Stepping out in faith

I was asked to speak to our congregation today, during the 9:45 and 11 a.m. services, in support of our church's capital campaign. I was able to share a little of our story with the people of Grace Avenue United Methodist Church. 

Good morning. I am Tyra Damm, mom to 12-year-old Katie and 16-year-old Cooper. I am a teacher at Pearson Middle School. I am a freelance writer and editor. And I am a grateful member of Grace Avenue.

We have lived in Frisco, about two miles from here, since 2002. It took us more than a decade to call Grace Avenue home, but you all were praying for us all along.

My husband, Steve, and I were active members at our beloved Methodist church in Carrollton, where we owned our first home. That church is where our babies were baptized, where Steve sang in the choir, where he and I both served on more committees than I can count, as Methodists tend to do.

It was the church that rallied around us when Steve was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer, and it was the church that supported us when he passed away in 2009.

At the same time, you all were praying for us – both in the sense that you pray for this community and all of God’s children and in the sense that friends and neighbors who were members of Grace Avenue were praying specifically for Steve’s healing and our family’s grief.

Cooper, Katie and I continued to stay active in our old church. I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving the stability of that congregation. I loved worshipping in the same place that Steve had once worshipped, taking Communion around the same altar that Steve had stood for so many Sundays.

Yet over time, it became more difficult for me, as a single mom, to drive to and from Carrollton multiple days a week. Katie wanted to sing in choir and Cooper wanted to be active in the youth group, but distance and time were a burden. And I wanted them to have circles of friends from church and school that overlapped, like-minded friends who would hold one another accountable.

After more than a year of prayer and many tears, the three of us decided to start visiting Grace Avenue. We felt at home right away, not only because there were familiar faces in the congregation but because we quickly made new connections.

We Damms are all-in kind of people. When we joined in September 2016, so did Steve’s parents, Jim and Betty, longtime members of the United Methodist Church. They sing in the choir every Sunday. Katie was confirmed here. Cooper and Katie are active in youth. They attend Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. They serve on mission trips. Katie sings in the youth choir. I serve as a committee chair, as Methodists tend to do.

When we left our old church, I was worried. We were leaving a church family that knew our story. We were leaving people who would ask Cooper about his progress in Boy Scouts every Sunday and who would encourage Katie in her creative efforts. We were leaving people who had loved Steve. Would we ever find a church home that would replicate that sense of security?

As is often the case, my worries weren’t rooted in God’s promises.

Deuteronomy 31:8 tells us, “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

You, the people of Grace Avenue, are tangible reminders that God will be with me and my children. You have embraced us, encouraged us and made us feel at home. I am proud to support the 20 Next capital campaign because I know the power of your prayers from the first 20 years, and I am excited to live into God’s plan for us in the next 20 years.

We have the opportunity to work with and walk with God, to step up not in fear but in faith, to offer a church home to the souls we know by name and the souls we don’t yet know but who God surely knows.

Grace Avenue UMC, Frisco, Texas