Kraig and Allison moved to Ithaca the summer of 2023 as Allison started law school at Cornell. On the second or third Sunday at BG, Caleb Yu invited them to the Young Professionals and Young Families small group that meets at their house on Saturdays. The first week they attended, the group read-aloud forty chapters of Isaiah on the deck outside in 50-degree weather. Instead of scaring them off, the McFaddens dug in their heels for the next two and a half years, being slowly transformed by the consistent study of Isaiah and other books. The gathering of this group, its members often late to arrive and always dawdling on their way out, created a sacred place of Sabbath rest.
During the sermon a few Sundays later, Allison stood up and interrupted Pastor Matt (leading to the provision of the 607-233-0171 number). With this mulish moment, God kickstarted a partnership. Pastor Matt (and Katie Winkler) spent the better part of their Saturday evenings fielding the tough questions of deconstructing Christian law students; as only he can, Pastor Matt could walk into a room of strangers and explain the doctrine of predestination without a stutter. (Later, this forum became Quandary Conversations.) With the support of the church, during her service with the Christian Legal Society at the law school, Allison witnessed two law students come to Christ.
After a rich three years with BG, the McFaddens planned their move back to Kraig’s hometown of Franklin, Vermont. The people of Vermont are much like that of Upstate New York—independent, proud, and sharp-minded— but Northern Vermont does not have the religious legacy that pockets like Ithaca have. It seems that God has presented the opportunity for the couple to think more missionally about their faith. They ask for prayer to remain faithful and undeterred by exile to Babylon, that their children grow strong in the Lord, and Allison also asks for prayer to adjust to what will be a very different place from where she grew up.
Kraig and Allison: Thank you so much, church family! We love you and will miss you!
