Jesus' Church: Cody & Tara Bertram
The Bertrams are a part of the Benbrook City Group, serve with PRDX Kids, and attend the 5pm gathering on Sundays. This is their story from the past year and a half. This is what Jesus is doing in his church. 
My wife Tara and I had been attending The Paradox for about a month when our son Jude was born. Since then, Christ has wrecked us with His love, provision, and care for His people. We have seen this most clearly in our City Group. When the Benbrook City Group was first launched, there were three couples with boys under the age of one. It has been almost a year now, and the boys are playing together, attempting to share (or steal) toys, and getting into everything. It’s noisier, busier, and messier than ever, and God’s grace has never been more real.The Spirit has grown us through His church more in the last 12 months than any other time in our lives. Shepherding our son in and with the church has made three truths about Christ’s Church beautifully real: 1) we are on mission together, 2) we will succeed, and 3) Christ desires us to be in community. We are on mission to fill every crevice of the earth with God’s glory, just “as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).
“we are on mission together, we will succeed, and Christ desires us to be in community”
Parenting can be overwhelming, and shepherding a little heart to love Jesus can feel impossible. Yet every week we are reminded of why Christ gave us the Church; we are on mission together. Christ has shown Tara and me that His church isn’t just an event we attend weekly; it is a mission to spread His fame with our brothers and sisters. In the past, we were accustomed to the routine of attending church on Sunday, filling in the blanks of the sermon outline in the church bulletin, and going home. Sure, we would help with Sunday school or an outreach project, but the level of commitment and community did not always run deep.
We are learning to live in community with each other—a family of believers with messy, sinful lives, but redeemed by God’s love and grace. We have been encouraged that the mission we are a part of will succeed: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD” (Habakkuk 2:14). No matter how imperfectly we love and serve each other over the years, God will fill the earth. We are filled with hope as we live day to day in community with our City Group; we are all on the same mission with our young sons and Christ is continually conforming us to His image.
“We are learning to repent often and to sacrificially share our lives with others”
Living in community is both difficult and refreshing. We are all marred by sin and our selfish desires cause division and isolation. It has been difficult learning to become vulnerable with those in our City Group and Discipleship Groups. The fear of rejection, the feeling that we have failed Christ, and wanting to put on an air of knowing what the heck we are doing at times has prevented us from laying bare our hearts before fellow Believers. We are learning to repent often and to sacrificially share our lives with others. In all of this difficulty, Tara and I have found joy in fighting sin in community. The more we share our lives with God’s people, the more we have been able to rest in who Christ is and what He has done.
