Good, Bad and Best News

Tim and I met with a potential real estate agent yesterday.  She was very thorough and gave us some really helpful information.

Good News: The housing market in Chico appears to be on the upswing right now.  She gave us an estimate of what our house might be able to sell for.  It was a little bit higher than what we had previously expected, so that is encouraging.  It seems that the housing inventory is about a two month turn-around right now.  We continue to pray that these will work in our favor as we depend upon God and His timing.

Bad News: We don't have the money in our savings account right now to cover the closing costs and realtor fees.  We also need to sell the house for quite a lot more than "fair market value" just to break even on our loan.  These factors put together means that we would have to be able to sell for A LOT more than fair market value just to make sure we are clear on our home loan and everyone else gets paid.

Best News:  We serve a God who is greater than all of this.  He is bigger than the institutions of money and housing markets so God can do with them as He chooses.  A wise friend once told me that God's economy works on faith and trust, not on dollars and cents.  When situations such as these seem too difficult to be possible, it gives God the opportunity to take all the glory in it that is rightly His anyway.  While this seems totally impossible to us, Tim and I know God is 100% capable of making it happen (Matthew 19:26). So we are taking up our "mustard seed" sized faith and praying diligently that God would begin moving mountains (Matthew 17:20).  We wait in anticipation as God will once again blow our minds with what can happen when you let go and let God handle it. When God is allowed to lead, and allowed to lead on His terms, He always leads His people in triumph. We have adopted a saying, "remain calm and pray on".

We thank all of you who have been praying for us.  We can't do this without you.  We ask that you would please continue to pray with us and for us that God would give us direction in what we are supposed to do with our house as well as praying for His miraculous provision in the midst of this situation.

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?" Jeremiah 32:27

"The believer who recognizes his insufficiency is left in the best possible frame of mind. He is left depending daily upon the sufficiency of God in all things. That believer will be counting upon His resources and drawing upon God’s grace by faith. He will be ever depending, abiding, and looking unto Jesus."  - Pastor Bob Hoekstra

Rapid Fire

The Lord has kicked it into high gear for us and things are happening very rapidly now.  Please be patient as I try to keep this blog as updated as possible.  It seems that right about the time I get an update written, something new and exciting happens.  Knowing that God is a God of order and not of confusion or chaos, we are trying to remain focused upon Him and keep calm as the pace picks up around here.

Here is the latest.  The senior pastor from St. Paul is very excited (to say the least!) to meet us.  He and Tim have been in contact through email regularly over the past few days.  Just yesterday he invited (very heavily encouraged!) Tim and I to join him for the Upper Mid West Pastors' Conference in Wisconsin.  The conference is less than two weeks away!  He mentioned (and we agree) that it would be a great time to meet some of the other Calvary pastors in the region, gain additional support and prayer partners as well as learn some very valuable feedback from men and their wives who have started Calvary Chapels in their area.  Over the many different emails Tim has received from the pastor in St Paul, he continually says, "just get here!"  He offered to take care of everything (conference fees and registration, hotel and meals) to get us there except for airfare, encouraging us that where God guides He provides.  Thinking that this was too much, too quickly for it to work out and maybe we would just go to the conference next year, we half-heartedly began to pursue making it to the conference.  Fortunately, God doesn't work the way our minds can "logically" think things out.

First, Tim asked if he could get the time off from work with less than the two weeks advance notice usually needed.  It got approved.  We said, "Okay, Lord, let's keep going."  My parents get back from a week long trip the day before the conference.  Childcare? Check.  We found airfare that will get us to the conference on time and we have a very tentative approval from our pastor to reimburse us for the cost.  Wow, okay.  So I guess we're going to Wisconsin in 12 days (http://ccappleton.org/pastors-conference/).  In less than 24 hours all the details of travel, food and accommodations have been worked out for us with little to no cost.  God continues to blow our minds.  This is what happens when you live your life fully surrendered to God and sold out for Him.  He can do above and beyond what we ever thought possible!

"But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  Matthew 19:26

Update 04/17/2013 - Praise God, nearly all of our conference expenses have been paid for. Thank you Jesus! Where God guides God Provides.

More Confirmation

God is so good.  Just yesterday He allowed us to have even more confirmation that we are to go to Fergus Falls to plant a church.  At this point we don't doubt that we are supposed to go but to see God's Hand in the midst is always helpful and encouraging.  Tim spoke with our senior pastor here in Chico yesterday.  He was very encouraging and gave his blessings.  I paraphrase, but he basically told Tim that if he felt God calling us to go we should just go and let Him do a mighty work because there are precious souls there that need to hear the truth about Jesus and experience His love before it is too late.  Tim told me that was how he had been feeling as well and to hear it again from our pastor who planted the church here in Chico was very reassuring.

Later in the day Tim got an email response back from the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Fargo in North Dakota (about a hour away from Fergus Falls, MN).  He was excited to hear that our family was coming with a heart for Jesus and to serve the community.  He gave Tim his personal phone number and asked that Tim call him.  When Tim was able to speak with him, the pastor was so excited to hear about our passion.  He told Tim that he was sent out from CC St. Paul and that church had been praying for someone to start a Calvary Chapel in Fergus Falls for 15+ years!  Wow!  People in Minnesota have been praying for us for years without knowing it was actually us.  That blew my mind when Tim told me that.  It seems there is an even greater need for systematic theology and doctrine in the area than we thought.  Tim was able to contact the pastor of CC St. Paul as well (who happened to know our Sr. Pastor also) and had been praying for someone to start a Calvary Chapel in Fergus Falls for about 20 years!  Wow!.  He too was excited and both pastors have said they will be praying for us and that we have their support as well.

How comforting to know that God is in control and orchestrating this whole thing.  He has people in Fergus Falls that He desperately wants to draw to Himself and He is going to see that it happens.  And He chose nobodies like us to be His chosen vessels.  That's humbling.

Prayer Requests:

• God would continue to open doors for us as we walk this crazy adventure with Him.
• That we would work on God's timetable and not our own.
• That we would clearly hear from God what we are supposed to do with our house (sale/rent out) and when.
• For the people who don't have a personal relationship with God in the community of Fergus Falls. 
• Please continue to pray for those things we listed before, especially for the community of Fergus Falls.

"And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed." Deuteronomy 31:8

Daddy n' Me Day

A Call to GO

For quite some time now, both Tim and I have felt unsettled in life and have been drawing even closer to the Lord.  We weren't dissatisfied with where God has been allowing us to serve Him but rather felt like God was preparing us for something big.  We just weren't sure what that something big was.  Slowly, over the last few months as Tim and I have diligently prayed and sought the Lord, He has revealed to us a call through His Holy Spirit to go and plant a new Calvary Chapel church in Tim’s birthplace, Fergus Falls, Minnesota.  Just outside of what is called the “Bible belt” of America, there is a great need for the love of Jesus Christ to be shared in Fergus Falls.  It is a small farming and agricultural area with precious souls that the Lord longs to connect with and so do we.  The spiritual need of this area has been made known to us before but as I mentioned, we have been stirred within the last few months have our eyes and hearts open to going to Minnesota.  We had talked in the past about the possibility of planting a church in Fergus Falls one day, but at the time it had no more weight than the possibility of doing the same thing in the Bush of Africa or the mountains of Asia.  It was just one of millions of possibilities the Lord might have for us.  But a seed had been planted in our hearts, none the less.

A few months back a need arose within our family and we offered to go out to Minnesota to assist for as long as was needed.  I distinctly remember being absolutely astonished at myself for so freely offering to go to a place I had always said I would hate to go because of the freezing temperatures.  I have learned to never say “never”.  As soon as the words were out of my mouth I felt my stomach tighten as I thought, “What did I just say?!  Did I really offer to go to Minnesota in February?!”  But as soon as I got off the phone I began to pray over the possibility of going and I felt the Lord answer all of my concerns one by one with a reassuring, “Don’t worry.  I’ll take care of it.  Just let the Body be the Body.”  Within minutes I had a complete feeling of reassurance, comfort and peace.  I was ready to go.  While God was working on my heart, He had been working on Tim’s heart as well.  Tim has been gifted from the Lord to simply and clearly teach the Bible.  Through little things that added up into big things, God was confirming to Tim that we should go to Fergus Falls.

Fortunately, the Lord worked out the situation and our assistance was not needed at that time yet I still felt a connection to Minnesota and a peace about going.  Over the next few weeks it became undeniable that we were supposed to go to Minnesota.  Not wanting to leave our comfy, cozy, Christian bubble here in California we began to pray for God to show us reasons not to go.  But everything told us we needed to step out in faith, that this was that ‘something big’ we had felt the Lord preparing us for, and God was calling for us to get out of the boat.

The last week in March we attended a pastors’/leader’s conference in Tahoe.  After the cost of the trip was divinely provided for (yet one more thing we took as an affirmative “sign”) we expected God to have a lot to say to us while we were there still praying about planting a Calvary Chapel in Fergus Falls.  While we didn’t hear as boldly as we thought we would through a teaching, the Lord definitely had plenty to say to us (while we were there Tim heard from the Lord twice that we were to go). We also felt that by not going to Minnesota, we would be denying the call He placed upon our lives and become even more unsettled in our spirits. That afternoon Tim spoke with our assistant pastor about all the things we had been praying about over the last few months.

Pastor Bud prayed for Tim and that the Lord would lead and guide us. We both know that the Lord is the One who will be doing the work, as well as equipping us for the work. Tim doesn't feel qualified but is confident in God’s calling upon his life and is depending upon the Lord to grow him as the Lord sees fit. As we agree to take step one, we know that the Lord will show us all of the next steps one at a time, but in His timing.

How freeing it was to finally tell our friends about the vision God had given us.  Even though we still don’t know all the details we are so thankful for such wonderful friends who love us.  We have been overwhelmed with support and prayers already, which are so appreciated.  In the past we have been prayer partners for so many different ministries and missionaries and now we see that this will be a time for us to be on the receiving end which makes us realize just how important prayer is to the Lord’s work!

So now what or what’s next?  At this point, our family has accepted the Lord’s call to go and we are waiting on the Lord for further direction.  We don’t know when we might be leaving (it could be a few months or even years).  We have some ideas and possibilities but until we hear for sure from the Lord in any particular area we don’t want to share anything as it may get too confusing.  Tim has reached out to the two closest pastors in the area (both over an hour away from where we will be in MN) as well as some Calvary Chapel “church-planting” resources and for now he awaits their reply.  We are so excited to include you all in this journey with us as prayer partners.  Please join us in seeking the Lord in the following areas and let’s see how our God not only shows up, but shows off!

Prayer Requests:

•  Discerning the voice of the Lord in each new step along the way and that doors the Lord wants us to walk through would swing open wide.
•  Tim and I would continue to have unity in the timing of the vision and mission God is calling us to.
• That we, as well as our family and friends, would have peace and joy about us leaving the area.
•  That we would have patience as we wait upon the Lord and not rush His work, and that the Lord would go before us even now.
•  That we would stay humble and flexible in this process as the Holy Spirit ministers to us.
• Please, Please, Please, join us in praying for those in Fergus Falls, MN whom God wants us to minister to in the future as we have a burden to see people come into a relationship with Jesus.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

Us at the Pastors Conference in Tahoe