GRACE IN MOTION
It was a perfect winter
day in Wisconsin. Beautiful snowflakes gently
fell from the sky on a warm afternoon that made for the perfect snow to sled,
build snowmen, and enjoy God’s grace. So
Kristy and I got the kids bundled up and headed to our church to sled and play
in the snow. As we watched our happy
kids playing on the quiet, serene campus of Faith Community Church, we tried
to soak in every moment, knowing that those moments in this place have an end
date that is approaching all too quickly.
And the world that we are walking into is drastically different.
We were able to spend
last week in Milwaukee. We arrived
earlier than we had planned on, so we had some time to burn. We thought it would be a good idea to stop at
Chucky Cheeses’ to let the kids run. It was clear pretty quickly that we weren’t in
Kansas…er…New Richmond anymore! The
place was packed, the music was loud, the crowd was diverse.
Two weeks ago we were
sledding by ourselves in wide open spaces, and yet loved by so many
people. The next week we were crammed
into Chucky Cheeses’ with tons of people and yet not known by a soul. This process is an absolute collision of absolutely
different worlds. And that’s scary. But God is faithful and His promises are
breathtaking.
During the middle of
our week in Milwaukee, Kristy got sick. Flu-like
sick. Sick on the day before I had several meetings
lined up with key people. So now here we
are, away from our support network, needing to have important conversations
with people, and staying at someone else’s house. I thought this was going to be a disaster. But God is bigger than our biggest trials!
Unbeknownst to us, we just happened to be staying with
professional grandparents! They’ve seen
this before. In fact, they’re currently
serving with a missionary organization to provide soul care to the missionaries. They open up their home consistently to care
for missionaries who are home on furlough.
So when Kristy went down, they stepped up!
Kristy went to lay down
in the afternoon and didn’t get up until the next morning. So Randy, Linda, and I handled the kids for
the rest of that day. And it was the
best evening we had there. So much so that
by the time we started to get the kids ready for bed, I wasn’t even reading the
bed-time stories. The kids were all
piled up on Randy’s lap reading “Harry
the Dirty Dog.” It was a beautiful
picture of the body of Christ and a confirmation of just one of Jesus’
promises.
Perhaps the most challenging
part of our journey to this point has been facing the reality of leaving the
church family that we have grown to love so deeply. Kristy and I have wondered so many times if
we would ever experience community, love, and friendship like we have
here. It seems impossible. And we have no way of knowing what the future
holds. But we do know what Jesus has
promised.
“Jesus said to them… everyone who has left houses or brothers or
sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will
receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”
And so we step out in
faith, holding onto the promise of God.
I believe that God gave us just a small glimpse of His great faithfulness
this past week. I can’t wait to see what
He has in store for the weeks to come!
PLANTERS PROGRESS
On February 17th
I was able to preach at Woodridge Community Church. We were very encouraged by our time
there. Many approached us asking
questions about us, the plant, timing, etc.
A few even said they would be interested in helping us get started! We were very encouraged.
I was also able to have
a Q&A time with the elders of Waukesha Bible Church. That was an encouraging time as well. The elders had many, great questions and it
seemed like we were able to spend enough time together to feel good about
developing a partnership.
And I cannot fail to
mention what a rock star my wife is!
While I am running around going to all these meetings, my wife is doing
the hard, thankless, unseen work of caring for our kids. This is no easy task with a four-year-old and
two two-year-olds. And that, in the
middle of transition and unfamiliarity.
I am so grateful for my bride.
She by far has the harder job and she does it with grace and joy!
God continues to
provide lavishly. We are now at 44% for
support! God has brought us over a huge
milestone as we are now able to begin to invite people to consider moving with
us. We are so humbled by the generosity
of people!
NEXT STEPS
Things aren’t going to
slow down for us next month. On March 3rd I’ve been invited to
present our church planting plan at a launch team gathering for Torrent Church
in Prescott. We will also be hosting a
vision event at FCC on March 10th.
This will be a significant event as it will allow us to share our hearts
with our church family and provide them with an opportunity to partner with us
going forward.
Then I’ll be in
Milwaukee the week of March 18th.
The Milwaukee LEAD team wanted all the pastors from our denomination to
meet and engage in a prayer walk through our target neighborhood. I’m anticipating God doing big things through
that prayer time.
I will also be meeting
with the elders of a key partner church to discuss how we can work together to
start this new church. This is great
church led by faithful men. I’m looking
forward to seeing how God leads us to partner!
Thank you so much for your
partnership with us. I thank God that He
is allowing us all to do this together.
Your prayer and support means the world to us. We cannot and do not want to do this without
you! Thank you!
