07/21/2026
“Come as you are.”
We say it all the time.
But do we really mean it?
It’s easy to welcome someone who’s been sober for five years.
It’s easy to celebrate the man who’s been out of prison for a decade.
It’s easy to clap when the testimony has a happy ending.
But what about the people whose story isn’t finished yet?
What if the drug addict walks through the church doors…
Still high.
Do we welcome them?
What if the alcoholic smells like liquor?
Do we welcome them?
What if the pr******te walks in wearing exactly what she wore to work?
Do we welcome her?
What if the gang member still has fresh tattoos, anger in his eyes, and doesn’t know how to trust anyone?
Do we welcome him?
What if the homeless man hasn’t showered in weeks?
Do we save him a seat?
Because those are the people Jesus kept walking toward.
He didn’t say, “Get clean, then come.”
He said, “Come.”
Yes, Jesus called people to leave their sin behind.
But He called them before they had their lives together.
Healing is a process.
Freedom is a journey.
Transformation rarely happens before someone walks through the door—it often begins because they did.
The church should be the safest place for the broken to meet Jesus, not the hardest place for them to feel welcome.
If we only know how to love people after they’ve been restored…
We’re loving the testimony.
Jesus loved the person long before the testimony existed.
-Christin Jenkins
