by Rebecca Edwards
A couple of weeks ago, I crashed the youth gathering.
Yes, I’m a youth parent and yes, I’m a 50-something, but I was curious. Kingsley has started a new series with the youth called “DaySpring Distinctives,” and the first session featured Pat Kaiser and Becky Kueck talking about the first years of DaySpring. I’ve always been a fan of how our church started, and being something of an amateur historian, I insisted that I come. With Kingsley’s permission, I snuck in virtually undetected, thanks to my youthful exuberance.
Kingsley began by asking about the very beginning and the vision of the founders. Pat and Becky talked about the Seventh Day Adventist Church and how they all prayed and waited to get land for their own church. I had actually visited DaySpring in 1994, when a friend was coming to hear his old youth pastor preach. Little did I know what an impact this odd little church with a rotating roster of pastors and no building of its own would have on me only a decade later. Not only that, but Burt Burleson, the first pastor who came on in 1995, came from Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene, where I was baptized a decade prior. Pat said she liked his voice on the phone.
A distinctive trait of DaySpring was they wanted to focus on the worship of God and have that worship be as rest, to renew on Sunday as they went out into the world during the week. We’ve always been the not-your-typical Baptist church, a bit more contemplative, a bit more moderate, and a bit more intellectual.
When the time was right to build, Pat said they had some choices of land, including the lot where the Bosque Square Shopping Center now sits. But when they saw our current property, they all “just liked the feel of the place.” She recounted the dedication service they had on the property in May of 2001, included the altar table made from the old barn (now in the chapel), a borrowed tent from a funeral home, and souvenir chigger bites for everyone in attendance.
Pat recalled that the building project in those days, similar to the current project, was contracted to a member—back then, Gene Evans, who began the work alongside the Texas Baptist Builders. The members of the church would serve lunch to the workers every day, and many members were directly involved in cleaning up after the work wrapped up for the day. Becky said that everyone just understood that we were in it together—if you see something that needs to be done, just do it. All the members felt an ownership of the place as a result.
Becky remembered when 9/11 happened, she just wanted a church to go to, and at that time, it wasn’t ready. There was a long period of waiting and hoping before they had their own place to call their own. Then, on October 12, 2003, DaySpring’s ten-year anniversary, the members of DaySpring gathered to celebrate Covenant Day in their new building. They remembered the long road of sacrifice and patience; they remembered those they had lost and celebrated those they had gained (from seven original families to over 100).
Our new space was intentional. Conversations were had about what it would be like to raise children here and fellowship here. It was created and not just built–for example, the original building had twelve windows to remember the twelve apostles. The limestone and unobstructed view to creation outside, the natural wood and designed elements–all point to the Creator in an artful way. But more than the building, the story we remember is the people, developing a community who works together to the glory of God, who keeps worship sacred and simple and lets the rest follow that lead, who tell of the “Cheers years”---when we knew everyone’s name–but rejoice in the growth that leads to creative approaches to stay connected.
More than anything, for the coming generations, we remember the grace we have been given and who the church points the world towards, the love and mercy of Christ. I thank God for this place, where I have made deep friendships that go beyond pleasantries, where my husband and I have grown toward God together, where we have raised our children in the faith–back in the days of “mass baby dedications,” and where God is praised, adored, and revered.
May the covenant we make to each other and to God every year on Covenant Day remain with us:
Brothers and Sisters, God has not called us to journey alone but to walk hand in hand.
Let us reach out to one another in faith.
We have been welcomed into God's family.
Let us extend open arms to one another with hope.
We are being transformed by the love of God made known in Christ.
Let us embody that love to one another.
We are a part of God's church, the Body of Christ.
Let us each do our part. We offer our time, our unique gifts,
and our resources to God's work in this place.
We covenant, as a people of faith, to worship and walk with one another.
We have renewed our commitments.
Let us be faithful even as God is faithful. Amen.
And may we just keep the cleaning team goals to Pat’s standards.
