“The moment I stepped through the door into the sanctuary I loved it. I felt at home.” Tim Olsen said the experience brought him to tears; he was moved by the scriptures and the hymns “in an atmosphere of love and grace.” He has been attending ever since.
Tim’s partner, Ryan, was attending St. John’s when they met and piqued Tim’s interest in checking us out. Tim came from an evangelical background but hadn’t attended worship of any kind for several years. “I experience the fruit of the spirit here like I have found nowhere else.”
At some point, Tim picked up our history book For All the Saints and discovered that he’d been connected to the church longer than he had realized! In the book, he found stories about people he’d met outside St. John’s who had made a lasting impression him because of their kindness and warmth. (For example, Don Husband was the loan officer when Tim bought his first house 25 years ago. Don had made sure everything was fair, complete, and serving Tim’s needs.) “These people had stayed in my mind, and I was amazed to see their connection to this church.”
Tim sings in the choir and says the church gives him a place for community and worship “with dignity and beauty.” Outside of church, gardening and home improvement are among his passions.
For the future, Tim wants to be a model for St. John’s warmth and openness to others, and interact more with the broader congregation beyond the choir. He’d like to see us develop more “touch points” for people to know about “this wonderful place.”
Welcome, Tim!
