Details …
Wedding Day!
Friday, March 29, 2019
The Couple is registered at:
(Click on the links below to go directly to their registry)
Zola.com.
Their Story…
Joseph’s testimony:
Saying my life is changed would be a true understatement. Prior to being introduced to Remnant Fellowship Church, I don’t think anyone that knew me would have described me as a happy person, a kind soul and most certainly not gentle. I was very coarse and I made up excuses for my behavior of course, blaming my childhood or lack of money or whatever else happened that day. Complaining was a pastime in the world — that’s how you make friends because you and another have the same “problems” to complain about. Many of my coworkers said they had never seen me smile and I had gotten to the point where I had forgotten what my own laugh sounded like because it occurred so seldom.
November 2017 came. I was stuck working in a theater because I had run out of college money; my life was going nowhere and I didn’t know what the future would hold...but then I heard someone laugh. And anyone that knows my fiancé, Heidi Welch, knows it is quite the laugh. She made everyone in the room laugh with her and did so frequently. I truly hadn’t seen joy like that in my life and was curious how anyone could be that happy in the world that I was living in. We both worked in the same theater and got to know each other a little better, enough so that she invited me to Remnant Fellowship. I had always been skeptical and slow to trust because with honesty, there are not many trustworthy people in the world. I visited Remnant from December 2017 until the end of April 2018 just looking for a reason to stop coming, looking for one member that didn’t live a happy, joyful life so I could pick the message apart. Everyone who sees this will know I was unsuccessful. The message never changed and neither did the members; everyone was joyous and full from the message everyday of the week and the light they shown reached me with great brightness. So, by April 2018 there was no more room for denial because my life was already changed from the love and joy that was shared with me.
“I get to marry my most cherished blessing on March 29th...” – Joseph
I joined the church that month and I am still amazed everyday at the chance to grow even more...and the blessings I have been given from our loving Mighty God. I get to marry my most cherished blessing on March 29th, and that is a result of Gwen Shamblin Lara, Heidi and all my other brothers and sisters in Christ being upright and holy and extending God’s message to me. So, may my life continue to change, may I reciprocate the same love that was shown me by all my brothers and sisters in Christ, and may all glory be given to our dearest Father in Heaven forever and ever, Amen.
Engagement
Heidi and I were blessed to have gotten engaged inside the church on December 2017. All of our friends and those we look up to were there in support, and Heidi’s family had just flown a couple thousand miles from Washington State to celebrate and give thanks to God with us!
Heidi’s testimony:
After a lifetime of searching for God, and a way to lose weight, my beautiful mother, Christy Welch, found Weigh Down in 2000. Once she recognized that the message taught by Gwen Lara was the truth on how to have and keep a relationship with God, she joined Remnant Fellowship Church in 2002 and never looked back. Because of my mom’s decision, I have been spared from a lifetime of pain and sin, and I could not be more grateful. My life would be a very different picture of misery and hopelessness if I had not recognized the same thing that my mother did and decided that this church was where I could learn how to grow my relationship to God through obedience to Him.
I have had the amazing privilege of growing up in this church since I was 7 years old, and although I lived with my family in Washington State until 2015, I have always felt so connected to and loved by my fellow church members. When I was 18 years old, God provided a way for me me to move to Brentwood, Tennessee and I began my first semester at MTSU in the Fall of 2015. While I was in school, I kept busy working at different places, one of which being the local movie theater. It was there that I met my future husband. Even as I write this, I am still in awe of all God has done in my life, and how He has continued to take care of me. What first caught my attention regarding Joseph was his level headedness and humility. After he began visiting the church regularly, every aspect I liked about him grew exponentially, and every worldly characteristic quickly disappeared. With each day that passed, as he fell more in love with God, I fell more in love with him. It is still a miracle that I will praise God for until I take my last breath because watching Joseph become more Christlike was one of the most beautiful and convicting things I have ever seen. Similar to my mom, once he recognized or was shown a sin, he did not hesitate to cast it away. His love and respect for God's authority soon became an example for me to follow. In the very beginning, it was I who helped show him how to have a relationship with God, but it was not long at all before Joseph was a pure example for me to look up to and follow.
“I am so undeserving to be marrying such a righteous and humble man, and I know that he will lead our family to righteousness as he has led me.” – Heidi
The immense and rapid change in his (and my) life can only be credited to God Almighty, and to our incredible leadership at Remnant Fellowship Church who helped us through every step of the way. It truly makes me weep to think of the lives that God saved us from, for we would be far too engrossed in our own lives to love each other. I am so undeserving to be marrying such a righteous and humble man, and I know that he will lead our family to righteousness as he has led me. We serve an Awesome God and I am so grateful to Him, to this Church, to my family, and to Joseph for helping me get to this exciting point in my life. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for our future! We love you God!!!
