Our Story | Drew + Allysar | Discipleship Night 2026

How's it going, everyone? Again, this is my lovely wife, Alisar, and I'm Drew. And man, we're excited. We get to, for this part, just to talk about community. And to start off this section, I wanna ask and challenge you with a question. How are we becoming more like Jesus in community? How are we, how are you becoming more like Jesus in community? Do me a favor, let's go back to 1987. I was born in Busan, South Korea. And at three months, I was adopted by an amazing, incredible, Jesus-loving family in the city of Pittsburgh in a little town called Beaver Falls. And growing up, it didn't take long to realize that, man, I kind of looked a little different than my community, than the kids in my school, than my neighbors. And I think the picture would agree, right? And here's what I didn't know at a young age is what a gift it is to be from a different place and how beautiful it is to be a little different and from another country. But back then, when I was younger, man, I felt insecure about it. You kind of stick out a little bit. People whisper, say things, right? So I think at a young age, I always had this quiet longing,

a desire in my heart to belong. Maybe you have felt like that at some point in your life, that, man, I'd like to fit in. And some things, maybe you wanted to feel included and maybe not overlooked in some things. And as I share this, I want you guys to think of a moment, though, a moment of time in your life, a moment when someone made space for you, a moment where someone invited you in to be part of something that was even bigger than you. For me, that moment came when I was in middle school. I was just starting youth group, and one of the youth leaders, his name was Stephan, man, he was just the coolest guy. He played in the youth band, he was the drummer, and, man, he was just such a sweet spirit. And the thing I appreciate about Stephan is that, man, he invited me in. He invited me in, he's like, oh, you like drums? Well, let me teach you some drums. Why don't you come early? He was one that encouraged me. He was one that called out giftings. He was one that just wanted to root for me and me and my friends. So God used Stephan to show me a sense and a place of belonging and purpose. And here's why that moment, man, it really matters to me.

It didn't just matter, like it's past tense, it matters present tense to me. It's because what we started back there and what God was doing all the way back there with Stephan, it really paved the trajectory of calling and purpose that God has over my life right up to this second in time. And he's still doing that work. And the thing is, that need for community, it didn't just disappear with age. Just because I got older, that community and discipleship, I no longer needed it. No, it was and is just as important as it is today as it was back then. So how are we becoming more like Jesus in community today? My husband, Drew, and I have been married for 12 years now. That's crazy, right? That is kind of wild. For 12 years. Feels like yesterday, we have three beautiful kids and life is full. It's busy and it's really complex sometimes. And I love this quote by Dallas Willard. It says, we are saved by grace, but we are formed in community. And a few years ago, we joined a small group and hadn't been in a small group for a long time. And it was led by Pastor Chris and Shona. And through that small group, we found friendship and we found mentors and people that we've called when life has gotten really hard,

when we are in a fight in our marriage or we are lost in parenting. They have been people who we have reached out to and have been with. part of our life. And more than any of that, they have been people who have just pointed us back to Jesus. And that's the point of community. God has used them in really refining seasons to both encourage us, but also to challenge us, to call us out when our perspective about God or our perspective about others was out of line. And so community is one of the most incredible and life-giving ways that God forms us to become like Jesus. But knowing that and experiencing that are two very different things. So for many of us, I think becoming like Jesus can feel like something that we have to do on our own. Like it's me, it's my Bible, it's me. In prayer time, it could be me, I, and me. And all those things are important. All those things matter. They really do. But Jesus never designed formation to happen in isolation. Pastor Chris, he highlighted this verse earlier out of Mark 3. It said, Jesus appointed 12, and later on it said that they might be with him. So before they were sent, before they did anything,

they were formed through shared life. And that's still how God works today. And that's beautiful and amazing. That one of his primary tools for shaping us into the image of him is with people. We clearly see this in Acts 2. Right after the church is born, it says that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings, to fellowship, to breaking bread. That's one of the best parts, amen. It's a prayer. Here's the thing about the Church of Acts. The Church of Acts, it wasn't a perfect community, but it was a devoted community. That word devoted, it means ongoing, intentional, steadfast commitment. But for some of us in the room, when we say that word community, that word community, it feels heavy. For some of you, when we say and you hear that word community, it feels painful. For some, it might feel risky. Maybe some of you in here have been hurt by community. So you naturally and humanly, you just pulled back. You disengage. You're like, hey, that's not for me. Tried that, I'm good with it. But here's the tension that we wanna hold and embrace tonight,

is that sometimes the very place of hurt can also be the place of healing. And for us, our family, me and Alisar, that tension stopped being theoretical and it became very real and painfully personal. In 2019, we stepped into a season that we could have never been prepared for. Our daughter Ada was a one and a half at the time and we had a newborn son and she started to experience some unexplainable health symptoms. And as any new parent, you're kind of scratching your head going what's normal, what's not normal? Are we overreacting? Are we underreacting, right? And eventually her sickness led us to a hospital and that hospital led us to a moment that flipped our entire lives upside down. I'll never forget stepping into a room and facing a sea of strangers and hearing the words, Ada has cancer. They said she had a large mass in her stomach and the tumor was wrapped around her organs and it was very serious and very complicated. Have you ever experienced a moment like that? Where in a split second, everything you thought you knew about life in your future was certainly uncertain. Later that same day, a social worker came up to us and they asked, hey, what's your community look like? What kind of people do you have around you? And we kind of scratched our heads at that question

but then she went on to say most marriages don't make it out of seasons like this. And it just kind of hit us that what we were about to go through would either break us or bring us together. And as I think back on that season, it could have been so lonely. We lived in a hospital for five months, we didn't sleep next to each other, we had a one-year-old at home, we were taking turns taking care of. It could have been isolating and overwhelming and terrifying. And for a lot of the time, that was our reality that we experienced. But we also experienced something else. We experienced the peace of God, we experienced the comfort of God through the people of God. Yes we have, pastor. The times were hard, but Lord has made us strong. Now, if we can connect to Jesus, he will never let us clap, and that is how you get stronger with Christ. Let's thank our pastor. Workloves, help us with our prayers. shepherd, help us represent our lives. Lord, thank you for the gifts you have won us with yesterday. Jesus, stay with us. Thank you, Lord,

and we will thank you more. We gained so much more than we lost. Jesus restored so much more that was taken away, and hundreds of youth prayed. Hundreds of you in this room probably prayed, and when we didn't know how Ada's story would end, when we didn't know the outcome, we all got to witness a miracle, and today, Ada is a whole and healthy and healed eight-year-old girl, and her soccer era. We can celebrate that. And the reason that I share her story tonight isn't just to celebrate the miracle, which is worth celebrating and giving God glory for. It's to remind you that Jesus wants to meet you in whatever you're walking through, and how transformational it can be when we do that with others, amen? So maybe tonight, you're struggling with some doubts. Maybe you're thinking to yourself, God, where are you? Do you even know where you are? Maybe you're thinking to yourself, God, where are you? Do you even see me? Maybe your relationships are feeling fragile. Maybe you're staring at a crisis going, I have no idea how we are going to survive this. I just wanna, the enemy would love nothing more

for you to walk out of this room tonight with all of those lies in your head, making you feel like you don't belong, and that you're alone, but I wanna remind you, even just as Pastor Chris and Laura shared earlier, that Jesus wants to be with you, and he wants to form you in community with others. So as we wrap up, if you wanna be known and you want to know others, start small. You're probably not gonna become best friends with the 2,000 people in this room, right? Okay, no, but you can find community by taking a small step. So invite someone to coffee, join a group, serve side-by-side with somebody in Calvary Kids or Hospitality, sign up for an outreach or a missions trip. We've met some of our best friends on mission with others. Community grows when you grow, you show up and you serve together. So if being with Jesus and growing with others is how we become like him, how do we live that out in everyday life? It's a good question.