Big News from the Shelton's...

We’re proud to inform you of a new addition to the Awaken family, arriving later this year. In other words, we (the Shelton’s) are going to have a baby! We’re both so excited to share this news with each of you and have already experienced a tremendous amount of joy telling our family and our church community in recent days. In short, we ask for your prayers over our pregnancy through the coming months, as we look forward to updating you on our progress along the way (more details below)!

a season of ‘giving birth’

For those of you who have known us for a while, you would have thought it would take a trip to Disney World for this to actually happen (one of Molly’s previous stipulations before starting a family). And as exciting as this has been for both of us so far, it already seems to be such a surreal experience. On February 14th, I awoke to the words, “I think you’re going to be a daddy.” I’m not sure I had more than 10 words all day – which is totally opposite to how I thought I’d react. To consider the responsibility that comes with raising a child – not to mention to responsibility of ultimately pointing this child back to his or her Creator – I’ve honestly found myself as a ‘dad-to-be’ feeling a bit overwhelmed at times. Yet, what a blessing that God would entrust and appoint parents (whether biological, adoptive, etc.) with such a great responsibility of raising HIS children.

The parallel of giving birth to both a child and a church is something I’ve obviously thought a lot about over the last few weeks. It’s something so significant, that it simply cannot be overlooked. I’ve heard from so many people, including many of you, about how exciting the coming days will be and what a tremendous learning experience this will be for us to grow personally. Yet, I’m also reminded how both are responsibilities, blessings on loan from God. And it is our deep and passionate desire to be the best stewards we can be of both, first to our child, and then to our church.

I write you today with loads of humility, as a father-to-be who has so much to learn. And I believe, as I’ve heard many times before, that the 9-months of development aren’t so much for the baby as they are for the preparation of the parents. So it is with that same humility that we earnestly need and ask for your prayers for the growth and development of our church community, our baby-on-the-way, and for us as new parents over the coming days.