During their time at a Mars Hill campus church, Ashley and Andrew both experienced and witnessed how a toxic church culture can impact everyone it touches.

And after they left Mars Hill, they did their best to reconcile fractured relationships and apologize for their own complicity in upholding the unhealthy church culture.

So when they started talking to their friend, Pastor D, who also left Mars Hill, about

joining him when he planted a church in Los Angeles, they were full of excitement and optimism.

This was an opportunity to help create a healthy church from the ground up.

They did not have jobs when they packed up their two kids

and sold most of their belongings

and took the long drive from Seattle to Los Angeles.

But they believed in their souls

that this was the faith that God calls us to,

leaving all we know to follow Jesus and serve his church.

When they arrived in Los Angeles, they lived in a small one-bedroom apartment, close to Pastor D

and the community they wanted to serve. They knew this was going to be hard work, but they were

ready. However, when they showed up to their first service, they were both surprised by the

resources and families that were already there. It didn't seem like a month-old church plant

that was in desperate need of volunteers. A month into their time in L.A., there was a traumatic

event that made them question Pastor Dee and why they sacrificed everything

to move to LA.

Pastor Dee encouraged them to stay because he warned how the devil could use this event

to divide the church.

Ashley and Andrew were conflicted, but they agreed to stay and remain silent in order not

to side with the devil.

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