As I reflect on this year, I’m especially grateful for our church family. Six years ago, Krista and I were praying about what the Lord might have in store for our future ministry. We’d had a few conversations with the leaders at The Moody Church and were seeking the Lord’s will together. I remember streaming the 2019 Christmas Concert in our home in Washington, imagining what it might be like if God called us to serve in Chicago. Over the coming months, God made it abundantly clear that He was calling us here. We were uprooting and heading out into the unknown.
We arrived in the midst of the pandemic. The church held a virtual business meeting and voted on Survey Monkey, which I think explains some of the results. I preached to a camera for months, and it was ever so hard to get to know people in those early days. And yet we slowly made friends and found our place here in Old Town. Our first Christmas Concert was online, and we gathered in our living rooms to celebrate.
Two weeks ago, we enjoyed our sixth Christmas Concert with you here at The Moody Church. As I think back, it’s amazing how “at home” we now feel, especially when compared to those early years. It’s a special thing to feel “at home,” and God has used you to give us that sense of belonging. You have loved us, welcomed us, and cared for us. We became friends, and then—at somewhere along the line I can’t quite pinpoint—we became family.
I’m so grateful for our church family. God grows us together, and these connections we share are sacred and precious. Thank you for being our family and for doing life with us. These Holy Days of Christmas remind us of how God has loved us and joined us together with one another. I’m grateful for the family that God is making us.
So, from our little family, Merry Christmas once again to you, our church family, and a very Happy New Year as well! For we are indeed loved, more than we know.
