Agape Moms Tehaleh was in such an exciting season of growth before 2020 hit and halted our gatherings all together. As I look back, I see how God was writing the story all along even though I felt panicked at times. God has a way of making much out of small things, even though as humans, we want to see big things, and to stick to a plan we can see. The quarantine canceled all of our foreseeable plans and left us alone, suddenly distanced from our community. But God loves to start with a small seed planted in faith, little steps of faithfullness, desperate prayers in quiet closets- he is in the business of sprouting miracles out of the soil of brokenness, and he sure did this during quarantine in Agape Moms Tehaleh!

Agape Moms Tehaleh was still a baby when quarantine hit, being less than a year old. We launched back In May 2019, only a few months before. It was such an amazing time to watch God unite believers and those wanting to know more about Jesus in our neighborhood.

We had already been experiencing growing pains heading into the pandemic. We were running out of space to gather and needing more leaders to train. This caused a bit of a logistical nightmare when trying to decide how many homes we needed on the eve of the group each week. I call these “growing pains” because when we get this big, as hard as it is, it’s time to “birth” new groups. But if you’ve ever been in that situation, nobody wants to split! When we get comfortable with our amazing tribe, it’s easy to forget that God wants us to be living on mission for His glory, always making room for more.

At the beginning of 2020 God was really tugging on my heart to leave these dear friends of mine and start another Agape Moms morning group, making room for more women and children to hear the gospel. While this was really hard for me personally, being new to WA state and these being my only friends, I’m so glad that a few of us took this leap together and opened another Agape Moms group. It truly set the tone for what was to come during quarantine.

Blessing Bags for the homeless, November 2019

At the time this seemed like such a big deal and a big move, but I think God was just preparing us all for what was to come! (Spoiler alert- we’d be multiplying into way smaller groups than just two in just a few months!) It’s so tempting to stay in our comfort zones in life, but when we allow God’s mission and the gospel to propel us, we will never be disappointed! I look back now on the ways God stretched our comfort zones with sheer joy.

Agape Moms NEW Tuesday morning group January 2020

Agape Moms Thursday morning group, January 2020

When the lockdowns started in March 2020, it felt like a slap in the face. Our two morning groups were doing so well and growing, but now we had to stop gathering. However, we stayed connected in zoom meetups, a Marco Polo chat, and drive in meetups in parking lots. WA had very strict lock down measures and many were uncomfortable meeting in person for health concerns and because this was not legal at the time, while others wanted to resume regular gatherings as soon as possible.

For me personally in leadership, this was one of the most challenging times of my life. I had never faced something like this before and it really threw me off my usual plan of Agape Moms ministry that I had been doing for the past few years. I had to prayerfully make the best decision for our group as a whole while also taking the brunt of many peoples differing opinions and their feelings during a very stressful time that we were all facing. I know this was everyone’s struggle in leadership, and that I wasn’t alone in this.

Thankfully God never wastes a hardship! God used this to more deeply root me in the gospel. As a recovering people pleaser, God used these trials to push me to make my identity in Christ alone. He asked me, “does people’s approval of you dictate whether or not you’ll serve me faithfully?” My answer was of course no, I’ll serve you no matter what! When we look at scripture and Christ himself, God’s servants were often not agreed with or liked by everyone, so this cannot be a prerequisite to do what God is calling us to do. I think the challenges from covid stretched everyone to be in prayer when engaging with our polarized world and ministries, full of grace, love and unity at heart. I can see how the enemy was trying to destroy the church’s unity during this unique season of life. BUT GOD would only use it, I think, to show us all our need to fight for biblical community all the more.

I don’t know about you, but I am not a big zoom or video chatting person and my heart yearned for real connection again! I know God didn’t create us to connect on a screen, and that was always my heart behind starting Agape Moms to begin with, getting women away from their screens and into real life on life relationships.

Thankfully, God was going to get us back to his design in for community by first showing us our deep need for it and making us hungry for it by taking it away for a season. I’m so glad I had been planning the Agape Moms summer retreat and while it remained up in the air due to covid, we decided to go when there was a short break in the allowance of numbers for gatherings. We all desperately needed it!

The Agape Moms retreat, Rest In Christ was a breath of fresh air for mamas who had been missing gatherings together for months! So much spiritual energy went into this from me personally, debating on whether we should go or not, organizing it all during a pandemic, putting together a devotional and making T-shirt’s- it was all out of the desire to forge Christ-centered community during such a lonely time. My favorite part was that every mom who went was on a team to make our weekend happen, from meal team, devo team, worship, hike team, activity team and even a bonfire team! No one came to be served but we all served one another. It was such a sweet time of fellowship that showed us all how much we desperately needed community and how much we longed to be able to gather again legally and safely in our state of WA.

As the fall of 2020 approached, we knew we needed to figure out a way to gather again. The government continued to put pressure on us not to gather, as schools and businesses remained closed, and the new number 5 was the max you were allowed to gather with at any time, while such guidelines were wildly different in other states. We discussed going forward with our old way of “bring your mess” with all of the kids, but many people would not be comfortable attending, because of health concerns, legal concerns and especially since everyone’s kids were home from school, it would just not be wise.

Even though we wanted to go forward, I decided to postpone Agape Moms indefinitely for the sake of unity with the varying opinions and desires. BUT GOD dropped the idea of Tiny Tribes in my heart 48 hours after I had decided this, just to remind me that this was his story and his plan all along. I wasn’t sure if the ladies would like the idea since I knew we longed to be back together in a big group so much, but God gave me confidence to move forward because of the work he had been doing in my heart to follow his lead no matter what others thought. I’m happy to report that everyone ended up absolutely loving their Tiny Tribe and it was what we all really needed to get through the rest of the year on lockdown.

Tiny Tribes were groups of 5-8 women who were placed together based upon their preferences of day/time and whether they were comfortable with kids or not. Almost all 5 Tiny Tribes opted for evening with no kids, which was a treat in and of itself! It was impossible to make a decision about gathering without these customized Tiny Tribes, but isn’t it so like God to make a way when there seems like there’s no way, and a way that also made even more space for new women to join and grow in the gospel?! When we continue to pray and pursue Christ and his purposes, he always makes a way! I hope this encourages some women out there on the fence about starting an Agape Moms or a neighborhood Bible study right now, the need for gospel-centered community is wired into all of us and God will guide you, don’t give way to fear or criticism, just keep taking the next step he gives you.

Tiny Tribes ended up being such a gift to all of the women of Agape Moms Tehaleh. While larger groups are so wonderful, and we love to see all of the mamas and kiddos, the smaller groups enabled us to go so much deeper in relationship and fellowship with Christ. To make it even sweeter, we were doing the study Gospel-Centered Community by Thune + Walker, which really set the tone and vision of God’s design for community so beautifully.

The other amazing thing about Tiny Tribes is that they were small enough to be the perfect size to grow! Each tiny tribe experienced significant growth over the next year. You’ll be hearing some of the stories from our Tiny Tribes in the coming weeks.

If there’s anything God showed me during this extremely challenging season of life and leadership, it’s to keep your eyes on Jesus, never stop pursuing His mission {to love God + others + make disciples,} and that He will always show you the next step, but never the full picture. We may never get to see the fruit of our labor until heaven, but I’m so grateful he gave each of the Agape Moms of Tehaleh a glimmer of hope, rich friendships and an ever growing ministry despite the pandemic ruining our “big” plans- God has a way of making much out of small things. A seed planted in faith, little steps of faithfullness, desperate prayers in quiet closets- He sees it all and He makes all things beautiful in His timing!

March 2021- Farewell to me and the kids before moving to TN, and 1st large play date in a year!

Exactly one year after the pandemic shut us down in March 2020, my husband got a promotion moving us from WA to the Nashville area in March 2021. I felt incredible peace sensing our time here had come to a close after 3 years, and resting in Christ knowing I had accomplished what I felt him calling me to do by planting an Agape Moms missional community alongside many other amazing women of God!

Saxon Condon has taken over as the Agape Moms Tehaleh leader and is doing an incredible job as a gospel shepherd! The ministry is exploding and I can’t wait for her to share on the blog later this summer about all the things God has been doing since March 2021.

As we continue this series, I hope it highlights our wonderful, loving God who is sovereign in all things, both the good and the bad, and that he truly does use them all for the good of those who love him and have been called according to HIS purposes (not ours.)

Agape Moms Tehaleh Galentines MNI, February 2020

I want to ask every mom who is reading this to consider how God might use YOU to gather other women under the banner of Jesus to speak the hope of the gospel into the dark and messy places of life and motherhood.

Agape Moms can help equip you! There’s a 7 session training that will equip you to make disciples as you live on mission in everyday messy mom life. Reach out and let’s start the conversation!

Laura DiLeonardi

*Founder of Agape Moms*
Laura is married to her Bible-college sweetheart of 10+ years, has three kiddos, and is a self-professed "hotmess rescued by Jesus." She loves hiking and exploring God’s creation, homeschooling her kids, running, writing and speaking. Laura's passion is seeing lives continually transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus radically transformed her life in high school, and sent her on a wild ride of loving God and others ever since. Since graduating from Moody Bible Institute with a BA in ministry in 2008, she's been part of various ministries, served in multiple leadership positions, and in 2018, took the vision that God gave her for her local Agape Moms and put it into website form. Her mission here is equipping moms to make disciples as they live on mission in everyday, messy mom-life.

Agape Moms Tehaleh’s Story: God’s Faithfulness in Quarantine