The Ripple Affect

Nancy Swanson, who's a member of our church, decided to become a Christian at a Billy Graham crusade. "I had grown up in a mainline church," she said, "and it just never clicked before."

You can see still the ripple effect from that decision years laters. When Davidson and Isata Scott came from Sierra Leone to study at a local seminary, Nancy and her husband befriended them, caring for their children and making them welcome. The Scotts even stayed with the Swensons for several months, after Davidson graduated and before the family was set to return back home to minister in Sierra Leone. They've also been very close to Aaron Barg a 15 year old boy with Trisomy 13, spending time with him during church services so his parents, Steve and Susan can be involved in church.


There's lots of bad news about the evangelical church these days, as a recent report from Barna points out.

There's lots of quiet good news as well. The changes in Nancy's life, and her small acts of kindness for others, aren't not easily quantifiable. They won't show up in a national survey or make headline news. They are part of the small graces found in every church, the kind of graces that testify that the church is not quite dead yet.