerant of my frequent mistakes. God has so richly blessed me. Oh, and in case you're wondering...that new pastor doesn't suck. ;)
Our first "new" friends. The Madisons and the Hanners. Nice 'stash Phil!! I'm about 1,000 lbs heavier and I think Sarah's about 16 yrs old in this pic. Wow, have we all changed!
Ringing in a new year. Nice helmet 'Tiney!
Dorf (if you don't know Dorf, google it)
Baby D and The Thompsons. Another example of God's perfect timing.
Birthday celebrations are much better with friends.
Our amazing friend Britt, aka "girlfriend" doin' her thang.
This is a video from almost a year ago. I tried to edit some of it b/c it was almost 8 minutes long. It might be the funniest thing I've seen in a while.
This was at our house last Saturday night. Yep, that's our Pastor Micheal (the one I mentioned above) racing Kevin K. I think he was having flashbacks to the Faster Pastor race.
Sometimes God brings events and people into your life that change you forever. Yesterday was one of those days for me. Our church had an event yesterday for the people in our community. Joy, hope, tears, passion and love are only a small sample of the emotions that I felt after leaving the building yesterday. I have been blessed and honored to begin new friendships and I pray, that the people we ministered to yesterday felt loved on, cared for and immensely blessed. Below is a news clip from a local station about what our church tried to offer to the community.
Over 24 hours after the "hoopla" of this event, I am seeing, more than ever, why I wrote a post, just over 6 months ago. However, what I can see now, even more clearly, is EXACTLY why I love these people that also call my church home. Over 300 volunteers turned out yesterday, not because we wanted personal glory or gain, but because we all know, very deeply, the One who has changed our lives forever. It is with Him in mind, that we offered ourselves, our possessions, our time and our hearts to a hurting group of people.
But what those people may never know, is exactly how much they touched us. They will never know or see the conversations that I had this morning with our youth and how those youth left that place feeling better about themselves.
They will never see or know of the conversations Luke and I have had about how we will never be the same. They may never know that I will think of them often and praise God for all of His creations. What an amazing church, but better yet, what an amazing community. Thank you Lord for giving me this blessing and for changing my life.
This is the original post I wrote on September 3, 2008. Although this post is getting rather long, I hope you will stay with it to the end. You're almost guaranteed a laugh!
----------
More Than Bricks
Dictionary.com defines church as "a building for public Christian worship" (plus about 14 other definitions).
However, I know that church isn't a building but rather the people who fill it. I am so incredibly blessed to attend and be a part of an amazing church. Initially, Luke and I were attracted to Rich Fork because of the former pastor. He had such a way of expressing deep Biblical truths but with an air of ease so that new believers (or even non-believers) could understand and seasoned believers felt challenged. When he announced that he was stepping down as pastor, my heart sank. He was the biggest reason we'd chosen that church. What if the new guy sucked?
Let me take you back to April of 2002. Luke had moved to North Carolina to start working for my step-dad as a traveling furniture rep. I was still in Arkansas, finishing up my senior year of college. On May 4, 2002 I graduated and loaded up everything I owned and moved. It was the best move of my life. I was engaged to a wonderful man and moving into a fresh start. Luke and I had started to meddle in scripture and prayer but I was, by no means, a believer.
We had regular pity parties because we had no friends in our new town. We spent a lot of time hanging out with my parents and their friends. They were great but they weren't our friends. We bought a house in June of 2002 and I moved in while Luke continued living with my parents (yes, that's right). We were married in December of 2002 and quickly found some friends that we loved to hang out with. However, due to some outside circumstances, we once again found ourselves friendless. That's when we aimlessly wandered into the doors of Rich Fork.
Luke and I met the Madisons in our Rich Fork 101 class sometime in the Spring of 2003. Little did we know that they would continue to be close confidants and a connection to the most amazing group of friends. They invited us to their Sunday School class and Luke and I quickly realized that we had found a group of people to fill the void of our college friendships. God was graciously providing. I gave my life to Christ and found that these people, these believers, were actually a lot like me. I was amazed.
Luke and I had just gotten settled and involved when our pastor announced he was leaving. We talked about whether or not we'd move churches, since, as I said before, he was a huge part of our love of Rich Fork. We decided that we liked our friends too much to leave so we'd just stick it out, for now. I don't remember ever praying out this decision...now I think that's funny, and scary.
It's so obvious to me now, how out of touch I was with the whole "church" scene. Clearly there was an obvious choice to succeed our former pastor. When they announced that the nomination committee had chosen Michael, I jumped to my feet and applauded. I remember thinking so clearly,
Wow! Why am I standing up? This is really exciting! Wow, I'm really yelling. Okay, calm down, calm down.
In the following weeks we voted, as a church body to have Michael as our senior pastor. When the ballot came to me, I thought
Wow, so this is how this works. Some people may not like this. There is a possibility that he may not be our pastor.
Then it hit me. Why am I here? What does this church offer that all the others don't. The answer was incredibly simple:
The People.
I could go anywhere else, to any other corner in our town and find God. The only place that could find my home, my church home, was with these people.
In the last 5 years, God has continued to confirm that for us. We have the most amazing group of believers that we humbly call our friends. They hold us accountable, challenge us and, most importantly, point us to God. Most of them are also pretty stinkin' hilarious.
If you look over to the right side of this page, you'll see a long list of bloggers, over half of which are friends of ours who call our church home as well. I love these people for so many, various reasons. The least of which is because of the building I met them in. This past spring, Luke and I ventured down to the youth area. It's a decision I will never regret making. Once more, God led us to amazing people. Youth I feel privileged to call friends.
Check out these videos and pics and you'll see, just as I do, exactly why I love these people and I feel incredibly blessed to call them friends. They are hilariously amazing, unconditionally loyal and, most incredibly, tolerant of my frequent mistakes. God has so richly blessed me. Oh, and in case you're wondering...that new pastor doesn't suck. ;)
Our first "new" friends. The Madisons and the Hanners. Nice 'stash Phil!! I'm about 1,000 lbs heavier and I think Sarah's about 16 yrs old in this pic. Wow, have we all changed!Ringing in a new year. Nice helmet 'Tiney!Dorf (if you don't know Dorf, google it)Baby D and The Thompsons. Another example of God's perfect timing.Birthday celebrations are much better with friends.Our amazing friend Britt, aka "girlfriend" doin' her thang.This is a video from almost a year ago. I tried to edit some of it b/c it was almost 8 minutes long. It might be the funniest thing I've seen in a while.
This was at our house last Saturday night. Yep, that's our Pastor Micheal (the one I mentioned above) racing Kevin K. I think he was having flashbacks to the Faster Pastor race.