THE STORY BEHIND “CONSIDER”

A BRIEF HISTORY:

March 17, 2007 marked the beginning of a long journey that would eventually lead to the birth of Sideris Church here in Seattle in 2015. While working as an accountant for Deloitte, our founding pastor, Dave Evanger, received the phone call that would change his life forever. On the other end of the line was his dad, Marc, who could barely manage to deliver this earth-shattering news: "Kim is dead."

Kim is Dave's older sister, who was 26 years old at the time of the accident. While cycling with her husband she had been hit by a passing semi-truck. Kim was killed instantly.

If you spoke to anyone who knew Kim they would gush about her energy and passion, using words like magnetic, supremely-gifted, charismatic, unusually kind, and of course hilarious. So why would God remove someone like Kim from this earth at such a young age? How could this be part of God’s “good” plan? These were the questions that swirled around after the accident and while God did not necessarily answer that mystery, He did leave us a gift in its place.

Kim’s accident occurred on St. Patrick’s Day and her brother Dave was out with friends at a St. Patrick’s Day parade when he received that phone call from his dad. Dave ran into the back alley of the sports bar where he had been screaming out to God, “NO, NO, NO!” — wailing in denial, shock, anger, and confusion…

What happened next Dave describes as nothing less than a supernatural intervention from God.

In complete exhaustion Dave shuffled to the ground and sat in disbelief. Then suddenly as if a tidal wave of peace hit him, his hysteria and confusion were washed away in a single stroke. What replaced it was a kind of peace and serenity that he had never experienced as his vision turned to a bright white and clarity replaced confusion. In that holy moment the Spirit of God delivered a message to Dave from his sister Kim. She asked him to take this message to her friends, family, and co-workers. Dave describes it as if it were a “Matrix download” of an approximatley 15 minute message from Kim to those she loved. The chorus went something like this:

“Tell them that they must consider the condition of their hearts,
what they believed about God,
and most importantly, to CONSIDER Jesus…
Tell them: Don’t wait to start considering.”

This word “consider” was really the heartbeat of Kim’s message and Dave went on to share this word and her message at her memorial service with the 1,000+ souls who came to honor Kim’s life.

If you wish to you can view the full consider message from Kim’s memorial here.

To a person, regardless of their current faith convictions, they still speak of the “unusual power” they experienced in the church that day. God had begun his work through Kim’s memory and her message of consider and that He continues that work to this day.

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Now, there is more than meets the eye to this simple word “consider” and the deeper meaning was first discovered the night before Kim’s memorial service. At about midnight, getting nervous he would forget the message, Dave finally and frantically began to write out the words God had downloaded to him two weeks earlier. What can only be described a quintessential human move made in the heat of human anxiety, Dave went to the internet to search for a “better” synonym for the word “consider.” What he discovered was incredible and continues to shape the Consider Project and Sideris Church to this day. It turns out that two Latin root-words which form the English word “consider” — “com” and “sider” — literally mean “with” — “heavenly body.” Dave quickly realized how special this word was and how Kim’s message was truly from above. He shut off the computer and slept soundly the rest of the night.

In the years that followed God continued to compel Dave, his family, and others to share this simple but profound invitation to “Consider Jesus.” In 2008 they launched a series of events benefiting a newly formed foundation in Kim’s name, which they called the Consider Concerts. The first event was at the Showbox Theatre next to Pike Place Market and then again in 2009 they held the Consider Concert at The Moore Theater. This has turned into the establishment of the ongoing effort they call The Consider Project which seeks to help people start the biggest and best conversations of faith, purpose, meaning, God… and of course Jesus.

Then as you probably realize by now, it is the inspiration behind the foundation of Sideris Church in 2015. As those gathered in the consideration and worship of Jesu Christ, we one of many expressions of “the heavenly body” of Christ here in Seattle. We hope to be both a community for considering and a community that prompts consideration because of our witness of the glory of heaven’s reality here on earth.

It runs out that Kim’s message was not just a message for her friends and family and co-workers from 2007, but an invitation to thousands more. We long out loud for a day when every human being in our city, nation and world freely chooses to embrace their God given capacity and privilege to wholeheartedly consider life greatest truths, first and foremost the truth of Good News of the person and work of Jesus Christ.

If you have yet to begin, we urge you to heed Kim’s words: “Don’t wait another second to start considering.”

God bless and enjoy the journey of seeking the truth for yourself.