Did you know a U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist calls Friends Church home? Annie Drews, who attends Friends Church Orange, won Gold as a member of our women’s volleyball team in Tokyo.
Annie is again eyeing Gold in this summer’s Paris Olympics. She relies on her church home to connect her with a community that supports her dreams and keeps her firmly grounded in Christ. Recently, she shared her amazing story with us in a special Q & A interview:
Explain how your relationships at Friends and your faith have grounded you as you play for club teams overseas.
“I began going to Friends on and off in 2017. (I’m only in town half the year and live overseas the other half.) I didn’t get really connected until my husband Tanner joined a serve team and Life Group in 2021. When I came home, I joined that same Life Group and it felt like an answered prayer.
After years of competing and traveling during a global pandemic and living overseas, I had been desperately asking God and searching for ways to make community outside of my teammates. Friends gave me friends who knew me for who I am outside of my vocation, and provided my husband and I with a community that knew us as a couple.”
Where did you see God working through this experience?
“I have always had a deep affinity toward the local community and being involved wherever God has me in the world, whether it’s getting to know my neighbors, local restaurateurs or team fans in whatever city I am in. Seeing God connect us specifically in Orange through Friends has given me a sense of a home base amidst the chaos.”
Where has God taken you?
“Despite being from Indiana and Minnesota, My husband and I now refer to California as “home.” Part of that is geographical, but the other part is the heart pull towards the people and community who know us in the stage of life we are in right now!”
What do you feel led to do next in your journey?
“I am getting drastically closer to ‘retirement’ from volleyball, and after years on the road I was driven for a long time by the fear of not knowing what was next—who can I call to take a walk or grab a cup of coffee? What will my next job be? What if I crave being back on the road? But now I feel like I can rest assured and be excited for what the next unknown is because no matter what I have a place I can come home to and familiar faces to face the next season of life with.”
Do you have a story about Christ you’d like to share with us? Simply email it to us at stories@friends.church. You’ll never know whose life your powerful story could impact!