My dad was an atheist, my mom a Christian, but we went to church on Sundays because it was the thing to do in the suburbs of Kansas City when your dad owned a business and was on the city council.

(ABOVE: Me and my oldest son Tyler in Florida for Army-Navy-Air Force-Marines soccer)

Other than a horrible experience being forced to attend chapel at a fundamentalist Nazarene college my freshman year in 1986, I didn't go to any church in particular again until 2000.

I was 33 years old when I discovered Pathways Church in Denver, CO.

Since then I have called a few different churches home, but most importantly I have found a community of people who are "real" people. People who (usually) aren't trying to be "good enough" to go to church or be someone's friend, but who instead are sharing their hearts, and their true selves. This authentic community is by no means perfect or for that matter even always authentic, but at least it is for the most part "self aware" that it is not perfect. In other words-most of us seem to know that we are imperfect and when we are reminded we may actually take the plank out of our own eye first!

As I "outgrew" Pathways Church I was called to help Ron Johnson and others start Restoration Community Church. Pathways is still a good church it is just a little more geared towards younger (ouch) singles and I need a place for my family to grow. We still have all ages but we have a strong family community and we are a little bit more diverse in terms of the ages of the people who attend our church.

At Restoration Community Church in Denver I have found another community of "post-modern Christians" openly struggles with trying live the life God wants them to live every day. Some are "new" Christians, but many are people who had un-fulfilling Christian experiences like I did. Like me, they wanted something more. We wanted a way of life rather than a "faith" where you "clocked in and out" on Sundays and ignored the rest of the week.

In fact, myself and many others I have met in this community have had such negative perceptions of Christians growing up that some of us have a hard time even being called "Christians". Rather, like the first followers of Christ we would rather just be called believers in "The Way", or people trying to live in "the way of Christ". I don't speak for everyone, and I have found that there are many more "good Christians" in the world than what is portrayed in the media. The fallen, broken Christians we see in the public eye who seem to focus their lives on judging others while being involved in drugs, infidelity, saying hateful things about others or even worse are not the "norm".

Most Christians I have met over the last 10 years have been imperfect people just like non-Christians, who realize they cannot make it through life on their own. Like everyone else they need the love and support of a community of people. On top of that discovering that there is a God who loves them makes life in this world seem like a blessing, even when it is difficult-which for many of us it often is.

I found this community at Pathways Church in Denver, Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis, Celebration Church in Denver and most recently here at Restoration Community Church. One thing I love of about this community is that like the most well-received Christians over the last 2,000 years it tries to make serving and loving others a part of its DNA. We serve not just as men's groups, or women's groups or high school groups, but as a community of singles, married people, parents, grandparents and children who serve each other and others together.

I witnessed a 3 year old girl helping to make a burrito for the first homeless service project we did as a church last December. If you are looking for a good, honest and imperfect community that is trying every day to live in the way of Jesus-love others and ourselves as God loves us, them come join us. It might be the community you have needed.

We hope to be a community that shows you the authentic love of God. If you care to go grab a cup of coffee, lunch or a beer, feel free to give me a call at 720-985-7945. If you care to read more about me or my family here are some resources:

Personal Blog: www.iStratford.com
Business Website: www.IntegrityROI.com
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God Bless...

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 Denver Church Worship Times

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