GOD ARRANGES THE MEMBERS
This past Sunday we welcomed new members. Two of them, Wes and Natalie, shared about their experience joining our church. Here it is in their own words:
Wes: We’re so blessed to be up here today before you; and excited, we’ve honestly been looking forward to this for a while. It’s already been such a gift being a part of this fellowship for some time, so it really means a lot to us that we can now be official members.
We moved to Orange last June from Huntington Beach. I work in Orange as well, as a project manager for a construction company. Natalie has battled some chronic illnesses over the years, so she’s busy being an awesome wife and taking care of herself. We moved to Orange mainly to find a bigger place to hopefully grow a family someday, and it made sense both for my work and that it’s about halfway between our parents.
Plus Old Towne is sweet.
I stumbled on Sovereign Grace Music sometime back and I ended up looking the ministry up, because I’m like that, and saw that there was a church in Orange. So when we were moving, it was definitely one of our top choices to check out. We came here on the first Sunday after we moved, although that wasn’t totally the plan. That morning we started out for another church since it was closer, and we were probably running behind. We prayed on the short drive that God would guide us that day. And as we pulled into the parking lot of this other church, it seemed kind of like a ghost town. There was like one car in the parking lot and not a soul in sight. Not to fault that church at all, but we felt a little strange. It was around 10:25 or so, and we decided, “Let’s go to Sovereign Grace instead; we can make it.”
We visited once and we never went anywhere else.
Natalie: We had written in a journal of mine some time back that we were praying for a church family. We’ve gone to a few other churches before, but nothing has ever felt like home quite like Sovereign Grace. The second Sunday we came, we met Holly and Grant, sat down, and not long after Grant was tapping on my shoulder, inviting us to lunch. It was so refreshing, not only having people introduce themselves to us, but genuinely want to welcome us and get to know us. We met Eric soon after, plenty of others, and really felt like we were part of a family from day one. Not to mention the teaching and music; it’s just been a huge blessing to be a part of this body. Thanks to all of you for your kindness, authenticity, and your example of faith. We look forward to getting to know all of you more and living this life with you.
