A 15-year Reflection

December 18, 1999…

This was our first date.  We were in college.   We had just come out of some hard relationships.  Both committing to the Lord a life of singleness.  But He obviously had different plans.  When we were least expecting it, He brought us together.  I can’t believe that out first date was 15 years ago!  

So much has happened in those 15 years.  We moved from dating to engagement to planning a wedding to getting married.  As newlyweds, we learned how to live together and communicate in ways that were new to us.  There were definite hard times, but we had made a commitment to each other and to the Lord.  We went from teaching at a brand new Christian school together  to attending seminary while I taught at a public school.  We have gone from being a couple who could do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted to being blessed with our first born son.  We went from me working full time to being a stay-at-home-wife-and-mom.  You went from seminary to working part-time at a church and part-time at a Christian school to working full-time at a church.  We went from apartment living to living in a townhouse (the closest thing to owning a house). We went from having a son to having a son and a daughter.   We have gone from trying to figure out how to live like Jesus would on our own to having some amazing people pour into our lives and teach us what it means to REALLY live like Jesus.  We went from having many youth coming into our home to adding another daughter to our family.  While we were loving on our children and the youth of our church, the Lord called us to start investing in the lives of those around us.  Investing in ways that didn’t make sense to the world, but made perfect sense to the One who was leading us.  As we were living this life of obedience, we welcomed our  fourth child into the world.  Shortly after welcomed our son, we found out that our pastor was leaving our church, so you graciously become the interim pastor along with being open to be the next senior pastor out our church.  Little did we know that the Lord had different plans for our family.  It was a hard season for us as the Lord used this event to bring to the surface things He wanted us to work.  Some things were individual, some things focused on  us as a couple.  There were times, when I didn’t want to go through the process.  There were times, I would go kicking and fighting as the Lord was fine tuning me to be the wife, mom and more importantly the disciple of Christ He wants me to be.   We sensed the Lord was wanting to complete this work He had started, so we took a step of faith and left a full-time ministry position to work part-time at a church plant.  We went from having our own home to living with our parents. In the months after leaving a full-time ministry position, the Lord has continued to fine tune your calling.  We knew that the Lord has given us a passion for family and discipleship.  In our minds, it made sense for you to apply to associate pastor positions that specialized in discipleship and/or family ministry.  As we moved far in the process with a few churches, we were taken aback when we heard numerous times, "We really want to say yes, but we feel like the Lord wants us to tell you no."  So, we took some time to pray and see if we were missing something.  After the time of prayer, we felt like we needed to start applying to senior pastor positions.  Again, we got pretty far in the process with some churches.  Again, we heard some similar things from the churches.  They told us, "We really like you.  We really like your vision for ministry (having a discipleship focused ministry).  We just don't feel like our church  is ready for that yet."  So, after hearing this several times.  We went back to praying.  

And here we are, 15 years later…

The Lord is doing something that we NEVER would have imagined.  We are still applying to senior pastor positions, but at the same time we are exploring the possibility of starting a discipleship ministry. The vision the Lord has given us is working with the leadership of the church to have a discipleship focused church. We are on this new journey not knowing what may happen.  But we do know we serve the One who is in control of all things.  There are times when we don't feel like we are equipped to do what He is leading us to do, but then we remember there is no better place to be...in a place of COMPLETE dependence on the Lord.  There are times we think that it is impossible for four churches to understand the vision we have been given, let alone be willing to hire us.  But then I am reminded of the many times, the Lord provided for His people and realize that we are no different.  If the Lord is calling us to do this, then He is fully capable of getting four churches to go on this journey with us.  So, as we explore this possibility, we ask that you pray for us.  Pray for wisdom.  Pray for discernment.  Pray for conversations that we will be having in the near future.  Pray for churches to understand the vision we have been given and want to bring a discipleship focus to their church.  

So, I am very humbled as I reflect on the last 15 years.  If you asked me on December 18, 1999 what my life would be like on December 18, 2014, I would NEVER have imagined that I would be sitting here typing all that I just typed. But I am thankful for all the ways that Lord has used us as a couple, as individuals and as a family to further His Kingdom.