"Welcome to your church Chris Padgett"

I did not go to Quest Community Church expecting what would happened to me or how my life would change. Little did I know there was a conspiracy in the works and an ambush planned to get me to the cross. I was completely unaware of the intervention planned in heaven on my behalf. There was something going on in me that knew I could not trick people who really knew Jesus that I knew him to. I had been around "Christians" and knew their ways, but I also knew that I was being welcomed, loved and accepted in a way that was pure and real. I always believed in God, I just didn't think he believed in me and what I was hearing and seeing at Quest was this idea that God actually did love me and cared about me and He showed this to me through a handful of people who seemed to know I needed a savior and they were right.
My intervention was 3 yrs ago, June 26/06 and my life has not been the same. I was pulled out of a very dark pit. It was very much a rescue and recovery mission and I am grateful!

Today as I was in the midst of a really fun weekend at church and standing side by side the people I do life with and seeing people enjoying Church I remembered a moment that is always in the back of my mind and that affected me profoundly. I hadn't been going to Quest for very long. It was a Sunday morning, the beginning of the service, I was in one of the front rows close to the doors and my pastor Pete walked up to me, gave me a hug, looked me in the eye and said "Welcome to your church Chris Padgett". We all ultimately embrace what embraces us. I spent many years embracing a way of life that did not lift me up or encourage me so when Pete said that to me it was the defining moment when I decided that I had 2 choices, I could go back to the way I had been living and to the community that was actually destroying me, or I could step into a community that seemed to be offering me something that I desperately needed. I chose true community and it was the best decision I ever made. I will always be grateful to Pete for saying that to me......."Welcome to your church Chris Padgett"