A Trip Down Memory Lane...
I'm starting to work on a short slideshow of the history of our church, Open Door Fellowship. I recently attended our Newcomer's Class, even though I started attending over 30 years ago (with an 18 year absence in the middle when we lived in California).

They didn't have a class like this when I started attending when I was 16 years old, so I went to the Newcomer's Class just to see how they describe this unique family when people are new. It was a wonderful reminder of all the reasons that I love this place and hope that we never have to leave again.

Anyway, one of the Sundays they went thru the 30+ year history (which was fun). While they were talking thru it, I had so many pictures pop into my head of the various buildings that we met in, and the people in those "early days" when most of the attenders were hippy Jesus Freaks (in the 70's).

So I offered to work on a slide show that they can use in future classes just to give people a flavor of where we've been. It doesn't need to be anything too long because the newcomers won't really care about too much detail, but I thought it would be fun to give them some visuals just for the big picture. So, I'm starting to try to track down old pictures.

These are a few pictures that I came across of Terry and I and friends from the "early days" when we were each singing in Christian bands. Terry's band, Glory Road, was more rock n roll, and a little bit country rock. The band I was in, Shira, was more of a folk band. We had tons of fun.

If you notice Terry's pictures, he goes from almost no beard to a ZZ Top-type beard. Isn't he just so cute?

My hair was long, I didn't wear make-up and overalls were my very favorite thing to wear. I would still wear them if I could. They were SO comfortable!

The most awesome thing about all of these memories is that we're still in touch with most of these people on a regular basis. The picture at the top is my precious friend, Sharon and me when we were teenagers. She's also in the center of the last picture with her future husband, Jay on the left of the picture. She is still one of my dearest friends. We also just saw two of the guys from Glory Road a few weeks ago when we went to see John, who is still playing guitar. What an amazing gift in this transitional culture to have such sweet friendships that have continued over more than 3 decades.

I really believe that much of that is due to the environment of grace that has been cultivated in this place since the beginning. Don't get me wrong, mistakes are made and people are hurt because we're human, but the goal is to be able to forgive and continue to love each other, no matter what. I am so thankful to be part of this amazing family of God.