Life Story

My childhood was filled with a lot of love and stories from the Bible. My parents knew God, walked with Him, and taught me about Him. We were in church every Sunday and I grew to love the stories of the Bible. I wanted to do life correctly like the heroes of the faith. While at a Christian camp when I was 10 years old, I became aware of my personal need for forgiveness. God granted me the faith to believe in His Son for my salvation at that sweet summer camp while we were singing the hymn, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.” 

I will be forever grateful for my Christian upbringing, yet because of my tendency toward formulaic thinking, my naive childhood observation was that Christianity was a formula that worked. In other words, if I do a and b, I’ll get c as a result. I entered into my late 20s having followed the rules, but a + b was not delivering c. Instead, I was getting battles with infertility, the death of a beloved pastor while in the prime of his life and ministry, and other heartaches. Oh, the hours I spent trying to figure out what I was not doing right! God was gracious to allow my formulaic thinking to fail. I saw that my hope was actually anchored in my rule-following rather than in God.

There are certainly God-given boundaries and commands in the Bible, and it matters that we obey His commands. They are for our good, yet they are not formulas that deliver a life without difficulty or heartache. 

I began to rightly see the Bible as the story of God; His love and faithfulness revealed through story after story of victories, heartaches, and failures of the people He created. My hope is now anchored in His grace and in the coming, full restoration of His Kingdom. This is why I teach the Bible. I have to tell His story and invite others into it. God has graced Wes and me with two sons, Sam and Tate. It is a great joy to be their mom. My desire is to see Sam and Tate and many others anchor their hope in the God of the Bible as they get to know Him through the study of His Word. 

Hope for The Village Church

My hope for The Village Church is for it to be a church home where people of all ages and stages of spiritual maturity will be connected in relationship, loved deeply, shown grace, equipped by the Word, and sent out to image the Lord Jesus in the world.