My name is Missy and you’re probably like, why? Why does it look a little different on stage today? Well, we have the privilege and honor to be here just to discuss how God has transformed each of our lives and used just our ordinary steps of faith in order to make a difference. For me, I get to be the facilitator today of the stories and our journey as a family.

My husband’s name is Justin and we have two daughters that are 17 and 12. 11 years ago we said yes to moving to Iowa from Texas. Yes, we left the God country of Texas and moved out of state, which is unheard of because Texas is best. But we moved to Iowa to help plant a church, just as lay people to continue in our jobs that we had. And God took us on a journey to be on staff there. I was on staff for six years and really, truly believed that that was going to be what my life looked like ongoing.

And then God had other plans. He moved us back here to Texas, thank God to be back in God’s country, for Justin to be on staff here at Gateway. I went through a season just of asking, “What do you have next, God?” So I have the privilege and honor every day to put marketplace and ministry together as I work for a hospice agency. That’s a little bit about my journey, and each one to my left here is going to share their stories of ordinary steps of faith.

Now the video said it, Justin mentioned it, but the butterfly effect—just a reminder—is when ordinary people take one step at a time. That is what we are this morning: ordinary people just ready and excited to share our stories with you. I’m going to introduce each one, and then they’re going to share more of their story in a bit.

To my left, we’ll start with Holly, who is representing North Campus this morning. Chris is from North Campus as well this morning; he’s brave being with all of us women. Then we have Teri representing Buda Campus this morning, and Danon representing South Campus this morning. In case you don’t know, we are one church—Gateway Church—with multiple campuses, and it is so fun when we get to all be together.

Danon, we’re going to start with you this morning. Can you please just share a little bit of your story and your why that led you to taking that step of faith?

So I’m a nurse. I’m also a mom of two beautiful girls and a wife, and I’m also working on my master’s degree in nursing education. Through all that, I thought, I’m way too busy to be serving and I did not want to take that step. It took me several times of really soul searching to say, okay, I can make that little tiny step forward and agree to God’s plan for me.

Now that I’ve been serving in kids ministry, I, as a nurse, felt very comfortable and confident being in our infants and toddlers room. That made perfect sense to me. But then I kept feeling this urge: “You need to start serving with older kids.” That scared me because they talk back and they have opinions! But faithfully, I decided I would start doing that. As it’s progressed, I’ve seen—now I’m leading parenting classes down at South Campus. I’ve been involved in safety trainings with our kids ministry team, and through all of that, each step I’ve made has been a little bit less comfortable than the next.

Not going to lie, it has been a challenge to go through those steps and to say yes to those little nudges I felt from God. But as I’ve done so, I’ve realized that the trajectory of my life has completely changed. Now I feel like I’ve been completely inspired by Melanie Ortiz, our campus children’s minister there in South Austin. She’s now let me take over our children’s team when she’s away Sundays. Again, very scary, but absolutely, incredibly beneficial to my growth in my belief in God and my faith.

So I am completely reminded of First Peter 4:10, which says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” What that means to me is really taking my nursing career and my faith in God and putting them together, realizing that it’s all the same calling. It’s serving and helping and creating a better future for the next generation.

Amen. All right, Teri, how about you share a little bit about your story?

As you can see, I am using my hands because I’m an interpreter. I grew up going to church, but when I went to college and graduate school, I kind of went away from church. Then I felt that prompting. So when I moved to Austin, I was working with families and a woman said, “Hey, why don’t you come and check out Gateway?” So I started doing that back then—it was quite a while ago, we were at Bull Creek—and I happened to be meeting others who were similar ages and on journeys of discovery.

One day I saw a deaf man, and he was standing outside of our church. I said, “Do you go to this church?” He said, “No.” I asked, “Why not?” He said that there were no interpreters there. So then I went and met with John Burke, who’s our founding pastor, and he said, “Well, if you provide it, they’ll come.” And they came.

As life progressed, I decided to move to Buda. At that time, there was no South Campus and no Buda Campus. I thought, “Well, what am I going to do?” A coworker of mine at TSD was like, “Hey, there’s a church over there, but there’s no interpreter.” Do you notice a theme? So I went there for several years.

Right before Covid, God again started prompting me and said, “I want you to go over here.” I had heard that Gateway was establishing Buda Campus, but it was in the family home of a pastor. I thought, “You want me to go to their home for church? Okay.” So I showed up one day and I was talking with various people. I happened to meet the pastor’s wife, and a friend of mine mentioned, “Hey, she’s an interpreter.” Why are you saying that? She told me, as her eyes filled with tears, that she’d been praying for me. “You’ve been praying for me?” She said, “Yeah, we have some deaf members and there’s no interpreter.” So here I came.

Chris, would you share a little bit about your story with us?

Yeah, my name is Chris. My story started off with being raised in a church. I had good parents, a good household, and I went to Sunday service. I was part of the youth group; I did all that fun stuff. But as I got older, I was just wearing the name tag of being a Christian. Sundays were great, and then Monday through Saturday I was somebody else.

When I was 24, I ended up going to prison by my own choices. That’s when God made it real in my life, realizing that He doesn’t want you playing with just a name tag—He wanted it to be real. That was the first time in my life that Jesus became real to me, and I got to study and learn who He was.

Through that journey, He opened up doors where I was leading two faith-based dorms at different units. I was able to mentor guys, and God really showed me how to love people where they’re at. You know, Jesus came not for the people in suits and ties at the Sunday service; He came for the people that were discarded—the guys that nobody else wanted to be around. That’s who He showed His love to.

My prayer was, “How do I see people through Jesus’s lens? How do I see them?” That really opened up a lot of doors to work with guys that were knuckleheads. They were attracted to me somehow; I have no idea how, and it worked out great.

When I came home, God opened another door for me to start my own business. When I started that business, my prayer was, “God, use me and use my business to reach people, to show Your love towards people.” I ended up hiring—I hire felons, guys with PTSD, guys with mental insecurities in a sense—and being able to mentor them and show them Jesus’s love for who they are right now, where they’re at. I can show our customers and our clients all that Jesus has done for my life and how I’m able to show that to others.

Last but not least, Holly, would you share a little bit more of your story with us this morning?

Sure. Hi everyone. So I was born with a congenital heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. In layman’s terms, it means that I was born with half a heart. In the medical community, I was known as a “blue baby.” I had open-heart surgery at hours old, and again when I was nine and ten.

I hated wearing the hospital gown. If any of you guys have ever had to wear one, you probably know how I felt. It was cold and drab and uncomfortable, and the worst part about it was that it made me feel even more like the sick kid when all I ever wanted to be was like everybody else.

Fast forward to my 30s: I was volunteering at a children’s hospital and noticed that patients were wearing the same hospital gowns that I wore. I was thinking to myself, “You know, I really want patients to have a better experience than what I had.” So I created a hospital gown alternative that’s got plastic snaps at the seams for outputs for IVs, tubes, casts, and all the other things that can make a hospital stay uncomfortable.

I quit my job and started selling them. I had a nudge the whole time like, “Oh, you shouldn’t be selling these; you should be creating a nonprofit.” I, of course, came up with every reason why I shouldn’t do a nonprofit, and I didn’t. Then Covid hit, I got smart, and I finally said yes to what the Holy Spirit had been putting in my heart. I formed Holly’s Heart in 2021. So my 501(c)(3) distributes the garments that I created to hospitals across the United States.

As you can see, each one’s story is different, but God is making an impact through each one of their lives through that faithful step that they each took—an ordinary step, maybe a little extraordinary step.

Holly, I would love for you to kick us off with another question: How has taking the first step transitioned into something even bigger than you probably imagined?

When I started a nonprofit, I had never been on a board before. I did not know what to expect, and I certainly didn’t know how to run one. But He put the right people in my life and the will to just keep trying. I can say it is so humbling to look back and see what God has accomplished with this organization.

Year over year, we’ve been able to serve more patients than the year before. Since being established in 2021, we have served over 8,000 patients and we have 31 hospital partners across the United States. We also created an individual garment request program. So if you know someone in the hospital, you can go online and fill out a form, and if our inventory allows, we will send that garment to that person free of charge.

We have also expanded our styles. I wanted it to be fun because I wanted kids to still have a sense of normalcy. So we have superheroes and princesses for kids, and solids for teens and adults. Three years ago, we were connected with Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa, and this year we will provide 80 garments per game day during their football season—special black and gold garments for their patients.

This will also be our third year distributing red and black buffalo check garments during the holiday season so patients can participate in family traditions like having photos taken in pajama sets.

On a personal level, I have to say that when I was born, I wasn’t expected to live more than a few hours, let alone to 40. I’m now 48, so thank you, God! I was actually at an event for the nonprofit, and I was meeting a heart mom. She asked me, “Do you have a heart warrior?” I said, “No, actually, I am the heart warrior.” I explained my background to her, and she immediately started crying because her eight-year-old daughter has the same diagnosis as me, and she had only ever met patients up to age 20. She didn’t realize that you could live longer. It was just very exciting to be able to give someone hope. I wasn’t anticipating doing that.

Incredible. I don’t think it was happenstance that you met that mom either; God put her right in your life for you to encourage her. That’s absolutely incredible.

Chris, how about you? How has the first step transitioned into something bigger than you could have ever imagined?

That’s an understatement. With my company, I started off as just me. Then it was one person, then another person, and another person. I have nine employees now, which is amazing.

One of the stories I want to share about giving back to the community and showing God’s love was during the July 4th flooding last year. My crew, my wife, and I had gone camping. On our way back, we realized the devastation that was going on. I sent a text message out to my group of guys and said, “If any of you want to go help, meet me at the shop and we’ll load up.” I had a bunch of military trucks and big equipment to be able to go help, and without even hesitation, they showed up.

To see them give back and want to help the victims of the flood—we were able to transport fuel, water, and supplies across the river when other people couldn’t. An RV park was decimated, and we were able to help those people get their RVs back. Seeing the willingness to serve in the community from a group of guys that are all misfits—you know, we’re all misfits, really—who don’t have an external reason to serve, but they choose to… I firmly believe it’s just the way that God’s worked through my company, showing His love to others. It was really neat to see them give everything we could to help people in need. It’s been amazing to see God work from nothing to something when you just allow Him to work through you and love people where they’re at.

God blessed you with an amazing family—a wife and kids. How old are your kids?

I’ve got a 16-year-old boy, a 6-year-old boy, and a 4-year-old girl.

That’s amazing. So to all of us knuckleheads, hang in there, right? Thank you for using your gifts to serve others in such a great capacity and bringing folks alongside with you.

Teri and Danon, we’re going to switch it up just a little bit. How do you keep giving selflessly of your time, talent, and treasure when, let’s be honest, you could say, “No, I’m too busy, I don’t have time”? But you continue to do so. Teri, we’ll start with you.

Part of my story is finding out that in the deaf community, only 3% have access because there aren’t interpreters in many religious areas. Connecting with other churches has been really nice; I’ve had the opportunity to interpret at other churches and support each other. We’ve grown to where we have a Christmas party every year where people get together.

Two specific recent examples happened for me within about a month. One little girl, about eight years old, came up to me very excited, introduced herself, and said, “I saw you on stage interpreting, and I got in the car and started looking up signs!” She proceeded to fingerspell her name, her parents’ names, her siblings’ names, and her pets’ names. I was like, “That was three weeks ago! Wow, you’re pretty cool.” Just knowing that God put me in that position was really neat.

But the second was even more powerful to me. One of our deaf members came up to me and said, “I know you’re an interpreter. I see you, but I don’t really see you when you interpret. I see God talking to me.”

That’s incredible. Danon, same for you.

As a nurse, I talk a lot with other people. Very interestingly, as I was talking to Holly, she mentioned being a “blue baby.” I’ve actually taken care of several of those, and it seems very unfair. I’ve gotten asked many times, “How can you see all the things you see and still be a Christian and believe in God?”

I always answer them the exact same way: after all the miracles I’ve seen, and all the things that have happened where modern medicine cannot explain why certain outcomes happened other than that’s what God wanted… after all the things I’ve seen, how could I not believe in God?

Do you ever come home from a long, 12-hour shift tired and think, “I just don’t have it in me,” but yet you go serve? What’s that like?

Absolutely. Having young children at home, I wake up and sometimes just grab that cup of coffee. But I feel like God has definitely infused me with everything I need and equipped me to serve on Sundays, be a mom, be a student, and forever learn more about God. I learn just as much from the kids I serve as they do from me.

That’s so good. Thank you for serving. Nothing better than a kids team taking care of our children so we can experience service while they experience God.

Teri, one follow-up question: How did you even start interpreting?

I taught at the Texas School for the Deaf. One of our babies had a seizure and got rushed to the emergency room, and I was there, so I said, “Okay, fine, I’ll interpret.” Then I decided maybe I should be certified, which started the process. But I had actually started learning sign from my grandfather’s brother who was deaf; he exposed me to signs and gave me the curiosity.

I have to admit, it’s been 20 years. I started at Bull Creek, and then when we moved here, I wanted to stay in the corner, but they wanted me in a bubble on the screen because—believe it or not—I do not like having all eyes on me! But God has stretched me. In Buda, we share a space with a gymnastics floor, which makes my chair bounce around. In order to hear, I need to stand near the speakers, so now I’m on stage interpreting.

To conclude with a question for each of you: share one story of encouragement that you have experienced as you’ve stepped out in faith and served. Holly, let’s start with you.

I had a close family friend named Bob who was fighting cancer for two years. As he was nearing the end of his battle, I received a text from his wife that said: “You were part of our special day. Last Saturday, a priest from our church came to the hospital to baptize Bob. It was really nice to have something to wear other than the hospital gown for such an occasion.”

Three weeks later he passed away. At the funeral home, his dad, whom I had never met, came up to me and asked, “Oh, you’re Holly?” I said yes. He said, “You gave my son the garment,” gave me the biggest hug, and started crying. He said, “Thank you so much for giving my son such comfort and dignity.”

When I started this, I always had the patient in mind; I never thought about the effect the garment would have on the families, friends, and medical staff. To be a part of his baptism, even though I wasn’t physically there, is a reminder to me that God is always working. When you think the end game is X, it’s probably something more.

God’s timing is amazing. Chris, can you share an encouraging story?

A little over a year ago, a former customer emailed me asking, “Do you have any work at the shop, like sweeping floors? I just need to get out of the house.” He came to my office and we talked. This gentleman is a Purple Heart veteran who lost his teenage son to suicide and then his mother the same way. He had every reason to hate God and hate life, and he had been in a deep depression for four years.

Little did he know, he was walking into a Christian environment. I got to share God’s love with him, and it’s been awesome to see the transformation. He’s been with me for a year now and is my shop manager. It’s an honor to be Jesus’s love in his life, and that’s what I encourage all of us to do: love people where they’re at right now, without looking at past faults or failures.

Teri, how about you?

I’ve been interpreting for 20 years, and off and on you wonder, “Am I really needed?” About three months ago, no deaf people were coming to church, and I asked God, “Really? Maybe I’ve done enough.” He said, “No, I have more for you.” Three people came the very next service! I realized I’m not in control. Half the time I get up there worn out, but He gives me strength. If others can see God through me, what an opportunity!

Danon?

My favorite Gateway moment was definitely being in the baptismal pool and helping baptize my nine-year-old daughter. It was one of the best experiences.

Chris, you had one more quick story from after the first service today.

A family traveling from Arkansas felt they needed to attend church this morning and came to our first service. Their son had recently been put in jail. The father came up to me and said it wasn’t a coincidence that they showed up here and heard my story. It was awesome to share with him that God is in control, He knows where his son is, and He knows how to reach him. Just an “out of the blue” God-instance.

There is no happenstance with God. He uses us in our ordinary, imperfect lives. As we conclude this third week of “The Butterfly Effect” series, I encourage you to take a moment and reflect. Is there something God has been nudging on your heart? Whether it’s serving on a team, going on a mission trip, or starting a Bible study, step out in faith. The small can become big through God.

Let’s pray.

God, I thank You that in our imperfections You choose to use us to make a difference in others’ lives. I pray over each person here. May we go out boldly to make a difference and bring Your love into our everyday, ordinary jobs and lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.