What’s Different. The Lord has been doing so much in our hearts over the last few years! It seems like almost systematically… no, more like infectiously, every area of our life has been called into question by our Lord, and after much reflection, sometimes research, deliberation and eventual conviction we’ve been further submitting our lives to the Lord one area at a time. What at one time we would have considered to be radical, unnecessary, or just plain weird; we now embrace as an act of obedience to the Lord as followers of Christ.You see, not too long ago, we were just a normal couple who loved the Lord and loved each other; we were happy… blessed to be starting our family. On top of all that we were involved in ministry, leading worship, and even on staff at our church. What could be better than that? While we were content living such a (I hesitate to say) comfortable life, the Lord, evidently, was not! He had and still has so much more in store for our family.
Growing Desire. To this day, I can’t say when or where it started, but there was a desire/yearning planted deep in us that started to grow. Not the kind of growing that is tame and manageable, but the kind that is semi-invasive, like the kind that has its own ideas about what areas are appropriate to grow and which areas are, well, sacred… oh yeah, and doesn’t ask permission first! This very inconvenient and, frankly, impolite growing desire/yearning started to wreak havoc on the relative comfort we enjoyed. This desire and yearning for an authentic life before God introduced us to a new lifestyle that we are still learning to embrace: no compromise. We started to bring many of our almost unconscious but firmly held beliefs about life and ministry back to the Word of God… back to Jesus. We couldn’t help but see many of them as they were: a result of our own desire for comfort or security, to have what is considered “normal”. From our ideas of family size (what does God say about children?), possessions/wealth (what does Jesus say about money?), church (why do we do what we do?), the Kingdom of God (what kingdom are we living in/for?), … these and countless other inconvenient and profoundly life altering questions have proceeded to transform us from being conformed to the world to being very different and to a lot of people, quite strange in fact.
Community Begins. As the Lord has been faithful to speak new life into our family and our circumstances, we have endeavored to take on the role of responders. As He speaks, we listen and obey. The interesting thing is that, as He’s been speaking to us, He’s also been communicating a similar message to others around us. Now as we look around us, there is a whole community of people who are following the Lord in the same direction and with similar desires and yearnings growing in them! It’s like a whisper we all started hearing separately… that none of us could keep quiet about any longer, and then, when we finally had to say something about it, we find out they’ve been hearing it too! The whisper is the Holy Spirit’s stirring… almost like networking. Many of our relationships have now taken on a whole new depth after hearing the words, “So, you’re hearing the whisper too?”
Full circle. Just over six years ago the Lord specifically and undeniably called us from beautiful San Diego out to the Desert (the Coachella Valley). It was a heart process as He brought us into His will. He was calling us into a new season, a new sphere. Sparing all the details (maybe another time), we’ve seen Him do some amazing things in this past season. One of the biggest things, though, has been what He’s been doing in our hearts! Now we again find ourselves feeling the Lord doing in our hearts what we recognize from the last time He asked us to step out and follow Him into something new. Like we’ve come full circle in what we’ve been doing, and now, the Lord is asking us to step out in faith again… not necessarily geographically, but into a new season, a new sphere.
Preparing Season. The Lord has been doing so much in our hearts, and in the midst of it all, He’s made it clear that we’ve been in a “Season of Preparation”… that what we’ve been doing is not the end intended for us, but as we are faithful, He is and has been preparing us for something to come. While I’ve been content for so long serving in the ministry where the Lord has had us, He’s begun to make it clear that He has something different for us. So, for a while, we’ve been operating in this in between sort of existence… not between the world and the church, but between serving in the specific expression of the church we have grown used to and greatly enjoy, while everything the Lord is doing our hearts is leading us into something very different. For a long time we’ve had no idea what the Lord was preparing us for specifically, and to be honest, we’re still far from certain. But one thing we are certain about is the fact that He is doing something, and He’s calling us to be a part of it! As we look around us and see what the Lord is doing in the hearts of so many of His people, and as we see Him speaking specifically through His Word, we are so thrilled that we get to lay our lives down in this exciting time, so that we can truly live.
Church Changes. We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to serve among God’s people at the Garden Fellowship, to grow alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ, and now in this season of change, to be sent out so warmly by the leadership! Looking back to what the Lord has done in these years serving at the Garden, and now looking forward to what He is preparing us for, we are confident that this is just the beginning. Serving in ministry has always been our passion and calling, and for this past season has even been my job. So, by faith, stepping out into something new has now taken on a whole new dimension, especially with our fifth beautiful child due to arrive this fall! Honestly, if the Lord hadn’t made the timing so clear, this would have been a really hard decision to make. But we feel so much more secure in We’ve never known the promises of Jesus in Matthew 6 - seek first His Kingdom and Righteousness and He’ll take care of our needs- to be so comforting, in fact, now it seems like they finally make sense!
New Baby. In the midst of all the Lord is doing, we are expecting another blessing from the Lord. In fact, as I write this we are nearing the due date of our 5th child. It seems that with every child, the Lord has brought us into a new season with Him. With our third, Katie Jo, we entered into a new season of grace; it was a season of blessing. Then with Anna Mae, our fourth, the Lord brought us into a new season of revelation; it was a season where the Lord spoke to us (and still is) in ways He never had before. He was calling our family to step out. Now, with our fifth, it seems like the Lord has brought us into a season of faith, it is a season where He has been and still is inviting us to trust Him, to believe Him for more.
Something new is happening. So here we are, responding to the Lord in obedience by stepping out in faith. At the present, the Lord hasn’t thought it the right time to answer all of our questions regarding the details. But we are moving forward, one step at a time. As He speaks, we listen and obey! What is what He’s calling us to going to look like? This and many more are questions we are waiting for the Lord answer fully… in His time. One thing we know is that the Lord has been calling us to "be the church" so to speak, instead of go to one... calling us to further His Kingdom instead of our own.
So, now we've responded to Him by stepping out in faith, to start putting into practice what He's been putting on our hearts and revealing to us for the past couple of years. So far, as a community we've been meeting to pray, meeting to worship and wait on Him, meeting to share meals together and break bread, meeting to encourage one another and share in the Word! We're just trying to be faithful to what the Word says and not do what our "church culture" does out of ritual or tradition, not that all of that is bad, but, if we could boil it all down, what would it look like to be a Biblical community of Christ followers?... that's what we want to find out!
