Good morning Edge family,
John and I cannot be with you to celebrate today. We would like to share how God has been faithful in his pursuit of our hearts through our church family. I woke up yesterday morning with these words rolling through my mind from Psalm 23:
The Lord is my shepherd I have everything I need
His rod and his staff they comfort me
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
This is how he shepherds me all of my days.
I stand here today with gratitude having been led to this precious family because he knows just what we need.
About four years ago John and I had left our church home of many years with great sadness. We did not know where we were going, we just knew we could not stay. One of our dear friends invited me to a worship night at a church near our home. I knew my spirit was troubled but I could not put my finger on the source of the turbulence. So I showed up one evening. I came into the sanctuary exhausted and overwhelmed. A small band of men ushered us into the throne room of God. The presence of the spirit was palpable for me. It did not matter that I knew none of the faces around me — I just needed to be there.
Once a month I would go, and when John would join me he felt the same peace through worship. We were being drawn in. As time passed we attended a service at The Edge. People were friendly yet not intrusive, inviting yet not overbearing. And John really loved the food! We now know it was the spirit drawing us in.
Early in our coming to The Edge things unraveled at home. John and I reached out to Pastor Steve and asked to meet with him. We were both overwhelmed by his immediate response — “Where? When? I’ll be there!”
He listened with quiet kindness and then he spoke truth to us. This is part of what he said:
God will use pain and God will use his word to shepherd us because he is good and because he loves us.
He said many things that day that challenged us to grow up in love and we are forever grateful that God used him to bring us the truth that we needed to hear.
He highly encouraged us to get in community and connected to the body, to get Godly counseling and get accountability. He said last but not least, “people are not God. You worshipped your way into this mess, you will worship your way out.“
We are grateful to God for our Edge family. We have been so well loved in this place — accepted, challenged and affirmed. We thank God for prayer ministers and freedom prayers, for Pastors who hold the word of God carefully and our Small Group family, as well as all the behind the scenes people who make connection possible.
We are still growing up in love but how can we say we love God if we don’t love one another? He has been slow to anger and rich in mercy and love. We give an inch and he gives 1,000,000 miles and more.
I will close with this quote from James Finley:
When you risk what hurts the most in the presence of someone who will not invade you or abandon you, you can discover within yourself what Jesus called ‘the pearl of great price.’ — you’re invincible preciousness in the midst of your fragility.
May we be that safe place for each other and those in desperate need of the good news of the Gospel! We miss you all dearly and can not wait to be with you again.
-Vicki Drendel
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To quote one of my favorite old songs by Jay Beech:
The church is not a building
where people go to pray
it’s not made out of sticks or stones
it’s not made out of clay.
The church, it is the people
living out their lives,
called, enlightened, sanctified
for the work of Jesus Christ.
We are the church
the body of our Lord
we are all God’s children
we have been restored.
God has blessed me and my children through The Edge in so many different ways and so many different times during the 9 almost 10 years that we’ve been calling The Edge our church home. God has blessed us with family, away from family.
My Edge family has helped me raise my children to know, and love and serve God. You have been there to lift me up and encourage me when I've stumbled and to celebrate with me in victory when God answers prayers.
God has used the Edge to lead me and train me and even to provide a home for my children and I. God has used my Edge family as an example of His generosity and kindness over and over. You’ve helped us move multiple times, provided childcare and I can’t count the number of phone calls, notes of encouragement, text messages and late night prayer sessions that have been spent pouring God’s love into our lives.
I have watched the Edge grow and change with families coming and going. I have seen firsthand the love and compassion and desire to be God's hands and feet.
God continues to use our Edge family to inspire me to go be love. I have watched numerous fundraisers and events being planned and carried out for adoptions, missions and even just giving to the community.
God has blessed me more times than I can count by the various Edge worship sessions and leaders.
He has used the Edge to teach me about forgiveness and humbleness asking for help when you need it.
We have been so blessed to be part of God’s family with you! Thank you! We love you all!
-Elizabeth Harken