Towne View...Now- Julie Whitfield

As a part of our 22nd anniversary service I asked Julie Whitfield to share about her family's experience in our church as "newer" members:

Pastor Conrad asked me to stand this morning and talk a little about Towne View now. The best way I know to do that to tell you a few of the reasons why jimmy and I joined this church.

We were looking for a “together” church. I was a member at Pickett’s Mill and Jimmy was a member at Acworth First Baptist before we were married. And I think we passed by this church or we saw an advertisement for it somewhere and decided to try it out. We had been to several churches at this point and none seemed to “fit”.

One of the first things that stuck out to us about the church happened early on during one of our first visits. Lily was still an infant and it was raining. Jimmy had stopped to let us out closer to the door of the church and as I looked down to unbuckle my seat belt and glanced back up a man appeared outside the car door with a large umbrella. He was waiting to help usher Lily and I into the church. I have come to know that man as Clint Nokes but we have had several of those experiences with each of our deacons. Quietly doing a little something extra to help out. At the time I thought it was a nice gesture… I have since come to recognize this as a personality trait of Towne View. A Kindness. A genuine “welcome”ness from the members that, yes, we want you here.

Another thing Jimmy and I noticed was how every time we left church and settled back into our car to start our drive home, we would compare notes. Our thoughts on the message, what spoke to us… We continually came to the same conclusion… Pastor Jim was stalking us! He had to be! I know it seems unlikely but he was consistently preaching a message that just “happened” to be the exact message that Jimmy and I each needed to hear that very week… every week. To this day we still feel that way. How the word of God is spoken each week just for us. Spoken in a way that it applies so perfectly to our lives that we couldn’t possibly fit this well anywhere else.

But what finally sealed the deal for our little family was the children’s message. Seeing the sweet parade of faces march to the front each week, soaking up every word Mr. Mark has to say. Learning and listening to him break down Gods complex message in a simple yet beautiful way… We were so excited for Lily to finally be old enough to join. This January was her first message. She talked about it for days. We, only now of course, realize that we should be worried about what comes out of her mouth while she is up there… but that’s another story. Seeing her grab her friends hands and run to hear God’s word with such excitement. Hearing it from the members of this church. That tells me every Sunday that we are right where we are supposed to be.

Since joining 3 years ago, we have realized even more that we love about this church. We love the genuine excitement about mission work. We love the amazing family events, Easter Extravaganza, Fall Family Fun Fair. But most of all, we love the friends we have found in all of you. You are Towne View and you, my church family, are an amazing group. We count ourselves lucky to have found you and to be able to worship alongside of you.

Here is to another 22 years. Happy Anniversary!