It all starts the summer going into sixth grade. My dad, Corey Schwarz, got a job at Gateway and we moved from Spring Branch, TX to South Austin. Middle School through High School my faith fluctuated, I mostly went to church out of obligation and also because I am an extreme extrovert and I love to be around people and make friends. As time went on, I started to become more interested in having an actual relationship with Jesus, and not just going to church because it felt like the thing to do. I knew that God was real and that He loved me, but was struggling in the tension between wanting to do my own thing and be like everyone else, and wanting to have relationship with Jesus and pursue Him in my life. In 2013, this girl moved to Austin because one of her parents had gotten a job at Gateway. Through Gateway, God brought me that girl, Laney Overholt, who is now my best friend. I tried my best in high school, babysitting for all of our church friends. Spending parts of my summers doing missions abroad. Doing my best to look and act like what I thought a “godly woman” should be and pursue God to the best of my understanding. Fast forward a few years, I went away to college. I stopped going to Gateway. I stopped really thinking about God in general. I was tired of acting like I thought I should act. There were people around me doing whatever they wanted whenever they wanted and they seemed to be having the time of their lives- and I wanted to have that same experience. So, things got a little out of hand. Ending up in toxic relationships, abusing substances, leaving my family and telling them I didn’t need them anymore. All the things I thought were supposed to be fun, but I ended up alone, depressed, high, and crying. I never thought I’d end up in that place. But I felt God telling me, “go home”. I was so embarrassed, I didn’t think I could. I didn’t think I deserved to go home, and I didn’t think my family would want me to come back. But I felt again just this push that it was time to go home, so I texted my mom, Jamie Schwarz, who is Gateway South’s Women’s Recovery and NextGen Pastor, and asked her to let me come home. She didn’t even skip a beat, she showed me such grace and welcomed me home. It was a weird and hard transition, but all I knew was that I had tried to do life my way and I hated it. I wanted to follow Jesus with my whole heart, and not only that, I wanted to share with others the freedom that following Jesus can bring to life and that we don’t have to do life alone. I was nervous to go back to Gateway, I was scared that people would judge me for the things I’d done or be disappointed in me for not being the perfect Christian girl. But, every single person who I’d known at Gateway just responded to my return with overwhelming love and acceptance. I felt like I had been missed. I felt like I had come home. I moved to Nicaragua for the summer and then when I came back, I decided I wanted to pursue ministry and help share the joy and freedom I’d found in Jesus with others. I applied and was accepted into Gateway’s Leadership Development Program, where people challenged me, poured into me, and built me up. I got involved in a recovery group at Gateway’s Central Campus, lead by Emily Sledge and Kimmy Short, that has helped me develop tools on how to move through hurts and hard circumstances. I had so many mentors and people who impacted my life, including Shaula Overholt, Jesse Sampson, Robb Overholt, Chris Parker, the list goes on and on. I was challenged in that program to do things I never thought I was capable of doing. I graduated the LDP in June of this year (2018) and joined Gateway’s Staff July 1, 2018 as the North Campus NextGen Prep and Production Coordinator, and gave my first message to Gateway’s Student Ministry, One Eighty, last Sunday!
God has used Gateway to shape and mold such important parts of my life, whether it be a place to grow and discover Jesus, a place that gave me connections to explore, a place of refuge, a connecting point to so many of my life long friends, a place full of people willing to challenge me and walk alongside me. He never seems to fail at providing what I need, and my family at Gateway was one of those things. I am so thankful for Gateway, and the people here who have impacted my life. And I am so excited for the next 20 years:)