Warning: Big Changes Ahead, Part 1

Isn’t it funny how God moves? Have you ever been comfortable and then suddenly God calls you to do something different? When I married Luke, I knew my life was going to be full of changes. Ministry is hard and many times, requires a move away from family. After two years of marriage, we moved to Kansas City. That was a hard time for me. I had never been away from family and I left everything I knew behind. But it was also a time of amazing growth. I no longer had anyone to lean on but God, Luke and myself. We had decisions to make that no one but us could determine. Our marriage became stronger and my relationship with God grew by leaps and bounds. We got comfortable here in Kansas City. We both finally got good jobs - doing what we wanted to be doing - we bought a house and decided it was time for a baby.

Again, isn’t it funny how God moves us once we get comfortable? In September of last year, we traveled back to Illinois to be with Luke’s Grandma in her final days. Cooper was about six weeks old at the time. On our way back, we began talking about how nice it was to be around family and how much we missed them. We also began to discuss our future, me at Pleasant Ridge High School and Luke at Providence Baptist Church. And then it happened, God moved…and He made it clear to us that He had plans beyond these two places and even beyond Kansas City.

In January, Luke began applying for jobs closer to home – mostly in the St. Louis area. We felt that if God opened doors there and closed doors here, we would follow His lead. Luke filled out applications and perfected his resume. He received lengthy questionnaires from a few churches…he had phone interviews…we had informal meetings with churches in person…and then one church decided to fly him in for a weekend of meetings and interviews in April.

While Luke was answering questions and flying away for interviews, I was struggling big time at work. My position there was never easy. It is too confusing of a situation to explain in a blog, but let’s just say that I wasn’t well liked by the right people. I firmly believe that I am a good teacher and I had some great relationships with the awesome students there. However, I found out at the beginning of April that I wouldn’t be returning the following school year. It was a very upsetting situation, as I’ve never had trouble getting along with my superiors before in the workplace. My self-esteem and confidence took a big hit and I didn’t know why it had to end that way. I worried about what I would do the following school year and how the bills would get paid. God had closed a door. Just a couple days after I found out this news First Baptist Church Fairview Heights (IL) called to fly Luke in for an interview.

After the interview, the church emailed to say they would like us to come the weekend of June 1 in view of a call. In church-ese, “view of a call” pretty much just means…we like you, we think we want you to work here, we want you to come meet everyone, hear you speak and then we will vote to hire you.

Our house went on the market (without signs in the yard) at the beginning of May. We knew God was moving so we decided to get it up on the market so we’d have plenty of time to sell it. We received and accepted an offer within three days of it being put on the market. Wow! God had closed a door. We no longer had to worry about a mortgage payment here.

We went to First Baptist Church Fairview Heights on June 1 for a weekend of meeting the church and then the vote. At 99.99%, the vote was a resounding YES. God opened wide a door! Beginning June 30, Luke will be the new, full-time Associate Pastor to Students. He will be ministering to the youth (40-50 students) and the college group (20 or so students).

There is our big announcement. There are many more things to say so more details will come in Parts 2 & 3.