Stories ::: The Emerge(ing) Journey - Part 1
God has a great sense of humor! And always persistent! He’s been calling me for years.
I’m going to cover a lot of ground and will be breaking this story into 3 parts.
I have spent all of my life in the Church since the day I was born. I attended Antioch Congregational Christian Church in Frankfort, IN where on any given Sunday up to 50% of the Church attendees were my family members. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was 6yrs old during the bedtime events of reading and praying with my mom, Jennifer.
This church is where I grew up and never missed a Sunday all the way through High School. Church was an integral part of our week …even after the late-night returns from High School Basketball games on Saturdays!
Through the church, I was involved in a youth ministry and made some great friends. Additionally, I would attend Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Young Life events at the school and in the community as my schedule would allow.
I was baptized when I was 18yrs old in the Henry’s backyard pool on May 18, 1997 by my pastor, Steve Alles. He was the first pastor to really connect with the youth in our church and was integral in building the foundations of my life today. I truly believe I am where I am today because of Pastor Steve and I sent him a note in early 2020 to tell him thank you.
I went off to college and started attending the Purdue Christian Campus House church on the weekends I was in town (I traveled nearly every weekend with the Glee Club singing around the US). The Glee Club is what truly helped me with my speaking ability because of the pressures of not knowing if you will be called for a solo. It also gave me an outlet to sing in a country gospel quartet that I LOVED!
Emily and I were married in October 2001 and we moved to Ellington, CT. We wanted God to be the center of our lives and we began searching for a church. It was a tough venture, to say the least. We visited 13 churches before locking in on one location that we could “deal with” but thankfully a promotion led to us moving closer to home.
We moved to Chicago in 2002 and my commute to work led me past Community Christian Church (CCC) in Naperville, IL. Their building was intriguing as it was a big yellow box and I told Emily that is where we are going for our first Sunday. We walked in; felt loved and welcomed, immediately. Within a few weeks, we took the plunge into our first small group as a couple. This is where the true community resided as we made meals together and spent nearly all of our free time together on various activities and truly lived out Acts 4.
It was in our small group that we met Nathan and in 2002 he said …
“God told me that you will be a Campus Pastor, Curt.” - Nathan T.
We simply laughed that off, but was a running “joke” with our friend group for years….
Fast forward to 2008 and we were living in Indiana and found a great church in FIshers. We fell in love with the church and eventually helped to launch a campus in 2010. Our love for God, His church, and the people at the campus continued to grow. We would schedule our vacations around Sundays so that we could be there to serve and see others.
In 2015, the wheels to move into full-time ministry became evident and it started with a cup of coffee.
“I’m going to Ukraine and I think you should join me.” - Doug
That was the statement that Doug made during the first time that we met and he needed to know within 24hrs if I would go on the trip. God showed up with an incremental bonus and canceling a key appointment within 22hrs so that I could say yes to go on that trip to Mission To Ukraine.
Later in the year, God expedited the desire to go into ministry and made it clear that it was our next step. I moved into full-time ministry after a number of answered prayers and God showing up BIG time! God moved many mountains and brought us through many storms. Moving into ministry was challenging, but oh-so-rewarding.
Being newly into ministry, I valued the schooling from the 12 Stone program to prepare me for ministry while learning from a great team. I continued to grow in my love for God, His church, and His people. The campus continued to grow significantly and then ….. (continued in Part 2)