Strenuously resting

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!