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Charis Buell

I will forever be a small-town Nebraska girl, and God was very much a part of my childhood there. Jesus was frequently on my Mom’s lips in song and scriptures, and our church was a place of happiness, singing, and good Bible teaching. When just a wee tot I ‘asked Jesus to come into my heart,’ but in following years had episodes where I felt the need to re-do that commitment ‘just in case.’This inner uncertainty partially came from a longing to know God’s for-real, relational presence in my life; I remember being dissatisfied with answers I would get to my spiritual questions, even later as I attended Moody Bible Institute.

Even though I’d always been heavily involved in music and got my Masters in Piano at Roosevelt U.’s CCPA, I was quite sure I would never dochurchmusic. ..Uh-huh. Yep. A really great pastor’s wife sneakily got me involved, and I began to discover the joy of worship ministry. Sherilyn also invited me to my first Bob Webber conference, and I was hooked.

That whole world of historical liturgical worship, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the presence of Christ, really opened up for our family when Jesus brought us to Church of the Resurrection in 2005. I couldn’t believe how my questions and longings one by one found resolution in the Trinity. Immanuel Prayer also became a way the Father transformed old patterns and woundings, and I have been an IP facilitator for eight years now.

Gary and I have two daughters, Hattie (married to John Raines) and Hester, who live in Chicago.