Tribe Church: 5 for 5 + Baptism

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Back in July, I received this text from Pastor Matt:

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Me?!? Was he really asking me?

I was excited to be thought of for this role — but also a tad nervous! I hadn’t spoken publicly in a longgggg time. Then I thought back to I something Rachel Hollis said that she actually heard from Oprah, “Nerves are a selfish emotion because you're making the experience all about you.” It should be about the AUDIENCE. Not you.

Duh! The answer was laying right there in front of me. After giving it the night to think on, I text Matt back the next morning, “Count me in!”

Later that afternoon, I took an afternoon stroll and started to think about what I would talk about during my five minutes. I had just finished an application for a Christian book publishing company weeks ago — and one of the questions I answered I thought would make the PERFECT outline.

(It’s funny how life works out. I actually withdrew my application — decided to go another route to publish my book — but it’s almost like I “needed” to apply to get my layout for 5-for-5.)

Little Reminder: No work that you do is ever wasted. It will eventually help you in some form or way!

This was Question #19 of the application that I was referring to:

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This is what I came up with for my outline:

How Life Has Changed Over Last Year

  • What brought me in? Branding (Ha!)

  • Tribe Gathering: March 18th, 2018 (Review story from above + Important note: SIGNS)

  • Pastors Matt + Carrie: “Give Tribe 1 Year of Your Life and You’ll See How it’s Changed”

  • Me: “Life seems pretty good right now as it is — we’ll see!”

  • What kept me? The people!

  • Used to travel a lot for work. That changed at the beginning of 2019. Could come to church more regularly on Sunday’s!

  • On January 9th, 2019 — my Grandma passed away. It crushed me.

  • Matt was in the parking lot when I broke down crying (Note: How important the Welcome Team is!)

  • Joined several Life Groups (FPU led by Travis + TribeHer with AMAZING women I call friends)

  • 1 year at Tribe? Matt + Carrie were right. Completely changed me!

  • Now I’m outside, holding the signs I saw at the Interest Gathering, greeting people as they come in the door!

A Thing I’ve Learned About God

  • Little things happen that I can’t begin to explain. But I know I don’t have to, because it’s the man upstairs.

  • It’s all part of a bigger plan. Far greater than anything we could ever imagine. Thank God!

And this, my friends, is that outline put into action:

PS - My best friend Jessie from college and Holly came that morning to surprise me! Thank you, Jess, for recording this. You’ll never know how much it meant to me — driving 45 minutes to be there to support me on this special day!

After service, I came home, speechless. What an incredible morning! All 5 speakers did AMAZING and I was truly moved after hearing from everyone.

During my 5-for-5 talk, I actually went over the 5 minutes (just a tad!) and didn’t completely finished what I wanted to say. And that was this:

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about God over the past year... It’s that things happen everyday we can’t explain. Things that blow our mind. Good things. Bad things. Big things. Small things. I used to think we needed a reason. An explanation. An answer. Or maybe thought, it was a coincidence. 

But what I’ve realized — we don’t need an answer at all. Everything that happens is part of a plan bigger than any of us could imagine. It’s part of His plan. And for that, I look up and say thank you. 

Dear Lord,
Thank you for today. Thank you for the past year. Thank you for bringing me to Tribe. Thank you for this incredible community of friends I call family. Thank you for creating a place I call home. Thank you for moving me in ways I didn’t even know were possible. You are the reason behind all of this and I owe it all to you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Tribe, 
Happy First Birthday!!!! What a year it has been! I am so grateful for Pastors Matt and Carrie. I’m also incredibly thankful for the community of people I’ve met along the way. Y’all are the thing I didn’t know how much I needed in my life. I feel incredibly blessed to be surrounded by each and every one of you. Not only on Sunday’s, but throughout the weeks and months and now years. 

Here’s to Year #2! I have a good feeling...the best is yet to come. ♥️♥️

Speaking of the best is yet to come, something else that happened that day:

Tribe announced they were planning to do a Baptism Sunday on 9/29/19.

I was sitting next to Hilary — she was the first 5-for-5 speaker that day! Hilary leaned over to me and asked, “Have you been baptized yet?” I told her no (well technically yes, when I was a baby but not as an adult), but I had been thinking about it. She had been, too! She mentioned we should totally do it together.

I saw this as a sign from God. Pushing me in the right direction to take my faith to the next level!

You see, for the longest time, faith has been “fuzzy” to me. It’s not that I didn’t believe in God, but I almost wondered why should I? I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it. The thing I love about Tribe is you feel like you BELONG before you BELIEVE.

And after a year at Tribe, I began to feel something. I could FEEL His presence. I could FEEL Him moving in my life. Things kept happening that I couldn’t explain. My only answer: It’s the man upstairs doing what he does best! I began to BELIEVE.

On Sunday, September 29th, I was baptized.

I made a decision that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior — and I don’t plan on looking back 💛💛💛

MADE NEW — What an incredible feeling. I am so grateful for Pastors Matt + Carrie for launching Tribe. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

And to top it off? After I was baptized, I walked out of church and it started to sprinkle. I’d like to think God opened the gates of heaven for my Grandma to say hello, proud as could be.