Details ...
Wedding Day!
Sunday, September 28, 2025
Prelude begins at 5:30pm Central Time
Wedding begins at 6:00pm Central Time
Wedding is Invitation-Only.
Driving Directions:
Remnant Fellowship Church
1230 Franklin Rd.
Brentwood, TN 37027
Wedding color:
Plum and Grey with hints of Lavender
Recommended Attire:
Semi-Formal
Registry Information:
Williams Sonoma and Amazon
Their Story...
Liam:
Having been a member of Remnant Fellowship since 2000, I have had the tremendous benefit of seeing the fruit of this body of selfless, like-minded believers. As I have grown to adulthood in this church, I have truly felt the difference in relationships that could be had under His guidance and will.
Maddie always helps me to find the positive and has strengthened my relationship with God in the way I approach situations. She helps me to find patience and perseverance, by not merely reminding me to be patient and kind, but by displaying it towards all those who get to meet her. My relationship with Maddie has been so blessed, and I love her even more now than at the beginning. - Liam
I grew up on a farm in Illinois near a tiny town. When I was 10, my parents, Dan and Robin, moved our family here to Tennessee to get closer to this church, but even more importantly, to be near the people here who care for and tend to one another’s needs whilst seeking God. Nowhere else have I encountered such selfless displays of purpose. This is something that matters to me very much - to not only have purpose, but a purpose in which people build one another up and give all glory to God.
When I was younger, early in Remnant, I struggled with anger and self-focus. This makes sense since to be angry, you must be self-focused enough to feel you deserve such a negative, draining disposition. The book of Corinthians speaks about its antithetic relationship with love, and I can concur that there was no room for love in my heart because I was too busy filling it with anger, resentment, and self-indulgence.
My parents, building off what they learned at Remnant, would always suggest that to get out of myself, I should find ways to serve that in no way directly benefited me. This allows for two processes to take place: firstly, I would have to get my mind on things other than myself, and secondly, I would be helping in God’s house, which we know leads to blessings when acts of service are done with love. At one point or another, I had been on the Tech Team, Trash Team, Decorating Team, Day Camp Setup/Take Down Team, Day Camp Junior Counselor, and the Remnant Moving Team. Before college, I had a lot of free time on my hands and my parents wanted to make sure I was participating in things that were encouraging and worthwhile. I am grateful that I have these opportunities to look back on and the people I was able to encounter and learn from along the way. All this made me who I am today—the teachings passed down by Gwen Lara and her ministry, my parents, other members—and because of all the aforementioned, I know how to have a relationship with God by praying through Jesus Christ.
I eventually found myself blessed with a very close, accountable-keeping group of friends here in the church. I love spending time with these people, whether we are playing board games or helping on the after-event kitchen cleanup team. And it was in those cherished moments where I would get to know and admire my now fiancé, Madeleine Kurtz.
Maddie was such a bright, fun, and genuine addition to my friend group and any group she became a part of. She has an exceptional serving and selfless nature with a singleness of mind for those she cares about. I cannot really pinpoint when and where the threshold for being only friends was broken, but I know I found her more and more endearing and admirable as each encounter ensued. I couldn’t ask for a better group of friends nor a best friend such as Maddie. She always helps me to find the positive and has strengthened my relationship with God in the way I approach situations. I always seek her advice on matters because she naturally makes big intimidating decisions more manageable, and she is able to look at problems and find solutions I would not have come to on my own. She helps me to find patience and perseverance, by not merely reminding me to be patient and kind, but by displaying it towards all those who get to meet her.
My relationship with Maddie has been so blessed, and I love her even more now than at the beginning, and that’s saying a lot because I have never felt that way before towards someone before. I look for ways to make her laugh, even if they’re cheap, dumb jokes, because seeing her smile and hearing her laugh is always worth it. I love her competitive spirit whilst it elegantly contrasts with her being so gentle and forgiving. Sometimes I feel like our hardest ordeals when dating were things like the cliché of just trying to get the other person to choose where they wanted to eat. She brings peace wherever she goes, and every moment I spend with her, I have more adoration for the things that make Maddie the love of my life.
I am grateful to everyone who has helped show me the path of righteousness by living it out and showing me mercy when I did not get things right the first, second, or third time. I cannot express enough gratitude to God for giving me a chance to live a life that can be more than the sum of its parts or face-value experiences. I cannot quantify the amount of love I feel for this church, its members, my friends, my family, the Kurtzes, my fiancé, and for God who has given me chance to even have any of these things; I am blessed every day I wake up. Maddie always reminds of how good we have it, even through difficult situations, by how she walks out her relationship with God, and she always pushes me to go further in servanthood.
Maddie:
My testimony begins before I was born, in 1997, when my mom, Jean Kurtz, began participating in Weigh Down while she was pregnant with me. By reading the Weigh Down Workshop book and putting the principles into practice, she discovered an incredible path towards true change and a lifelong relationship with God.
Liam has been the greatest answered prayer of my life, one I had long thought was not meant to be answered. The joy he brings me is immeasurable and indescribable. Liam is my best friend, most trusted confidante, and most cherished companion in life. I thank God every day for giving me someone so wonderful to share a life with. I pray we can live our lives full of commitment to God, service to His Church, and love for one another.- Maddie
A few years later in 2001, my parents (John and Jean Kurtz) made the decision to join Remnant Fellowship Church. I was a child during the early days of Remnant. I remember meeting people from all over the country, worshiping together in our homes in the days before the church building had even been constructed. I remember hearing Gwen Shamblin Lara preach sermons over conference call in my family’s living room. In 2004, my parents relocated from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Brentwood, Tennessee, to be closer to the church and all our amazing friends. There were times of testing, but there was also great joy, fellowship, and changed lives, and I consider it a privilege to grow up in this church.
However, in my late teens and early twenties, as young adults sometimes do, I began to feel increasingly disconnected from God. I struggled with my faith and began to fall into despair and depression. I wish I could say that I cried out to God during that time, but instead, I ran to the world, hoping that it would have the answers to my pain. To the contrary, as the years passed, my disillusionment only increased. In my career in the legal field, I witnessed immeasurable pain and sadness, dysfunction and despair, in so many people. After many years of disbelief, I finally cried out to God and began to pray again. I prayed that I could recognize the path forward, that I could truly change my heart and my ways, that I could seek forgiveness. I had an idea in my mind of what a “good and worthy life” was, and every time I imagined what that life was like (a life where God was at the center, where families were strong and loved each other, where people were seeking righteousness), my mind kept returning to what I had left behind at Remnant Fellowship Church.
I made the choice to return to Remnant. I did not expect it to be easy, as I knew I had many regrets for how I had left… yet I was welcomed back with open arms. All the bridges I thought I had burned were there for me to cross. I was home again. This time, I came with a heart that had been changed. My old spirit of self-focus, fear, and selfishness had been replaced by a desire to serve God and the church wherever I could. In church assemblies and events, I forged new relationships with wonderful friends. Side by side, we talked and shared as we washed dishes and swept and did our part to keep this wonderful church running. It was through serving on the After-Event Cleanup Committee that I became close to the man who would be my future husband, Liam Flahaven.
Though Liam and I had both been in Remnant Fellowship Church for over twenty years, our paths had never crossed. It was on the After-Event Kitchen Cleanup Committee that we were serving together for the first time, and it is eventually where we fell in love. As I helped organize crews, I quickly found that Liam was someone I could depend on. Every time I put out the call that I needed help, he would be there with his sleeves rolled up, ready to work.
Liam was electrifying to be around. His intelligence, warmth, incredible sense of humor, and ingenuity were all there to see. So was his deeper character, his heart of compassion and integrity. Throughout our relationship, he has continually shown his heart of service and deep love and commitment. He is unfailingly kind, thoughtful, gentle, loyal, and generous.
Meeting Liam (and now marrying him) has been the greatest answered prayer of my life, one I had long thought was not meant to be answered. The joy he brings me is immeasurable and indescribable. Liam is my best friend, most trusted confidante, and most cherished companion in life. I thank God every day for giving me someone so wonderful to share a life with. I pray we can live our lives full of commitment to God, service to His Church, and love for one another. I am deeply grateful to this church, Gwen Shamblin Lara, and Elizabeth Kauffman for sharing this teaching with us and for the opportunity to be married in this church.
