Coy and Amanda are faithful members of Gateway Church International and are also actively involved in several ministries from worship to youth and children's ministry. They are continually looking for opportunities to guide their children in their walk with Christ, teaching them the word, actively praying together and having them think of how to serve others through service, gifts and time. As with so many of us, they are figuring out how to navigate this difficult time while parenting and teaching their kids to lean on Jesus.
Check out below how they decided to respond to the fear and uncertainty of the circumstances surrounding our society right now.
Fear and anxiety started to come upon all of us in light of all the things going on in our world. As parents, we wanted to shield our kids from every hurt and worry possible. That was not going to be entirely possible as their world was drastically affected too. Instead of burying our head we decided we would rise up and step out and praise through the fear and anxiety that the enemy was trying to give us. We serve a good, good Father and we needed to remember whose we are! We started singing praise songs on our porch to calm ourselves. We chose the porch because we knew others in our town were going through the same thing we wanted to let our praises to our Father be heard and be a light for Him. The first couple of times only the dogs barked back at us, but as time has gone on we have noticed people listening when we start the music. Lights will come on and people will watch from windows we even had a visitor stay parked in their car to listen to us and was encouraged.
We continue to sing to our Father and hope it can provide peace and bring others to Christ. We know the world is trying to make connections difficult and may try to convince you to just stay to yourself. We encourage you to step out and still do what God is calling you to do. Step out and praise our good Father however it is that you praise...it can look different from everyone but still sounds the same to God. Do it with your kids, let them know it’s okay to be a bit curious as to what is happening but we never give in to it (fear/anxiety). Let them know they are a daughter/ son of the king of kings and we can shout unto Him. Take courage this storm will soon pass. But what we do now will last generations. Join us and sing from your porch nightly (even if just the dogs bark at you) and feel the peace that God provides. When this is all over and God has prevailed against these worldly issues we will continue to praise and even look forward to having a porch praise party!
You can catch the first part of their porch worship session here.