God has been working out a new thing in our lives...
Hello friends,
Today we want to share with you the story about something the Lord has been creating in our lives for the past five years. If you want to skip over the details of our journey, just scroll down until the words are black again. If not, put your feet up, maybe grab a cup of coffee or some chocolate ;o) and keep reading as we tell you about how we came to this point...
(Steve will give his perspective in blue and mine will be in red.)
Around daybreak on a brisk October morning almost five years ago, we, along with our senior pastor and his wife, piled into a van (Steve had joined the church as a full time youth pastor the previous spring). We were headed to our conference's annual "family gathering" weekend. We chatted about small things and big things and enjoyed our ride together. We were looking forward to this weekend, as it was the first time we had attended the family gathering...
I never imagined something would ignite a spark and an interest inside me that weekend which would change the course of our future.
While we were at the family gathering we all had the opportunity to learn more about ministry initiatives our conference had been working on. One evening featured a progressive dinner, where we were encouraged to eat different courses of our meal in specified rooms. Each room focused on a different ministry. In the rooms we learned about ministry work in the Philippines and Ukraine, as well as an outreach for inner-city children, and our conference's church planting (starting new churches) focus. They were all great ministries, but the room featuring church planting attracted my attention.
In between programs that weekend we had the chance to visit with other people from all over the state. I had been encouraged to start making connections with other people in ministry and I was eager to do so. One of my many conversations that weekend stands out in my memory. I was talking with Mark, a man who I later discovered is the "coach" for church planters in the northern and central part of the state for our conference. During that conversation, Mark apparently saw something in me and encouraged me to think about church planting in the future. The idea of church planting was exciting and intriguing to me, but since we had just started at our church, the idea was filed away for some later time.
We had a wonderful weekend. When we got home, Steve casually brought up the idea of planting a church some time in the future. I was not only uninterested in the idea, I was very opposed. We had just purchased a home, I was expecting our first child, and I knew we both agreed that serving our present ministries was God's will for our life at that time. I didn't even want to think about (or talk about) what other things God might have in store for us in years to come!
I agreed that God wanted us to be where we were. I put the idea to rest and we continued to pour ourselves into youth ministry. Interestingly enough, and un-initiated by me, the topic of church planting continued to pop up in conversations I had with people at various events and locations. It seemed like everywhere I turned, people were approaching me about considering church planting in my future. From the things other people were saying, it seemed like God may have wired me to be involved in planting a church. However, the idea of church planting was still something I considered to be for "down the road".
The next time church planting came up was three years ago, when we were approached by some people about taking the lead pastor position in a new church plant in our state.
I had been very closed to the notion of church planting up until the summer Steve was approached about this particular possibility. Earlier that same summer I had a miscarriage. Through the pain of that event, God did a work in me and softened my heart toward many things. I saw clearly for the first time how my priorities were off. I had been clinging so tightly to the things of the world (like our home and living in such a nice little town) that I hadn't even been open to the possibility that God might bring us elsewhere at some point. I was comfortable and the things around me were familiar. And I was scared to be disrupted from that comfort and familiarity.
Ultimately, I came to the point of surrendering my own will and confessing honestly to the Lord and to Steve that I would go wherever God lead us. I wanted to go where He lead, and I knew I could be content and satisfied as long as I had Him. I wanted to serve with Steve and to be used mightily by the Lord to do great things for His glory. Wherever that might be.
This offer three years ago was the first time we considered the idea of church planting to be a real possibility in our lives. It was now more than just a neat idea... and we had a decision to make. It was something Nat and I prayed earnestly about for about the span of a month. At the end of that time, we were able to confidently say that taking this new position would have meant disobedience to God. The right thing for us to do was to stay where we were. God wasn't done with us there yet...
Following that decision, we were blessed to see God reward our obedience. We have experienced much joy and we've been humbled to see how the Lord graciously allowed our ministry to be fruitful. We have deeply enjoyed our time here and have grown in our affections toward the people in our church and community. We also believe our ministry has been maturing under godly leadership, guidance, and opportunities during our time here. We have often commented about how thankful we are to the Lord for allowing us to begin in ministry here, where we have felt so cared for by the church body.
Church planting didn't become a consideration again until last summer. At that time we were encouraged to attend a national assessment center for church planting hopefuls. The center is a four day, highly intensive, observation period where multiple assessors scrutinize personality traits, giftings, as well as the spiritual, emotional, and relational health of the assessees. Natalie and I prayerfully considered going to the assessment center and came to the conclusion that we should indeed go. In late March we went to Orlando, Florida for our assessment.
Often since Steve's introduction to the idea of church planting, we have commented that we believe God would work in our hearts individually so we would know his plans for our life and ultimately be on the same page about it. Interestingly, last summer we began to have hearts and minds aligned in regards to our desire to plant a church some day. That alignment and confidence in His plan has continued to increase as we attended the assessment center (and also since we've returned home).
The assessment center gives each candidate one of four recommendations including"Not Recommended", "Recommended with Strong Conditions", "Recommend with Some Conditions" and "Fully Recommended". We anxiously awaited the final day when we would find out if we were recommended to start a church.
I had been very sick off and on during this time, beginning about an hour before Steve and I were supposed to begin our flight to Florida. The nausea was so extreme by our last morning at assessment that I couldn't make it to the final meeting to discover our outcome. Steve left the hotel room that morning as I was curled up in a ball on the bed, clutching the garbage can beside me. Weary from the intensity of the week and the nausea that plagued me, I quietly prayed that God would affirm our desire to plant a church or else lead us clearly in another direction.
A few hours later Steve returned. As Steve knelt beside the bed where I laid, his expression was hard to discern. My eyes silently asked the question we had both been wondering all week.
"We were fully recommended," he said with a smile. Relief and happiness washed over me.
I still had many concerns about how this would all work out. We have so much yet to learn about how to start a new church, and so much would be out of my comfort zone. Yet, I was glad.
"I told you, my child, this is right. You don't have to be afraid. I am with you in this" another voice gently spoke to me. Although the voice wasn't audible, I knew it and trusted it...
...We were going to plant a church!
So, that was in March. In between then and now we have prayed and traveled, waited, prayed, and traveled some more, seeking to find the town where God would have us start a new ministry. After logging many miles and seeking wisdom from many godly friends, as well as listening to God's spirit in our own hearts, we have come to a decision we feel peace about. Lord willing, we will stay here through the school year and then at the end of May embark on this new adventure to plant a church. The town we have chosen is within a couple hours from here. We're still a little uncertain whether we will disclose the location on our blog or not, but if you happen to be interested right now, you can leave a note in the comment section or email us (snkrier@live.com) and we will let you know personally where we will be moving to!
Thanks for sticking with us through this story! Isn't it interesting how God works in our lives, preparing us for His purposes? And how sometimes He changes our hearts so that the very thing we were against or scared of becomes the thing we long to do?
We think so. ;o)
*Drain on paper towel and set aside to cool.
My favorite little organization tool I've implemented this year is this plastic drawer stand. It sits on a small cabinet in between our washer and dryer, and it holds everyone's socks. I LOVE not having to carry socks upstairs and put them in dresser drawers. Not that they were heavy ;o) it's just that we don't seem to come up with as many loner socks if they don't leave the laundry room until they're worn! The top two drawers also hold Seth and Haddie's underwear.
Don't worry. This spaghetti jar in particular isn't still in our fridge! I did start putting the date on opened jars in the fridge this year. It is effective especially for pickle jars, which we don't seem to use up very quickly. Now I don't find myself wondering how old the pickles are anymore! Hehe! It's easy to know if I need to throw something out!
Maybe this is something lots of people do and I just didn't find out about it until a couple years ago... I'm not sure. Anyway, I used to save my plastic grocery bags for other uses, but they were always such an eyesore... overflowing from a corner of the pantry or falling out of a cabinet. A couple years ago I noticed my friend Marcy kept her plastic bags in an ice cream pail with a slot cut in the lid. I tried it and it works great! (I just realized that you can't put the bags inside each other or they don't come out.... you have to lay them on top of each other like Kleenex in a tissue box.
When I was 7 months pregnant with Haddie we decided it was time to move Seth from his crib to a toddler bed. Considering his extremely determined personality, along with the fact that I was too exhausted by the end of the day to make a dozen trips back up the stairs to put an escapee child back in his room, this half-door was a huge blessing!! A man from church made it for us. Seth was comforted by the fact that he could see out, and we were comforted to know that he wouldn't be wondering around the house at night. If he needed us during the night, he simply called and one of us would go to him. Once we put this little door in, Seth transitioned quite quickly.
We spent a week at a lake with Steve's parents, his sisters, and their families!
Here are the cousins on their way to go swimming! (They loved the kick boards!) Haddie and Seth are in back, but in front you can see Antonio and Hayden.
Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids.
Out of many attempts to line up cousins on the couch, this is the best one I got. ;o)
Seth having fun with his new hat and fishing pole.
Haddie and Seth.
We had a fun time even though there were a lot of cool days. We were thankful to have a great cabin with a big living room. Here is Aunt Buzzy (Samantha) coloring with the kids.
Steve on the paddleboat with Haddie and Seth.
One of the highlights was feeding the ducks bread.
My friend Naomi and me the morning of her wedding. She married a great guy named Gabe. Steve and I were honored to be involved in their wedding. I did Naomi's hair, as well as her sister's, and Steve did the welcome at the beginning of the ceremony. It was so fun to see how happy they both were to get married!
Here's Haddie looking out at the horse pasture the week before we headed off on our adventures.
Seth on the tire swing. :o)
This rooster in front is fondly called "My Boy" by Seth.
Haddie enjoying one of the kittens.
These next few pics aren't in the right order. Here Seth is getting hosed of with air by my dad after he and Haddie spent time playing in a nearly empty corn bin.
Seth having a blast on a little corn mound in the bin.
Here's Steve with his friends. First Steve, then Erik, then the groom, Richie, and then his friend Buzz.
Lastly, here's a couple pics of my dear friend Kelly's little girl, Anika, along with Haddie.
Seth, Anika, and Haddie at Kelly's parents' house. :o)
