Madison Church
Madison Church
Stories of Courage and Transformation at Madison Church
Imagine being guided to a new path by a simple, persistent nudge from someone close to you. That’s exactly what happened to Nana, whose daughter Brianna’s determination led her to Madison Church, where she found solace and strength in Jesus during a rough year. Nana also shares her heartfelt story, reflecting on how Pastor Stephen’s teachings and the welcoming community enriched her spiritual life and brought her closer to her family. Annalee joins the conversation, expressing her deep gratitude for the supportive environment that nurtured her spiritual growth and helped her forge meaningful connections. Their stories are testaments to the profound impact of faith, community, and courage.
Discover the power of persistent prayer and a serendipitous search in our next segment. Bri opens up about her unwavering prayers for her family’s spiritual journey, culminating in a beautiful family baptism in Monona Lake. We also hear from Chrissie Valdez, who found her way back to faith after 15 years, thanks to a fateful Google search for LGBTQ-friendly churches. Chrissie’s journey highlights the church community's support, the transformation she experienced through joining a small group, and her eventual baptism. These inspiring stories showcase the essential role of community, prayer, and steadfast support in fostering spiritual growth.
As we reflect on the collective journey of Madison Church, long-standing members Dan and Tamara share their experiences since joining in 2015, celebrating the community’s resilience and growth through significant transitions, including becoming a non-denominational church and navigating the pandemic’s challenges. We delve into personal healing stories, the intentional efforts to cultivate a culture free from manipulation and toxicity, and the deep bonds formed within the church. This episode underscores the importance of community, faith, and courage in spiritual growth, celebrating the past decade's triumphs and embracing a hopeful future.
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And I would like to invite our first group up. We have Nana, we have Bree and we have Annalie coming up to share.
Speaker 2:So most of you know I do have a really big family. We kind of tend to take that whole side over there. But some of you don't know that it was my daughter, Brianna, who brought me here to Madison Church almost two years ago. I remember every weekend, every week, she would bug me and invite me to come and join as a family, but something always was there to stop me, whether it was work, life or just fear of change. I think really it was fear.
Speaker 2:Early 2023 was a really hard year for our family. It was a time when we needed much healing to find a solution, a way out, but the answer was God. At that moment I set all my fears away, all the hate, all the sadness, and just focused on Jesus, focused on my family and my children. It was here at Madison Church I found faith, love and salvation. This community was so welcoming, with open arms and open hearts, no judgment, A place to be free. It was here our lives changed.
Speaker 2:Pastor Stephen said something a few weeks ago that just stuck to me Be like Peter and step out of the boat. I realized that was me. As afraid I was back then, I knew that was exactly what I needed to do. Jesus gave me the strength, so I stepped out and, yes, it was hard and scary at times, but it was all worth it. Our family grew stronger in faith, together Learn to be more like Jesus and help the community and share experiences together. We will never forget. I'm truly thankful for Pastor Stephen, my kids, my family and everyone here at church, at Madison Church, for never giving up on us and for all the prayers. I thank God and I thank you.
Speaker 3:I have always believed in Jesus, but coming to this church I realize that it's so much more than just believing. Jesus has helped me in so many ways. I'm not alone. I can worship with others without embarrassment and worship freely. I've grown closer with my family, connected with Pastor Stephen Chrissy and with the youth group. I will always remember my first mission trip. At first I was a little scared and nervous, but I've grown so much more as a person and in my faith. I even had the privilege to help a woman in need. I also have to thank my mom for starting the chain reaction and helping me read my Bible more and praying more, and also my sister for helping me find music so that I can both enjoy it and still worship God, and helping me understand when I'm confused and have questions. After all I've been through, I'm so grateful to have everyone and want to thank Jesus, and I know I'm never going back to who I once was before.
Speaker 4:All right Now I fear my conversation wouldn't be as great as them. It is a little long. My name is Brianna. I've always wanted a church where I felt like I belonged, an open community that didn't judge and welcome newcomers, a church that can actually teach me something and bring me closer to God. But looking for that said church felt like mission impossible. But then came Easter and I really wanted to go to church and praise my Lord and Savior. My aunt did the searching and she said, and I quote I like this one because the pastor has tattoos and looks down to earth, plus it starts later. So that's good. Which in our family we like because we are grumpy and heavy sleepers who like to sleep in.
Speaker 4:I had so much excitement but, much to my surprise, coming in and looking around, it wasn't that much. It wasn't your traditional church. It was downstairs in the basement and the decorum wasn't up to par. There wasn't a whole choir. So sitting down at that moment I told myself I was never coming back and this wasn't the church for me which I really believed it to be true. God has a way to humble you.
Speaker 4:As soon as the service started, I began to feel anxious. I didn't know where it was coming from. Maybe it was because of this small room, I thought. As my anxiety progressed, I did my best to calm myself and allowed myself to listen to the pastor. The more I listened, the more intrigued I was. His words were both beautiful and graceful, but also cutting and true. I began to feel at ease and by the end of the service I knew something changed, that I wanted to know more, to grow and to learn. I know now that there was an enemy trying his best to interfere with me and get me out of that church, because he knew he was losing his grip. But the more I listened, the more fainter he got. When it was finally silent, I could feel and hear. I know God was there in that room, changing and touching the hearts of all of us. I knew then and there I had finally found my church and was definitely coming back.
Speaker 4:It felt like my duty to bring my family here every week because I knew that this church was meant for us and would help us on our walk, with Christ drawing us closer to him. I knew how desperately we needed this and needed him, because if not me, then who? Who would be courageous enough to take the big leap, like getting up early in the morning and driving them to church. I mean, I had the car, but I knew it was meant to be that this little step was the start of the whole domino effect.
Speaker 4:Been here for a little over two years and I'm so happy with the progress that me and my family has made, still come here almost every week if we get up on time, and I wouldn't change it, no matter what I'm going through, I know I can come here and worship God and have a community that has our backs and praise and helps us, no matter what we are going through, and have a community that has our backs and praise and helps us, no matter what we are going through. It feels like every time I come here and what I'm going through, the surface is talking about me and what I'm facing. I know that's you, god, reaching me and telling me what I have to do. I'll do my best to do so. I'm so grateful to have this safe space and do believe God sent us here for a reason because this church has taught us so much and has saved this family.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you guys for coming up and sharing. You guys can head back the pressure's off, but you all did great. I remember the yes, I remember the Easter they came. We don't normally share prayer requests, but I've already shared this one with you all, but, yeah, it was every Sunday that Bree was here. She would write on her prayer card please pray for my family. I would like them to come to church. And we prayed every Sunday for a year like, yeah, pray for your family. And then it was about a year later. They all started coming.
Speaker 1:We baptized Nana and Annalie and we were standing in the very stinky Monona Lake, I think it was. It was stinky that day and, brianna, you were the last person we baptized that day. But I remember this moment in which I told Brianna I said you know, after we baptized you, brianna, we have baptized everyone in your family. And that was like a very tangible answered prayer. She prayed just show up. And then at one moment I was like Brianna, because of your prayers, this has happened.
Speaker 1:And so then Annalie and I went to Niagara Falls this year for and Alex if he's back there and the other middle schoolers, but we went to Niagara Falls for a mission trip and so just really great to get to know your family, and you guys are, yeah, a big, big part. I like seeing you guys over there when I'm teaching. That's good, I like that. Next I'm going to invite Chrissy Valdez to the front. Chrissy is yes, we can clap. Chrissy has been at our church for a little over a year just celebrated one year anniversary and in that past year we've become really good friends, I feel like, and she watches my kids almost every day, it seems now. But she's not here to talk about how she nannies for us and hangs out. She's here to talk about her story.
Speaker 8:Hi. So he's right. I'm just gonna put this down here. I did come to Madison Church a little over a year ago August 20th was my anniversary and I woke up that morning like normal, since I had for the past 15 years, which was to say that I had not conversed with God in those 15 years. But that morning I woke up and a little after I woke up I just felt the urge to go to church. So I Googled LGBTQ-friendly churches and there was quite a few, but I chose this one. I didn't know why I chose it at the time, but now I do. Now I know that the Holy Spirit led me here.
Speaker 8:I walked down those stairs and I was so nervous because I thought there's so many reasons why I could be rejected at any church. But I came down those stairs and I told myself I wanted to figure out why I wanted to be here. And this guy his message that day was about was a parable the prodigal son, and I'd heard that story so many times. But for that day it really hit me that that father was waiting for his son no matter what, and I knew that God was waiting for me to come back to him. So I stayed. A couple weeks later I met with him. We had a conversation. I realized that this was a church with a mission that I could get behind, so I stuck around and I came to this church very lonely, very heavy with grief and with some trauma and with a heavy heart, and since then I have actually him and an elder talked me into going joining a small group and if you don't know what those are, they're really fun. You should join one.
Speaker 8:Um, but it was alpha and I didn't know anybody there, and it was probably one of the scariest things I've ever done, because here I was with perfect strangers and I was supposed to talk about God, the super personal relationship that I was trying to build, and I got to hear their stories, though I got to hear how they struggled at times. I got to hear the things that worked for them and the things that didn't. The things that worked for them and the things that didn't. And Alpha did teach me a lot. It was funny. I'm sorry If you haven't done Alpha, please do, because what's his name? Nicky, he's hilarious. But anyways, I built these relationships with everybody from scratch and a few weeks into Alpha, I realized that I wanted to be baptized. I wanted to commit already. I knew that fully, and so we had a conversation. I met him on a Tuesday. He said hey, how about this Sunday?
Speaker 7:And.
Speaker 8:I was like, okay, I did not pause in my answer because I knew it didn't matter if it was that night or a few days from then. I still knew that I wanted to commit and, amazingly enough, when I was up here talking right before my baptism, I mentioned that one of the reasons that I wanted to commit and I knew I wanted to commit was because I had already built these relationships with these perfect strangers in my Alpha group and I loved them so deeply already and Stephen invited them all to surround me during my baptism, to surround me during my baptism. And if you haven't seen them yet, there's pictures. There's a before and an after picture of me getting baptized and the before looks it's just fear. It's pure fear Because I didn't know what was going to come next. Sorry, but the picture of the after is pure joy. I love that picture. Thank you, danielle.
Speaker 8:And follow Christ to love, to forgive. I've learned to love the right people honestly, to give up things that didn't serve me anymore, things that didn't align with me anymore, and while that's tough, I am so much happier. I have better relationships, I have more self-worth, I have conversations with God every day, doesn't matter what time of day I wake up, I literally say hi, thanks. Day I wake up, I literally say hi, thanks. I woke up today. I talked to him way more than I ever thought I could and his love, his unwavering love, every day fills my heart to the point where I can do the things I couldn't do before. I can forgive people, I can let go of things that don't serve me anymore. I can do things that I didn't think I had the ability to do, like when you asked me to join Kidman, I thought I mean I can try it. I don't know if I'll be good at it, but I did it and I love it. I love being with the little kids. I love just their energy. I love teaching them about God and since then I've now I'm in leadership. Now Super fun, if you ever want to do it.
Speaker 8:You get to meet with this guy a lot. One of the things I learned in Alpha was that God meets you where you're at, but he doesn't leave you there. And when I came here I thought there was no way that there was a place for me, not just at Madison Church, but in Christianity. I thought there was no place for me. But I came. God accepted me, loved me and said I'm going to change you. And since then he has, and I have the greatest friendships, the greatest relationships, and I know that I can do things that I've never thought I could do before. And I have so many of you to thank for that my Alpha members they're still here that still support me, still love me. And Megan and Steven, thank you for risking everything to create Madison Church and sticking with it all these years.
Speaker 1:So many people we wanted to hear from, but in organizing this so we were done in a timely manner, we picked different people in our community who I thought would share stories that reflected different types of journeys at Madison Church, and so each couple or family or person who comes up here, they're going to kind of share a story and hopefully what you're picking up on is a different aspect that led them to Madison Church and how the community has met them where they're at but not left them there, and so I'll turn it over to you guys now.
Speaker 9:Good morning. My name's Tim and this is my wife, cindy, and we're in a stage of life where, in just maybe a matter of months, all of our kids will be engaged and maybe even married. Our kids are in their late 20s and early 30s. In fact, our youngest got married last weekend, or two weekends ago, I guess, and so it's a fun stage of life.
Speaker 9:But a year and a half ago, cindy and I ended a 22-year relationship with a local church due to spiritual abuse from the leadership. This included gaslighting constantly over a period of a year or more, false accusations toward us and marginalizing anyone who questioned the authority of the leadership. For six months after we left that community, we were without a spiritual home, and that's the first time that's happened to us since our college days when we were converted. Then we found the Madison Church. It stood out and it definitely felt different when we visited. Not your usual church, for sure, and I love it when Stephen says he says this church is not for everybody. This is not and, more importantly, there was nothing I could detect that was spiritually toxic, because I had a very good knowledge of what spiritual toxicity was when we came. It was nothing. We saw every indication that spiritual and relational health were first priority. Here we visited and soon after, we placed membership.
Speaker 9:Over the past year, both of us shifted from being performance centered, always striving to please, wanting to please the people and the leadership, to becoming God-centered, focused on pleasing his spirit, with Jesus at the heart of it all, his spirit with Jesus at the heart of it all. From our first visit, it was clear that God had positioned this little Madison church in this very unique city to be a safe and healthy place, especially for those who feel misunderstood or unheard. Here there's no manipulation or flattery, just genuine confidence in what God is doing in you, in us. I can't fully explain the transformation, but after decades of struggling with self-worth based on my performance before God and men, I'm finally learning in my 60s, my late 60s to love myself and others based on what God says about me.
Speaker 7:Yeah, gosh, like Tim said, we spent six months without a church family, but it was a very needed time because we had to come to realize and have a conviction that our safety and security comes from God's spirit within us, not from our religious activity and our religious connections. However, in spite of our brokenness and even feeling kind of like damaged goods, we knew we were created for community and God kept a glimmer of hope in us that he would eventually lead us to a healthy place. It was almost hard to believe that there was a healthy environment after you go through something as traumatic as we had gone through. I came across a quote during that time of exile that states relational wounds can only be healed relationally, and at the time it kind of baffled me. I didn't know exactly what that meant, but now I understand a little bit more. It's in the context of a healthy and safe relational community that one can learn the validation, acceptance and unconditional love of God. God created it that way. He is a relational God. All of our wounds that were inflicted, all the wounds that were inflicted on my soul and from the malformed teachings and relationships, could begin to heal as I began to invest in healthy ones here.
Speaker 7:Of course, people in Madison Church are not perfect. I think we know that. But I'm telling you there's a very intentional effort in the culture of this church to make sure that we're keeping manipulation and toxicity out, and it's a huge issue in Western churches right now. So I'm so glad to be part of a community that's intentional about that, because I think we are, and we will continue to be, a safe haven for people who are hurt and will be hurt in the future. The difference here is striking compared to our last community. It's awkward and vulnerable to start new relationships and find new ways to serve, especially in your 60s, but there really is no other fruitful path to continue with God. We're still getting to know most of you and we're still on our healing journey, but Tim and I have put our skin in the game. I even bought a shirt With this little community because we really believe in what God is doing among us and we're excited to see what comes next.
Speaker 7:And I would just like to end my sharing with a reading from Psalm 116. Thank God for the Psalms, because when you're going through a hard time, oh my gosh. Praise God. He knew what he was doing when he put them in there. From Psalm 116,. The snares of death encompassed me, the pangs of hell laid hold of me. I suffered distress and anguish. From Psalm 116, return, oh, my soul, to your rest, for the lord has dealt bountifully with you. You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I will walk before the lord in the land of the living. You, brothers and sisters of the madison church, have become our place of rest. Thank you for embracing us and allowing us to walk with you.
Speaker 10:You know, if I knew all the stories ahead of me were going to be a tearjerker, I would have went first I'm like all sappy.
Speaker 10:Now, 10 years, man. You know that's such a big milestone for many reasons. You know they always say that, like 90% of startups fail, and when you think about it, that makes a lot of sense. You know life's not going to wait for you to get your affairs in order before you start facing challenges just because you opened the door yesterday. You know we faced staffing challenges, industry challenges, income challenges. We weren't exempt from that here. But we got through it, though, through unity and resilience.
Speaker 10:And I was lucky enough to see two perspectives one as a leader of this community, a leader of this church, and another one as a member of this community. So when it comes to being a leader here, I recall the time where we transitioned to being a non-denominational church. That was a tough time because we took a risk. It was a big risk, you know we're leaving the safety and security, you know. But the community, once again united, was resilient and self-funded, this mission that we all believe in. Another one is industry challenges. You know Madison is a transplant city, so people come here for school, they come here for work and then they move on. So what that means is there's always a need for volunteer. There's always a need for leadership, but once again, the community resilient, united, and continue to step into these roles and continue to further and further this mission.
Speaker 10:And then the pandemic. Need I say more? You know you talk about an income scare, right, you know we lost our building, you know we lost people. But once again, common theme with you guys unity, resilience. We found this place, we got more people. And then again, I experienced it as a member of this community when I came here six years ago. I came here with a wife and one boy. He knows where this is going and, unbeknownst to this community, we're struggling to conceive. It had been three years. Finally opened up about it in our small group, shout out to small groups and quite literally united around us, laid hands on us and prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and then, a couple weeks later, pregnant with our second boy.
Speaker 1:It's a spiritual gift of mine.
Speaker 10:Yeah, whoever doesn't want kids stay away from them. And a not-so-joyful example. A couple years ago, the community was united when I went through my divorce. You know I don't have a single family member here in Wisconsin, not one.
Speaker 10:And I got a big family, my dad's one of 16. None in Wisconsin, none in Madison but this community wrapped their arms around me. They loved on me, they loved my kids, they supported me. They were there around me. They loved on me, they loved my kids, they supported me. They were there for me. And, ironically, this point was driven home to me by one of my cousins who, worried for me, came up to Madison looking for jobs, was looking to stay here, stayed with me for two months and we all went out together to Vitas. We had a great time and on the drive home he goes. You know, you have a good community here where you're able to be your authentic self, your real self, and they love you anyway. So I'm going to go back to Minnesota. You're in good hands. Ironically, he saw something that I didn't at the time, that I was wrong. I do have family here. So thank you, madison Church.
Speaker 1:All right. Next I'm going to invite Dan and Tamara up to the front. If you didn't know, dan and Tamara have been with us since year one Not day one, but year one and so they've been here yeah.
Speaker 11:So we came to Madison Church in June of 2015, moving from Virginia church in June of 2015, moving from Virginia. We got here less than a year after the official launch date. So we're often considered, you know, not quite founding, but back then the church was meeting on the west side at the Loser Community Education Center in the basketball gym Terrible spot for acoustics and lighting, just awful. But we made it work anyway. The red floor, the pads on the walls, and at the time it was actually called Madison Revolution Church and we dropped that revolution pretty shortly after we got there. We dropped that revolution pretty shortly after we got there, but from the first time we visited it was really clear that it was a good match. I walked in. It was an evening service.
Speaker 11:At the time I met a guy named Peter. He was making the coffee and everybody else was in the gym praying. When they came out and prayed, they greeted me and I was like so what are you guys praying for? They're like we really need a bassist in our band. I'm like you know. When they came out and prayed, they greeted me and I was like so what are you guys praying for? And they're like we really need a bassist in our band and I'm like you're kidding me, I am a bassist and it was just you know. From there it was a clear match. We had visited several other churches in the area, some larger, some smaller and the biggest difference that we saw was how the people at Madison Church wanted to get to know us and would notice if we weren't there. We had regular barbecues that summer where we all just got together and hung out and built community together, and I'm going to hand it to you.
Speaker 6:So a little while after we started we realized beyond what Madison Church was doing for our family who we didn't have any family or friends here in Wisconsin. They were trying to make an impact in the community. So things that the church was doing was they partnered with the Loser Center to host these Thanksgiving dinners for anyone, anyone who showed up, and we were able to be a part of that. One summer we took the kids and a bag full of quarters and some of the community members and we went to random laundromats and handed out quarters like hey, can I pay for your laundry? We actually had a few people who were like, yeah, who are you? And started coming to the church.
Speaker 6:Other things they did or we did was we have done Christmas presents for underprivileged kiddos. When COVID hit the church, put together these care packages with things like toilet paper and masks and just dropped them off at people's doors people who needed it. We've done the Easter egg hunt, obviously a big hit. We used to do a pancake dinner or breakfast, which was amazing. And then there's also the things outside of Madison, some in, where we partner with people like Dace. We've partnered with Special Touch Ministries, nehemiah, and then we've also the church has also supported different missionaries like the Osborne family, the Youngs, the Coistras and the Millers.
Speaker 11:And we've been able to partner with the church in a lot of these activities. We've been able to contribute to the mission to join in. I've served on the worship team. I've served as a trustee. I was actually the executive pastor for a little while and got to teach, and Tamara was in charge of the community meals still is. She's done creative arts. She's done Kidman for a little while. Even our kids have gotten to get involved. They've helped with a lot of the volunteering at things like the Wexford Connection and they went on the mission trip to Niagara this past year. So we've had plenty of opportunities to get involved with the mission and really build it up and grow from that, and really build it up and grow from that.
Speaker 6:And, like I said, we don't have family here, but we were able to open our home up and our lives through Madison Church and build a family within this community. We have hosted social events, we've hosted small groups and we've invited friends like the Millard family. Like where are you guys?
Speaker 3:Over there, Ginger.
Speaker 6:I bugged Ginger for like a year to come. I was like come hang out, Come do this barbecue thing, Come do whatever. And now they're a huge part of the church, I think, and it's just been so fun to see people come in and become a part of the community. And not all of them stay. Some are just here for weeks or months and some are here for years.
Speaker 11:So, more than anything, we're going to mirror something Jed said we don't have family here, but this has become our family. This has become the support group, the support network that we needed here in Madison. There's no way we could have lasted here without Madison Church and this group of friends and family that we've come to appreciate so much here in Wisconsin.
Speaker 1:And finally, you don't get to hear from her very much. She's usually taking care of kids. We're going to invite my wife up. This is her Madison Church speaking debut. So they get to hear from me every week. Now, once a decade they get to hear from you.
Speaker 5:There's a reason you don't hear from me Normally. Like you go to churches and you might, like the pastor's wife, might, like, preach a sermon every once in a while. That's not me. I will not be doing that, not because I wouldn't want to, it's just not my gifts, not my talents, but I mean 10 years.
Speaker 5:I remember when we were in college and he told me he had had some conversations with his roommate the roommate who was always on his computer playing Pokemon games, and he would come back to his dorm and he'd be. We went to a Bible college, so he would be in these classes where he's learning about the church and just some things he was struggling with that he didn't feel were how the church should be going. And his roommate the one again playing the Pokemon games on his computer was like, well, why don't you just start your own then? And when he told me that I was like whoa, I grew up in the Assemblies of God church and so they are very like the pastor's wife that I knew growing up was involved in like every part of the church, and I was like I don't know if I want to do that. So I said, well, yeah, I mean, if this is what God's calling you to do, then I'm not going to be the one to say no, I'm not going to be the one to diminish God's call on your life. But I said, here's my thing, I will be one, I will do one thing and I will do it well, but like that's my one thing, that's my one thing. I started off as the band leader, did that for a little while and then I've been in kids for most of the time now.
Speaker 5:But just before we even, like, got going, we went to a conference in Alabama, a church conference, and one of the things he and I did at that conference back in our hotel room is we sat on opposite sides of the room and we were like, well, where do we want to plant a church? We knew we probably wanted to stay in the Midwest. We actually were going to go back to Illinois, kind of where we were from. That didn't end up working out, but what we did was we made separate lists of four or five different cities. I actually came across this list yesterday as I was like cleaning out and looking for something. I was like, oh, I kept this all this time. But as we did this separately and then came back together, we saw that the only one we had in common was Madison. Stephen also had Honolulu on his, and I don't think that was for like purpose, like maybe there was different reasons for that one being a choice For the Lord, right.
Speaker 6:Yeah, right For the.
Speaker 5:Lord, okay, but Madison was the only one we had in common. So from there we decided well, we've obviously got to come visit. You know, we did some. He did a lot of like extensive research on the city and on just like the religious kind of wasteland it is that there's a lot to be done. And so as we were driving in and kind of saw the city, we both were kind of like yep, like this feels right. And since then I mean we've had we've had a lot of ups and downs. Um, all of our kids have been born since we've been here.
Speaker 5:Um, and I remember Oliver, like when he was a baby and we were still in the loser center. I have a picture of him that I can see in my head of him. He's in the sitting. He's got to be like six or seven months old. He had just learned to like sit up and he's sitting just on the floor with his toys, with a little pillow behind him so he doesn't fall backwards while we're setting up, because at that time we had to like set up and tear down every Sunday.
Speaker 5:But we never let like our kids be an excuse for that Like. We always try to involve them in every process that we can as we've grown and come along on this journey. But you know, like I said, we've been through, there's been a lot of ups and downs and there have been points where he's talked to me and he's like what are are we doing the right thing? Is this what we're supposed to be doing? And I always think back to that list and I'm like, yeah, you know I it's tough, things are tough right now, but we're going to get through it. And like I hear all these stories and hear how everybody's sharing and it's like that's why we're here. You know, this community is why we're here. So we're really grateful to you guys and just I'm excited for the next 10.
Speaker 1:Almost all of you could share a story like this. If you've come here and we're your community, you could come up here and share a story and I'm sorry we don't have more time for you to do that. I really did struggle, grapple pray with who I asked to come up and share, and so I wish you all could I mean that's just the truth. I wish you all could. I'm really excited, not just for the next 10 years, but for the next year. But for the next year I'm so glad and thankful for all of our people who have come up and shared. You guys mean the world to me.
Speaker 1:Madison Church at this point does not look how I thought it would.
Speaker 1:I wrote a thesis on Madison Church that's how I got part of my master's degree was how we do church differently and I thought at 10 years we'd have about 10 different locations in the city of Madison. We have one, in case you didn't do the math, but I don't think that's not an answered prayer. I don't think that's not an answered prayer. I think I misunderstood the assignment. I think the assignment was to connect people with God and each other, to do it organically, to do it on his time, and slow is the new fast, small is the new big. And this is how we're going to change lives and create a safe place for people to find and follow Jesus. And this is how we're going to change lives and create a safe place for people to find and follow Jesus. And so, yes, there are times where it's a struggle and I say God, why didn't you call me to Honolulu? I put it on the list, but I'm in. But I tell God I'm in if you're in, and God says I'm still in.
