Carole Wood gave this testimonial address during the Annual State of the Church service in February 2003. Her faith, compassion, and embracement of diversity has touched many people here.

Last year was probably the hardest time of my life in many ways, but it ended up being the best year of my life. I found my church - Open Door.

For the past several months my son Jerry and I have lived together. I asked him to move in with me after his bouts of severe depression left him completely broken, not even caring if he lived. No one, not even I will probably ever know the utter hell he went through. All I could do for him was offer him a place to stay, let him know how much I loved him, try to get him some professional help, cook the meals, just keep working, pay the bills, just take one day at a time. And of course pray a lot. It was a very lonely time for both of us. But slowly he started feeling better about life. The depression was starting to lift. I was seeing a smile now and then.

Then one night I came home from work and the look on Jerry’s face told me something was terribly wrong. He told me, "Mom I found out today that I’m HIV positive."

There are no words to describe my reaction. I think I just went into shock. Now, I’m a nurse and I know HIV is not the death sentence it used to be, but I also know about medications and their side effects and some meds work, some don’t. I didn’t know how severe he was. Would he be able to tolerate the medications? How would family and friends react?

Finally, after the shock sort of wore off I told Jerry "Well this is something neither of us can fix. This is something only God can fix so we just have to put this in God’s hands and truly believe", and that’s just what we did.

Also, some time later I told Jerry that I really believed that although this is not something anyone would wish for, it could and I believe would lead to blessings in our lives. Well what happened after that is nothing short of a miracle.

Now I had been looking for a church for several months - after years of being out of church - but I knew I just could not sit and listen to another sermon about "those terrible homosexuals." But I have always felt the presence of the Lord in my life and sort of had my own "little religion" and was pretty much resigned to the fact that I might not find a real church with other Christians who believed as I do - that God made us all just as we are - gay, straight, black, white in His image and that he loves us all just the way we are.

Then one day out of the blue Jerry told me he wanted to start going to church. His friend Jon went to a church in Sherwood. It was open to everyone, all inclusive, and he felt like it would be a comfortable place for him. I was thrilled. The he asked "Mom would you go with me?" After some hesitation I said "Sure I will go to support you."

So we came to Open Door and rest is history. I knew the minute I stepped inside this beautiful place it was special. The Spirit of the Lord was taking my breath away. I’ve never known such love and peace in my life. All of you came with open arms to welcome us. You will never know how much Jerry and I needed that.

But it has not been easy since we’ve started coming to church. Jerry was getting sicker and sicker physically. We thought it was the side effects of all his medications and would be just a matter of adjusting the medications to proper doses. And of course we all prayed.

One day in the wee hours of the morning I heard Jerry moaning in terrible pain, so bad he could not stand up. I called 911 and sent him to the hospital by ambulance.

Then I called Randy (crying as usual) I will never forget the prayer that Randy prayed, not only for Jerry but for me to be able to calm down and do the things I had to do. Those prayers were answered. Jerry had to have gall bladder surgery. Later the doctor told me it was the worst gall bladder she had ever seen with all the "gangrene." If it had continued untreated he probably would have died. This was what was making Jerry so sick - not the HIV meds. Now Jerry is doing so much better and wonderful things are starting to happen in his life.

My daughter Jayme has also visited Open Door and it is her church and Randy is her pastor even though she lives in Nashville Tennessee. She and Randy talk from time to time and pray for each other.

My dear friend and co-worker Donald was one of the first ones I called when I found out about Jerry’s illness and he has been there for us. He would call often to check on us and let us know he would always be there if we needed him. How was I to know that sometime later Donald would be calling me when his life was shattered with personal loss and sadness. But I was able to tell him about Open Door and invited him to come. He did and has been coming ever since and will be joining our church soon.

I love Open Door and vow today to support it in any way I can. We are truly family here. I’ve often wondered how best I could serve my God and my church and I feel in my heart - maybe just be a mom or friend to anyone who needs one. I’ll be here - I love you.