Welcome

Sharon and I have been at Real Life since day one. We were active at Cascade Park Church of the Nazarene when Pastor Jeff and Shelley came in 2005 to “restart” the church. At that time, I wore many hats, including treasurer.

For us, the Real Life core value of Serving has defined our time at this church. Sharon serves by overseeing the greeters, and every Sunday she can be found greeting in the foyer, handing out worship folders. My main position is that of church treasurer, a position I have held since the beginning. I also serve on the church board and assist with greeting and ushering.

We read in Ephesians 4 where believers are to use their gift(s) to strengthen the whole body. Sharon and I believe everyone who calls Real Life home has an important responsibility to use their God-given gift(s) to help build up the community. There are plenty of opportunities for service at Real Life. I often hear Pastor Jeff share his conversations with other pastors around this district: they can’t believe we have such a high percentage of volunteers for our various activities. This is service being displayed!

Another way in which the people at Real Life serve one another is simply by being welcoming to each other. Here, visitors are made to feel like they belong, and are not judged by how they appear. God loves all of us, but Sharon and I have been in churches where that love was not evident.

As the church moves forward, Sharon and I foresee continued growth, with lives being changed, faith strengthened, and community outreach continued!

I’ve attended Real Life Church for around 7 years and it’s a major reason I am alive today. For the first 3 years, I was just attending as a “Sunday Christian.” If anything I deemed important was going on (football, hunting, being tired, or anything else I could think of), I would not come to church. When I did, I would always sit right next to the door and leave as soon as the service was over. I never even tried to connect with anybody else. I was going to church to look good for everybody else. I wasn’t making God a priority.

Then I finally started to realize that I wanted – and needed – more in my life. I joined a Life Group and started to pay attention at church. I learned more about the people who make up Real Life. There are so many great things about Real Life, but the most important one to me is the people. There are so many amazing, loving people that genuinely care for each other. We are a family that prays for, supports, and builds each other up.

This kind of genuine love became apparent to me in 2013 when I started having serious medical issues. I had been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2003 and kept it managed fairly well with medication until 2013, when I began bleeding and could not stop get it to stop. My blood level was 47% – I was literally bleeding to death.

During this time, I started trying all kinds of different medications and I kept praying to God for a miracle to cure me. I kept sharing with my Life Group and church family that I was in need of prayers. After multiple blood transfusions and medication changes, I finally changed my prayer: I asked God to illuminate my path brightly to show me what I needed to do so I could be cured. I realized that I had been asking for help, but not taking action steps. I then found the perfect surgeon and was put on the surgery schedule to remove my ulcerative colitis over 3 separate surgeries. Before going into my first surgery in June 2014, I gained my strength from God and the amazing people that He put in my life that continued to lift me up in prayer. The surgery was supposed to take five hours, but due to the severity of the UC and infection, it lasted 10 hours and I had to spend 10 days recovering in the ICU afterward.

While recovering at home, my daughter Natalya noticed that I was getting jaundice. In October, I went to a doctor, who found a tumor on my liver. I went home that night and cried and had a heart-to- heart conversation with God. After a few hours of self-pity, I came into agreement with God. I accepted that He was in control and that I would serve Him for as many days as He would give me. All my strength to face this new challenge came through Him.

I began the process of dealing with my cancer. After a biopsy, multiple CTs, MRIs, and a stent, another biopsy came back with a surprising result: there was no cancer. Another MRI and CT confirmed that the tumor was gone! The doctors were, of course, confused, and I told them that I believed in God and that He performed miracles daily.

I went to my Life Group, church family, friends, and family and celebrated the cancer being cured by God and began to focus on my next surgery. I had additional surgeries in February and June 2015, but I was surrounded by the perfect surgeon, doctors, nurses, family and friends during the entire process.

Every day I was growing deeper and closer with God, and throughout all of these challenges, I was supported, prayed for, and loved by my Life Group and the church family as a whole.

Now, I attend every Sunday I can, and if I miss one, I feel like I have a hole that was not filled that week. I’ve been part of that incredible Life Group that supported me through so much for four years now. I try to take advantage of every opportunity to give back to Real Life in both time and resources.

My normal life has changed and I have no plans of going back. I want to continue to move forward with my relationship with God and the amazing people that He has surrounded me with. God has blessed me with the opportunity to grow in so many ways. I appreciate and keep my focus on each day – as the Bible says, “Do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will have its own worries. The troubles we have in a day are enough for one day.” I am not special; I am an ordinary person just like you. But when I am in relationship with God and let Him work through me, I have the opportunity to be extraordinary.

I grew up in a home where Jesus was always a resident and a vital part of my life. My family was involved in a small independent church for many years and I was baptized there when I was 12. My junior high and high school years were without rebellion. Though I have known Jesus for a long time, the relationship has at times had an ebb and flow when I haven’t made the effort I should to grow closer to Him. I have always wondered what it would have been like to have a “conversion” experience and have a 180-degree change in lifestyle and direction, but as I continue to learn more and lean into Jesus, I am grateful for His constant presence in my life. From a very young age, He has protected me from some things that may have pulled me in the wrong direction.

Our first visit to Real Life Church was eye-opening because we saw how much education of the children was valued! Though our own children were grown by the time we came to Real Life, we too know that raising children to love and want to serve Jesus is very important. We were very impressed that everyone, from the pastors to the volunteers, was committed to involving children from birth to teen. Children up to 5th grade have Sunday morning programs, and 6th-graders and higher enjoy Monday night activities with Real Life Student Ministries. Children are the future of the church and must be nurtured and encouraged to be leaders, and Real Life does that!

I have been attending Real Life since October of 2010. My husband and I started attending because I had friends that were involved with the church and I was new to the area. Throughout my time here, I’ve experienced many changes in both my personal life and the life of the church. I took on a primary leadership role in the youth ministry, while my spouse stopped attending and stepped away from faith. The community of Real Life has been like a family to me in the way they’ve supported, encouraged, and believed in me. Their support has been God’s voice to me during difficult times.

This church has really grown, both in size and in faith, over the years. Being on staff, I get to see first-hand the heart and drive Real Life has to serve and seek God first. I am proud to be a part of a church body that is open and honest about our challenges and willing to grow from them and learn from them, rather than pretend we all have perfect lives. I am proud to be a part of a church that seeks to serve people and bring them closer together in community. Real Life accepts anyone, wherever they are at, and seeks to connect them to Christ. We all help one another take that ‘next step‘ needed to grow. Real Life has been a great community to be connected to, and I look forward to the continued, growth, service, and celebrations to come!

Real Life Church has six core values, and our family has taken steps through each one. While some of them we live out daily, and some are lived out through opportunity, it’s become clear that those core values have become the core values of our home as well. The first thing we noticed about Real Life was the instant connection we had to others. We never felt judged or like we weren’t good enough to be at church. No one is perfect, and we certainly fit in the less-than- perfect category, but from the beginning we’ve felt a true sense of belonging. Being part of a community of Christ-followers made us feel grounded and secure, free to open up and start to really learn about God. I grew up in the church, but my husband Cory did not; we both believed in God, but neither one of us had felt what true church community could be like until we came to Real Life. There was a sense of belonging from day one, and it lit a fire in us both.

That’s where inviting comes in. We started inviting anyone and everyone to join us at church! I can honestly say I’d never invited anyone to church unless I was forced to before coming to Real Life. Even our kids started inviting their friends – and the most amazing part is that they came back! So many special people in our lives came to church by invitation of other Real Life members and they are still part of our community now.

Serving was next. ‘Dunbars are Do-ers for Others’ is our family mantra. It’s not always easy to help where you’re needed – especially when you wish you were needed somewhere else! As our kids have gotten older, they’ve started serving more at Real Life alongside us. Nova has started working with the kids in Kidz Life and at Brave Girl Camp. She even plays bass guitar on the youth worship team and Sunday mornings sometimes, too! David isn’t far behind her… and he’ll be helping out, too. If you ask us, we will come!

The more you serve, the deeper you grow in Christ, and that’s what we’ve done. We started growing and realized it was time for us to take the next step. We’d been feeling this way for a while when Jeff came to us and asked us to lead a Life Group. We said yes with no hesitation…until we got in the car to go home. We weren’t sure we were cut out for leading a small group, but we knew this was our next step, and it’s been such a blessing to our family! We have developed some of our most valued faith-based relationships through our Life Group. Each person in our Life Group has become a part of our family and each one of us brings something special to the table.

This is something to celebrate! We celebrate everything we possibly can in our Life Group – you should see how full our prayer jar is with all the requests God has answered, and praise for all the obstacles He’s helped us overcome! Big or small, it doesn’t matter – it’s all a celebration and we praise God for each one!

As for experiencing…this whole journey at Real Life Church over the last 11 1/2 years has been an experience! It’s transformed our lives. We’re actually walking with Jesus and talking to him daily. If our kids are having troubles, we go straight to Jesus. Nothing can turn around David’s day faster than talking to Jesus – it’s a game changer. I’ve prayed with him so many times and each time it makes my heart smile, knowing he’s got a loving Father in heaven to turn to. Personally, I feel closer to God every day. I’m learning that the Holy Spirit speaks to each of us differently, and even though for someone like me he basically has to yell, he never fails to let me know he’s there.

We look forward to each new experience and walking day by day with our faith-based family we call Real Life!

Over my five or so years at Real Life, I’ve experienced the benefits of each of our core values in important and impactful ways. However, the one that has had the greatest and most positive impact on my life is “Celebrating.” Those who know me well may find this surprising; I am not known as a particularly exuberant or passionate person. I tend to be more even-keeled and reserved.

You might expect me to say that I’ve done a 180 and now worship energetically, with arms raised and a loud voice. Not quite! I still tend to be more reserved than many of the great folks at our church. However, the emphasis Real Life places on celebrating has helped me to see the joy of walking with God, which has in turn encouraged me to reflect that joy back to God through music.

Music is not one of my strengths. I don’t know how to play any instruments and my vocal range is about as wide as the tip of a needle. But at Real Life, that doesn’t matter! We’re all encouraged to join together to praise God in whatever way we can.

Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.
Psalm 135:3

I’m glad to have found verses like this that don’t include any sort of emphasis on what we would know as “quality.” I’ve learned that to God my flat tones are as sweet (in fact sweeter, especially when my heart is fully engaged) as anything Josh Groban is capable of.

At Real Life, we celebrate most often through our weekly music sessions that open and close service. There is so much more, though! Whether it’s our seasonal baptism Sundays or Worship Night, there are many ways to engage in celebration. Even service opportunities like Sprucefest, where we have a service day to spruce up the church, can be ways to give thanks and celebrate the many ways God has touched our lives.

The thing I appreciate most about celebrating is that it helps me engage my heart. In my faith journey, which has been riddled with speed bumps, I have tended to be more analytical in my approach. Usually this manifests in reading books exploring theology and the like. This is certainly not a bad thing (in particular I have enjoyed the work of N.T. Wright), but it’s only part of the equation. I believe there is risk in having an unbalanced approach to a faith journey. Knowledge without a relationship is incomplete. Real Life has given me the encouragement and opportunity to balance my analytical tendencies with genuine joy.

To anyone considering giving Jesus and Real Life a try, I would reassure you that our church is very welcoming. Whether you are all in and want to sing loud with arms raised, have a more reserved style like me, or simply want to sit back quietly and see what Jesus and Real Life are all about, there can be a home for you here!