Jen Wilshire

Elder

Jen Wilshire.  I have been trying to walk with Christ since I was seven years old.  While I have had varying degrees of success with this at different points in my journey, I can now honestly say that my relationship with Christ is the foundation of my life.  In fact, I can't imagine trying to make it our world without the hope that Christ gives me.  I grew up in several cities in the Midwest and my family moved to Denver when I was in high school.  My dad was an atheist and my mom was a strong believer who took me and my sister to church with her each Sunday.  I saw that there were multiple paths available to each one of us and am grateful that God has been faithful to me and never let me wander too far from his reach.  After college I wanted my life to make a difference so I went to Denver Seminary and received an MA in Counseling hoping to help people, particularly the urban poor. However, I ended up taking a job in the business world and worked in PR and Marketing for several years before having children.  I now live in Denver with my husband, Christopher, and our two phenomenal daughters.  While my family is the heartbeat of my life, I also treasure being part of community and consider it a privilege to serve you as an elder at Restoration.  You can usually find me on my laptop doing freelance market research work or schlepping my kids to soccer practice and other activities.  When I get a free moment I try to seize every opportunity to savor Colorado's great outdoors by running, hiking, snowboarding or biking with friends or family.

Why am I at Restoration?  First, because I love the environment that Ron and Nanci are creating: a culture defined by authenticity and grace.  It reminds me of a church I was once part of where the leaders said that if we as humans are like cars, then the church should be a body shop rather than a showroom.  We all get dents and dings (and sometimes totaled) by life and we need a place where we can go dents and all - to be repaired and restored.  You don't have to have it all together before you come to church.   Restoration is a safe place where you can come as you are -  to explore, and hopefully experience, the hard to fathom and often incomprehensible idea that the God of the universe loves us with a crazy-kind of love.  Second, I am jazzed by Restoration's focus on making a difference in this world through service.  I love that we're getting to know one another by working together collecting medical supplies for Haiti, creating care packages for servicemen and serving chili to homeless folks downtown. I love that my kids are by my side and will grow knowing that "church" is not just as a nice place they go to to sing songs and learn about God (which they do), but even more, it's being part of a community that loves God and actually has fun serving together and and trying to bring hope and healing to a hurting world.

Restoration Community Church Denver