

THE DUO THAT ALMOST WASN'T
Chris and Steph were high school, mission trip sweethearts who met and began falling in love on a 13 hour road trip from Nashville to Pennsylvania. Sitting next to each other on brown plastic, fake leather bench seats, neither could’ve ever known how far that trip on a giant yellow school bus to downtown Philadelphia would actually take them. While dating through high school and marrying in college, they were volunteer worship leaders and served together in a variety of ways (Chris still laughs at his days of wearing a headset microphone and choreographing dozens of children for worship). They seemed like a perfectly normal, happy Christian couple. Everyone would’ve agreed, especially Chris and Steph. However, things started to change when Chris entered a season of doubt that many people walk through on their faith journey. Though these seasons are normal and sometimes essential, Chris believed that as a leader he should have it all together. With nowhere safe to share what was going on in his heart and mind, he was left to believe that no one would truly understand. So, he kept his doubts a secret and they just kept growing. It didn’t help that he was in school for a degree in the music industry. This offered plenty of “alternative” activities to alleviate the shame he felt from the divide between who he pretended to be at church and who he actually was becoming. Eventually, Chris was spending all night out on Saturdays with friends drinking and “partaking” a variety of substances, then waking up Sunday mornings and leading worship to a God he no longer believed in… but no one could know, not even Stephanie.