Details ...
Wedding Day!
Saturday, December 12, 2020
5:30pm Central Time
Wedding colors:
Black, white, and Christmas red
Registry Information:
We are deeply humbled and honored that you would consider us; God has already been so generous! Gift cards are most needed as we make our new home together and will also go towards purchasing the higher-priced items. Again thank you for your consideration!
Their Story...
Jeff Swindell:
When I was a kid, I was that kid…big in the youth group, never missed a church service (because that’s how our folks raised us), leadership conferences. But “don’t do this” and “don’t do that” only really gets you into your teens, right? Then you need to know why you aren’t doing those things. Or why you ARE doing other things. So I opened myself up to those first few “gateway” sins. By the time I was out of high school, I was pretty done with church. I knew my sins, so I knew everyone else’s sins. How could I trust them to tell me what to do if they couldn’t do it themselves? I was already set on a course to become an “island” Christian and the next ten years just bore that out – one church after another, one disappointment after another, one more reason after another that Christians can’t be trusted, shouldn’t be emulated, and will let you down at every turn.
So began the rollercoaster with church and my “elastic” relationship with God. People at church would talk about being on the mountain top or having to walk through a valley. There were highs and lows. There were times where I was far from God and times where I was so close that I was actually in the Spirit and got answered prayer and direction. But I could never hold onto any of it because I could never lay my sins and idols all the way down. I’d never been told that I had to. Eventually I gave up on church altogether.
My relationship with Naomi is so much better than anything I could have dreamed up for myself. God has truly dropped me into a dream scenario where I have a wife and family, a community of believers to pray, study, and live life with, a growing faith that is based on reliance on God, and the means to help others. This community of believers is passionate about serving God first and finding His will for even the smallest parts of our day. - Jeff
A few years ago, I realized years of living on my “island” of faith all alone had left me lost, desperate, and defenseless. So I stripped my faith down to loving God with all my heart and started trying to love people again. And God blessed it. He slowly allowed me more and more opportunity as I laid down dishonesty, self-pity, selfishness, and other sins. I finally got back to a place where I was seeking that community of believers again, and I went back to church. God used each stop to further refine and convict me to move toward Him. There were tests to be endured and passed. Then in the late spring of this year, I took a deep breath and laid down a couple of my longest held sins. After a couple of weeks of showing God that I really meant to be done with those things, He led me to the Remnant through Naomi.
I didn’t even realize what I had done. No one had ever told me that I needed to strive to be sinless or that I needed to lay down the idols I had set up in place of God (ideas that are preached at the Remnant). All I knew was that I had been blessed by God to have such a Godly woman in my life. But after years of searching for a community that lived a message that made sense, I have realized that I have finally found it in this leadership and this body of believers! The things that are being taught didn’t have loose ends or dead ends in the reasoning. Lessons aren’t thrown together hodgepodges on this topic or that. They are coherent, interlocking truths that provide a firm foundation for our Christian walks based on God’s truth from the scriptures. I could never have put into words the steps I took along my faith journey (I’ve tried), but Gwen Lara has multiple books that she has written over years of refining and living out her own faith based on God’s truth that focuses on HOW to live that sacred life day in and day out. And the FRUIT bears out this truth! The youth group grows as they age rather than dwindles. The people pull together to use their skills for one another in all manner of ways. The leadership admonishes rather than condemns and is active in each person’s life.
I will always say that I don’t deserve any of the blessings I have been able to lay hold of in 2020. They are truly gifts from God – Naomi and the people of Remnant church most of all. My career is on a good path. My faith is stronger than it has ever been. My relationship with Naomi is so much better than anything I could have dreamed up for myself. God has truly dropped me into a dream scenario where I have a wife and family, a community of believers to pray, study, and live life with, a growing faith that is based on reliance on God, and the means to help others. This community of believers is passionate about serving God first and finding His will for even the smallest parts of our day. They are so loving and generous. It is amazing how time and again they have proved themselves trustworthy, compassionate, kind, forgiving, and accepting. The people at the Remnant have accepted God’s truth from Genesis to Revelation (the way it is taught here) and that truth really does set one free – free to live Godly, free to love Godly, free to confidently be a Godly example to those around you.
Naomi Howell:
I was born and raised in various suburbs right outside of Seattle, Washington and throughout my entire life I was always encouraged to go to church. I always wanted a deep and life-altering relationship with God, but I was always left empty and hurt. I was highly involved in churches and helped lead some ministries, but yet, I was still full of pride, anger, hate and greed. In 2008, God allowed my amazing mother, Alice Robinson, to introduce me to Remnant Fellowship!!! I didn’t know at the time what an amazing and life-changing opportunity I was just given!!
Remnant Fellowship was what my heart had been longing for my entire life. That is a bold statement that often gets met with the question, “Why?” First off, I have always been searching for a real-life example of what having a true relationship with God looked like, one that mirrors the spiritual giants in the Bible, who through good times and bad were captivating and electrifying. There was something about them that drew people in and just made people want to be around them, but not just be around them; they drew you in and then pointed you straight back up to God and His magnificent Son, Jesus Christ. Just being around them and watching their life made you fall more in love with God. I feel like so many times in life I “thought” I found that, but as I got to know a person more I would always be let down and see more of the world in them versus Christ. Well, God allowed me to find this in the founder of Remnant Fellowship, Gwen Lara. Her example is true and has held true over the twelve years that I have known her. The closer I get, the more encouraged, convicted and changed for the better I am. She is ALWAYS pointing me up to God and Jesus Christ. Then to see the way the church operates as a whole is amazing. It truly is the Acts 2 church. NO one has too much and NO one has too little. Everyone’s needs are met. The fellowship is beyond amazing, and the relationships are deep. It is a brotherhood and a sisterhood like none other. It is like a little bit of Heaven on Earth. I was always going after deep relationships and they never worked. It wasn’t until I heard Gwen Lara say that you have to go after God first and get that relationship right and then you will naturally fall in love with what He loves, which is people, that I realized I had been going about it all the wrong way and that is why I was failing miserably. Once I started making this pursuit of a love relationship with God first and imitating the Spiritual Greats on a day-to-day basis, I got the deep peace, the exuberant joy, and lasting relationships that I had only read about in The Bible, but had never seen or experienced for long periods of time. I could go on and on about the gratefulness in my heart for God allowing me to find Remnant Fellowship and find this true relationship with Him!! God IS AMAZING!!! HE IS SO FUN!! HE IS THE TRUE GENUIUS!! HE IS SO PERSONAL!!! HE IS WORTH IT ALL!!!
Since the moment I met Jeff, we have had an instant connection. It was like we had been best friends for life… Jeff is truly the love of my life! He pursued God, pursued me, and has shown with his actions on a daily basis that God is first and that He will love others like himself. He is a servant and takes such good care of me and my daughter. He protects me. He is living to gain God’s approval over man’s and to make God smile. He truly is the man of my dreams. - Naomi
What I love about Jeff:
Since the moment I met Jeff, we have had an instant connection. It was like we had been best friends for life. We were averaging two to three hours of talking every day for months. I love that we can pray together, read the Bible together, read the many Remnant Resources together, laugh until our stomachs hurt together, grow together and many more things!!! Jeff is truly the love of my life! He pursued God, pursued me, and has shown with his actions on a daily basis that God is first and that He will love others like himself. He is a servant and takes such good care of me and my daughter. He protects me. He is living to gain God’s approval over man’s and to make God smile. He truly is the man of my dreams.
The Proposal:
Jeff did an amazing and perfect job in proposing to me. It was like a fairytale. He proposed at our Church, Remnant Fellowship, because he said it was/is our favorite place on earth, and we have leaned to love God with all our hearts here. Also, many pivotal moments in our relationship happened here, and we have gained some of the best friendships here!! He also included my daughter in the proposal and gave me a ring and her a pearl necklace!!! It was the sweetest thing ever. Then we got to celebrate what God has done with a few of our friends afterwards.
God truly is the genius match maker. James 1:17, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows.
