Fellowship Memphis

“I am a rock, I am an island. And a rock feels no pain; And an island never cries.”

I have lived without true Biblical community for most of my life. I did not think that I lived by the words to the Simon and Garfunkel song, but in retrospect I see how much isolation defined me.

When I first joined Fellowship, I was plugged into a community group. But not much changed. I had plenty of reasons not to invest too much. The main one for me was that I was too busy. I was in ministry and just did not have the time or energy. And I had never really seen or experienced true community, so it was easy to fall back on what I knew. I grew up seeing religion without relationship. We would go to church and put on our masks and facades and pretend that we were good. That was my word: Good. Whenever I was asked how I was doing, “I’m good” was always the reply. That was a barrier to community. I did not want to be open, honest, and vulnerable.

A few years later, I was plugged in to Dan Heuer’s community group and began to develop relationships and get a glimpse of community.

After a year, I stepped out with Erin Hillis to start a new downtown community group. We started in the fall of 2009. There were several good months, but also stressful, so I wondered where our group was headed. Then life happened. Jobs were lost, people needed help moving, careers transitioned, more jobs were lost, more moving, babies were born, and did I mention jobs were lost? A strange thing happened through our trials and joys--we began to form community.

I now have five men that are my brothers even though one left our group to help start a new one. This is my family. I called them the day my uncle died, and they were there. I can’t imagine making any decision without talking it over with them. We study God’s word together as we learn about making disciples. We celebrate together. We speak into each other’s lives, both encouragement and accountability. We go eat steaks at a country store and laugh at how awkward our group must look to others. We come from Colombia, Puerto Rico, all across the U.S. and often speak as much Spanish as English. I love these men and am thankful that God has allowed me to live in community with them. I will never go back.