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In the spring of 2020 when all churches went online, my husband Ken and I started watching a few different services. Ken always enjoyed Pastor Colin on the radio, so we started watching the Arlington Heights and Barrington services where we saw great teaching from the pastors. We sensed it was time to make a move to a more biblically centered church, so we started to consider The Orchard our new church.
In the spring of 2021, Ken was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma and was advised by his doctors to stay away from crowds because he was on chemotherapy and immunocompromised. So, we continued to watch from home. During that time, my bible study sisters of 25 years had started to attend the Barrington campus.
In July 2022 Ken lost his battle with cancer and I found myself in the predicament of not being a member of a church to hold his service. We hadn’t attended our previous church in 2 years and no longer felt part of that community.
We also had not attended in person at The Orchard but felt it was our new congregation and where I wanted to have Ken’s service. I reached out to the staff and was greeted warmly by Marilyn, Pastor Trey, and Pastor Tom. They told me not to worry and of course The Orchard would perform Ken’s funeral. Marilyn helped me coordinate the details, Pastor Tom gave encouragement and Pastor Trey created a beautiful service to honor my husband, a man he had never met. I was really blown away by their kindness. I felt that I had so much love and support. I couldn’t have felt more blessed by God from the support of my Orchard family. After Ken's death I was able to start attending in person and be surrounded by my two best friends, now also attending the Orchard.
Ken’s death increased my faith. I also feel it helped me fix my eyes toward my heavenly home, because I was so focused on what Ken and I would do in retirement and the serving we would do for the Lord. With that dream now gone, it has really helped me to focus on what God has planned for me in the time I have remaining on this earth. Shortly after Ken’s death I checked the church’s website and saw that there was a grief support group starting soon, called GriefShare. I started attending the class and it has really shown me how to hang on to God for comfort and peace. Scriptures that I have read for many years now have new meaning, words of comfort, lament, love and peace. As the funeral service was held after the start of GriefShare, I was amazed that one of the leaders came to the funeral to be of support. It meant a lot to me that the church reached out to me in my time of need. There is love and care here in this church, I was showered with it from the moment I set foot in the door, and I am so happy to be calling The Orchard my new church home.
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