Death to Life Edition

STORY

Over the last year, we’ve seen God do big things. We’ve prayed for these things, we’ve wept over these things, we’ve celebrated these things. Our church loves to celebrate stories of God’s goodness, and we hope you will join us in that.

The thing we love celebrating more than anything else is a story of death to life – a story that is only possible through the sacri�ce and love of a man named Jesus Christ. Since August 2013, we have seen �fty-�ve stories of death to life transformation. The beautiful thing about numbers is that each number represents a person and each person has a story to share with the world.

Reading stories of the saints is something we celebrate because it reminds us of our own story. As you �ip these pages, may you be encouraged and reminded of the grace of our Savior. So pull up a seat, grab some co�ee, and praise the Lord for what He has done.

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he opportunity made a deep impression on me as I sat in the back row at a

Resonate Church service, feeling compelled to go on an upcoming mission trip to Mexico. I asked myself, “What makes you think you’re qualified to go on a mission trip? That’s good people stuff, real Christian stuff; that’s not for you.” The idea of genuinely loving people was foreign to me. I didn’t even know what serving meant. Like thousands of other college students, I had come to Pullman seeking an education and liberation from a life of rigidity. I found both at WSU, but neither brought the happiness or satisfaction that I thought they would. Jesus had been a signifi-cant part of my life when I was young, but by my senior year of college, the pursuit of my engineering career, cheating in school, alcohol, and relationships consumed me. That year found me buried

in depression, desperate for escape, desperate to feel. I chased anything that numbed my reality and made me feel good, but the frail empire I had built for myself was beginning to crumble. It was 2009; the economy was sinking and the job market crashed. Since my identity was wrapped up in my career path, I no longer knew who I was. Everything I had worked for was shot. Intellectually, I knew Jesus; I would claim it on paper, but no one would have ever known by the way I was living. I had never experienced Him. I had hit rock bottom, and I was waiting for someone to o�er me hope. The �rst glimmer of light came through a few Christian friends who went to Resonate. I had met them randomly, and we had nothing in common. They invited me to what they called Village – a small group that met during the week. To be honest, I don’t even know why I hung out with them, but for some reason I found myself

tromping across campus in the Pullman snow on Friday nights to play board games with them instead of playing beer pong with my roommates. Eventually I made it to a service at Resonate, and that night something felt different. It wasn’t the sermon,

the lighting or electric guitars. It was looking around the room and seeing college students worship passionately. They welcomed me into their family of community, and their genuine love and grace for me broke my heart in half. When Resonate announced a mission trip to Tijuana, it hit me: What was I doing with my life? It was such a waste. I went home that night and prayed for the first time in months. “God, I can’t even remember the last time I talked to you. If you don’t listen to me, I get it. I’m a complete failure; the dirt I’ve piled on your name warrants me nothing from you but dirt itself. But for some reason I feel like I should go on this mission trip. But I’m not really a Christian. And I can’t afford to pay for it. What am I doing? I don’t know. All I know is that I’m at the end of my rope. I’m desperate.” A couple days later I got an envelope in the mail from my grandparents. Inside was a check made out to me, signed by my grandma, for the exact amount of money the mission trip to Mexico cost. I freaked out. I hadn’t told anybody about the trip, and my grandparents never randomly sent me money in the mail. I called and said, “Grand-ma, why did you send me a check?” She said, “Jacob, Grandpa and I woke up in the middle of the night earlier this week thinking about you. We prayed for you, and felt like God told us you needed this money. Do you need the money?”

I didn’t know what to say. My heart was in my throat. Some-thing came alive in me during that phone call. I said, “Yes, Grandma, I do.” God became real to me in that moment, and I knew I had to choose either death or life. So I went to Mexico. Sinful, confused, prodigal Jacob Dahl went on a mission trip to Mexico. I got wrecked by Jesus and discovered a love for people for the �rst time on that trip. After years of living with absolute disregard for God and for people, I was met by a Savior who drew near to me that week. The community of Resonate swept me up into a love and acceptance I had never known. Christ was evidently working in my new friends’ lives, and their passion for Him was completely contagious—I wanted to be a part of it. When I experienced the hope and freedom in Christ for myself, it was all over. Everything I once knew was flipped on its head, and I suddenly couldn’t care less about finding my worth in things of this world. My goals shifted from figuring out how I could get the most money and have the coolest job to figuring out how I could leverage my career and all I had to further God’s kingdom. I was baptized, graduat-ed from WSU, spent the next two years interning with Resonate, and fell in love with the prettiest girl in the Palouse. Jessica and I are now married and have committed ourselves to serving God together in ministry for the rest of our lives, recklessly pursuing people with the hope and truth of Jesus.

BY JACOB DAHL

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uring the first week of school this year, I found myself at an

event called Up All Night, where I was hoping to make some new friends. WSU goes all out to offer students a fun evening back at school - they brought in a magician, a DJ, a dance floor, and multiple game systems. After a full night of meeting people I was feeling exhausted, but I saw my friend Anne standing next to a guy that I knew I had to meet. He was wearing a tank top and shorts that revealed numerous tattoos all across his legs and arms, and only half of his head was buzzed. I thought he looked crazy, but I walked up and immediately had Anne introduce me to my new friend, Damian. Without any hesitation I asked him about all of his tattoos and what they meant to him. In all honesty, I had trouble focusing on his explana-tions – the alcohol on his breath and the intensity in his eyes stole my attention. I quickly gathered that he had lived a really hard life; each tattoo symbolized the stories that made him who he was that night. Since it was getting late, we swapped numbers and parted ways.

After that, I hesitated to ask him to hang out again, but something propelled me forward into friendship. I knew this guy was unlike anyone I had ever met. Days later I decided to snag him up, take a trip to Wal-Mart, and hear more about his life. As I grabbed my groceries, Damian told me insane stories about going to concerts and living life on the edge. At one point, he pulled some alcohol out of his knapsack, took a drink, and moments later carelessly spit on the floor. I thought, “Who is this guy?” Typically, after spending time with someone who is difficult to relate to, my knee-jerk reaction has been to simply avoid them. But Jesus is now woven into my DNA, and I knew that Damian was someone I would eventually become friends with. In fact, I think Damian and I spent almost every day together after that for the next month. You learn a lot about someone in a month, and Damian rarely stops talking. That month his story literally took me to my knees. Damian’s mother was seventeen when he was born. His father left before Damian arrived and his mother had

started doing heavy drugs. Because of this, he spent his entire childhood bouncing from house to house depending on the man that his mother was seeing, living homeless in the stages in between. By age twelve, he was already smoking pot and drinking alcohol. His whole life he moved from city to city, each time being the new kid and having to make friends once again. As a result, he was always a pretty angry kid and got into fights everywhere he went. When his mother did finally remarry, his stepfather was abusive, but because his mother was not stable financially they had to stay and endure. Damian’s mom could no longer care for her son once her husband kicked them out and they were left on the streets, so he was forced to bounce between friends’ homes all throughout high school. Out of desperation one night, he walked into a neighborhood with a home for sale andbroke in to sleep on the carpet. That was the first night Damian cried out to God for help. Though Damian didn’t realize it, God answered his prayer soon after. A family who

knew Damian’s story felt compelled to invite him into their home and give him his own bedroom. They showed him grace for the first time in his life, but still that wasn’t enough. Through landing a job, starting to make money, and meeting and moving in with a girl, Damian continued to let alcohol and drugs consume him. His time with this girl didn’t last long; after a big fight she moved out and left Damian behind like most people in his life had. Depression hit Damian hard as he worked two part-time jobs, was drinking every night, using heavy drugs, and sleeping in between. One night he came to his breaking point and decided to give up. After consuming a fifth of vodka he hung himself in his closet, but right before he slipped away he fell onto the floor and cried himself to sleep. The next morning he somehow found the determination to change his life, so he started saving money until he was able to get himself to college. At this point in his life, no one in his family had ever even graduated from high school. By the fall of 2013,

BROKENBUTCHOSEN

By: Brian Jones

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Damian had made it to Washing-ton State University at age 22, ready to study English with the hopes of becoming a teacher. In the month that we were spend-ing every day together that fall, we went to big parties, people’s homes, and open mic nights; we were with people almost every evening. One day I invited Damian to come to Resonate Church. He said he didn’t really like churches and was really unsure about Christianity, but he liked hanging out with me so he gave it a shot. He got to church on Sunday morning and realized that all of the people he had been seeing and meeting at these parties were here at church with him. Damian said to me soon after, “Brian, I’ve always been the guy that no one likes. People have always treated me as the weird kid, but for the first time in my life I feel like you guys actually dig me. People are genuinely interested in me.” I explained to Damian that the connecting piece in all of those relationships was a man named Jesus. These people all love others in the same way He has loved them. These people, these relationships, and a taste of this love left Damian searching to know about Jesus, about what kind of truth could compel people to live in such a way,

offering immediate acceptance and faithfulness. So we started meeting up each week to read the bible. We read the beginning of Luke to learn about the birth of Jesus, followed by the entire book of John. For weeks we would sit down and read for three hours at a time. Damian always asked endless questions, most of which I had never heard before. We were both learning so much about the Word of God. Many times I would look up to see his eyes light up with excitement, amazed with the stories of Jesus. One day, while we were reading about how Jesus called His disciples, I explained to Damian that in that time it was common for most rabbis to pick the best of the best to follow them, but that Jesus was different. We read the stories of Jesus calling fishermen and tax collectors. Damian stopped me, and with a confused look he said, “Wait, so Jesus picked normal people to follow him? Broken people? So you think maybe he could use me?” My heart jumped in my chest, “Yes Damian, I absolutely believe that Jesus could use you.” At this point we had spent nearly two months togeth-er and he had confessed to me that he was an alcoholic. We spent many of those nights in front of his dorm talking about

life, and what it could look like if he gave everything to Jesus. He told me, “I’m so scared that if I give everything to him he will leave me just like everyone else in my life.” We talked about Romans 8 for a bit after that. “Damian, God promises that he will never leave us or forsake us.” The next morning at Resonate, Josh Martin preached about the Misdirection of Religion. At the end he did something out of the ordinary – he asked if anyone was ready to make a decision to follow Jesus for the first time. Damian immediately got out of his chair and found me in the back. “Brian I’m so scared, but I’m ready.” We sat on the ground and cried as he mumbled out a prayer asking God to forgive him of his sins, confessing that Jesus is Lord. We celebrated really hard that day! It wasn’t long before Damian was baptized along with 24 other students at WSU. If you talk to anyone at Resonate Church, in his dorm, or in most places on campus, they know Damian Clark. He has truly been transformed by the gospel and possesses a joy that can only be evidence of Jesus living inside him and breathing through him. A week after his baptism, Damian had to serve eleven days in jail for an aggres-sive behavior charge that he had

received several months before. He walked into the jail as a missionary, anxiously shared his testimony with every person he encountered, taught the book of John to a group of guys, and prayed with one young man to make a decision to follow Jesus. One month later he felt called to be part of a Resonate mission team over winter break, sacrificing his Christmas celebra-tion with family for the sake of God’s kingdom. With no home support, God provided $3,700 to send him to East Asia for two and a half weeks to share the Good News with college students. Damian has now been following Jesus for four months – the last two, sober – as he continues to learn to walk in holiness and purpose. If you bumped into him in any of the cafeterias on campus or saw him in his dorm, it wouldn’t be uncommon to see him sharing his story or explaining the gospel to a stranger. Damian’s story isn’t special because he had a really hard childhood. It’s special because it’s the story of what God does to people – He gives them new hearts and new lives. “I’ve lived my whole life without a father; now I know that I’ve had a father all along. I used to walk around looking down at my feet, but now I walk with my head up looking for broken people like me.”

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knew from the beginning that Sarah Temple and I were going to be great

friends, but she may have thought otherwise.In the spring of 2012, Sarah and I were two of sixty sorority women selected to represent all WSU sororities as recruitment counsel-ors for the next fall. At our weekly meetings, I would be overly enthusiastic about the job and excited to meet everyone, while Sarah would sit quietly, planning how she could be the most effective recruitment counselor. We didn't become friends instantly, nor were we drawn to each other at first. After long meetings and one of the longest weeks of our lives, Sarah and I broke the ice - mostly because I wouldn't leave her alone. I knew that we were going to be great friends; I just hoped she would reciprocate. Out of desperation, I scoured her Facebook in hopes to know her better. She had bible verses scattered throughout her page, so my heart leapt. I did something I wouldn't normally do - I texted her about my findings and asked if she was involved in a church. She texted me back, politely turning me down and saying that wasn't her thing. Even though she declined, it started to break down some barriers and we actually became friends. At least we would tweet each other and say ‘hey’ on campus. I would continue to

invite her to church and be her friend, but she had it all together, she didn't need any help. She said she wanted to come to church six different times over the summer, but never followed through. Her life was set, she was in motion to be a doctor, she was recently elected onto PanHellenic (the governing board of all sororities on campus), and didn't need to let anyone new into her life. After relentless pursuit, she showed up to church one day. That was the moment I knew God was working in her heart and that He was about to do something big. She filled out a connection card saying she wanted to know more about Jesus. Jessica Dahl and I met up with her and she told us what she thought about life and spiritual things. She had no need for Jesus, she just liked to learn about Him. We shared the gospel with her, but she thought it was simply a good story and she kept on her way. Luckily her way included coming back to church. Week after week she would come to church and learn about Jesus. One Sunday everything changed. Josh Martin preached about how we can never be good enough for God, but that all we really needed was to start a relationship with Jesus and surrender our lives to Him. Josh asked if there were people listening who hadn't made the decision to do this yet, and asked them to stand up and go to the

back to pray with someone. In that moment, Sarah felt some-thing she had never felt before: the Holy Spirit. Her heart had changed, suddenly and inexplica-bly. She decided to surrender. She followed her feet and found herself in the back of the auditori-um praying with Jessica. She had told her body no, but her spirit had moved her forward. Jess spoke truth to her, telling her to pick her head up and fix her eyes on Jesus. I've had the privilege of walking next to Sarah since that day. She is so much more open with her life and now her purpose is to please the Lord. She was baptized on December 8th and has fully given her life to Christ. She went from a broken world that didn't make sense with a view of Jesus as a good guy, to a new creation, alive in Christ with hope and a future and a story to tell. While she is still an ambitious student, full of responsibility and dreams, she continues to learn about God and seek His will in the bible and through others. She is a joy and a light to those around her, including me. She teaches me to be a better learner and asks questions that push me closer to Christ too. Sarah is truly a picture of the gospel. She has experienced a love like no other. She is a portrait of grace and a reminder of Christ's love. Once she ran away from Jesus, dead in her sins. Now she is running to Him and embracing life.

By: Carla Wellons

embracing life

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gift that was given for my sake 2,000 years ago allows me to know that I

am accepted. Acceptance was all I wanted growing up. As a result, I sought as I got older to be exceptional. I joined every organization in school and worked towards leadership. I felt the more I was involved and the more influence I had, the more people would like me and the better I would feel. This mentality carried over into college. In August after I graduated high school, I moved to Moscow, Idaho to go through fraternity recruitment. I decided to join a fraternity because friends had told me it would be the best decision I could make in college. I was told I would have fifty new friends immediately. That was true in many ways. I joined a house and had fifty new people in my life. I wanted to fit in and be friends with the people in my house so I started to party; I found that because of my ability to consume large amounts of alcohol, I was popular among the upper-class-men. After my freshman year of college, I got a job with the university as an alcohol and sexual assault education program coordi-nator,

working with a men’s group called B.E.A.R. (Brotherhood Empowerment Against Rape). The main stipulation for my job was that I had to quit drinking. One of my best friends also worked with me, but outside of him and a few others the majority of my friends stopped hanging out with me because I no longer partied. After one and a half years I left the university and my job. I had been going to a Christian church for almost a year at this point, but being twen-ty-one and able to drink, I soon found myself partying again. I believed in Jesus but I did not know Him. I felt like I was just adding shame and guilt to my current lifestyle without under-standing how to be free of it. I had become depressed over time without knowing what I was doing with my life and feeling like I had nowhere to go. After I stopped going to church I prayed, asking God to show me where to go to find the freedom in

Jesus I had heard about. That is when I found Resonate Church. I showed up for a service and sat in the back of the venue. I had decided not to come back until someone invited me to Village. It took a few invitations but when I finally went, I was blown away from the moment I walked through the door. The way I was welcomed into community was like nothing I had ever experienced. I had friends in my life that I didn’t have to impress. I didn’t have to change or hide who I really was for them to accept me. I met a guy named Jordan Nelson who started to answer my questions. One day he explained the gospel to me, and it was the first time I really understood what that meant for my life. The fact that I could be free from the shame and guilt of my past was incredi-ble. I accepted Jesus right there in the coffee shop where we sat. The sensation after praying to accept Jesus is crazy; I felt as if a backpack of rocks had been lifted from my

shoulders. I felt an over

whelming sense of joy and relief. After that, my life began to change dramatically. I quit partying and my depression began to leave my life. I was baptized a few months later and began to serve in the church on the connections team, welcoming new people to church, just as others had done for me. I began to lead a Village for freshmen the following year, because God had put upon my heart to lead and serve young men in college. I now work for Resonate Church on the U of I campus. I am able to walk with the young men I meet and accept them like I was accepted in Village. The only reason I’m able to accept them is because I know that I am accepted. I was given the gift of unconditional love by a man who was once a carpenter in Naza-reth. He died on the cross to pay the price on my head because He loved me enough to pay it. He is

my Savior, my reason to live. I am accepted by the only

one whose acceptance matters: Jesus

Christ.

SEARCHING ACCEPTANCEBy: Russell Walgamott

FOR

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re you here to convert me?” he said with a smile.“Me? No. I just came

for the coffee.”We shook hands. We ordered. We talked. And that’s how Victor Sanchez and I became friends. What Victor didn’t know is, before we shook hands, I’d been praying for him for months. Victor grew up with a guy named Matthew. Matthew made the mistake of coming to a Resonate Village, and everyone knows you shouldn’t come to a Resonate Village if you want to stay the same. Matthew started following Jesus a few years earlier and he told me aboutVictor. Matthew told me every time we were asked to pray for someone he would pray for Victor. He told me Victor seemed like the last guy who would ever give his life to Jesus. Victor was the popular kid, the guy every-one wanted to be friends with. So, I came to coffee wanting to be friends with the guy everyone wanted to be friends with. Victor rides a motorcy-cle, rock climbs, has cool hair, and can beat you at the story topping game. Oh you’ve jumped off a cliff, oh you’ve

backpacked a mountain, oh you speak four languages, that’s great. Once when Victor was on vacation with his family in Spain, he fought through a crowd of 100,000 people, took his shirt off, and climbed a thirty-foot greased pole—that hadn’t been successfully climbed for the last ten years—to grab a ham, the sacred ham that starts the largest tomato fight in the world. Oh and then he crowd-surfed six blocks and someone put the whole thing on Youtube. It’s called ‘Monkey Boy Gets the Ham’ at La Tomatina 2011. Look it up. The difference between the word ‘victor’ and the word ‘victory’ is one letter: the letter ‘y’. It seemed the difference between Victor and Jesus was separated by the same distance, but not the letter, the question. Why would a God exist? Why would I need Him? Who created this God? And if God was real, why would I ever want to follow a God who lets horrible things happen? Why would I ever want to pray? Why? What I love about Jesus is there is no question too big, no distance too great, no heart too cold. A conspiracy was being

written—had already been written—and Victor Sanchez was at the center of it. If you broke into Jesus’ house and snuck into the back room you would see a photo of Victor—and all of us really—and red twine and schemes and

intrigue would fill the scenes, all pointing to his (our) salvation.Jesus was orchestrating events. Jesus was working in relation-ships. Jesus was pursuing Victor from His cosmic court to our corner coffee shop. Jesus is never too busy to track us down.“No Victor, I’m not here to convert you, but I know the one who is. And you’ll know Him soon enough.” What it took to save Victor was community. He moved into a house with Christians, became best friends with Christians, and even started going to church with Christians. If you want to be an atheist you shouldn’t hang out with Chris-tians. Victor would tell you that.“The wrong crowd, that’s what got me. Too many Christians, too much love, too much Jesus.” The first time Victor came to church he was hung over. He hated it. The music pounded through his aching head and the sermon barely held his attention. But he kept coming. For months Victor went to church, went to Village, and met with me. He had questions every week, and was growing more and more fond of the idea of a God, and of this God maybe even being good. One weekend Victor took his motorcycle out to the Snake River, hoping the miles of open road and winding river would do something to straight-en his thoughts. He told me he even tried to pray when he was out there. He asked God if He was there. God said nothing. Almost as if to say, “I’m so here that I don’t have to speak.” Victor slept under the stars that night with no sleeping bag being covered only by the clouds and stars of the God he was question-ing.

There was a Sunday in the summer—about a year after Victor had first come to church—when our friend Danny led worship with only an acoustic guitar. No drums, no bass, no loudness, no lights, just voices and God and Victor, who was—for the first time ever—singing along. I was out of town that weekend, but when I got back there was a connection card with Victor’s name on it, and the ‘I want to talk to someone about following Jesus’ box was checked. I saw the connection card on Monday and set up a meeting with Victor.When he walked into the coffee shop, he was smiling. “You got my connection card?” he asked. I put out my hand, “My name is Josh, I’m here to convert you.” “Oh good, I’d like to convert,” he laughed. Victor wouldn’t decide to follow Jesus until a few months later, but that day he said, “I believe God is real; now I’m ready to think about Jesus.”“How’d it happen?” I asked. “While we were singing with no flashing lights or drums or electric guitar, I sang along and felt something. I think I felt God.”“Did you sing along?” I asked. “Yeah, a little.”“Were you any good?” I questioned.“At what? Worshiping?”“No, you any good at singing?” “No, I was awful.” Sixty-four people crowded into my house to throw Victor a party after he decided to follow Jesus. He tells me now that moment was more memora-ble to him than climbing that pole in Spain. And I believe him.

By: Josh Martin

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n one word, Meghan Spears’ story is surrender.The first time I met

Meghan, we sat on the rooftop of a brick building overlooking the Washington State University campus. We drank peach smoothies and talked about the friction that had started in her soul. She was becoming less and less content with living the same weekend script the world had handed her and so many girls like her at WSU. The old thrills were becoming duller, the old relation-ships less fulfilling. She had questions about life, about her purpose, about the bible, about Jesus. We talked and looked out as students walked to class. They looked so tiny. The people she was exhausting herself trying to impress and fit in with sudden-ly looked so small. We talked for over an hour that day and then started getting together to read through the book of John. She knew that if she might want to follow Jesus, she needed to figure out exactly who He was, what He did, and why it mattered to her. It wasn't until weeks later that I realized I had been praying for this girl before I had even met her. Her older sister, Jordan, had shared with me that her little sister was struggling and was pretty resistant to the idea of Jesus.

Jordan had tried to bring her to church and constantly prayed for her, but Meghan wasn't interest-ed. I'd been praying for Meghan, but had been introduced to her by her nickname - "Spears" - and didn't make the connection. When Jordan and I figured it out, she was elated. Years of her prayers for her sister were being answered, in God's perfect timing, because "with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:8-9) Jordan was patient and expectant in her prayers for Meghan and watched as God relentlessly pursued her. Slowly, Meghan's eyes were widening and her heart was softening to this Savior who loved her more than her boyfriend could, who accepted her more deeply than her sorority could, who forgave her gravest offenses and covered her weakness and sin and selfishness with His blood, declaring her beautiful and not guilty. Meghan was quickly learning that following Jesus didn't mean just trying harder to be "good" or partying less, but that it would mean surrendering everything to Him, even when - especially when - it cost her. The first act of surrender

for Meghan was the hardest, but it made each subsequent step of obedience easier and easier. She broke up with her boyfriend and moved home for the summer to start serving in her church, leading junior high girls. Though her heart was changing, her habits were not so easily shifted. She didn't want to do these old things anymore, but didn't know how to be free from those desires. So finally, after a night of drinking and partying, she simply asked God to take them away. She wanted some-thing better, something more. In that moment, God transformed her heart and she felt true freedom for the first time. She surrendered her life to Jesus, the God who had saved her from her sins, from herself, and who had answered her prayers. Since that summer, Meghan is a different person. Or maybe it's better to say that Meghan is the real Meghan now, the woman that God created her to be: she is a woman with a life surrendered to the will of God, who knows she is delighted in and forgiven and free, and that she was saved not only for herself but for the world around her. Meghan possesses a contagious joy, a steadfast spirit, and a desire to surrender her old life completely to Jesus. One of Meghan’s new desires is to follow Jesus in the context of her sorority, and to

share the same truth that has freed her with her sorority sisters. She has begun serving in Greek Village with other believers in other Greek houses as they pursue the lost side by side. This commitment hasn’t been easy. The friends she used to go out with give her a hard time for "not being fun anymore" and "getting too religious," but Meghan is unshaken because she knows how her Savior suffered for her. The honor of being persecuted for His name is an honor that she's taken seriously. She is a steady source of encour-agement and support for the girls in her house and is taking strides to reconcile her past. Her life is no longer her own and her joy is unparalleled. Meghan's name means "pearl" and that truly is what she is. An oyster makes a pearl when a foreign substance gets into its shell, irritating and grating against the muscle until it is smoothed into a beautiful treasure. It's hard and uncomfort-able and although the process is not for the faint of heart, the reward far outweighs the pain. Meghan has been refined and renewed by wrestling with the Lord; the old parts of her have been slowly chipped away to uncover a new heart, and now Meghan really is the most beautiful pearl.

By: Jane Imaizumi

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By: Drew Worsham

met James the beginning of his freshman year at Washington State

University at a Fresh-man Village. He had been invited by a friend of his that attended Resonate but he had no idea what he was walking into. James had really never been to church, let alone anything like a Village. His one Christian friend who had invited him that night didn't actually tell him what it was that they were going to. He was just told that there would be free food. James and I hit it off and he loved Village. Over the course of a month, James was faithful to never miss it. We grabbed coffee one afternoon and James began to share with me his story. The past Sunday was his first time to go to church, he told me. He felt the need to confess that he had come to Resonate hung over. I asked him why he kept coming to Village. He responded with, "I just love the community and how much these people seem to care about me." James had so many questions about the church and God's people. He said that the first thing he noticed about Village was the way these people talked about 'this Jesus' and the reverence they had for Him.The next time we hung out, James said that he had been hearing this word mentioned several times and was wondering if I could explain it to him. The word was the

"gospel” and he didn't know what it meant. He put the ball on the tee for me. I walked James through the Story that God has been writing since the beginning. We talked about the brokenness of this world and that God Himself left His throne to come to earth. The Author entered the story. The Creator came to creation. A Hero was sent to save broken people like me and like him. James was blown away.Why had no one told him this Story? Over the following few months, James and I would hang out, grab lunch or coffee and chat about sports, girls, the bible and what Jesus had to say about it all. He started reading the book of John and even praying at night. He was seeking the Lord, although he had no idea what that meant. The whole time he was faithful to Village and Resonate. I prayed for James consistent-ly and felt the Lord affirm that He was at work in James' life. It was only a matter of time. It might have scared him,

but I remember telling him that while we were hanging out one time. "James, it's obvious that Christ is chasing after your heart. It's only a matter of time, bro." On December 16th, I got a text from James. "Drew, are you going to be in the CUB (student union building) today?" "Yeah, what's up?""I need to talk after my class."James sat down with me nervously and began to tell me that for the past three months he felt like he had been following Jesus and slowly falling in love with Him. "Drew, I think I'm ready to give my life to Him. Do you think it's too soon?" That question still rings in my ears. 'Is it too soon?' What kind of question is that? Then it dawned on me what James was really asking... "These past few months I've fallen in love with

Jesus. I realize that to follow after Him is going to cost me every-thing that I am. There is no looking back. It's only

been a few months, I've weighed the cost and I think I'm ready to go all in. What do you think? Is it too soon?" I knew more than ever in that moment that James was ready and had already surren-dered his life to Christ. We prayed in the middle of the CUB. It was James' first time to talk to God with another person present. It was simple and yet beautifully profound. He was baptized a few weeks later. Since that day, James and I have shared many meals and tons of conversation, and served alongside each other in ministry. James went to our Elevate project this past summer in San Diego. He now leads a Freshman Village much like the one where he first saw the gospel displayed through community. It is filled with young freshmen men, much like his freshman self, that don't have a clue about Jesus but love the community. Jesus has captured every part of James' heart. This summer he will help take a backpacking team of young men to East Asia to carry the gospel to unreached people groups. He has changed his major in order to set himself up to be a future church planter. His love and zeal for our Savior and the mission that He has called us on has been an encouragement and challenge to me and to our team. James has decided to follow Jesus and there is no turning back.

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arah Hone came to school at the University of Idaho angry at God.

Because of divorce and alcoholism in her family, and the contradictions she faced between the worldviews of her Christian mother and her LDS father, she became full of bitterness and resentment. “The world I grew up in was this weird dichotomy of ‘it’s about how hard you work to get to heaven’ but then also ‘it’s about how much Jesus loves you and what He’s done for you.’” These differences among her parents led Sarah to doubt and search for meaning in other things. “I didn’t trust God at all. I believed He existed but I didn’t understand what that meant at all. When I went into college I was idolizing a guy I was dating, and I was idolizing school. I was trying to find my identity in those things instead of Christ.” Things changed when Sarah found herself immediately drawn to the Christians in the sorority house she joined. They accepted her as she was. “I was stubborn, I wasn’t very loving, and I was really judgmental, but the joy I saw in them was incredibly attractive. I

“My relationships with other believers have grown so much. Christ’s death for us connects us on such a deep level, and His love for us gives us purpose together. I finally have the same deep-rooted joy and love that I was so attracted to in my Christian friends, and my desire is to be obedient to God and help others experience that.” Even when Sarah experiences hardship, as she knows she will in the future, she is confident in the God that she follows. “My life hasn’t been easier. I still really miss my dad. I still go through trials. But it’s completely better. Jesus died for me so that I may live with Him and have purpose in this life, and I’m so thankful for what He’s done.”

going on? What is happening?’ I felt kind of silly because I hadn’t really prayed, but still, that night I finally reached out to God.” For the rest of that year, the walls in Sarah’s heart slowly came down as she felt Christ pursuing her. “He had been pursuing me my whole life, but that’s when I started to recognize it. I had heard the gospel thousands of times, and each time I under-stood it more and more. In August, I finally gave everything to Him. I had been giving Him pieces of my life but that was the point when I knew this was it.” Sarah knew then that following Jesus would require some hard decisions in her life, including ending the relationship she had been in for three years, changing her living situation, switching her major, and doing everything she could to get into community with other believers. And because of who Jesus is, Sarah is experi-encing life more fully than she ever has before.

wanted to understand where that was coming from.” As Sarah started to form friendships with the Christians in her house, they pursued her heart and took her to Resonate Church. “Church with these girls was a whole different experience than I had growing up. It was a loving place where people were talking about Jesus in a way I had never heard before. It made me want to understand Him more.” Even still, Sarah’s stubbornness got the best of her, and she continued to find her identity in other things, leading to a decision to study abroad her sophomore year. She could never have prepared for the devastat-ing news she would receive while she was abroad: within a week both her grandmother and her father suddenly passed away. Sarah returned home to Idaho, again, angry and bitter towards life. But what had happened prompted some very important questions in her heart – What’s the purpose of life? Why are we here? Is there a God? What does He have to say about this? “My world had kind of crumbled, but I remembered the things I had heard about Jesus and so I asked Him, ‘What’s

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By: Heather Hagen

iranda Miller, a Southern California native, had planned

to go to OSU until she took a trip with her

dad to visit Pullman. On campus she felt a sense of community that caused her to change her mind. When her neighbor in the dorms invited her to a Halloween party that October, not only did she discover community in an even truer sense, but Miranda’s journey from death to life quickly accelerated. I met her that night, dressed as a leopard. She was wearing a cat outfit with no mask, and looked eager to know what made all these people dress up, dance, and love each other that night without alcohol. Miranda’s neighbor in the dorms, Bailey, was a fresh-man at WSU whom I had come to love and disciple. She made sure to introduce Miranda to every-person in Resonate at that party. I knew that Bailey and Miranda

had not talked much before this night, and I prayed this new friend seeking answers would get connected to community and to Christ. Bailey asked about her spiritual background and invited Miranda to check out Resonate Church with her. Miranda thought, “College is all about trying new things...why not?” Growing up, Miranda’s family had attended Catholic mass. Soon school and other things in life took precedence and she quit finding a reason to go. The first time she came to Resonate, she told me this is what she had always pictured church should be like. Her heart was leaping, but still she didn’t really get it. She found herself coming week after week, crying in every service, but not sure why. She had never known that the bible stories and the God of those bible stories could be personal to her. In the weeks to

come, Bailey would text me to pray for her conversa-tions with Miranda about Jesus. She heard the story of the Prodigal Son for the first time one Sunday, and it was then she knew she had a choice.

She had heard the gospel in conversations with Bailey and with her Village leader, but this story made it so clear where she stood with God. She said she felt like the prodigal son standing on the sidewalk, watching God stand on the porch with open arms, and knew that running to Him would require everything she currently knew. It would require surrender of school and her life direction, which had always come first. Figuratively speaking, she stood on that sidewalk for a long time, looking at God and trying to figure Him out. It was Good Friday when she took her first steps toward the porch and the God waiting there with open arms. Bailey was out of town, and I was praying that Miranda would still choose to come by herself to Resonate’s Good Friday service. I knew she would hear a clear picture of her need for a Savior. And sure enough, she came. That night, she heard very clearly that Jesus on the cross took the wrath meant for her. Easter finally made sense. Church finally made sense. Why she cried all the time finally made sense. During a response time of worship, she felt her heart surrender. She told God for the first time, “I’m leaping, catch me if you want to.” She felt dazed the rest of the night. She and her friends from Village came over to our house for dessert and discussion afterward, and she seemed uncharacteristically quiet. She answered ‘no’ when I asked her if

she had any thoughts from the night, but I could tell her mind was processing. She said later that she didn’t know how to talk about it, because she didn’t quite know what had happened in there. Bailey was the first person she told about her prayer, and Bailey helped her piece together what had happened - mainly that Miranda Miller had been dead apart from her Creator, but now she had a new heart and was alive in Him. Since that night, Miranda has been growing in the knowledge of her new identity in Christ. She was baptized this December and serves faithfully every Sunday setting up our on-campus service. Miranda has weighed the cost of discipleship, and though she still struggles with choosing God over school, career, and family, she continues to walk by faith. For me this story was incredible to witness from the outside, to pray and watch God use Bailey, a freshman in college, who decided to allow God to use her as a missionary on her campus. My role was minimal, so I got to truly see that watching disciples making disciples brings more joy than getting to lead the prayer yourself. Miranda came to this tiny Eastern Washington town looking to be a part of a commu-nity and to study biology, and a gracious God shook up her plans and gave her His own. He used her story to capture Bailey’s heart in being a missionary, and mine in being a faithful disciple-maker.

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By: Jessica Dahl

s a young boy, I remember being quickly disenchanted

with the routines, the rules, and the expecta-

tions of religion. I remember my parents regularly coming to my room early on Sunday mornings and announcing that it was time to get ready for church. I remem-ber feelings of dread and boredom as I pretended to sleep, hoping they would leave me alone and go without me. All the way into high school, my interest in Christianity extended as far as its moral rules and obligations helped me to be a nice person and maintain the approval and recognition of my parents, teachers, and friends. Beyond that, God was a distant, indifferent being that I vaguely believed in but hardly knew anything about. I thought it all worked pretty well for me. I had good friendships and people liked me. I was successful in school and sports and just about anything I did. I had everything I could have wanted. Relationships were my god and as long as they fulfilled my need for love and approval, I wasn't too concerned with how dysfunctional they may be or the possibility that they may ultimately disappoint me.

It wasn't until all that came crashing down around me that I began to take notice of my incompleteness - my need for something deeper and more fulfilling that could never be found in the things I had been seeking. After stumbling some-how into deep community in college, it didn't take long before I realized that the majority of the people surrounding me were Christians. Jesus began to reveal Himself. His power to transform people and give them a sense of depth, purpose, and security was something that I hadn't seen anywhere else. Jesus revealed that He and the bible were relevant for my life and had something to say about where I found value. But still, I didn't believe that Jesus should have control of my life. Still, I was convinced that I was capable of taking charge, and that a moral life was more valuable than a life connected to my Creator. I first attended Resonate Church in October of my fresh-man year (2009) at the University of Idaho. In the sermon, I heard that if I ever truly wanted to know God I would have to stop putting Him in a box and calling

upon Him only when I needed Him; I would have to surrender completely and trust that He would be enough. I heard that I was a sinner in need of a Savior and that Jesus wasn't distant and wasn't the problem - my sin and desire to rule my own life was the problem. So, I began to pray. Each night I would pray to a God I hoped existed. I would pray that God would reveal Himself to me, that He would show me who He is. There was never a profound experience to follow - no loud voice, no bright lights, just a steady change of who I was. God was revealing His love and character by ridding me of the sin that separated me from Him. I began to see everything in a different light. Sins I had strug-gled with for years were no longer appealing to me and I wanted to read the bible, attend worship gatherings, and know more about Jesus. In early January, I responded to all God was doing in me by surrendering everything to Jesus. If He claimed to be the God who saves and transforms, and I had been transformed, then I wanted to know Him deeply.

He had revealed to me that He was infinitely worth my worship. I asked Jesus to do whatever He wanted with my life. Since then, Jesus has taken me on a crazy, surren-der-everything, trust-completely kind of adventure toward church planting. Now, as a recent graduate of UI, I am helping to lead a church plant at the University of Idaho along with my wife, Kellie. We're taking Reso-nate and the gospel of Jesus on campus with the goal of reaching even more students by offering them the hope and purpose that only Christ offers. It's an incredi-ble thing to give students the opportunity to meet their Creator and begin a relationship with Him in the same way you did. Through daily surrender to Jesus, my life has been radically changed by Christ. I sometimes describe it as having my car hijacked by Jesus, watching Him flip a U-turn and accelerate one hundred miles per hour toward everything that gives Him glory. I was dead in my sin, but He has given me abundant life; the least I can do is give everything I have for the purpose of church planting.

LIVING with

PURPOSEBy: Craig Lovelace

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By: Heather Hagen

I remember sitting in Josh Martin’s living room eight months ago, squished between people and pillows, coffee in hand, listening to a dream. What if we used the resources we had to fund Resonate’s next church plant? What if every penny went directly toward our mission of reaching college students? What if we did this every year for every future church we planted? The room was quiet as the idea settled in. That night, thirty-five musicians imagined what was possible if we gave up credit, time, and talent to something much bigger than us. It’s no surprise we were all on board. What

greater use of our passion for music and for the name of Jesus than providing the necessary equipment to make another gathering of college students happen? No one could say no. And now, so many months, hours of songwriting, and late nights of recording later, we are thrilled to – finally – invite the rest of our community to be a part of the project we so passionately pursued. We are humbled to release the Ellensburg album, made up of eleven original songs, each proclaiming the unchanged gospel in a unique way. At Resonate, our team seeks to write music that embodies truth, brings glory to our great God,

exhibits beautiful artistry, and is pertinent for our church. We have given our music for the mission, so that we may continue to celebrate the death to life stories God has in store for so many students in the Northwest. And, indeed, every dollar we raise will be used to reach college students at Central Washing-ton University in Ellensburg. The Ellensburg album will be available on iTunes starting April 29. We eagerly anticipate the power of God to use this project for His glory among us and those we seek to reach. This album is more about the story-teller than the songs – we’d be honored if you helped us tell the story.

ELLENSBURG13

- Hitchhiker’s Guide to Resonate: Join us in celebration of how God is using Resonate to push forward the mission of collegiate church planting in the United States. - Meet the Ellensburg Team: Five staff members will make up the core team at our Resonate church plant in Ellensburg next year.

- Spring Break: Get a glimpse of what our team experienced as they spent their spring break on the campus of Central Washing-ton University.

- Biggest Prayers: Learn how you can be lifting our Ellensburg team up in specific prayer over the next year as they launch. - Join the Team: Find out how you can be a part of our Ellensburg team through financial participation and faithful prayer support.

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