Before After : You Belong Here (Full Experience)

Did you come ready to praise Jesus? Did you come ready to praise Jesus? Now is the time, but when is there never a time? Not a time. Father, we just thank you, Lord. Has he done anything for you? Come on, let's praise him. ♪ Yeah, I praise in the valley, praise in the mountain ♪ Anybody else? ♪ I praise when I'm sure, praise when I'm doubting, oh ♪ ♪ I praise when I'm numbered, praise when surrounded ♪ ♪ Cause praise is the waters my enemies drown in, oh ♪ Come on, you know it. ♪ As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise ♪ Y'all sound good. Praise him. ♪ Oh my soul, come on, praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ I praise when I feel it, and I praise when I don't, oh ♪ ♪ I praise cause I know you're still in control, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ My praise is a weapon, it's more than a sound, mm ♪ ♪ My praise is a shot that brings Jericho down, come on ♪ ♪ As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ Whatever you're going through. ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul, oh my soul, oh my soul ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet, my God is alive ♪ ♪ How could I keep it inside, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul, oh my soul, oh my soul, oh my soul ♪ Come on, praise.

Clap your hands if He's done anything for you. Come on. ♪ I praise cause you're soft, praise cause you reign ♪ ♪ Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave ♪ ♪ I praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true ♪ ♪ Praise cause there's nobody greater than you, say ♪ ♪ I praise cause you're soft, praise cause you reign ♪ Come on, we love you. ♪ Praise cause you rose and defeated the grave ♪ ♪ I praise cause you're faithful, praise cause you're true ♪ ♪ Praise cause there's nobody greater than you, say ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul, praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul, praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet, my God is alive, how could I keep it in time? ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet, my God is alive, how could I keep it in time? ♪ ♪ I won't be quiet, my God is alive, how could I keep it in time? ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul! ♪ Come on, let's give Him praise today! God, we love you, we thank you to be here in your house today. Reminded of your faithfulness, reminded of your goodness, your mercy, your grace. All the ways you bless us that we don't deserve. Thank you for your peace. We worship you today. Come on, let's sing this together. ♪ Though the road is long and broken, I will sing from heart that's full. ♪ ♪ I could write a book on your wonders, through the storm you were faithful. ♪ Maybe you feel this way today. ♪ Though my heart's been beaten and broken, I'm stronger today in your love, yes. ♪ ♪ It has bent my knees, but now my hands are open. ♪ Thank you for all you've done, we lift our voice to Him.

Hallelujah, oh what a Savior you have been. For you were faithful then and you are faithful now. And you'll be faithful to the end. Though my heart doesn't know the answers, still I know you're here right now. What I cannot see, I have seen. You will never let me down. Hallelujah, oh what a Savior you have been. For you were faithful then and you are faithful now. And you'll be faithful to the end. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Just take a moment right now, just you and Jesus. Just tell Him what you're thankful for. Tell Him what you need to see is faithfulness right now. Just a moment with you and Him. And let's remember what He's done. When the time came to be broken, you surrendered it all for me. And the cross didn't stop you. And the grave couldn't keep you. And now I'm alive and free. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, oh what a Savior you have been. For you were faithful then and you are faithful now. And you'll be faithful to the end.

Hallelujah, oh what a Savior you have been. For you were faithful then and you are faithful now. And you'll be faithful to the end. For you were faithful then and you are faithful now. And you'll be faithful to the end. One more time. For you were faithful then and you are faithful now. And you'll be faithful to the end. Come on, if you're thankful for His faithfulness, give Him glory today. Who's ready for what God's going to do in your life today? High five three people right now. Say it's good to see you at church. ♪♪♪ Welcome to Fellowship Church, one family in many locations. On behalf of pastors Ed and Lisa, we want to warmly welcome you to a place where strangers become family, hope is restored, people meet Jesus, discover their purpose, and make a difference. Whether it's through Bible study classes, connect groups, support and recovery groups, our brand new veterans Bible study and breakfast, Valor, our serving teams, or in FC sports, there's a place for you. And this month you can join us for Love Your Neighbor as we serve communities across the Metroplex and put the love of Jesus into action. Because church isn't just somewhere we go, it's who we are. So if you're ready for your next step,

simply tap your seat or reach out in front of you for our Connect card and take a moment to fill it out. We'd love to meet you, help you find community, and if there's something on your heart that you'd like prayer for, we believe in the power of prayer and we'd be honored to pray for you. We can't wait to witness the incredible story God wants to write through your life because the best is yet to come. Well, good morning. Welcome to the Bible Study. Fellowship Church, my name is Chris King. I'm one of the pastors here. You guys feeling good today? I am. I'm feeling great. I just got my test back. I'm 51 years old, body of a 44-year-old man, they said, so I'm strictly average, and I'm happy to have that. Feeling really satisfactory today. It's great to have you guys with us. As McKenzie just said, we believe that God is writing the stories of so many people, and you're a part of an amazing community this morning. If this is your first time, we are truly glad that you chose to be here with us, and we would love to get connected with you. There's a very simple way to do that. You can take out your phone, and you can tap right there

at that sticker on the seat in front of you, or you can pull out one of those Connect cards, fill that out as well. We would love to find that place for you to get connected here at Fellowship Church. You know, there's so many different places, so many things going on, and we wanna make sure that you get access to all of those things. So again, thank you for joining us today, and if you've never been to Fellowship, or maybe you've been coming for a while, and you wanna know what's making this place tick, what this place is unique, how can I find out more about it? Well, after this experience, we have our newcomer's lunch. Follow the signs in the atrium to the source classroom, and you're gonna find out all the relationship opportunities that are available for you here, ways that you can get involved in serving, maybe Bible study classes, a group. You can find out what it means to be a member of Fellowship Church. So again, right when this service is over, you can follow the signs. We'll take care of your kids, and we're gonna feed you, so you have no more excuses. I can't wait to see you at Newcomer's right after we get done here. Well, you know, we are so grateful that we are a part of a church

that is blessed to be a blessing. So many of you, just like me, have found so much value in just bringing our gifts and tithes here to the church, and we're gonna prepare for worship right now as we prepare to bring our gifts, and there are so many different ways we see this manifested in our church. When we give here, we see the results, and I just spent a week at Elaso Ranch with our high school students at Mixed Camp. We had Children's Camp before that. We got middle school coming up as well. Man, I'm telling you, life change is happening at our Elaso Ranch Camp and Retreat Center in East Texas. We're seeing students and children give their life to Christ, and we can celebrate that. We are so grateful that as a church, we can invest in that. We're also investing in what's happening in the recovery efforts in Venezuela. So many people who are hurting, dealing with the devastation of those earthquakes. We have people on the ground who are providing supplies, food and drinks and medical supplies as well, so we get to be a part of that, and we're grateful again that we get to be a part of those moments, to be the hands and feet of Jesus right there where people need it. Also, we get to invest in stories that haven't even been written yet. The Anchor Center is gonna be opening up very soon.

We're breaking ground this summer, and we're gonna be a part of life change in middle school and high school students as they build the foundation of their life, the anchor of their life here at Fellowship Church. So if you wanna participate this morning, if you're a first-time guest, you should feel no pressure to do this, but for those of us that call this place home, you can go to fellowshipchurch.com, you can tap the seat in front of you, or just use a generosity envelope, and you can be a part of what God is doing here at our church. Thank you for your generosity. Well, here in just a few moments, we're gonna hear a story of life change. God is writing so many, and we're just hearing a few of them in this amazing series. But as we hear these stories, I wanna remind you that the same God who is writing the stories that we get to hear on this stage is writing the story of your life as well. And our prayer for you is today that you will open up to Him, give Him the pen, and let Him write your story. Would you pray with me? God, we love you, we are so grateful that we get to be a part of your story,

that every single one of us is here today on purpose. There are no accidents in this room, and that today we wanna open our hearts and open our hands to you. We give you the pen. Make our story your story. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's continue to worship today, but please remain seated as the offering passes. Thank you, Jesus. ♪ Who thought I'd find you at the lowest place ♪ ♪ Who knew you'd fill me in the crowd ♪ ♪ Who knew you'd make it a mile away ♪ our mistakes you're nothing like i thought you were you better what a god what a god what a god what a god it's just who you are what a god what a god is no one like you what a god what a god oh i thought you're true for perfection is what kind of god looks for the lost they say it's over for a sinner oh but you say no it's not no it's not come on let's stand and sing cause you say no it's not no it's not what a god what a god what a god what a god there's no one like him what a god what a god oh lift your eyes to heaven today lift your eyes up to the king of kings he's worthy of our praise today and if the highest place i reach is at your feet then i've done it all if the best thing that i see is your glory then i've seen it all as your love has changed my life i'm forever satisfied but you are my everything if the highest place i reach is out of your feet lord then i've done it all if the best thing that

i've seen is your glory then i've seen it all because your love has changed my life i'm forever satisfied no treasure of this life could ever satisfy really he's been faithful what a god worthy of your worship of your praise if the highest place if the highest place i reach is at your feet then i've done it all if the best thing that i've seen is your glory then i've seen it all your love has changed my life he's changed my life forever satisfied but you are you are my everything if one word is the only thing you speak then i've done it all if i feel your heart i've never seen it all he's still faithful he's still good no treasure of this life could ever satisfy

oh god you are you are my everything god you are you are my everything god you are you are my everything thank you jesus you are our everything we lift our voice and sing because you are good it is in your name we pray amen aren't you glad to be in god's house today i know i am you may be seated i want to again welcome Welcome you, we are so glad that you're here. We are expectant, as we should always be for what God has this morning. My name is Tian Moon and I'm a part of our team here and I wanna welcome everyone who's joining us, whether you're joining us online, if you're joining us from our Dallas, Fort Worth or Frisco campus, if you're joining us from Elaso Ranch, we have people who are getting ready for camp. And for those of you who are joining us from our prison campuses, we're so glad to have you here

and everyone who's in the room, we are so thankful you are here as we continue this series called Before and After. And as we have said from the very beginning, as we are sharing these stories, we need to all remember that none of us are the main character in our story. God should be the main character in our story. And as we surrender ourselves to him, as we allow him to work through us and in us and transform us, we are a part of the story that he is writing. And so as we have walked through these stories, we've gotten to see that. We've seen how God fills in the gaps and he helps us to forgive. We've seen how God is with us in our very darkest moments. And we've seen that God is the one who can give us freedom, that he meets us right where we are. And so today, we're gonna hear a story about how when life feels overwhelming, that God is the one who can give us a firm foundation. The question isn't, can God or will God produce a harvest in your life? The question is, will you stay planted long enough to see it? My name is Madison Cleveland and I'm on staff here at Fellowship Church. And I've been a part of this church pretty much my entire life. I have the privilege on being on staff

with our worship team, Fellowship Creative, also a part of The Mix, which is our youth ministry, and then also with our young adults at our Dallas campus. But I wanna take you back to the very beginning of the story. My parents moved us when I was two years old to Allen, Texas and my parents were looking for a church and they were just searching. And my grandparents actually found Fellowship Church in Grapevine. And my parents just recall taking us every Sunday, whenever they could. I remember at six years old that every single Sunday, they would give kids an opportunity to receive Jesus into their life. They shared that Jesus came from heaven down to earth, that He lived perfectly. He died sacrificially for us on the cross, for all of our sins. And then on the third day that He rose again from the grave, giving us hope, giving us life, giving us a future. And so I wanted that. So that day I received Jesus into my life. But unfortunately, we really didn't give God an opportunity for that seed to grow roots. Sports took over my family's life. Every single day there was practice. We had competitions every single weekend. We wouldn't be at church because of those competitions. I started to realize that I was trying to fill a void

of like, I want people to like me. I feel like I don't fit in. I didn't feel like I had a place where I belonged, even in friendships. The older my sister and I got, my parents realized that we needed to start building our foundation now on something way stronger, and that could only be found in Jesus. And so my parents, they made the decision for us that as soon as practice is done on Wednesdays, that we would be going straight to the mix every single Wednesday. I remember the first time I was there, I knew absolutely nobody, which to me in my brain was almost like my worst nightmare. Because I'm like, I'm not gonna talk to anybody, so is anybody gonna talk to me? And there was this one specific Wednesday, I felt a presence come near me, and she tapped my shoulder, and she goes, hi, I'm Chloe, what's your name? And that was like, not normal for me. And you know, I said my name. She said, great, well, we're gonna start introducing you to this person and that person and that person. Almost in a weird way, felt like a sigh of relief, of like, oh, someone does see me. Like, someone did take notice in me. Shortly after camp season at Elaso Ranch was around the corner, and I'd never been. I had all these students that were starting

to meet me and know me. They were like, you have to go to camp. Yep, I was 15 and I went to a lost ranch for the very first time. The zip lining, that was so much fun, and the horseback riding. And then Wednesday night, they sang this song called Oceans. And I'd never heard that song before. I was just kind of humming it, you know, just kept it in my brain. And we got back to the cabin. Someone comes up to me and goes, Madison, is that you? And I was like, yes. You know, just scared, because I didn't want anyone to know it was actually me singing. And she was like, all right. Like, as soon as we get back to the mix, like, you're singing. And I kid you not, that next Wednesday, I sang a song called Everything Has Changed, which I look back, and there's so much irony to that, because literally in that season, things were starting to change. Roots were starting to grow. I had really good friends now. I felt like I belonged.

Like, I had people that were rooting for me, that loved me. Literally from that Wednesday forward, I was up there every day. Any day that the doors were open, I was gonna be there. And because of the emphasis to plant our lives in the church, a whole new life in Christ began to flourish. I had friends that were inviting friends in our school, and they were coming to the mix, and giving their lives to Jesus, and getting baptized. And there was so much momentum, and so much movement. And I really felt like it literally can't get better than this. Like, this, I've reached the peak. Like, I love what is happening in my life. And then I started to experience something that I'd never experienced before, and that was friend after friend leaving the church for various reasons. It could have been their family ended up moving, or it could have been their family was going to another church. Or a lot of times, because we were so young, they had some feelings that were negative towards whatever it may have been. And I just remember that really, like, hurts,

because at this point of my life, like, these were my close-knit friends. Like, this was my circle. These were my people that I could laugh with, that I could cry with, confide in. And then out of nowhere, it's like, poof. Like, they're all, they're all gone. I remember there was so many emotions that were happening. I started to isolate again and just kind of listen to what everybody was saying, but not know how to make sense of it myself. I even started to question, is this where I'm supposed to be? And I didn't know at the time, but I'm so thankful that my family rallied together and said, we're not going anywhere, and we're staying planted in this house. I had the privilege of having front row seats to Madison's story from the very, very beginning, from that first day she showed up. I think back to that moment of so much opportunity, so much potential that was hanging in the balance. And you could imagine just how hard it was to watch her go through a situation where she was surrounded by so many, with big emotions and big feelings. And instead of choosing to react to those feelings and adopt those feelings, she paused, she stayed planted, and she made a faithful, faithful decision. Looking back, that decision changed my life,

because unlike so many of my friends who uprooted and whose faith eventually withered away from God, that crucial decision kept me planted, not only in the church, but in my relationship with Christ. I was sharing my faith, bringing tons of invites to school and inviting people to church. And through serving, going to camp every summer, my faith grew deeper. As soon as I graduated high school, I went straight to a college program that we had in our church that is actually paved the way now for Fellowship Church University. I began to study the Bible like I never had before. I began to learn leadership handles that I still use today. And I learned even in that time too, like it's not just worship leading and leading people from a stage through song, but it's actually getting down face-to-face with people and being able to encourage them, being able to challenge them even when it's hard, like actually doing life with people. I fell in love all over again from where I started when I was 14, 15 years old of, oh, I just wanna help people, but not just like make people feel good, but I actually want people's souls to change, their eternities to change. And towards the end, right before we graduated, I just felt without a shadow of a doubt like,

this is what I'm supposed to be doing for the rest of my life. And unexpectedly, I received one of the greatest blessings, being offered to come on staff as a worship leader. Madison was one of our most gifted staff, and she was so kind to me. and talented young worship leaders. She really taught me how to be a great leader. And what set her apart, She taught me how to be a great leader. it wasn't just that she had an amazing voice, She taught me how to be a great leader. it was her character and her commitment. And I'm so grateful that I have a wonderful family So often your talent can take you places your character can't keep you. But because she had stayed planted all that time, God just continued to produce in her so much character. And so we were so thrilled to offer her a position on staff as a worship leader here at Fellowship Church and just knew God was gonna use her in so many amazing ways. I was just on cloud nine. I was so honored to be given this opportunity. I was so excited. It wasn't something that I planned for, but then I started to deal with some insecurities of am I measuring up to what people are expecting of me? And I just put an unnecessary weight and pressure on myself

that nobody else was putting on me in reality. And God definitely was not putting that pressure on me. I remember coming to work one day and my body just kind of fell off and I started to panic. I ended up leaving. I remember I was driving, my fingertips and the top of my mouth started to tingle. And I remember getting on this overpass going home. And I remember like, I might lose control of this car. Like I might not make it home. And I remember I got home and my body was so, just from the literal top of my head to the bottom of my feet it just felt like I had no more control of my body. It almost felt like gelatin. And I got out of the car and I was scared I wasn't gonna make it to my door. It just felt like one thing after another. And I called my dad. I was like, you need to pick me up. I was like, cause I literally feel like I'm dying. Went to the doctor, they ran an EKG and they're like, your heart's fine. But we think that you're experiencing a panic attack. Growing up in a Christian home and even in church, you don't think that stuff happens to Christians. Now I'm scared to call my leaders because like they're gonna think like I don't have it together. Like I can't control everything.

But they prayed with me. They brought their family in to pray with me. And I remember that next day because I was so overwhelmed, I had another panic attack. And I was like, this cannot be my life. I was like, God, if you don't take this away from me, I need you to use it. That is the only way that this even remotely makes sense is if you are going to use this part of my life to help someone that might actually be dealing with this as well. When I went back to our youth ministry to help lead it, I remember just girl after girl coming up to me and explaining like what they were experiencing. And it was anxiety and panic attacks. And I got to pray with them and just talk with them. I look back to my 11th grade of high school when I could have easily just uprooted myself from everything that I had ever invested my time in. And I stayed planted in 11th grade. And that really, really helped me in this moment of my life of I don't have to run away from this problem. I don't have to uproot myself in this situation because there's already been so much trust within the friends that I have right now that have also walked through the same stuff as me. Leaders in my life that have family members that have walked through the same stuff as me. And so it just, it made me realize how important the planting actually is.

I think back to that prayer that I prayed saying, God, if this is going to be in my life, then I'm gonna need for you to use it. And man, has he used it. I have the honor of serving with Madison at her Dallas campus. And every week I hear stories of Madison leading someone to Christ, getting someone involved in serving. From students to young adults, man and woman, people's lives are being changed because of Madison. Hi, I'm Lauren. I'm Gabby. And I'm Jaden. And we all serve at our Dallas campus. This week we're out at our Camp and Retreat Center, Elasa Ranch, and we probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for Madison. I met Madison on a Sunday in 2024, and I had never met someone who was more interested in my story. And actually it was Madison who helped lead me to Christ. She's the one who built into us and showed us what it's like to be a leader. It seems like every single day, I'm getting a text message, a voice memo, a something from Madison. And we're talking about how she's sharing the Lord with somebody, how she's inviting somebody to start a personal relationship.

relationship with Jesus. The amount of people that I've been able to help lead into a relationship with the Lord, if you would have told me that that is where God would have brought me up to this point, I would have never believed you. I still remember the nervous girl walking into the mix for the first time and I think about how different her life would have been if she would have followed the friends that left or if she would have made cheer a priority, but it's been so cool to just see how she stayed planted and to see the fruit of what it looks like to follow Jesus in her life. There's no doubt in my mind that one day she'll look into the eyes of her Lord and you will say, well done, good and faithful servant. None of this I could ever do on my own. It is literally by the power of God that can do this. I'm so thankful for this church and I'm so thankful for staying planted and without that and without Jesus, I don't know where I'd be today. The Bible says in Psalm 92, those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing. When you stay planted, trusting Jesus, you will see a harvest. Thank you. What a great story.

Will you please stand to your feet and help me welcome Madison Cleveland. You may be seated. Sometimes when you're making a decision in the moment, you don't realize the impact it's gonna have long-term. So I want you to imagine if you'd walked away during those difficult seasons, how would your life be different today? I mean, it would be completely different from the friends that I have now to the purpose that I have. I love that that mentions, you know, as a student going through that, that I found purpose. But more importantly, I don't know where my relationship with Christ would be. And that is the most important part of my life. And I don't think it would be as strengthened as it is now because I had planted in that. Now, when you think back to that season when your parents made the decision for you, for you to go- They did. For you to go to the mix, what do you realize now that you didn't understand back then? I'm so thankful my parents are here today. I'm so thankful that they saw that we needed, my sister and I needed to be a part of a godly community. You know, I was, like I said, a cheerleader, and I really thought that that was my end-all, be-all.

Like, those are the friends that I need, nobody else, like, I'm set. But my parents saw a need. And I'm not a parent, but for all the parents that are in the room right now, bring your kids to church. Bring your kids to church. Because it is biblical, and because it's gonna bless them. I am a part of our youth ministry at our Dallas campus, and I make calls all the time, and I'm reaching out to these students all the time, inviting them to the mix. And I'm like, hey, I hope you're coming to the mix tonight. And when their response is, I would love to go, but my parents don't want to take me, that breaks my heart. Because your child from the inside, even if it's not on the outside, on the inside, is looking for Jesus. Even without explaining it, they're looking for Jesus, or also looking for that godly community that they so desperately need. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that godly community within the mix. So bring your kids to church. Students, go to church. Any students in the room? I know we had some from the first service. Students, go to church.

Make it a priority in your life. So I know you're not a parent. You have a lot of wisdom, and you have a front row seat to the lives of students. So you do have insight. But I am a parent. And I have a daughter who's in college. She's 20. I have a son who's in middle school. And I cannot express how grateful I am to have other people speaking to my children's life. I don't know if this is true for any of you other parents, but sometimes my children don't wanna listen to me. And I'm so grateful that they have people in their lives that they will listen. and two that I know are gonna give them godly wisdom and that can see things in them that I can't see because I'm in the weeds of it right now. So we have such a great resource here and we don't know what's ahead for our children. And so we need to help ground them in this time of their life to prepare them for what's ahead. So I think those are such great words of wisdom. You talked about experiencing friends leaving the church and the inevitable change that happens whenever you're in a church, any church, for an extended period of time, you're gonna see change. Talk to me about what has helped you to stay planted when those shifts and changes have happened. It's really hard.

I would love to sit here and say that, oh, it's fine and life goes on, and it does, but it's really hard. Whenever you anchor yourself to not only Christ, but people, and then they're not there anymore within a specific home church, that's really difficult. And I know that we live in a social media society where grass is definitely greener on the other side. And I'm seeing especially a lot in Dallas-Fort Worth that there's this worship night here, or maybe your favorite pastor's over here, and maybe this event's happening over here. And if you're not careful, what happens is that you start going from place to place to place to place, and then it becomes comfortable. And then there is no one holding you accountable. And it's really important to stay planted because planted things flourish. So, and I'm biased, Fellowship Church is my church home, and it is the most incredible church. This is where I have found biblical truths. This is where I found amazing community, but also just purpose in general. So if you have that here at Fellowship Church, stay planted here and just watch what God continues to do in your life through that. You know, it's so tempting when things get uncomfortable to find what is comfortable. But so often, it's in the uncomfortable, in the difficult, that God grows us.

And so that's why he meant for us to not just be an organization. We are a family, and we have relationship with each other. And as we work through those conflicts, as we work through those difficulties, God grows us and strengthens, and that's how those roots go down deep is by not running, but staying. You talked about how when you first came on staff, how you felt unqualified. How have you overcome that? Yeah, I really believe if I were to have a show of hands of anybody that would say they're insecure, I think everybody would probably raise their hand because we're human beings, because we have faults. And so there's insecurity that comes with that. But something that's really helped me is learning the Bible and knowing the Bible because God, he used people in the Bible, just like you and I, to do incredible things as a human being. But it wasn't because of their strength. It was because of the power of God that worked through them. I think about Moses in Exodus 3 where he encounters a burning bush that God placed there. And that's, first of all, that's crazy. Let's just be real. Let's be honest. That's wild. And so he encounters a burning bush

and he's telling Moses like, hey, you are about to lead Israel out of Egypt, out of captivity, and you're about to come face-to-face with Pharaoh. And what Moses says is, who am I? Who am I, Lord, that you would send me to do this? And then God says, do not fear, for I will be with you. And then just like many of us, we wrestle with God and we ask more and more questions as if what he says isn't enough. And then God says, I suppose you should know that this is human nature. And eventually you start to see Moses' insecurities. And he says, but Lord, you know I don't speak well, and I never have been able to speak well. And then God replies and says, who gave you a mouth? And that encourages me that it's not because of my strength or my talent or my abilities. If God has called you, he will equip you just like he did with Moses. And we just read all throughout scripture, all the incredible things that came from that. And so it's important for us to surrender our will and submit to his. Definitely do that, because that's whenever you get to see your life just begin to flourish in so many incredible ways. You know, when we acknowledge, yeah, y'all can clap for that,

because that was really good. The one clap, the awkward one clap, thank you. Yeah. You know, when we feel that insecurity, Satan wants to use it to cripple us, but God uses it to drive us to him so that we will depend on him fully. Because when we do that is when we see him work through us. And it just reinforces to us that it's not about us. It's about him. That's so good. I know that you still deal with anxiety and panic attacks today. So walk us through a little bit, just some practical ways that you navigate that. I mean, it's a daily surrender. If any of you in this room experience any sort of mental health challenge, whether it be anxiety, depression, you name it, it is a daily surrender. I would love to sit here and say that one counseling session just completely healed my brain and I never deal with it ever again. But sometimes that's just not the way that it works. And so I think that there's the practical, but I also think there's the spiritual. And for those of us that are believers in the room, I pray that the spiritual starts to bleed into the practical.

So practically speaking, just being active with your body. I grew up on sports, but once you're an adult, you have to make decisions to stay active. You know what I'm saying? You have to make decisions to stay active and it's hard. We have busy schedules. But you've got to make sure that you are just being active with your body. Eating the right things is so important. So goes the body, so goes the mind. I know for me, my anxiety spikes anytime I'm in the car, which is every day. And I think it stems back from that first panic attack that I ever experienced. And so something that I've learned, practically speaking, is just finger tapping. It's a grounding method. And if you think grounding methods are weird, then I don't know what to tell you. But it's grounding methods. It quite literally grounds your body to where you are. And so that's really, really important. But spiritually speaking, when you wake up in the morning and your alarm goes off, it's so easy to hit the snooze button and then ding, ding, ding, ding. It's like all of these notifications that you just wanna jump to, right, naturally. But instead of doing that,

I've learned to put my phone up, go to my living room, open up the Bible, start praying, and read for like five to 10 minutes. It doesn't have to be an hour long. As much as you can give, because what it does is as soon as you wake up, your first thought is not on yourself, but it's on the Lord. Also journaling, I'm really not good at journaling. I'm trying, I'm trying, I'm practicing. But Pastor Ed and Lisa have really done an amazing job with our church and with our staff and the power of journaling. Journal out your thoughts, write out your thoughts, because it just helps organize all the chaos that's happening up here. And then the last thing that I'll say, sometimes you've gotta get desperate enough. I think we too often do these microwave prayers, but when I get home and I've had a long day, and maybe I'm on the verge of a panic attack, I get on my knees and I get on my face and I say, Lord, I cannot do this in my own strength. I need for you to pick me up. I need for you to renew my mind, renew my heart, and help me trust that it's all gonna be okay. And I promise you, you are not alone. If any of you are in this room and you experience panic attacks, anxiety, you name it, you are not alone. God sees you, God knows you, and he loves you so much,

and he has so much better for your life. I love those just really practical, tangible ways. And I love the way that you focus your eyes and your mind back on who God is, putting him back at the center. Talk to me just a little bit about, you said you're not alone, and you've alluded to this, and you talked about it in the video, about the importance of community. So talk to us about the importance of relationships and community as you continue to battle with anxiety. Yeah, I always tell people that I am saved by Jesus, but my life changed when I decided to start serving in the church at 15 years old. I'm a product of what God does whenever you lay down your own life to serve others. And why do we do that? Because Jesus said, I came not to be served, but to serve others as a ransom for many. And so psychologically proven too, clinically proven, for those people that deal with just battles in the mind, serving people helps. It doesn't add more stress, it actually helps release things that need to be released so that you're able to stop focusing so much on yourself, but start focusing on other people. So if you are in the church at all locations and you are not serving, literally start today.

We have team members that would love to connect with you and get you plugged into a serving community. That's good, and there's other ways you can connect too, whether it's being a part of one of our Bible study classes, we have them on Sundays, we will be resuming them again on Wednesday nights as school kicks off. We have support groups, we have small groups for men and women, there's so many different opportunities for you to get connected with other people. And so take advantage of those. Yeah, and also Christian counseling. If you've been told Christian counseling's weird and you shouldn't go, don't listen to them. Go to, I've been going since 2019. Go find a Christian counselor. You can find it on fellowshipchurch.com and we have a whole list of trusted counselors that are Christian so be a part of that too. Scripture tells us over and over to seek wise counsel and so it's so important for us to have people in our lives that can speak into that. You know, one of the things that I love about you is your boldness and I'd love for you to kind of talk to us a little bit about what you've learned about sharing your faith and what does that look like when you're getting into a conversation with someone? Yeah, it's all about availability. I've been told to not live life with your fist clenched like this but to have it open

because God can use that and I think it starts with a high-risk prayer saying, and I do this every time I'm driving into work, I say, God, use me today. That's it. It's not some lengthy prayer. It's God, use me today. Short and sweet but it's effective and watch what God does in your life but I think the biggest thing is just you've gotta learn people. I think we're such great talkers but not great listeners. You've got to learn how to listen to people in their stories and not write it off. Everybody has a story and there's beauty when you start asking people intentional questions like who are you, where'd you come from, where are you from? What are you involved with? When you start asking simple questions like that, people are like, oh, she cares about me. Oh, she's listening and then that starts to soften the heart. There was something that happened two Fridays ago and it's my day off. I was in the gym and I got a call from my dad and he's like, hey, we're in the area. We wanna go to lunch. I'm like, not really. I was like, I'd really rather actually not talk to people right now.

He's like, and your sister's in town and her friend that she works with. I'm like, oh gosh, more people, okay. And everything in me wanted to say no but there was something about it that I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go sweaty and all. We're just gonna go to lunch. And so I get to lunch and I meet my sister's friend that she works with in Oklahoma and I just start asking her questions. Like what, you know, what's your name? Where are you from? What do you like to do? And then that started to really open up conversations for even the deeper stuff. I had a random lunch on a Friday and she opened up how she, you know, grew up going to church but she didn't quite understand and nothing really stuck to her. And so she decided in the last year to start going to church for herself. And she's like, yeah, and I'm just, you know, I'm just checking out the whole thing, feeling the whole thing. And it almost felt like God was opening the door even just that much. And I went through it. I've learned that life is too short for us to hold back and sharing the gospel with people.

Life is fleeting. It's here one day, it's gone tomorrow. And as Christians, as believers, if we are not bold in our faith, if we are not taking every opportunity that the Lord has given us, whether that door is wide open or even just open just a little bit, run through that door. And so I ended up, yeah, I ended up just asking her. I said, hey, I said, have you given your life to Jesus before? And she's like, well, not really. I'm kind of figuring everything out. I'm like, that's great. All of us will for the rest of our lives. But it takes a step of faith. And so I explained the gospel to her. I explained that there is bad news, is that you and I are sinners, that we mess up every day. And then there's worse news. And the worst news is that you and I can do nothing to bridge ourselves to God. But there is good news. And the good news is that God sent his son, Jesus, from heaven down to earth to bridge the gap, to take our place on the cross, to die for our sins, and then rise bodily from the grave three days later.

And the best news is that you can receive that salvation today. You can receive that gift today. And with tears just welled up in her eyes, she said, I want that relationship with Jesus. And so right there at that lunch, we prayed the prayer of salvation with her. And she is now a believer in Jesus. And we celebrate that. And then two days later, it's Sunday, obviously. And I'm at our Dallas location. Shout out Dallas, love you guys. And I'm standing at the door, and I see my sister and her friends come through the door. I'm like, oh, this is a love, nobody tells me anything. They just show up. And they just show up. And I just kept thinking, like, Lord, speak to her today. And after the experience, I said, how'd you like the experience? I loved it, I loved it. I mentioned baptism. I said, hey, that's your next step as a brand new believer. We baptize every single Sunday at Fellowship Church. We can baptize you right now. And she was like, oh, seriously? I'm like, yeah. I was like, let's get you a shirt, let's get you shorts, and let's get you in the water. So we got her shirt, shorts, in the water,

and we baptized her. And she was so thankful in how the timing worked out. She even said, she said, I couldn't even thought this timing up better in my life. So be available. Allow God to use you right where you're at. That's so good. Well, and I think it's so important for us to remember that God can use any of us. Yes, yes. Whether it is you, when you are full-time working at a church, or someone like your friend Chloe, who simply was intentional about making sure that you felt welcome and introduced you to other people when you came to the mix for the first time. And that's true for all of us. We can all, if we are willing to share our story with the people God puts into our life. We never know how he can use it. All he's asking is for us to be available and willing, and then he'll do the rest. Madison, thank you for taking the time to share your story with each of us. You are such a blessing, and we're so grateful for you. Will you put your hands together for Madison? You may be seated. You may be seated. You may be seated. You may be seated. You may be seated.

You may be seated. I know that there may be some of you who are here today, and maybe you even heard Madison talking about how to have a relationship with Jesus. And as you're listening, you're thinking, I believe that, but I've never made that decision. And we wanna take a moment to give you the opportunity to make that decision, because it is the beginning of everything. It will become the center of everything. So I'm gonna ask you just to bow your heads right where you are, everyone who's in the room. And if you have not yet made that decision, as I'm praying, you can simply agree with what I'm saying as a way of confessing with your mouth and choosing Jesus today. It all begins with first just admitting, Jesus, I admit to you that I'm a sinner, that I am broken, and that I need you. And I believe that you sent Jesus to this earth, Father, to be my Savior, that he lived perfectly, and that he died for me so that my sin could be paid for. But then he came back to life to show that he wasn't just a man, but he was truly the Son of God, our Savior, the one who can conquer death and give us life. And so today, Jesus, I choose you. If that's what you want, just say, I agree, right where you are, and you can choose him today. Father, I thank you that you don't ask us

to clean up our stuff and to get our act together before we come to you, but you just invite us to come to you as we are. And I ask that even today, you will continue to move in us, that you will help us to surrender to you every day, that we'll make ourselves available to you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Man, can we thank Madison for sharing that story again? And we're also thankful for anyone in the room this morning who prayed that prayer with Tian and made that decision to give your life to Jesus. First of all, that's the greatest choice you're ever gonna make. And as a church, we wanna be here with you to come alongside of you. And I wanna invite you to check out one of our prayer tables before you leave today. If you prayed that prayer to give your life to Christ, we have some resources we wanna put in your hands. We got tables on both sides of the room and back of the room. We have a Bible, a book from Pastor Ed called What's Your Next Step? These are all things that are gonna help you in that journey that you have begun. We wanna be there with you. And maybe you're thinking this morning as well, like the story that Madison just told, it can help us all open our eyes

that we need to be more involved. Maybe you wanna take that step of getting involved into a group or a Bible study class, or maybe you need to check out one of our recovery groups or support groups. And there's so many different opportunities for you to get connected. So I want you to take your phone out and tap that sticker on the seat in front of you or pull out a Connect card and fill that out as well. Let us know that you wanna get connected and we wanna follow up with you this week and make sure you find the best community for you and your family here at Fellowship. You know, one of the questions you might be thinking if you're in this room and you're thinking about ministry, maybe you thought about a call to ministry in your life. We got any pastors, future pastors in the house? Maybe your son or your daughter is thinking about it. Check out FCU. We definitely have a resource in here, in the house at Fellowship Church called Fellowship Church University. It's our Bible and ministry college. You are absolutely... You're absolutely gonna love that opportunity. If that's you, check out fellowshipchurch.com. Stop by our booth as well. And we also have a booth out in the atrium

that can answer all of your questions. Newcomers is happening here in just a moment. If you have never joined Fellowship Church, or maybe you just wanna find out more about this place, join us at Newcomers. Food is provided. We'll take care of the kids. You have no more excuses. We'll save you a seat. Follow the signs in the atrium. We'll meet you in the source classroom for our Newcomers lunch. Now, everybody say next weekend. Pastor Sam Kelly will be here with us next weekend. His message is gonna help us unpack that there's a part of life that nobody sees, but determines everything. So bring your friend with you and come back next Sunday. Hey, let's stand to our feet and declare this over our lives this week. Jesus, thank you that in you, I am loved, forgiven, and blessed. For you, I will reach up and worship. I will reach out to share my faith and reach in to become more like you. And because of you, I know the best is yet to come. Have a great week, Fellowship. We'll see you next Sunday. ♪ Praise the Lord, oh my soul ♪ Come on and praise.