GRACE IN MOTION
Knowing the end of the
story makes all the difference.
If you know the end of the story, the suspense is lifted. The characters’ anxiety seems either silly or
vastly underestimated. When reading the
Bible, I often find myself judging the characters wondering why they couldn’t just
trust God. Take the story of Jacob for
example.
God tells Rebekah
specifically that Jacob will be the heir of the promise He made to
Abraham. Rebekah’s anxiety about God’s ability
to fulfill that promise seems somewhat reasonable. Jacob was the younger twin brother, so culturally;
he should not have been the heir. His older
brother should have. But while her
anxiety seems reasonable, if you know the end of the story, her actions seem ridiculous.
She schemes and deceives. She lies and weaves her boy into her web of
faithlessness. Why do that when you know
what God has promised? Why take the short
cuts? Why try to accomplish for God what
He has promised to do? Why try to do God's job? Why am I just
like her?
For the past several
months I have been running at a crazy pace.
An unhealthy, workaholic pace. I knew
my workload was putting added stress on my family but I didn’t realize the
extent until I stopped for one day. And on
that day, my four-year-old son absolutely clung to me. When I sat down, he jumped in my lap. When I walked away, he literally hung onto my
leg. But my two-year-old daughters
responded in the exact opposite way. When
I tried to hold them, they cringed and cried for mom. Now, I may not be very bright, but even I
could tell that this wasn’t healthy.
A few days later I was
scheduled to take a week-long trip to Milwaukee. The weather man told me that Highway 94 from
Minneapolis to Milwaukee was supposed to be covered by a blizzard of snow. So I sought some counsel to help me decide
whether or not I should still make that trip and leave my family for the
week. By God’s grace, I stayed
home. And it was the best week my family
and I have had in a long time.
Since I was scheduled
to be out of town, my calendar was clear.
This allowed me to simply work a normal-ish week. And it was incredible. Within a few days, Kristy’s heart began to
open back up, Elijah let me walk from room to room without clinging to me, and
JoJo actually started asking for me to be the one to put her to bed at
night. Oh how good it felt to be a part
of my family again!
I believe God allowed
us to learn a very important lesson. He
has called us to plant a church. He has
promised that He would build His church and the gates of Hell would not prevail
against it. He has called me to serve
Him as a pastor, but not only that, as a husband, a father, a friend, a
neighbor…. See, I need to be faithful to fulfill all of the roles that God has
entrusted to me, not just the ones that seem most pressing or most exciting.
I do not know how this
story will end. I do not know if our
effort to plant a church will end in a screaming success or an embarrassing failure. But I do know this. Jesus promised to build His church. I can demonstrate that I really believe that
this is His work, not mine, by being faithful to fulfill all of the roles that
He has entrusted to me. In focusing on
church planting less, I may not meet all of my goals. But I am committed to
this – doing the best I can to make sure that my kids grow up with a dad and that
my wife has a husband. And as I do that,
then by God’s grace, I will be faithful to fulfill my other roles as a pastor
and a planter.
PLANTER’S PROGRESS
We had a good,
encouraging month. I was invited by my
good friend Israel Haas to present our story to his church
planting team in Prescott, Wisconsin.
Kristy and I were also able to host an evening meal for our church
family. After the meal we shared the
process that God used to bring us to this point as well as the dreams that He
has given us for the city of Milwaukee.
It was a great night. We had to
set up extra tables for people and food and both kept on coming. Overall, around 140 people joined us that
evening.
God has also continued
to provide financial support for this new work. We are currently at 48% of the support that
we need. We are humbled by the generosity
of people that has brought us to this point!
Perhaps the biggest
thing that happened this past month is – we just may have sold our house! As it goes in real estate, it ain’t over till
its over, but it seems like we are on the home stretch. The bank has reportedly signed off on the
short sale, and now we’re just waiting for the paper work to go through. We should be closing on our house in the next
four to six weeks!
NEXT STEPS
Along those lines, if
God allows us to close on our house, then we’ll need to pack up and move out…to
somewhere in New Richmond. We can’t
relocate to Milwaukee until we’ve received 75% of our support. Also, I have a couple of classes I need to
wrap up to finish my master’s degree, which was one of the steps our elders
wanted to me to complete before we transitioned.
Toward the end of April
Kristy and I are scheduled to go to the Exponential Conference. Exponential is one of the largest and most beneficial
church planting conferences in the country. Faith Community
is sending Kristy and Epikos and the Milwaukee LEAD team is sending me. Pretty cool that we are being sent to this
conference together, and that, by both of our networks.
Other than that, we
will continue to raise support, serve New Richmond and FCC, and try to be a
family. Thanks for your prayers and
support everyone! We are grateful that
we get to take this journey with you!
