An Open Letter to my Former Church

I love this body of believers. You have carried me through my darkest days. You have held up my arms when I was too weak for battle. You have loved my daughters well. You served my family. You cared for my broken heart. You surrounded us when we walked through the valleys of the shadow of death. You’ve wept with us, mourned with us, prayed with us, cried with us, worshiped with us, rejoiced with us, and celebrated with us. You are a precious body of believers. 

My Pleasant Valley family, 

One year ago I sat at Marla's kitchen island, as I've done so many times before, and she told me: "You'll have to grieve leaving. You may not know it right now, but this is going to be harder than you realize." Still, I didn't know just how hard this would be.

I love this body of believers. You have carried me through my darkest days. You have held up my arms when I was too weak for battle. You have loved my daughters well. You served my family. You cared for my broken heart. You surrounded us when we walked through the valleys of the shadow of death. You’ve wept with us, mourned with us, prayed with us, cried with us, worshiped with us, rejoiced with us, and celebrated with us. You are a precious body of believers. 

I think I feel a little of what Paul felt when he was writing to the church in Philippi.

“I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now. I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Indeed, it is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart, and you are all partners with me in the grace… For God is my witness, how deeply I miss all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.”

I understand Paul’s deep love and affection for that church because I feel it myself for our church. I took my commitment as a member of Pleasant Valley seriously. I took my role of authentically leading you in worship before the throne of our King seriously. I do not leave this incredibly important part of my life without great mourning and sadness, even though I know God has called me somewhere else.
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I am so proud of this church and what you are doing for the Kingdom in Liberty, Kansas City, and beyond the borders of our own country. You look at what is happening in the world around us and do your best to be a part of change, modeling Jesus’ love for all people and all nations. You are not so stuck in your traditions that you cannot move as you feel God leading you to do new and different things. You are not so set in your ways that you don’t allow space for the growth that comes as you deepen your relationship with the Lord. You are actively seeking God and striving to make disciples.

I’ve recently heard that a good question to ask a church is this: “If this church were to be gone tomorrow, what holes would it leave in the community?” I can say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that our community would have many holes. Pleasant Valley has become a cornerstone of Liberty. You do far more than anyone realizes because your members are so activated that they serve in many unique and undetectable ways.

You have a group of women who sew exquisite quilts for people in our community entering hospice care or babies who are in the NICU. Their ability to use their unique talents to both literally and figuratively wrap entire families in prayer makes this ministry a unique one, although many don't even know they exist until they receive a blanket themselves.

You care deeply about racial reconciliation and actively demonstrate that by serving in the urban core. But you don’t just donate money and dust your hands of the hard work. No - members volunteer their time and talents to serve in the urban core at Urban Christian Academy and with houseless people at Hope Faith Ministries. You helped UCA renovate their new building, collected coats for scholars and their families, and go into the classrooms to mentor, train, and serve these incredible young citizens.

There are members of Pleasant Valley that volunteer at Liberty Women’s Clinic, not only fighting for the lives of the unborn, but caring for the souls of scared and hurting women. From raising money by running in races to helping throw baby showers for soon-to-be single mamas, you are actively fighting for all stages of life, not just the lives of the unborn.

You work hard to help people have a second chance at creating the lives God wants them to live by volunteering with Hillcrest Hope Ministries. Community groups volunteer in our local Hillcrest thrift store or decorate apartments to ready them for new family members. I have had the blessing of getting to live across the street from Liberty's Hillcrest apartments - I’m watching their lawn being mowed as I write. I get to hear children laughing and playing, I get to pray over the work being done within those walls. I’m so thankful this church works with ministries like Hillcrest and I'm thankful for the church members we have who have firsthand knowledge of the blessing Hillcrest is because they got to walk through the program.

You have many who serve in the Cars Ministry where they bless single mamas and others by working on their cars, offering free oil changes, and more for no cost. There are also members at Pleasant Valley who choose to donate their cars instead of selling them or trading them in, so Pleasant Valley can give cars away to families in need. Many of you don't know this - but I was one of those families. You gave my daughters and me a mini-van that has met so many needs. Thank you.

There is a group of women that volunteer to prepare and serve food when someone in our church family or our community passes away. It doesn't matter if someone was a member of our church or not, they are there, loving families when they are walking through deep grief, or even still numb from the pain. You don't shy away from stepping into people's pain with them.

The way this church steps into the pain its members are experiencing will never cease to amaze me. When many people flinch, turn away, or run in the opposite direction as quickly as they can - you don't. You go into the tragedies, you surround the sick and grieving, you clean up the messes caused by trauma, you do laundry, mow lawns, bring food, step in with financial guidance and support, buy groceries, adopt families for Christmas, ensure safety, provide mental health support through therapy, and so much more.

Pleasant Valley's roots are deep and wide.

There is much more that you do - and this I know - Kingdom work is being done through Pleasant Valley. You are not just a mega church. You are not a group of people who put on a facade every week, gather, sing a few songs then pat yourselves on the back when you place your checks in the offering plates (Gosh, you don't even have offering plates anymore - #covid). You are a group of imperfect people who do real life with one another. You call your family members to repentance and to live holy lives while Christ sanctifies us. You bring meals when life is hard, you sit in the hospital waiting rooms, you welcome new babies, you mourn when people pass away, you cry in the chairs on a Sunday morning, you rejoice when someone chooses to follow Jesus for the first time. And you get out and do the dirty work of loving people well. You live in the messy middle of grace. You take people as they are and love people where they’re at and show Jesus’ love so well. You are welcoming and accepting of everyone, and give space for the Holy Spirit to do His work while we share the Gospel again and again and again.

I am so proud. I'm proud that this is the body of believers sending me off to another church. This is the body of believers I have praying for me and supporting me, even while I'm not actively with you any more. I am so proud of the Kingdom work being done within the walls - and even better, outside of the walls of Pleasant Valley Baptist Church.

May your love keep growing and may the Lord continue His good work in you.

I love you.

Kendra LeeAnne