Na Tashia

When quarantine began, Na Tashia felt overwhelmed by loneliness. 

“I watched church online, but living alone made it hard for me to connect with others,” Na Tashia recalled. “The chaos of the world was overwhelming, and I pushed away from God. My life was so quiet and isolated, and I was praying for God to show me a way out of the loneliness.”

She soon decided that it was time to recommit herself and refocus on God. 

“One Sunday during a service, I accepted Jesus and texted the Decision number to let them know. Getting that instant text back from them meant everything to me,” Na Tashia said. “They took my decision seriously and immediately let me know that they were here for me and they wanted to help me. It was like a reboot for myself!” 

Na Tashia was so excited to be a part of Trinity Fellowship. She wanted to be a part of something bigger and help others, and she started looking for more ways to get involved. “They sent me Ten Steps Toward Christ by Jimmy Evans, and I started reading it instantly!” Na Tashia said. 

“I also started participating in the Growth Track, which I found super uplifting and really helped me with the loneliness,” Na Tashia said. “I ended up joining the Decision Dream Team, and now I get to personally reach out to others after they accepted Jesus, just like they reached out to me. It’s been so amazing to see the full circle journey that God has taken me on!”

Na Tashia encourages anyone who’s looking to belong and get involved somewhere to text the Decision Team at 797979. “They’ll help you and show you the way. God has used Trinity Fellowship to show me the power of prayer and to help me open my heart to others that felt like I did!” 

Jennifer

Jennifer first got connected with Trinity Fellowship Church while she was driving through Amarillo, and saw an advertisement for the annual Zion event. 

“I really enjoyed my experience, and continued to watch church online from my home in Abilene, which is about 4 hours away,” Jennifer said. 

Jennifer participated in the Biblecast and the online services, and she was able to engage and be a part of the service, even while she was online.  “People were praying for each other and connecting in the comments section, and it really helped me grow in my faith,” she said. 

Jennifer wanted to participate in the Growth Track, but she knew that in-person wasn’t an option for her because of the distance. But when Pastor Jimmy announced that the Growth Track was going online, she was thrilled to finally be involved!

“I got plugged in and went through the class, and it gave me the tools I needed to get connected and become the first member of our Online Campus!” Jennifer said. 

Now, Jennifer serves as a member of the Online Dream Team, helping out as a host during online services.

“I absolutely love it!” Jennifer said. “I really feel like I’m serving God and getting to know and help others, and it’s been a huge blessing in my life.” 

Ben & Katy

Ben and Katy had been members of Trinity Fellowship Church for two years. They both came from different church backgrounds, so Trinity was essential in helping them come together as a couple. At Trinity, they were able to find amazing mentors who helped them grow in their faith while they were dating. 

After a job opportunity came up for Katy in Waco, the couple planned to move there together. They’d planned to live together but stay in separate bedrooms, but struggled to know what decision would best honor God. 

“We’d both been feeling a pull from God that we needed to get married NOW,” said Katy. “But we were planning to wait until we’d checked off the typical ‘list’ of things people do before a wedding.” 

The week they planned to move, they went to Wednesday night worship. Weekly worship had been such a huge part of the couple’s lives, and they both reflected on how Trinity Fellowship had helped them grow as a couple. That night, as they discussed their plans with friends, the couple both realized that they wanted to get married that weekend! 

“Ben turned to me and asked ‘Do you want to get married on Saturday, and then we can go to Waco?’” It was such a crazy feeling, knowing that all this time, God was working things out in His time, not ours,” Katy recalled. 

“We spent the night talking to so many of our close friends and mentors, and our conversations with them helped us decide that this crazy, spontaneous moment was God’s perfect timing for us,” Ben said. The Trinity community rallied around the couple and encouraged them to get married, and even helped them make it happen! 

Ben and Katy called their families late that night to let them know about their wedding plans. But there was one other thing the couple wanted to do.  

“We met with Pastor Austin Price that week, and we decided we wanted to get baptized on the same day we got married,” Katy said. It was so important for us to get baptized at Trinity and show that we wanted to give our lives to the Lord right from the start of our marriage.” 

Even with COVID-19, over 30 of their friends and family came to celebrate the couple at the last-minute –  paying for the wedding and the hotel room, and even making them a cake! 

“We were so shocked and overjoyed to see them, and Ben wasn’t even able to make it through the vows – he was crying that much,” Katy said. 

“Pastor Austin did a great job performing the ceremony, and our mentors from Trinity got to baptize us,” Ben said. “They had been such a huge part of our lives, and they shared so much about how to pursue Jesus in marriage and as a family. It was so incredible and special for us to get baptized the same day that we started our lives together as a married couple.” 

Ben and Katy are so grateful for how the community at Trinity Fellowship Church helped them pursue God. “Through the new Online Campus, we’re still able to stay connected to our community at Trinity even while we live in Waco,” Katy said. “We couldn’t have imagined a better way to start our lives together than with our church family around us.”

Justin

For most of his life, Justin had to do things his way. “I was a pretty negative and skeptical person. Things like Jesus’ resurrection didn’t seem possible to me,” he recalls. “I was always torn between having faith and struggling to find faith. I even created my own version of God, but I just felt so distant from Him. So I just did my own thing.” 

Eventually, Justin fell into the wrong crowd and developed an alcohol and drug addiction. All of those things culminated in an accident where he was riding his motorcycle intoxicated. His girlfriend, who was with him, passed away in the accident. 

“I can’t even begin to describe the guilt and shame I felt. I thought maybe God was punishing me, and that I deserved to suffer and didn’t deserve forgiveness,” Justin said. 

Even though his girlfriend’s family forgave him, supported him, and wanted nothing but happiness for him, Justin couldn’t accept that grace or understand why they would do that. But during his experiences in rehab, he felt God inviting him to surrender his own way and see His way, “because my way obviously wasn’t working.”

While serving his jail time, a dear friend sent him a book called Can Man Live Without God.

“While reading that book I truly accepted Jesus Christ into my life. However, I still struggled to connect with God and pray. The shame just wouldn’t let up, and I’d never felt that low before in my life. After COVID-19 hit, I was even more isolated and alone,” Justin said. Then Lexy, a girl he was friends with and worked with told him about Trinity Fellowship’s Biblecast and online church. 

“I started watching every day, and my spirit was uplifted by the messages,” Justin said. When the Decatur campus opened back up, I went to worship night and was able to engage in worship and really connect with God for the first time. I’ve never experienced that before!”

Ever since going to Trinity, Justin has made tremendous progress in his faith. 

“God showed me that He was with me my whole life, through everything – both the good and the bad. He helped me see His goodness. And He’s blessed me in such incredible ways. As it turns out, Lexy, my best friend who invited me to church, is now my fiancée and we’re getting married!” 

“God used Trinity Fellowship to show me grace. Not just mercy, but grace that’s above and beyond anything I could have imagined. I’m done living my own way. I don’t have to resist that grace anymore,” Justin said. 

“I don’t know what else to say other than I’m blessed and incredibly grateful. Thank you!”