It’ll be our 20th year anniversary this fall! No, not for us and our husbands (it’s all of our 14th year anniversaries this year), but for my peers and I. It was the Fall Retreat 1989 on Labor Day weekend of our freshman year when Alice, Sunny, Esther and I met for the first time, in the Fir Lodge of the Mt. Gilead Conference Center.
Esther and I were on the top bunks, adjacent to each other, and Alice and Sunny were on the bottom I think. Sophisticated Sunny dressed in all black, though it was close to Austin weather during the retreat 
to maintain her composure, while the rest of us were in shorts, t-shirts and tennis shoes.
Ordinary Alice, Sophisticated Sunny, Too Cool Esther and Tomboy Jeannie…20 years ago, if any one of our leaders had come and told us that we would be doing what we are doing now, we would have said no way and the judgment of those leaders would have been seriously questioned. We had the same issues the college students have now, asked the same questions on dating, on leaders’ roles in our lives, on churchmanship, and the same questions were answered during our Freshman Sunday School class and through Friday Night Bible Studies (FNBS).
If I remember correctly, the theme for the retreat that fall was “Firm Foundation,” and as we heard the messages about radical discipleship, simple life, building relationships in Christ, and becoming leaders for the 21st century, God softened and stirred and captured our hearts. One by one, through the years, as we saw our leaders blaze the trail before us through their sacrifice and service, we took our place in this amazing heritage that has been passed down to us. Through small steps of obedience (eg. from giving up my soap operas and horror movies, to bigger things like giving up our images, giving up our independent spirits, giving up our parents’ approval, letting go of our ambition, committing our singlehood to God), we individually and together committed ourselves to building up this church and becoming those leaders that we looked up to so much as undergrads. And what a journey it has been since! No regrets.
Now, all my peers and I are serving full-time. Alice helped plant Waypoint Community Church in Davis, Sunny started Gracepoint Fellowship in Austin, TX, Esther is starting Interhigh Fellowship, a youth regional ministry, and I help lead our Praxis Department here at Gracepoint Fellowship Church Berkeley. As I look back, I am so thankful to our leaders, who trained us, molded us, shaped us, corrected and rebuked us with great patience and careful instruction, who taught us the Word of God, and who still do even now. And I am grateful to God, for His grace, oh my…if it were not for His grace, we would not be here, believe me. God has undeservedly and richly showered us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We are looking forward to the next 20 years of this journey with God and one another as God leads the way!
i can’t believe it’s been 20 years! boy, do i feel old. i’m so thankful to God for being part of your life.
I’m so thankful for my leaders who have not only taught me through the Word but in their example of displaying small steps of obedience for God. Its not just rhetoric but God is real! As i see my leaders give up different things that jeannie listed above and more, and limit themselves for the sake of the gospel and others, i am challenged to get out of my selfishness and see myself as a stepping stone in the larger picture. Wow, I’m so thankful that i can a part of this spiritual heritage as well! Thank you for your faithfulness!
Wow! I’m so thankful for each one of you. Now, each one of your lives has been that trail blazer for me and my peers. It’s amazing to see how God’s work never ceases to multiply. I look forward to my 20th anniversary here at this church with my peers.
Thank you for all your service!!!
What a journey indeed! I am really thankful for each one of you; for the steps of obedience you each took and for the example of a cross-bearing life that you’ve set for us to follow. Your peers are now the leaders that we as peers look up to =) I am really thankful and blessed to be a part of this rich spiritual heritage and it really challenges me to get out of myself and to take steps to properly steward God’s blessings in my life.
Thanks for this sharing! I’m thankful for each of you and for how God has really transformed each of your lives!
Thanks for your sharing and opening your lives to us. It shows a glimpse of the relationships that are possible through Christ!
Wow, this is truly amazing. I am so thankful to each of you and your heartfelt commitment to God and this church. Thank you for setting a great example for the rest of us. Hope we can also follow in your footsteps!
Wow 20 years. Believe it or not but i’ve been under all of you at one point in my life – when i was a soph i was under Sung/Alice for cell ministry, as a jr/sr i was with pat/Jeannie in zone b, with p. manny/sunny as a first year staff, p. william/esther when i was serving as staff and got married.
You have all been a very important part of my life and I’m so thankful for all of you. You have blazed a trail that I am trying hard to follow and want to follow. Your lives remind me of the last 10% that I always need to give in serving God.
It brought tears to my eyes as i read this. I am so thankful for each of you, for your faithfulness and perseverance in following God together over the years. Your class is definitely an important part of my cloud of witnesses who have cheered me on to run this race, to never give up. What has kept me going many times is seeing you running the race hard–that gave me the strength to continue also. And now, my peers have been running behind you for the past 15 years! I am thankful for you, my older sisters, who are faithfully following Christ. I will try to continue to imitate you. Thank you again for your faithfulness and perseverance over the years, you have been a huge source of encouragement and challenge to me!
wow…20years
i’m so grateful to God for each of your presence in my life. thank you for all your love and being such positive examples of faith, servanthood, love, and obedience. i’m so thankful that we can grow old together through this Body!
Wow!! I never cease to be amazed at how my leaders and the directors took steps of obedience and persevered for the advancement of God’s kingdom. Thank you for the example you give to us, the younger ones, as we try to live out God’s Word in our daily lives. Praise God for his faithfulness!
Thank you for each of your examples in our lives and for your sacrifices!
wow! Thank you for sharing! This is so amazing! These kinds of relationships are almost impossible to find in this world. My peer’s are 10 years behind you and I cant wait to see how God will mold us into the spiritual mothers you guys have been in my life, in the next 10 years. Thank you for your faithful service and perseverance the past 20 years!
Oh-my-lanta 20 years?? That’s amazing! I’m thankful for all of you and the example you have been. I can’t believe my peers and I have been around for 12 years ourselves! (gasp!) I too wouldn’t have believed if someone had told me that I would be sticking around this long. The idea of setting roots anywhere was not my idea of happiness. How wrong and off those thoughts were. Now 12 years later, and with this cloud of witnesses around me I’m very thankful that I get to serve God together with all of you in whatever capacity possible. Happy Anniversary! ^_^
God is good and so faithful. Thank you for sticking it out and obeying God fully with your lives. It was through your lives and concrete choices that I came to see God is a real person and not someone to whom I can just offer lip service. Also, that he is truly a God of grace and mercy. And THANK YOU for being the leaders in my life who correct, rebuke, encourage and train up with careful instruction and great patience. Happy Anniversary!
happy anniversary! us new grads have only begun our years serving together. it’s so amazing and encouraging to see all of you serving fervently in different ministries and still developing a sisterhood that continues to mature even when living in different places. only through Christ is this possible.
Wow! I’m soo thankful for each of you and your examples of faithfulness and perseverence in following God. It’s hard to put into words the impact that each of you have made on me and my peers. It also provides a lot of hope that God is faithful and being confident, that he who began a good work in us, will continue to completion as we struggle to radically obey and honor God in all areas of our lives.
20 Years? Wow! I first met Jeannie when she led Course 101 in 2001, almost 8 years ago. Kind o’ amazing to realize I was a part of you guys’ life for eight years! College. ImpACT. Praxis. Wow.
Thank you for writing!
I’m thankful for each one of you and am challenged to take my role that much more seriously as I think about where my class and I will be in 20 years.
PTL and thank you all for these past 20 years and for the kind of example you are to me of people sold out for Christ. Thank you also for your leadership, prayers, counsel, words of truth, sacrifice and love for me and for our entire church that makes it what it is today. I really don’t think I would be here today were it not for your presence in my life (sorry also for all the heartaches I have given you over the years!). There are so many countless memories I have of you all the past 14 years I have been at our church, just thinking about them makes me want to cry! =( … but thank you! i miss you!
To see your photos from freshman year, and then the one 20 years later, was quite moving, though I can’t fully place a finger on why. Probably because of how rare such a length and depth of relational commitments are nowadays, even within marriages, let alone amongst friends or church relationships. As a sign of God’s faithfulness, and of the fruit His faithfulness can cause to bloom in surrendered lives, this is such a precious post. I’m thankful for the chance my life has had to intersect with many of yours, and especially with Sunny now as we serve in Austin together…what a tapestry all our relational connections must weave from God’s vantage point!
Jeannie and Sunny: my friends and I are halfway there to catching up to you! In a short 10 years, we’ll write a post like this to commemorate yours =)
20 years must have seemed long and short at the same time. This post reminded me of God’s faithfulness in your lives, and gives me greater hope for His faithfulness in mine. Thanks for sharing, and may the next 20 years be even more fruitful!
Thanks for leaving a legacy for us to follow. I’m thankful for your example, and it gives me hope for me and my peers.
Praise God that you’re all still here and serving, being in many ways a source of inspiration and challenge for your older ones (as well as younger)…!!! God is good.
Thank you Jeannie for writing that up for us. Can’t believe it’s 20 years too! I’m thankful for God’s tenacious love. Truly, I’m undeserving to have been a part of His work and so many people’s lives all these years. Looking forward to another 50+ years together!
wow, 20 years! so thankful for all of you in our lives!
Like Hannah said, we are 1/2 way behind you guys, and we want to run behind you guys and with you guys. I am so thankful for your examples of faithfulness and zeal, and just that steady and steadying presence in our lives and hearts.