From Isolation to Fellowship: Story of God’s Pursuit
By Deacon Tuttle
Have you ever wondered, “What brought me into the church?” God’s vision for the church includes us deepening our relationships with those around us, bearing one another’s burdens, serving, and rejoicing in fellowship with others. A beautiful illustration of community comes from the early church in terms of their demeanor and zeal, found in Acts 2:42-4: “All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts”. This type of fellowship is otherworldly. As Resonate Church is a collegiate-focused missional church body, the common relationships we find are often in the age range of 18-24. However, several people come to college at a later stage in life or take time to complete their educational journey. Over the last few years and especially in recent months, God has been using a Christ-like community to draw in a non-traditional student named Kyle in Reno.
Pastor at Resonate Reno, Steven Trantham, met Kyle back in 2021. Kyle was working in the entertainment industry and also desired to go to college to pursue a degree. Steven met Kyle during a lawn games hangout on campus. Quickly, he told Kyle about village and other opportunities that Kyle could be plugged into deeper friendships and chances to encounter the Lord. “He seemed somewhat interested, but I couldn’t get him to follow through with any of my invitations,” Steven recalled. After that initial meeting, they had a further conversation one more time at a Halloween party. Following that, there was no contact and crickets for years. Until an unexpected response arrived, “Hey, is this still Steven?” Thanks to technology and Apple’s ability to save texts, Steven was instantly able to recognize who this was. The message came from Kyle, and the first thing that he told Steven was that he had an interest in learning more about Resonate’s community. Our God doesn’t forget about His people. God’s pursuit and care were so evidently shown through a simple text. Shortly after reconnecting via text, Steven was ready to take Kyle to coffee and explain the purpose and spirituality behind the events and the gatherings. However, Kyle wanted to spend time at the gym. Steven agreed, and when they next hung out, they were flipping monster truck tires and holding unreasonably large weights over their heads. Kyle performs in strongman competitions and wanted to show Steven a workout from his world of hobbies.
“For hours, Kyle was able to experience a Gospel-centered community after witnessing a sermon that focused on the hope we have in Christ, both now and for the future. ”
After this time bonding over their shared love of workouts, Steven recalls Kyle sharing about the struggles of working in the casino industry. In this, Kyle described an answered prayer that came in the form of a job that got him away from his own self-described “depravity” of that line of work. God was clearly moving in more ways than one in his life. In terms of his faith background, Kyle had no real formal religious upbringing besides a vague knowledge of the LDS church. However, Steven said, “He was also interested in finding a community of people to do life with. I told him about our Sunday services, I told him about village, and the grow group material. More personal and explicitly religious things that we could do together.” Kyle has spent lots of time researching philosophy, but has recently shown an interest in religion. He has a desire to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus before he dives into any structured discipleship.
Soon after this, God brought Kyle to village leading up to Easter Sunday. They discussed the subject of Easter, family traditions, and the sacrifice of Jesus. Steven said, “He loved it. He seemed to like being there.” Kyle had intended to go to the Good Friday following village, but he wasn’t able to make it. An encouraging text came through to Steven following this. Kyle had wished them a reverent Good Friday, and he appreciated Steven’s invitations to attend. The hope was for Kyle to come on Easter Sunday. He was able to make it and even brought some food for the potluck that followed. For hours, Kyle was able to experience a Gospel-centered community after witnessing a sermon that focused on the hope we have in Christ, both now and for the future. “We had a good conversation on the message I preached. He was inquisitive. He’s a hard guy to get to speak his mind on what he’s thinking and feeling,” Steven said. Since then, Kyle’s connection has been touch-and-go.
Steven says that without God and community, we are helpless against our sins and our flesh. Gospel community is not only for freshmen entering college, but for everyone.
God’s character has been displayed in His evident faithfulness towards pursuing Kyle. Steven says that Kyle is just one of hundreds of students who return after initial contact, even years later. This has shown him, “God has not stopped working in his heart. It gives me a lot of confidence about what we’re doing. Even the no’s, something can come of those.” The general age of the congregation and years since being planted in the city, Resonate Reno, amounts to a fairly young church. God has brought about a celebration and a realization that even though Resonate vehicles for discipleship can be geared towards younger people, it is not limited to only 18-year-olds. “Other people can benefit from it as well. It can produce a kind of community that people long for,” Steven said.
After his reconnection with Kyle, God has brought forth other friends of Steven’s who are in an older generation, which reinforces this idea. A potential factor Steven sees in people deciding to try out a spiritual community without a faith background is isolation. “When you do life alone long enough, you come to the same conviction you can find in scripture, and that conviction being, you can’t do it alone,” Steven says that without God and community, we are helpless against our sins and our flesh. Gospel community is not only for freshmen entering college, but for everyone. “I believe the kind of community our church has put on, well before I was a part of it, is reminiscent of what we see the early believers in the book of Acts living, and I think in a more profound way that we know what everyone needs in life, regardless of age,” Steven said.
Steven’s heart and prayer are for the church in Reno to be unified in the pursuit of the campus. He believes that there’s no reason a 40-year-old can’t have a great conversation with an 18-year-old. Though there can be a barrier there, the hope is that real fellowship breaks that down. Let’s pray for Kyle and other non-traditional students to have more genuine connections, a true encounter with our Holy and living God, and to continue walking alongside others in the church.
