Wow! A whole year. It’s been one year this week that our family stepped out in complete faith for a journey that we had no idea where it would take us. Believing God for the impossible and trusting through the inconvenient, we said “Yes” to a God-sized dream and took a walk.
It was a dream that we initially were not on board with. I tried to quiet the voice of God, as if you can even do that, and keep doing what I knew how to do… student pastoring. All along I could tell that God was beginning to give me what a former pastor and great friend termed as “holy disconnect”. I spent several weeks in prayer wondering why we were led to this church. “God, you know I don’t have many years of student ministry left in me. I’m ready to take the next step.” I would pray this prayer countless times throughout our days at the church. I loved teens, but I was losing the vision for student ministry. My vision was shifting significantly and I couldn’t redirect it no matter how hard I tried. I saw processes in the church differently. I looked at leadership differently. I was growing discontent in my position but not in my purpose. I began to wonder if I had missed God’s voice.
Summer 2016 was a summer that I will never forget. It was a summer that we decided to take the longest vacation we had ever taken since our honeymoon. We took our family on an eight day beach vacation. During the first few days I purposed to myself to clear my head and heart of all distractions and focus on where God was wanting us to go. We moved to North Georgia in the fall of 2015. The church we were now serving at experienced incredible growth and outgrew their “church building”. As the staff and leaders prayed about what to do (move to a third service or change facilities all together), it was decided upon that we should change facilities and take the church into a season of mobility. The staff and leaders began to make plans on taking the church mobile into a massive community center across the street from its current location. It was a fresh and exciting adventure. Wow! To be part of a healthy, growing, vibrant and community loving church was right where we “wanted” to be. Although we loved the church, we still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
While on vacation we met up with some friends. Our best friends, Stacy and Cindy Jefferson. A couple that has stood by our side through all that life had thrown at us. The good, the bad, and the ugly. They’ve seen us at our worst and celebrated us at our best. We spent a day at the beach together on June 30, 2016. After enjoying the nice summer day, watching the kids play in the shallow, grilling out, and playing cards, we sat out on the back patio and I could tell that the conversation with our friends was a bit unusual. It almost seemed like they were trying to find the words to say and at one point couldn’t find any words at all. If you know us… it’s a never ending conversation. We almost NEVER have moments of silence. Cindy spoke up and said, “I’m reading this book by Steven Furtick called Sun Stand Still. Have you ever read it?” We thought for a moment and couldn’t recall ever hearing about it. She looked at us again and said, “I’m almost finished with it and I want you to read it.” In my mind I wondered “why?” It was almost as if she was trying to subliminally tell us that God was going to tell us something through a book. Then the question came…
They [Stacy and Cindy] looked at us and said, “So, how are things going at church”? We both said, “fine” with some elaboration. We knew in our hearts that something was changing but didn’t really know how to tell them. Being the awesome friends they are, they looked at us and said, “Really, oh that's good. Do you see yourself staying there?” To me, it was almost an offensive question. But then again, if you can’t offend your friends who can you offend (ok, laugh a little with me)? We searched ourselves for the right answer and came out with, “Yeah, I guess”. We begin to explain to them how it was a great church and we loved the people, but we felt that God was changing something in our heart. We continued to explain how we felt as though we were in this weird middle ground of being at a place we loved but not feeling like we completely belonged there or that we shouldn’t get too comfortable. That’s when they both looked at each other and then back at us and said, “We know why.” As if to say they knew the voice of God for our lives. I mean, who does that? God does!
I personally believe that God will use someone else to speak into your life when you’ve become too insensitive to hear it for yourself. I hope you’ll join me on this journey of where God is leading us. I can’t wait to keep this dialogue open and expose the celebrations of God’s leading as well as the hurts of climbing mountain after mountain. Each week I’ll add a bit more to the story in hopes of inspiring someone in their faith walk. Whoever you are and wherever you may be on your journey, don’t despise the small beginnings of the people God may use to speak direction into your life.
It was a dream that we initially were not on board with. I tried to quiet the voice of God, as if you can even do that, and keep doing what I knew how to do… student pastoring. All along I could tell that God was beginning to give me what a former pastor and great friend termed as “holy disconnect”. I spent several weeks in prayer wondering why we were led to this church. “God, you know I don’t have many years of student ministry left in me. I’m ready to take the next step.” I would pray this prayer countless times throughout our days at the church. I loved teens, but I was losing the vision for student ministry. My vision was shifting significantly and I couldn’t redirect it no matter how hard I tried. I saw processes in the church differently. I looked at leadership differently. I was growing discontent in my position but not in my purpose. I began to wonder if I had missed God’s voice.
Summer 2016 was a summer that I will never forget. It was a summer that we decided to take the longest vacation we had ever taken since our honeymoon. We took our family on an eight day beach vacation. During the first few days I purposed to myself to clear my head and heart of all distractions and focus on where God was wanting us to go. We moved to North Georgia in the fall of 2015. The church we were now serving at experienced incredible growth and outgrew their “church building”. As the staff and leaders prayed about what to do (move to a third service or change facilities all together), it was decided upon that we should change facilities and take the church into a season of mobility. The staff and leaders began to make plans on taking the church mobile into a massive community center across the street from its current location. It was a fresh and exciting adventure. Wow! To be part of a healthy, growing, vibrant and community loving church was right where we “wanted” to be. Although we loved the church, we still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
While on vacation we met up with some friends. Our best friends, Stacy and Cindy Jefferson. A couple that has stood by our side through all that life had thrown at us. The good, the bad, and the ugly. They’ve seen us at our worst and celebrated us at our best. We spent a day at the beach together on June 30, 2016. After enjoying the nice summer day, watching the kids play in the shallow, grilling out, and playing cards, we sat out on the back patio and I could tell that the conversation with our friends was a bit unusual. It almost seemed like they were trying to find the words to say and at one point couldn’t find any words at all. If you know us… it’s a never ending conversation. We almost NEVER have moments of silence. Cindy spoke up and said, “I’m reading this book by Steven Furtick called Sun Stand Still. Have you ever read it?” We thought for a moment and couldn’t recall ever hearing about it. She looked at us again and said, “I’m almost finished with it and I want you to read it.” In my mind I wondered “why?” It was almost as if she was trying to subliminally tell us that God was going to tell us something through a book. Then the question came…
They [Stacy and Cindy] looked at us and said, “So, how are things going at church”? We both said, “fine” with some elaboration. We knew in our hearts that something was changing but didn’t really know how to tell them. Being the awesome friends they are, they looked at us and said, “Really, oh that's good. Do you see yourself staying there?” To me, it was almost an offensive question. But then again, if you can’t offend your friends who can you offend (ok, laugh a little with me)? We searched ourselves for the right answer and came out with, “Yeah, I guess”. We begin to explain to them how it was a great church and we loved the people, but we felt that God was changing something in our heart. We continued to explain how we felt as though we were in this weird middle ground of being at a place we loved but not feeling like we completely belonged there or that we shouldn’t get too comfortable. That’s when they both looked at each other and then back at us and said, “We know why.” As if to say they knew the voice of God for our lives. I mean, who does that? God does!
I personally believe that God will use someone else to speak into your life when you’ve become too insensitive to hear it for yourself. I hope you’ll join me on this journey of where God is leading us. I can’t wait to keep this dialogue open and expose the celebrations of God’s leading as well as the hurts of climbing mountain after mountain. Each week I’ll add a bit more to the story in hopes of inspiring someone in their faith walk. Whoever you are and wherever you may be on your journey, don’t despise the small beginnings of the people God may use to speak direction into your life.