Restore Testimony: Helping Our Church Find Their Place in God’s Story
Discipling is something I’m passionate about—I serve as the Pastor of Discipleship and Enfolding at Medway Community Church (MCC) in the metro-west suburbs of Boston. The leaders of MCC felt a strong desire to equip our people to better experience the God of all comfort so that they could comfort others. To help us cultivate this culture of care, we invited Robert and Karen to come and equip our leaders and lead a church-wide conference.
Using the Restore framework, Robert and Karen helped our people find their place in God’s story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation. This served as a reference point for how to interpret their own realities, trials, and struggles.
As a pastor, it gave me great joy to watch the people of MCC engage with the material and be equipped to abide in Christ. People experienced communion with God through his word and were given tools to keep abiding in Christ.
Months later, we are still talking about and utilizing the concepts from that conference. The people of our church still look back and remember the impact of the time we had together.
If you want to equip your church to experience God in such a way that it shapes how they relate to others, invite Robert and Karen to your church and implement the concepts in Restore. It will encourage you, equip your people, and best of all – it will help your people experience the God who loves them.
Don Rayman, Pastor of Discipleship and Enfolding
Medway Community Church, Medway, MA
Prior to Restore I was quiet and reserved; I preferred to keep to myself and was extremely introverted. I also struggled to get into the Word. I spent a lot of time in my nothing box (where I thought about nothing at all). I did not show emotion and would push down any emotion that would try to come out. I was taught to believe that men do not show emotion.
When I wrote my story as part of the Restore journey, I wrote it easily with no feelings coming out. Once completed, God had spoken to me that day and told me that I was going to read it first. Once I started reading my story, that is when my emotion was broken. I could not hide it or hold it in. God was working on me and showing me that he is with me and would never leave me.
Before I began Restore, I felt as though I didn’t matter. I had spent my life feeling as though I was worthless, and it affected every part of my being.
I didn’t think I was attractive. I had been overweight. When good things were coming my way, I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop. This feeling came from how my parents and my ex-wife consistently treated me. I didn’t feel as though they ever listened to me or valued who I was. I felt like they only heard what I said when it was relayed to them by a third party. It wasn’t just that they didn’t listen to me though, it was also that they consistently showed me I didn’t matter
t my story and situation hasn't changed since Restore started, but I felt like God grabbed my little noggin and said "No, no. Look at it from here."
Prior to Restore, I had sin in my life’s story that I wanted to hide or wished could be erased, because it felt so distant from the person I am today. I felt fully at the mercy of my mind; compulsively running scenarios in my mind that kept me distracted on a regular basis, followed immediately by shame for not being able to focus or feeling like I couldn't control them. I constantly wondered "what ifs" until my brain would run out of alternate endings. Fantasy is a key theme of my story…
Before Restore, I walked covered in shame, anxiety, and depression. I thought that was just how I was. There was no hope or redemption for me. It was just part of me.
God felt so distant and I was mad at Him. I was even mad that I had to do Restore. I thought, “Why bother? Nothing is going to change who or how I am.”
But through Restore, God changed my view on so much.
The first one and the biggest one is my view on community. Wow, did the Lord redeem my view on a small group setting with a bunch of women!
The fall impacted how I saw and understood my life and relationships in a pessimistic way. Because I’ve experienced very heavy, intense, and difficult circumstances related to trauma, grief, and a family member’s repeated suicide attempts, this led me to have a dark outlook and perspective in life. The depression and anxiety at one point was so severe that I felt the pain was unbearable and I didn’t know if I wanted to live.
Because of my circumstances, I did not necessarily doubt that God existed—but I came to believe that though God was real, He did not hear my prayers and therefore, he did not care about me. He was distant.
I had fooled myself into believing that the castle of my heart was warm and welcoming to God, my spouse, and my chosen few. That was a fantasy I wanted myself and others to believe. In reality, I knew I had become the queen of my heavily-fortressed castle in order to protect myself from the recurring themes of mistrust, rejection, being unheard, and being controlled by men.
I had learned to appear to live relationally with my spouse, friends, and even with God, enough that few would question the authenticity. And while it was real, I knew I was holding back my most intimate self in order to protect the deepest recesses of my untrusting broken heart—because I knew I would be rejected, lied to, and broken yet again if I let the wall down.
As a pastor, it gave me great joy to watch the people of MCC engage with the material and be equipped to abide in Christ. People experienced communion with God through his word and were given tools to keep abiding in Christ.
Months later, we are still talking about and utilizing the concepts from that conference. The people of our church still look back and remember the impact of the time we had together.
One of the greatest joys I’ve experienced in life and ministry is entering into other’s stories.
However, it’s also been one of the hardest things, learning how to know how to help others see and savor God in the midst of their struggles with sin and suffering. It can be difficult to help them instead see their own story in light of God’s big story.
I have found Restore to be an excellent, thoroughly biblical, and gospel-centered tool that has helped me personally see and savor God more by helping me see my own unique story through the lens of God’s story.
We as a church had gone through several cyclical seasons of deep hurt and loss over a number of years. We had hit an emotional and spiritual wall and it was evident that not dealing with this deep pain and hurt would only perpetuate and devolve future ministry.
Robert and Karen’s spirit filled wisdom and grace was exactly what our leadership needed…
Throughout the summer, staff continued to talk about the impact Restore had on them individually, but also collectively, as it made them more understanding of each other and ultimately a better team. I would highly recommend Restore as a means of coaching and caring for your staff.
