Exactly one year ago, I remember having a community group meeting at Katie and Peter’s place to discuss and address concerns of the group. The discussion was brought up because several members were unable to be committed to the group for various different reasons. I still remember feeling so content and complete as I was coming out of the meeting. We all shared that with a smaller group we could definitely go deeper. We also shared that size of the group does not mean much when it comes to “success” of a ministry. And God definitely knows how much I needed to be reminded that.

A whole year has passed. During this past year, our group has been blessed in so many ways – we had new people joining the group and the leadership has changed and grew in number as well. This change in our group was very gradual, not dramatic, which makes it difficult to give just one answer the question of “Has God surprised you at all this year?”. He has surprised me since I had no idea where we were headed a year ago, but He was with us during that whole year, week to week, meeting to meeting. In that sense, He never surprised me.

As I look back, it really is not too difficult to just think about what we did right and analyze what we should continue to do. But I know that’s not what He wants us to do. Things may change again and we may be at the same place we were a year ago. If that ever happens, I hope that I will find comfort and be an encouragement to others as I remember His faithfulness to our group. I am thankful to be a part of Palatine community group. I feel so privileged to witness his faithfulness to our group. Still, I know it’s not about me or what I learned. As always, It’s about Him.

Haejin Nam

Community Group Leader

I've been reflecting on leaving a legacy ...

People say that in most marriages one spouse is the spender and the other is the saver. Unfortunately for my husband, I have always been a spender and he has been the saver. Each time I share my testimony with one of the Crown classes, I reflect on how God brought the two of us together and how much I have learned since then about God's perspective on finances and stewardship.

I grew up having a very selfish and thoughtless view of money. My parents always provided everything I needed, but I never really knew how to manage money or use it in a way to build the kingdom of God. After getting married, I saw how different my opinions on money were from Sol's, particularly in the area of debt. And once I took my first Crown class, I began to understand that there were clear biblical principles that supported being debt-free. I started using a budget for the first time, and investing more in my 401K. But more than these financial benefits, there are other blessings from Crown that I consider even more valuable:

1. Realizing that God is in control of our finances as well as every area of our lives
2. Building closer relationships with other Crown students and leaders
3. Sharing prayer requests and seeing God answer them
4. Memorizing the Word of God and later being reminded of those verses at just the right time
5. Witnessing God's faithfulness to Harvest as over 100 students have taken Crown, including elementary, high school, and college age students.