“We didn’t know anybody in Omaha.”

That’s how Jon and Lori Bakker describe their first season at Christ Community Church. Looking for connection, they joined a group—not just for friendships, but as Jon put it, “out of my own brokenness… a place to find some connectedness.”

That group gave them a space to feel safe, dive deep, and be challenged in their faith. Lori described it as “finding that group of 10 to 15 people that understand you, that you feel safe with, that you can dive deep and not just stay on the surface, but actually are challenged to grow and challenged in all aspects and to support each other.”

Over time, they also started serving on the Guest Experience team. Lori shared, “I just thought I was standing in a door greeting. I didn’t realize I was going to be getting involved in a community and getting to know people.”

Jon added that even short interactions on Sunday mornings can matter: “It might be for 12 seconds, but just to say, ‘How’d your week go?’ or, if I know that there's something going on with them, I can kind of follow up from a week before—seeing what God is doing in their life, even if I don't see them outside of just that interaction.”

Together, they now lead recovery groups. “We’re both leaders of recovery groups, and just life experience has really brought us to a point of saying we need to give back,” Jon said. “In doing that, to have the chance to just feed into other people. When we started our journey, some of the advice that we received was just really poor. So we hope to do a better job of keeping people educated and help them to find a path to healing.”

Community, for them, has been essential. “Being in community is big because you sharpen, right?” Lori said. “We learn from each other. We learn from experiences.” Jon also noted, “So much of life goes south in isolation. So if we are doing the lone ranger thing, if we're not connecting with other people—that’s not a healthy place to be.”

Jon and Lori encourage others to take the first step, even if it feels intimidating. “If you're looking for that, if you are new to Omaha, new to Christ Community, or just need community—take that step,” Lori said. “It's a scary step to walk into a room of people you don't know. But take it. It's worth it.”

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