One of my spiritual daughter’s wrote this and I had to share! It’s so beautiful! If it wasn’t for my parents’ support I could not be where I am today. God had called me to start 5f Church in 2017 and for 3 years the church was very small. The first year we had around 20 and then it decreased each year to 15, to 10 to 5 and then in 2020 to 2 people. For most of those 3 years we were in a building that we couldn’t afford with only the support of a handful of regular members. My parents graciously supported financially week after week. If it wasn’t for their financial support we wouldn’t have been able to pay rent. They are retired school teachers and it was a stretch for them. But they continually gave in obedience to God. They supported me in every way, every day of my life. With whatever dream I had they never discouraged me but only supported me. When I left my music pursuit that they were proud of to then follow God’s dream for my life (which didn’t make much logical sense at the time) they never discouraged me and only supported me, even after financially putting so much into my college degree and music pursuit. I’m so grateful for their support and love! Thank you Mom and Dad! The great harvest that has come now at @5fchurch and around the world including 8,000 filling an arena in Manila, is in part because of the seeds you sowed on my life and at 5F church! 

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”- Galatians 6:7-9 NIV

Mr. and Mrs. Krick,
I wanted to take some time to publicly honor you. I have often imagined what it must be like to be the parents of my beloved spiritual mother, your daughter, Apostle Kathryn Krick. I imagined the tremendous faith it must have taken to keep putting your seed in the ground of a church, that from a physical perspective, looked like it was dying, and having the spiritual eyes to see that your seed was being sown on fertile ground.

I have imagined what it must be like to be able to transition from this is my daughter who I have raised, to seeing her become a general of the faith. I have imagined what it must be like to see your daughter, with the most humble pure heart, publicly persecuted and have her name, character, and integrity questioned….for years. I have imagined what it must have been like to see your daughter walk away from looked like a successful dream, to a quickly depleting church congregation.

I have imagined what it must be like to have her miss Christmas and other family events year after year to stay in Los Angeles, and care for the people that you later saw betray her. I have imagined having the opportunity to thank you because if it were not because of you continually sowing, I may still be in sickness and mental torment that I wrestled with my entire life.

I want to show my deepest gratitude for your sacrifice. Because of your sacrifice, my three kids have a mom who is present and can care for them physically and emotionally. Because of your sacrifice, I have a husband who has a partner, not another person he has to often care for and ride the wave of depression and anxiety cycles. Because of your sacrifice, I have parents who no longer worry about my mental and physical health all the time. Because of your sacrifice, I have come to know my savior Jesus who I encountered in love and power through your daughter for the first time in my life, even though I had been a Christian for decades. I honor you for seeing what others couldn’t, and for supporting her and being the most loving parents so that she could emerge from childhood shining.

Thank you so much.

Love,
Ashley