We truly appreciate all of the stewardship that's happening at Maitland Pres! Here is Scott and Cyndee Maxwell reflecting on their time here at the church.
How long have you been members at Maitland Presbyterian Church
I believe about 23 years we have been members. We moved down to Orlando in 1998 and spent about six months looking around for a church home, and this was the one where we felt most comfortable.
What made Maitland Pres a home for you guys?
I think it was the welcoming atmosphere whenever we walked into the church. There was always a smile to greet you.We made friends pretty quickly and got involved with Sunday school and it became our community. We went and looked at a lot of churches in some places. It kind of felt like a big production, almost a stage show. This one felt a little bit more like a family. People wanted to know who you were, wanted to know your backstory and it felt like a place where we could get involved.
Out of these three words, refuge, hospitality and belonging, which one stands out the most? Refuge is a good one. I think the church should be a place that when everything else is going wrong in your life, and wrong in the world, it should be a place where you can come to get away from that, to find your center, to find your faith, to find what guides you, and to be reminded of what's right in the world. I think for all those reasons when we're firing on all cylinders we're a pretty good refuge here.
Is there one person who helped you feel more at home and why? The reason we came to this church was we were invited by a couple: The Olivers. Scott worked with Mike and they said, "Why don't you give our church to try?" We thought that it was a good idea. We got involved with our small group about 10 years later and they've really become our family. If there's one other person that was sort of responsible for getting us very involved, it was probably Mary Kay Collins who was the associate pastor at the time. One of my most vivid memories of her is right after we finished the new member class. She asked us if we liked children and I don't know how you would say "No" (What kind of monster says no?) We said "Sure", she said "Great, you'll be teaching first grade" and that was our first experience with being "voluntold" to do something at Maitland Presbyterian. But we've done a lot of things since and I think we're glad we did. Why is it important to give? I think it's the ministries both within and without. There are a lot of programs for the members here that really become rocks of their life when they're going through crisis, and we support members there. But we also do so much that ministers beyond these walls, and sometimes far beyond these walls, from Compassion Corner for the homeless residents of Central Florida, all the way to Haiti, where we're providing the food that literally helps keep people alive. I think those missions, both near and far, are a big part of why we give and why we support the church.