Have you ever taken a leap of faith?
Our first January/February at Journey we, with the rest of the church, were encouraged to join a small group to be part of the all church study. At the time my daughter Morgan was in middle of 8th grade. She has attended Riptide, nut not become part of a small group. I felt very strongly that God was encouraging not only my husband and myself to get involved, but that she was to join a small group as well for the duration of the study. She did not feel the same. She was very afraid to take this step, and through tears begged me not to make her go. Feeling very strongly about it, I sent her, prayer the whole time that God would make Himself real to her. That first meeting was all it took! She made friends there that evening that have remained close from then until now. God showed up for her in a very real and tangible way. She is currently in the 11th grade and never misses a small group night!
When was a time you took a risk with your faith?
I grew up in a home with a Baptist preacher for a father. I had always attended and served in ministry at whatever church he was pastor of at the time. I had never “church shopped” before. When our church became to small to support a mid-week kids program I had been invited to put my kids in Journey’s AWANA program. I’m used to serving, so my husband and I also joined the leadership team in this ministry. We did this for two years before I started feeling called to make Journey our families church home.
When I first came to Journey, I came without my husband who was involved in a leadership position at our current church. I felt very strongly that Journey was to be our new church home, but he was not convinced. Neither was my Father. We compromised and the kids and I would come for the 9am service and then attend church with him at 11am at the other church. This lasted for the entire summer. By the end of the summer we were both tired of the arrangement. He agreed at this time to give Journey a try and attended with me one Sunday in September. That was all it took. We’ve faithfully attended Journey ever since!
