Secret To Be Told

 
As I told you in my last post that I would one day get to share with you, what the King of KINGS, Lord of LORDS, our Savior- has been showing us! Well today is the day!!!

When God called us out of our last place in ministry we began praying and asking God to show us what is next! As I told you in my last post, for awhile He kept telling us to “Be Still”. SO during this we took the time to pray, learn, grow, DETOX from ministry ~YES you heard me! Sadly ministry can be toxic on ministry families! We have had both great experiences in ministry and not so great experiences! And in BOTH cases at times you still have to detox yourself because of jUnK from yourself and others!!! During this time we have also been SPONGES when we are around our godly mentors such as Dr. Bob O, my home church pastor Bob W, The Dearings, Mrs. Bev, The Oliphants, ohhh the list could go on and on and ON!! If you can’t tell we are very blessed to have many godly leaders in our lives and I could have a whole blog post just listing them all. I feel like one of the best qualities of my home church is they are good at discipleship!!!

When “My Man”and I first got married, we both knew that one day he would be a part of church planting in some way. “My Man” knew when he was young that he would be in full-time ministry when he was older. He has always had a burden for church planting and a passion to be an instrument to help transform the Church to be more Christ-like. We always joke about this, but “My Man” will tell you that he was that teenager who would always stand up in business meetings annoyed when things were not simplistically biblical!- makes me Laugh Out Loud-for real! ;) This year “My Man” and I started visiting a new church plant on Friday nights led by some sweeties from my home church. God started burdening our hearts for church planting. We began praying for a map for the U.S. that had “the least reached cities in U.S” .We looked and looked online and couldn’t find any. One night in bible study Dr. Bob asked“My Man” to lead the group because he was not going to be there, and I kid you not- in walks one of the ladies with a map from the NAMB!!!! Now you must know this part. We had yet to tell ANYONE the burden God was putting on our hearts! We continued to pray that God would speak through prayer, His word, our mentors, etc-The next Wed. night Bob O randomly said, “If you are called to church planting- you better go church plant, you don’t need Bob O’s opinion!”and then he proceeded talking about whatever else he was talking about! :) “My Man” and I looked at each other knowing we hadn’t told ANYONE yet what we were thinking, and seriously about fell off our seats!!! :)

God kept using scriptures, sermons, and blogs to give us a huge, passionate burden for church planting. We eventually decided we needed to tell people bc we never want to be outside of God’s will. SO we told the godliest people we knew. We even asked some people to join us! ;) We looked on the map from the NAMB- and picked one of the least reached areas in the US. And South Florida is 96 % unchurched- meaning that only FOUR % attends some kind of church. NOW the scary part is that 4% includes churches that are not doctrinally sound. There were hardly any Southern Baptist Churches. We started thinking that God was going to have us go to south Florida and plant as soon as our contract with our rental property was up. The last time I posted we thought the next part of our faith journey would be church planting.

During this time God also placed it on our hearts to have “My Man” finish his degree. But we were confused bc we had very, clear answered prayers. Inwardly our hearts were torn- Church Plant or Finish Degree?!?! My home church pastor, came to my hubby and shared with him a burden that God has placed on his heart, and felt like “My Man” was to be a part of it with some other men. The only thing was, that if he was to be a part of it, the timing would be very close to when we thought God was going to send us to Church Plant. SO we knew we needed to keep praying! And we did! Through prayer we realized WE had confused our housing contract end date with God’s timing! Prayer helped us to see that YES, “My Man” was supposed to finish his degree first, while also serving & sharing my home church pastor’s burden along with the other men! And DOWN THE ROAD church plant or be on staff in a church that helps church plant..WHATEVER the case we know we will be involved in church planting in some fashion!

My hubby will finish his degree at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary that he started when he was fresh out of high school. We will live on campus. He will work on his degree through the week and will continue working his secular job on the weekends. While we were on SBTS’ website we found they now also have a church planting resource! God is good! I love how he faithfully answers prayer!!! We are thankful He didn’t let our timing get ahead of His!!! “My Man” and I never want to get in God’s way or be too early or miss it altogether!!! We are excited for what God has instore! We know and have known that whether we are in school, ministry, secular work, wherever- our calling is  what Isaiah 61 says. We know we are supposed to live REBELLIOUSLY no matter where this WiLd rIdE of a FAITH journey leads.

We are learning how important prayer is! Prayer is definitely KEY! :)

ISAIAH 61~

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.
Strangers will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
And you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations and in their riches you will boast. Instead of your shame
you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance.
And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.

 “For I, the Lord, love justice;I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them. Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the Lord has blessed.” I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations."