Chris Steele: Rebirth and renewal happens year-round

ZANESVILLE − Easter is the story of Jesus Christ's rebirth, rising from death after his crucifixion. It is a movable feast, Easter's date is never the same two years in a row. But at North Terrace Church of Christ, the theme of renewal and rebirth is present year-round.

Chris Steele is lead minister of the church. He sees stories of rebirth, in terms of people recovering and growing from the darkest moments of their lives, or returning to the church after an absence.

And he sees attendance rise as Easter nears. "COVID upset everything," Steele said. It made us question, Who am I? What is most important?

Because people were not able to gather as they had prior to the pandemic, some began to drift away. "People got out of habits and rhythms that were normal. In the last two or three years, Easter has been a time when a lot of people have said 'God is important to me, I want to renew, and restart this journey of faith I have been on.'"

Steele sees the rebirth. In marriages on the rocks, saved by a marriage seminar at the church. People battling their addictions, a person who finds a prayer partner during prison stretch, which in turn turns into a congregation of its own.

"The resurrection story isn't just some cute, mythical Bible thing. It's a reality when it is lived out," Steele said. "It allows any man or woman to say my hardest, darkest moment is not the end of my story. They're in God's hands. There's never hopelessness, even if all seems lost."

Steel has lived through a rebirth of his own. Asked to leave his former church because of what he described as a betrayal, Steele was at low point. Ready to fight, he took a step back and listened to God. "I heard over and over in my head and heart, 'Trust me, and I will take care of you. Trust, I'll take care of you.'

"I didn't want to, but I did. And it led me to Zanesville," he said. God told him, "I'm going to show you, that you can be more at peace than you have ever been. I'm going to use you, you don't have to put on a show, just be Chris. Just be the man I created you to be, a husband, a father, a follower of Jesus."

Ten years after his life was uprooted, and all that he had worked for taken away, he has a new home, a new community, a new church family. "I'd lost all the things that mattered, and He didn't just give them back, He didn't just restore and resurrect, He gave me more than I ever lost. So here I am. So content, so at peace, and I get to love like I have been loved."

Steele uses the term "Love like I have been loved" often. He uses it to describe his interactions with people who have drifted from the church, or people whose lifestyles may not meet the traditional standards of the church. He "meets them where they are," he said, and loves them as he has been loved.

"Any given week there can be somebody who says, 'I've got no answers left,'" Steele said. He calls it the tomb moment, not that they are physically dead, but that they have lost everything. "(Jesus) takes broken moments and gives us life and gives us hope. And I think sometimes it teaches us not to rely on all the things of this world that we think give us security.

"I get to lead people to the cross," he said. "God says this is not the end of the stories, this is the beginning of stories. Those are the resurrections.

"We take the resurrection story from a churchy religious thing that we do once a year, we let it be the heartbeat of who we are. Every moment at work, at play, at home becomes an opportunity to walk with someone, and be agents of life and healing and joy," Steel said.

Steele said his entire congregation can lead others to faith. "Anyone who has been through a resurrection story has a chance to serve and love someone else, you don't need a diploma or business card for that."

ccrook@gannett.com

740-868-3708

@crookphoto

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Chris Steele: Rebirth and renewal happens year-round