Last month I turned 30. Yes, I am now officially old.

This August marks 15 years since my family began attending what was then called Fairfax Covenant Church.

The math is not complicated: except for a year and a half at CLC for the Pastors College and an internship, I’ve been a part of this church for half my life.

I vividly remember my inaugural Sabbath. Having just moved from Kansas City, Kansas, the Whitacres headed for FCC based on the recommendation of an old friend. It was the first and only church we visited.

In those days, the youth group (known as Breakthrough!) met once a month during the Sunday meeting. During the break, I dutifully trudged the halls of West Springfield High, greeted at the door of a musty classroom by Jay and Melanie. I could not have predicted that a decade and a half later, Jay’s younger sister would be in my youth ministry, and I would work in the office next to Melanie.

A lot happens in 15 years. In addition to becoming a Christian, I am now a husband and father of two, and privileged to serve as a pastor to this church that I came to love. I’ve watched our church grow significantly, and not just numerically. We are not a perfect church, but we have a far better understanding of the grace of God than we used to, and we’ve been led into a deeper love for God’s Word and a more rigorous commitment to application.

All of this points to God’s faithfulness to accomplish His plans for His people. I think this is what Paul meant when he talks about the church being built and growing in Ephesians 2:19-22,

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

I have no idea what the next 15 years will hold. But we can trust that God is at work. It can be hard to see change and growth on a day-to-day basis, but I think we can be confident that God is getting stuff done for His glory and the good of His people, building us together into a dwelling place for Himself by the Spirit. What great news!

Categories: five15 blog