At a time that our family was living with our priorities out of order, We decided to take a step of faith and relocate eight hours away from home. Once we started putting God in the center of our family and marriage, everything changed. We have had many doors open, and we can see God working every single day. Allowing him to be in control has given us the ability to live with our hands and eyes open to the beauty of what God has in store for us.

I grew up in a Christian family, but once I moved away to college, I let worldly things choke God out of my heart. My brother saw my condition and began discipling me. I gave my life to Christ, and was challenged to get plugged into a community. I immediately felt at home at The Connection Church. When I joined an 1830 connection group, I found the community I was looking for and even met my wife. We married weeks ago, surrounded by the godly friends and family I had been praying for.

The Lord has blessed me by giving me Emma Mae. He also has put my sister's and my other 3 kids back into my life. And gave Emma and I a bigger family The Connection Church!

We were living in the world before we grew in our relationship with God at the center. God brought himself into our lives when we committed to getting married and developing a Christ-centered relationship. Life has so much more meaning for us now. We are flourishing in this church and so grateful for the life change God has allowed us to fulfill.

I accepted Jesus when I was 10 years old. It wasn't until a couple months ago when life became more difficult and that's when I truly began to realize how much God loves me and is there to support me. I am now getting more involved in different areas of service and leadership in the church. I'm excited about the path God is leading me in. My desire is to grow closer to him, and to speed his word.

After my separation and divorce I was a shell of the woman I used to be. I kept going for my children but I was living on auto pilot, completely broken. Instead of turning away from God I turned to Him. I was active in my connection group. I served at church, as much as I could being a single Mom. I ran to Jesus and He sent me people to carry my through my darkest hours. He healed my deep wounds and restored me beyond the woman I was before. He gave me a life I never even knew existed and made me whole again.

We used to rely on ourselves to maintain our marriage. We were filled with anxiety and fear over the unknown, weighed down by the baggage of our past. We now know that when we gave control over our marriage and lives to God, we can trust in His reliability. In that, our lives now have a rock solid foundation of hope.

I found myself in a season of doubt, anxiety, and anger. I was a man in a new chapter of life that lacked a purpose. After consistency with God, and outwardly expressing a void that needed to be filled. God spoke to me in multiple ways through community, leading me to where I am currently. Leading a team committed to protecting followers of Jesus and expanding the kingdom.

While growing up in the church as a kid, it felt like church was a chore. As an adult, it felt like going to church was just the right thing to do. I was checking it off my list of “to do’s.”
Just going through the motions, doing the right and safe things in life (family, church and work) didn’t feel meaningful. It felt redundant and ultimately I realized I was being ungrateful.
Because of taking the faithful step of getting baptized and now enthusiastically serving in the church with my family, a new faith has grown. A faith of being grateful and taking any opportunities to give God glory.
My life verse:
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
Ephesians 2:10 NLT

I had gone to church before but never fully understood what it meant to live for Jesus.
I struggled with self image and confidence, the idea that I would continue through life with not very many real friendships. It wasn’t until I started dating Cooper that I realized something had to change. I didn't want to hate myself anymore. I came to The Connection Church for youth group, that first night changed everything. I made the best decision of my life to accept Jesus into my heart. Today, I am a leader at YNG and get to pour into kids every week and serve on Sundays. I have so many amazing friends and ever since making that decision, I have never questioned my worth.

Our life before returning to church was a bit stormy,  lonely, heavy, and we felt like something was missing. We started to question our choices, and we felt more alone and sadder than ever and we almost abandoned god. We masked our depression, and put bandaids on our wounds . We knew that without Christ our family would be broken and lost.
    In our walk with God we learned how gracious he was to show us the truth about church, that it isn’t defined by walls but by people. We found people that we can call our chosen-through-God family. We now know that it was one of God’s amazing gifts to us, to find our church. 
     In our experience, living with Christ and for Christ is not perfect and not easy. The fact that we gave our life to Christ doesn’t mean that we suddenly stopped hitting walls or seeing obstacles in our way. It doesn’t mean we don’t have to fight with sin anymore because we do. But now we know that in every situation no matter how hard, God is the Lord of it. We know we don’t fight the sin alone because we know that God is fighting for us and is our ever-present help in the time of trouble. We still can’t believe the transaction that God had  for us. For our heart of stone he gave us a heart of flesh that can love him and accept the free gift of salvation that Jesus Christ brings.