October 2015 Prayer Link +

 . . . an addition to our October 2015 Prayer Link

Big Dreams, Bigger God

In last months Prayer Link we mentioned a time of rejuvenation as well as a project we're working on for new partners. During that time of rejuvenation we spent time devoted to prayer for the remainder of our deputation trail and how God would choose for us to complete it. Through prayer and discernment He has laid it on our hearts to target our arrival for May 2016. This is seven months earlier than we have previously planned on. This is an absolutely audacious goal, but we have an even more audacious God. We cannot accomplish this goal though unless we commit ourselves to Him.

On paper the math doesn't add up, but our God is bigger than mathematics. Please join us in prayer as we seek to fulfill His calling in our lives and that we work harder than ever before. This will only be accomplished through God bringing together the right partners in His timing.

August 2015 Prayer Link +

 . . . an addition to our August 2015 Prayer Link

Cultural Training

There is so much to share with you this month that we just can't fit it in our regular Prayer Link (what an awesome problem, right?).  Right now as I write this we are in Kansas City, MO for what has been thus far incredible cultural training.  Dr. Richard Lewis has been sharing with us how to identify and think through culture in context with reaching them with the Gospel.  This wraps up today.

Jetting Across the Country

Next, we head to New Mexico, then to Virginia, then to New Mexico (what?).  I'm sure you're asking at this point, "did he not think through this when he scheduled?"  I did!  But, when two pastors call in two very different states and want you for their conferences, I'd be crazy to say no.  But what is deputation if nothing but an adventure.  Please pray for our family as this will be Eleanor first flight and we truly have no idea how she will enjoy/cope with this new way of travel.

PROJECT: Connected

The time has come to retire my Mac.  He has had a long and faithful run, but just can no longer keep up with the pace at which I run.  So much of what we do on deputation is communication/technology related and a functional laptop is a must.  We are looking for one time partners who can come along side and give towards this need.  We currently have $200 of the $1300 for the replacement.  To give go to our website.

Where Do You Call Home?

While visiting a church recently, the woman at the nursery check in desk casually asked, “So…where do you guys live?” Without missing a beat I responded, “Springfield, MO.”  At the exact same time Brennan said, “Iowa.”  The woman stared at us with raised eyebrows and I chuckled nervously.  Her question wasn’t a complicated one and it certainly sparks some questions when a married couple gives two different answers.  The truth is, this isn’t an uncommon scenario.  

We’ve been traveling most of the time for almost a year now.  We receive our mail in one state, register our car in another, and stay in a third when we’re not on the road.  To be perfectly honest, when people ask “where do you live?” I’m pretty confused about that myself.  It’s hard to tell where home is when I feel like an alien everywhere.  Our location changes by cities and sometimes states every week and each place has its own little culture shock.  At the grocery store, I find myself wandering down aisles looking like I’m lost…because I am.  I never know what to order on the menu at a local diner, and you’ll always find a GPS on our dash because we never recognize the places we’re in.  

I feel like I’m a resident of everywhere.  I have favorite restaurants and coffee places spread throughout the country.  We’ve made friends and connections in more than 30 states.  I get my hair done in a different salon every other month. I love this adventure we’re on.  I really do.  We’ve seen some wonderful places and met fantastic people.  I enjoy being on the road with my little family, but loving the adventure doesn’t make the question easier to answer.    

Sometimes this chapter of life makes the easier questions complicated to respond to.  Am I homeless? No.  Do I have a home? No.  Where do I call home? I don’t really know.  Sometimes it’s here, sometimes it’s there.  

Paul tells us in Philippians that, as believers, our citizenship is in Heaven.  When I feel like a foreigner in all places, I can rest in the fact that I know where my eternal home is.  I can trust that during my nomadic journey through deputation, I don’t have to feel out-of-place.  I’m beginning to realize that I’ve put too much security in my physical location and I’ve allowed that temporary fact to become part of my identity.  So for now, I may stumble through an answer when asked where I live, but if you ask me where I’m going I can confidently respond to that.

Embrace the Journey: Four Lessons on Deputation

As I sit at a strangers dining room table in a town I’ve never been to before, I’m reflecting on the past year.  A year of adventure, uncertainty, excitement…and sometimes stress.  This year has definitely been a learning curve for all three of us.  But as I think about the road (haha) that this past year has brought us down, I can think of four key lessons that have improved and strengthened me on this journey.  

Lesson 1: Organization is key to sanity.

Organization does not come naturally to me.  Unlike my little sister-in-law, who could write a book on structure, this is something that I struggle with.  My mother always told me when I was growing up that I was the master at hiding things.  She would tell me to clean my room and at the end of the day it would look clean…until she found the plastic bags of stuff hidden in my closet.  However, this year has FORCED me to make some organizational changes.  Being responsible for packing and moving basically everything that my family needs to live every week has really changed the way I look at managing stuff.  We’ve developed a system of packing that works pretty well for us and now I can have all of us packed to go pretty much anywhere for any length of time in about 2 hours.  

Lesson 2: Learn to have flexibility.

I feel like I am an oxymoron of sorts.  I said that I have NO organizational skills but I am a planner.  I am a question asker who needs to know everything.  Because of this, our lifestyle over the last year has taught me a few things about being flexible.  Last minute changes, surprise speaking opportunities, and the general unknown have all been things that have strengthened my ability to LET GO over the last year.  I have always had kind of an all or nothing mentality when it comes to planning.  In the past, I felt that if I couldn’t control every minute detail of the situation then I wasn’t going to plan anything at all.  I have realized that when I try to take control of situations and stick strictly to the plan, I end up being way more stressed and it doesn’t change anything.  Slowly, I’ve been intentional about handing the reigns back over to God and reminding myself that the unknown factor is not always negative. 

Lesson 3: This is an extrovert’s life.

But I’m not an extrovert.  I’m pretty sure that I’m actually the EXACT opposite.  In high school, I did whatever I could to get out of speaking in front of class, even raising my hand was nerve wracking.  Strange social situations, making new friends, and speaking to a crowd are all things that intimidate me more than anything else.  So, it’s easy to say that this year has not been the most comfortable for me but I’ve been learning.  God has shaken up my idea of security and thrown me into a life that only an extrovert can lead.  I feel like I truly realized this a few Sundays ago when we were asked to teach high school Sunday School on the spot.  I few years ago, panic and queasiness would have immediately set in and I would have been wishing I had some sort of anti-anxiety medicine.  I would have been looking for any excuse to escape, but none of this happened.  We jumped in and had a great time.  Nervousness didn’t even cross my mind.  I’m still not an extrovert and may never be, but God has given me a passion for people and a confidence that I could have never mustered on my own.       

Lesson 4: Trust is the only thing that really matters.

Deputation is what you make it.  One of our missionary friends told us this in the beginning.  You can make it through deputation and arrive on your field without ever learning any of the first three lessons.  It may be a chaotic, anxiety-filled mess of a ride but its doable.  But, I’ve learned in the last year that you won’t succeed without trust.  Unless you trust that God is doing something in the midst of confusion and the unknown, it’s likely that you won’t be buying that one-way plane ticket.  Regardless of what happens on this long, sometimes harsh journey of deputation, the lesson that must be FOREFRONT in our minds is that God orchestrated all of this.  He’s putting all the pieces together.  In return, He expects us to trust Him with the plan and just do the work (the hard work) that He asks us to do.  

It occurred to me the other day that God could put us in Belgium tomorrow.  The funds could come together and the tickets could be bought.  I’ve heard of things like this happening and I know that it’s possible.  But if I wake up tomorrow in southeastern Oklahoma, I know that God has a plan for me to still be on deputation.  It’s not by accident that we’re raising funds this way.  God has taught me so much in the last year on deputation and I know he’s using this time in my life to mold me into the person He needs me to be.    

We have. We are. We will.

When I became a student at Baptist Bible College 8 years ago, I didn’t have a passion for missions.  To be honest, I really couldn’t tell you what missions was, but God changed that.  Over time he gave me a heart for a people I didn’t know and He asked me to follow Him to that place.  It was at BBC that He cultivated these thoughts and put people in my life to direct me towards His plan.  

A year ago today, Brennan and I stood on stage at BBC and were recognized as missionaries to Belgium.  We accepted the call He had for us and decided to follow Him.  When I was a freshman I heard a speaker in chapel say, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.”  This didn’t really soak in until I realized how true it was in my life.  I didn’t grow up in a church that taught missions.  Before I attended BBC I had never even met a missionary.  If it was based on my qualifications alone, I would be so unfit for this.  But it never ceases to amaze me how God takes normal people with a willing heart and molds them in to the people He needs to advance His kingdom.     

This week we had the opportunity to participate in Fellowship Week at BBC.  Being at BBC always brings back so many memories.  Memories of friendships built, of knowledge gained, of an uncertain future.  BBC went through some rough days during my time there.  I didn’t know what the future would hold for the college when I graduated 2 years ago, but they’re headed in such a great direction now.  It was so nice to see the new branding and the energy on campus, and I’m so excited to see how they will continue to move forward in the coming years.  God is still molding lives at Baptist Bible College and I’m confident that He’s not finished using them yet! 

The theme for 2015 was “We have. We are. We will.”  Regardless of the changes that happen on BBC’s campus, in BBFI churches, or in our lives, we still have the same call - to share the Gospel of Jesus with the whole world.  I’m thankful for a fellowship and body of believers that are committed to this call above anything else.