People respond to anniversaries in different ways - birthdays for the very young tend to be celebrated in elaborate, color-coordinated, food-themed mega productions (all doting/guilty mommies and daddies, please raise your right hand …). This builds up to the traditional coming out party when a young girl turns 18 and it's down hill from there, as people (read, women) start to hide the march of time, to maintain the illusion of perpetual youth.

Wedding anniversaries are another form of celebration observed according to well-defined milestones. Starting with the exchange of paper gifts to celebrate the end of the first year of matrimonial bliss, presents become increasingly more valuable with the passing of time. Wood marks the 5th year of union, and tin or aluminum highlights a decade of wedded bliss. Crystal celebrates 15 precious years, china - 20, silver - 25, and pearls, signify 30 years of nuptial bliss.

And so has DCBC arrived at its 30th/pearl year of ministry within the UP Campus. Several similarities can be drawn between the slow and painstaking process required to form pearls and the long and winding road that DCBC has traveled these last three decades. A pearl begins its life as a foreign object, possibly a piece of shell that accidentally lodges itself in an oyster's soft inner body. And in self-defense, the oyster begins to secrete a smooth, hard crystalline substance called nacre, around the irritant to protect itself. As long as the irritant remains within its body, the oyster will continue to secrete nacre around it, layer upon layer. Over time, the irritant will be completely encased by the silky crystalline coatings, and the result, ultimately, is the lovely and lustrous gem called a pearl with a matchless shimmering iridescence, luster and soft inner glow.

And so the Church has overcome various trials and challenges, covering itself with prayer and praise for God's faithfulness through the years. And through the equipping of its members to "remain faithful under trials," as James 1:12 teaches, as does 2Corinthians 8:2, that says that though "they have been severely tested by the troubles they went through … their joy was … great," DCBC can be said to have emerged as a refined and lustrous gem, a testament to God's goodness.

Seeing how several of the original members have moved on to other churches and countries, a quick glance at the highlights of the past three decades can help us to remember "the way we were." Watch out for the Highlights of DCBC's 1st Decade (1976 - 1986) in the next issue; Join us in remembering the first 10 years of DCBC's ministry in this issue; subsequent issues will feature the remaining two decades.