Frankie and Kristen

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Well, good morning. Let's go. You excited to be in the house today? Come on, let's go. Can we just thank our worship team for leading us so well this morning? It was so good. Setting the table so well in this series. My name is Tyler. I get the privilege of serving here on staff, and we are right in the middle of a series called From Death to Life, and we launched this series on Easter, and it's different, you know? And you never know how things are going to hit and land, but we've seen God do so much incredible things through this series.

We're growing like crazy. People are giving their life to Jesus in every gathering. And what I love about it is so much of the feedback that we're getting from many of you is how much these stories are strengthening your faith, because we're in the middle of a series where we're hearing some incredible stories from some incredible people of where things have kind of gone not the way they thought they would, and, like, and God shows up, and how do we handle that when things go the way we want them to and when they don't, and that's what the series From Death to Life is all about, and I'm so honored to host the conversation with two dear, incredible friends of mine that I've known for a long time. Like, I think, Kristen, I've known you for decades, and Frankie, I've known you for over a decade now. So, you know, Kristen and I grew up in Pastor Tim's youth group, and so you can imagine... You can imagine how, like, us as kids running around, You can imagine how, like, us as kids running around, it probably was a lot of challenges, you know, so, like, Pastor Tim, bless him. But, you know, now we're seeing so much of the impact that Pastor Tim has had on our life

over the years and what God has done, and we just honor you guys today. You know, many... What I love about where we are now as a church is some of these stories, you know, happened a month ago, but some of them happened 10-plus years ago, and many of you in the room that you've been here for a long time, you know some of these stories, you know some of these people, but there's so many new faces in the room, there's so many new people here, and so I'm just super honored to introduce you guys. Frankie was the very first person that Pastor Tim brought down from Tampa, or up from Tampa, I think, if you're looking at it, to Start Momentum Church, and so Frankie served... Absolutely. Thank you. And then, Kristen, you and your mom and dad, I mean, jumped on board from day one to serve and be a part of this. Miss Nancy, I think you served, we called it the Nest back then, we call it the Littles now. How cute is that? And serve in our kids' ministry, and your dad, Brian, served in all of the places,

served as set-up, tear-down, production, was all over the place, but one of my favorite ways that he impacted the church was, I think technically, Pastor Tim was the very first volunteer because he went so long without a paycheck to help build this and establish what God is doing here at Momentum, but your dad served, Brian served in our youth ministry, was our, I think, very first youth ministry volunteer, and so, by the way, if you have a student now in YTH, you know how incredible that ministry is and how much they're doing, but we honor you guys, and I say that before I kick it over to you guys, if you're here and you're impacted by what God is doing through Momentum Church, that happens because of your faithfulness, both of your faithfulness, Brian's faithfulness, Nancy's faithfulness, and to staying true and being all in to pour out what God has clearly gifted them with, so without further ado, you stand to your feet and welcome Frankie and Kristen Pesci to the stage. And then I'm going to sit down and I'm not going to say anything else.

I'm going to stop talking for a while and just listen. So I was going to dive right in and in the first gathering God was like wait just a minute, like pause. Because this is a story about a great man. But I remember Pastor Tim telling us in marriage council, like when we were getting married. He looked at both of us and he said, Kristen, don't ever make Frankie your God. Because a great man makes a poor God. And so that's something that I've held on to pretty much my whole life. But my dad was a great man. But he, we are putting Jesus on the throne where he belongs right now. Because this is a story about the goodness of God. And the goodness of his character. So yeah, so on November 21, 2016, my dad was out for a run. And was involved in a vehicle pedestrian accident. And was killed on impact. And it was right outside our neighborhood. And so the past few weeks our church has had the amazing opportunity to hear about miraculous healing on this side of heaven. And how like we've had the opportunities to believe in God for something that like our eyes can't comprehend. And today we get an incredible opportunity to share with you a different perspective of the story of death to life. And so Brian had spent the better part of five years working on not only his physical health but also just going through a spiritual transformation.

And I had the privilege of getting to serve with him and Nancy before becoming their son-in-law. But when we reflected back at our one-year wedding anniversary, one of the things that we still joke about to this day is so many people told us that first year of marriage is going to be challenging, it's going to be difficult, buckle up. And we remember at that one-year dinner thinking to ourselves, man, we got this in the bag. Like if this is what the first year was supposed to be like. As our five-year-old says, easy peasy lemon squeezy. So we had gone through like the second year of our marriage clearly we just kind of were like, whoa, this was a little bit much. I'm blanking on what I was supposed to say. And so we just went through a lot that second year. I went through a really difficult career change. And we found out that our long-time dog had cancer. It was just kind of like one thing after another. I really struggled with progressing through my training and licensing for what I'm doing now. And by the grace of God passed everything about a month before the accident took place. But yeah, we just wanted to take a minute and go back, give you guys some context about what happened leading up to that night and then the days and weeks that followed. So on November 21, the accident happened. But on the 20th, we had actually, so I am my father's daughter. And so if you have kids, you know that like there's always

kind of that one that's just like you and you kind of, you love them. But you kind of rub each other the wrong way or like butt heads on certain things. And so that was our relationship. Like we had a great father-daughter relationship. But there were things that we just did not see eye to eye on sometimes. We ended up getting in an argument the day before. And it was kind of like one of those knock down, drag out, said things you weren't supposed to say, things you actually didn't mean. And it was just like it was one of those days that I just remember like that was probably one of the worst fights we've ever had. And but then like it ended up being such a such a propelling forward moment because the next day, he actually called me and we, he called me because he actually won a TV. And that is very silly because we don't have the TV and nobody has ever like claimed it or did any of that. So it's very just we don't know that it actually happened. But it caused him to call all of us. that day, like every single one of us, he called. And because he called me, I was like, hey, so we're getting ready to go out of town for Thanksgiving to see Frankie's family. Can you come over and help me put the bike rack on my car? And he was like, yeah, absolutely. I'll be right over. Like, I'm gonna go to work

and then I'll come straight to your house after, you know? And like not even batting an eyelash to serve as a daughter. And that was one of the ways that like growing up, like I'm sorry was not really a big word between us. Like he would just kind of serve me. Like he'd show up at a volleyball game or show up singing or he'd like serve us in some way to like make things better. But that night before the accident, he like came up to me and he was like, hey, I just want to say I'm sorry. For like one of the first times in our lives, we actually said the words I'm sorry to each other. And so he was like, I love you, Shrubby, which is what he called me my whole life and no one else is allowed to call me that except for you. And so, but so he's like, I love you, Shrubby. And I'm so sorry. Like we said, thanks. And I just want to make sure that we're okay before you go to Thanksgiving. So yeah. Yeah, and I'm at work finishing up before going out of town. I had pretty much finished a bulk of my training and was getting ready to start prospecting door to door. And I had been running through neighborhoods to get my mind right for that difficult next season of my career, as well as just praying over the houses and the conversations that I was going to be having. Brian was also trying to encourage us to take better care of our physical health.

And so we were actually training for the double bridge run that February. And at the end of the day, I got changed at my office and I realized that I forgot my running shoes at home. And so I ended up jetting home, debated whether to even do the run, knowing we had a lot to get done before going out of town. And who's there? The instigator number one, Brian with his, you know, his bike, his swim clothes, his running shoes. He always had everything. Putting us all to shame. He had everything in the bed of his truck, ready to go at any point in time. And so once he found out that I was planning on going for a run, he said, can I join you? And so we went for a run that night. At this point, it's completely dark, temperatures dropping fast. And I had shared with him this route that I run pretty regularly, especially if we're trying to get some extra miles in. Because as you'll see in some pictures, our neighborhood at the time was under new construction. The back of the neighborhood wasn't even lit. There were no streetlights. And so it wasn't uncommon for me to go out of the neighborhood, hang a right, run with traffic for a quarter of a mile

into the next neighborhood that went all the way back to the sound because that neighborhood was built out, had plenty of lights. And honestly, it was safer to hug the shoulder of the road for a quarter of a mile with traffic than to cross 98 to run against traffic only to have to cross back. And so I'd done this route plenty of times. And we were joking about how cold it was and just kind of picking on each other. And a vehicle that had a dad and two kids in the car was pulling into the neighborhood we were running towards, cut the turn lane early, struck and killed Brian on impact. Thankfully, Brian moved me to the inside and I didn't get touched by the grace of God. Yeah, so I know that we were asked to share about when miracles don't go our way or when we think that it should look different. And trust me, there have been years that I would have given, there are years that I would have given anything to change the outcome. But knowing what I know now and knowing what he has gained because the Bible says to live is Christ, to die is gain. So what he has gained, like knowing what I know now, I don't know that I'd still make that trade.

And truthfully, the miracle in this is yes, heaven, first and foremost, like the promise of heaven and the hope of heaven is a miracle. But I'm sitting next to a miracle. They were stride for stride. It's not like my dad, who very much could have run much faster than Frankie. 100%. Probably still does and can. Really, all of us, honestly. Well, he was stride for stride with him, spending time with his son-in-law, talking and laughing. And Frankie wasn't even grazed, he wasn't touched. And that is the miracle in this story. Not to mention, I mean, Brian took one step on earth and his next step was in heaven. And so, the miracle of what Jesus has done, the miracle of eternal life in heaven with God happened right there that night on 98. Yeah, 100% heaven touchdown. So that leads me to the next thing where we got to experience an angel. And I don't know what you believe, but I know what I've experienced. So, you know, I'm walking in my house, packing our clothes for this trip and my phone rings.

And, you know, they had already left. And so I'm there by myself, I've got all the windows open because it was cool outside. And I could hear the sirens and I was like, goodness gracious, there's something going on on 98. Like, that's a lot. And like, I didn't even think like they had made it that far yet at this point. And so I just kept doing my thing. Well, then my phone rings again. And then it rings again. And I pick it up and it's somebody that I don't know. It's this woman on the phone. And she's like, Kristen, is this Kristen? And I said, yes, this is Kristen. How can I help you? You know, and she's like, hold on. And she hands Frankie the phone and he's like, hey, you need to get up here now, it's your dad. And I was like, well, is he okay? Like, and he's like, I don't know. And I honestly thought that he had had a heart attack. Like, I thought that was gonna be what was gonna be said the next thing. And so the shock value of your dad's been hit by a car was just kind of, it was extremely unexpected. And so, you know, I rush up there as quickly as I can. I get up to the front of our neighborhood

and there are police, I mean, it's everywhere. Like there are red and blue lights everywhere. They had shut down both sides of Highway 98. And when that happens, it usually means there's been a fatality. And so, you know, I get stopped by the police officer at the front of our gate. And if you know me, he was like, I'm sorry, ma'am, but you can't come through. And I was like, well, you're gonna either, I'm either gonna get through or you're gonna put me in the back of that police officer car because that's my dad and my husband. So, and he's like, right away, this way, ma'am. And so he, you know, I get up there and this woman meets me at the car. And she's like, Kristen, like, she doesn't, I don't know her. And she's like, Kristen. And I'm like, yes, ma'am. And she goes, I'm here to bring you to your dad. And I was like, okay. And so I just like grab her hand and she walks me to, and pay mind you, we have searched for this woman. I have searched for her name. I have searched for, I have searched for her because she ushered me into a moment that was only holy. And so, and we can't find her.

So, and we've both experienced her and we both describe her the same way and there's no other explanation than it was an angel that God gave me to usher me into this moment. So I get down there and she gives me to Frankie and we, you know, we're just sitting there. He's, they've moved him to the side of the road in the grass and so we're sitting there and God just gives me this peace. And when I tell you that like six months before that, if you would have asked me how you would have handled this, I probably would have said something very different than peaceful. And I felt all the peace of heaven. So we, you know, we're sitting there and I look at the paramedic and I'm like, okay, so is he breathing? And she's like, we don't know. I'm like, okay. So I then like shifted my focus and I'm looking at him and I'm holding his hand and I just look up at him and I said, you are an incredible dad. You are an incredible husband and you have done your job and I love you and it's okay. And in that moment, for 10 years, I struggled with Lord, why did you not tell me to pray for God to breathe life back into him? his bones, because I believe with everything in me

that God can do it. And instead he gave me this incredible piece because he knew the impact of the story. He knew what was gonna happen and the people who were gonna be changed because of this moment. And so I just, I held his hand, I looked up at the woman and I said, is he alive? And she said, we don't know. And I looked at Frankie and I said, he is already with Jesus. And I reached up and I closed his eyes and I looked at Frankie and I said, I'm gonna have to call my mom. If you have never met Nancy Purcell, she has more grace in her pinky finger than most of us have in our entire bodies. And to have watched this woman walk through this grief, completely leaning on Jesus and allowing him to be the lover of her soul in moments that she did not understand, to just know without a shadow of a doubt that she loves the Lord with all of her heart and all of her mind and that she has never walked away from him because of the love of God that he has shown her, like it is, y'all, it's unimaginable. Like he has sustained her and I'm here to tell you that he will sustain you, that that is the same God of her story that is the same God of your story. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. So we end up having Pastor Tim, several people meet us roadside that night, our cul-de-sac was filled to the brim with cars and the hours and days that followed were just filled with so much love and support from our community. We had ladies come over our house and fill our pantry and clean. We had just, we could tell you story after story of just God's people showing up and meeting us in our lowest moments. So you fast forward to that Thanksgiving three days later and we had, you know, about as somber as a Thanksgiving as you can have, but it was still filled with people that we remember to this day that showed up. And one of those people asked me a question that kind of changed the trajectory of this story. And he asked me if I would be interested with kind of Brian's bike and running group, if I would wanna finish the last mile of the route that we were running. And I told him no, I appreciated him thinking of me if they wanted to do something in memory that they could, but I just didn't have the strength to do it. But the next morning I woke up

with a different perspective. And yeah, we had a house full of people show up and support us and finish run the last mile of the route that we were running just three days earlier. And it was an incredible moment of healing and love that we experienced that day. The very next day at church on Sunday, we debated whether to even go because we were peopled out at that point, as you can imagine. But by the grace of God, we went and Pastor Tim had changed his whole message around to talk about the life and the legacy of Brian. And it was just so good to be in the house, even though we felt empty, it completely filled our souls. And we were so grateful that we decided to go to church that day. And then we had the celebration of life, babe, you wanna talk about that? What a day, what a day. So we had fun because I know where he is. He is not lost. I know exactly where to find him. And so we ended up having a celebration of life at Marcus Point, which is really cool and a very like a full circle moment for some of us because that's actually where the Lord led us when I was 13 to be a part of a church. And my whole family gave their life to Jesus at Marcus Point.

So we had the opportunity because truthfully, we were like, where are we going to be able to go to have this celebration of life because no funeral home in town is gonna be able to fit the amount of people that are gonna come. And so we ended up having it there and kind of a full circle moment for us because we got to lead worship together. And so if you know me, you know that I love you. that I don't really sit still, and that I can't really worship Jesus very freely when I have a chair in front of me. And truthfully, my dad was my biggest cheerleader. There was never a time on the volleyball court, there was never a time that I walked on stage that he wasn't there. Whether it was standing in the back of the room or standing on the front row, there was never a time that I, and if I questioned it, he would yell, and so that I would know that he was there. And so, you know, it was my reasonable service to worship my heavenly father in a moment where my earthly father was in his presence. And so I just remember like fast forward, well, we sang this song called the King of My Heart. Some of you may know it, but it's the main part of King of My Heart is you are good. And saying that God is good and believing that God is good.

And so there is a difference between knowing what is true and resting in what is true. And that day we were able to very loudly proclaim that God was good and rest in what was true. And so we sang King of My Heart and Tim gives the message, he gets to the salvation portion, and I'm like, we're back on stage because we're getting ready to sing another song, and I'm standing in the back, really sitting in the very back on a step. And my good friend, Callie Brigham, is sitting next to me holding my hand and we're both crying. And I just remember like Tim's getting ready to do the one, two, three, raise your hands kind of thing. And I just sit there like this. And I'm like, Lord, I don't know that I have the faith like I need for this to have some sort of, like I need instant gratification here, Jesus. I need for people to raise their hands that they are coming to know you. But I was also like, oh my gosh, what if nobody raises their hands? And so I'm sitting there looking at Callie and Tim counts to three. And y'all, Callie looks at me with tears and she goes, you don't wanna miss this. And I was like, okay, okay. So I'm gonna look up, you know,

and I look up and 75 people, y'all, 75 people gave their life to Jesus that day. He is good, he is good. He is so, so, so, so good. And if that would have been the end of the story, that would have been pretty incredible, but God's still writing it today. But if 75 people had not given their life to Jesus that day, he is still good. That's right. So it's not, it doesn't hang on the balance of let me show you what I can do. His goodness remains the same, regardless. Amen. Thank you for saying that. So we decided at the one year anniversary to do a memorial run. We had some people asking, as you can see, Brian had touched a lot of lives and we ended up having about 60 or 70 people show up at the Wahoo Stadium to do a memorial run. The next year, we decided to do the same thing again. And we had almost a hundred people show up for another friends and family memorial run. And I remember looking at Nancy, Kristen and her sister and said, I think that there might be something here that we need to lean into. I had some experience, obviously, starting 501c3 with the church. And so we decided to start a nonprofit

called The Last Mile. And we did it not only in honor of Brian, but to focus on things he was passionate about. That's my planning team, y'all. They're amazing. They're incredible. Tyler and Brandon, Sandra, if I'm missing anyone else, you guys are rock stars. But we decided to start this not only in honor of Brian, but also just to focus on things he was passionate about, which was the youth of our community, as well as safer streets. And so we've been able to partner with two great organizations, the YMCA and Bike Pensacola. And over the last seven years, we've seen over 1,700 people participate in the run and we've raised over $80,000 for our community. Thank you. Let's give him a round of applause. Amen. Thank you. As we are reflecting back on preparing for this message, I was praying for God to give me a word of encouragement and hope for everyone. And I thought of first Thessalonians 4.13 that says that brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death so that you do not grieve like the rest of the world who have no hope. And so Kristen and I, Kristen and I, we both grew up in

traditional Catholic homes. You heard about her salvation story. I didn't give my life to Christ until I was 23. And we ask each other often, who are we to have this platform to get to represent Jesus. Because we are just everyday ordinary people going through the struggles of raising a family, starting a business. And really what God spoke to us was just that we are just taking God at his word. Yeah. We are trusting him with childlike faith and knowing that he's going to take care of all of our needs. And so I want to encourage for those in the room today, we can walk with our heads high now with the reminder in first Corinthians 15 that says, where O death is your victory. Where O death is your sting. So I'll just leave you with a few things. Number one, I do want to honor one other person in the room and she would kill me if she knew that I was going to do this. But truthfully, if you are walking through something that is unimaginable, that's scary, that's hard, find yourself a friend who will come and drive from Cantolment and take you to her house and rub your hands and pray over you and that will counsel you and will walk through things with you and hear the really ugly truth and still love you. Find that person. Find her. Find him. Because truthfully, Miss Nadine, if it were not for you and Mr. Doug, I don't know that we would have made it through this

season as connected to the Lord as we did. So thank you for walking with me. Truly. Something that she taught me was that good, hard, and holy can all coincide in the same place. We experienced great sorrow in the loss of my dad. But we have experienced unexplainable and unspeakable joy in experiencing the goodness of God. So I tell you all of this because truthfully, we may not have gotten the miracle of dad getting healed on this side of heaven. But again, like I told you, my husband is a miracle. And if I couldn't count the number of miracles that we have seen over the past 10 years, and so I say all that to take it to the word. Because the Bible actually says in John 21, 25, this is the very last verse in the book of John. It says, and there are also many other things that Jesus did. Many, many, many other things that Jesus did. Which if every one of them were written down, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books that it would be written. He is good, y'all. He is good. And you can wear a garment of grief and a garment of joy and a garment of praise and a garment of sorrow all at the same time. And he is so good and he is so near to the brokenhearted. There have been days that I have felt dadless in my life in the past 10 years. But I can tell you that I have never felt fatherless.

Because he has walked with us through every ounce of it. Can we thank them for that story this morning, church? You guys stay standing, everyone stay standing, bow your heads, close your eyes right now. You know, one of the themes that you heard today in this story, one of the things that just keeps coming up is this idea of the goodness of God. Because while things hit our lives and they're hard, and they're hard to walk through, His goodness never changes, His character never changes, His nature never changes. But what oftentimes separates us seeing the goodness of God in moments like that and stories like that is when we allow God to walk with us through those things. And oftentimes you come to something like that and all of us are going to walk through something and many of you have stories in the room where the bottom dropped out and the worst of the worst of the unimaginable happened. When those things happen, we're presented with this choice, and I can either shove God away and think, God, you didn't come through in the way I thought you should, because God, after all, if you were real, if you were good, like, they'd still be here. Or we can allow God in to walk with us through those things, and we can see His goodness and His faithfulness, and you can get ten years down the road and you can look back and you can see His faithfulness day after day, step after step. And so if you're here today, you don't have that relationship with Jesus, I want you to know that His faithfulness in your life starts with this accepting the relationship of what Jesus did for you, and I want to give you that chance right now, because many of you in the room, many of you watching online right now, you feel that in your heart, you feel that in your soul, that God is tugging at your heart, He is tugging to get that relationship with you, and He is tugging for you to know Him, and in just a second, I want to give you that opportunity, but you need to know why you need Him, because it's not just for this life here, but it is for eternity when we die. Because everyone in the room, all of us have sinned, if you've ever messed up or lied or cheated or stolen, anything, you're a sinner, and congratulations, you're in good company because Scripture tells us that all have sinned, that there's none righteous, no not one, and then it goes on to say that the penalty of that sin, the punishment of that sin, the

payment of that sin is death, and it's not just the death that you and I know of, it's this eternal death, this eternal separation from God when we die, and it is in that hopelessness of I'm a sinner, and I deserve to be separated from God when I die, that God's love shone the brightest because He sent His Son Jesus to live 33 years here on earth. Scripture says that Jesus was sinless, that He had no faults, that there was nothing to convict Him of, there was nothing, so Jesus lived a perfect 33 years and then willingly laid down His life and shed His blood on a cross and rose three days later, and that is what Scripture calls the gift of God, and that all we have to do to receive that is to call on the name of the Lord, and you can have that relationship with Jesus so with every head bowed, every eye closed right now, if that's you and you've never given your life to Jesus, I want to give you that opportunity to repeat after me in just a second, but I'm actually going to ask for everyone in the room to pray this out loud to support those that are about to pray it for the first time, so say this with me, say, Dear Jesus, I admit I'm a sinner, I have messed up, and I need You, and I believe that You, Jesus, died on the cross, shed Your blood, rose from the grave for my sin, for my life. Now I confess You, Jesus, as Lord and Savior of my life. Come into my life, come into my heart, and teach me how to live. In Jesus' name, amen. You guys, everybody look right up here, if that was you in just a second, here's what's going to happen. Two things. Number one, I'm going to count to three, and I'm going to ask that if you just gave your life to Jesus for the first time, that you would slip your hand up when I count to three. that you would have one second of courage and here's what's gonna happen. We're not gonna embarrass you, we're not gonna single you out, but what we are gonna do is we're gonna celebrate that decision because it's the best decision that you will ever make in your entire life.

And then our host team is gonna put a little blue bag in your hands and that bag is full of resources that are gonna help you on your journey of following Jesus. So when I count to three, I want you to have one second of courage and put your hands up. Let's do this. One, two, three. Will you put your hand up? We see those hands, keep those hands up. Awesome. Keep those hands up. Let our host teams find you. Let our host teams find you. We got a hand back here, guys. Got a hand back here. We got some hands over here. Awesome. Can we celebrate that decision, guys? Let's go. It's the best decision you've ever made. If you're watching online, if you're watching online, please text Jesus to 833-406-9689. And we would love to connect with you and send you some resources wherever in the world you're watching from.