Our Big Question

As 2012 wraps up, Erin and I are grateful for all that God has done for our family in the last couple months in our pursuit of the invitation to serve with the Cor Deo mentor team.  We’ve experienced numerous small, but significant, miracles that allow us to say we are nearing the final stretch to 100% funding.  At times it’s hard to believe how far God has taken us in such a short period of time!

As many of you know, on January 22 Peter Mead and Ron Frost will welcome and mentor six men in the new season of Cor Deo in Chippenham, England.  The plan, just as in the past two years, is to study God's word in a twenty-week, life-on-life, heart-to-heart community.  These are men who want to grow spiritually.  And after they finish almost all of them will go on to be leaders in a new setting, using what they've gained through Cor Deo as foundations for ministry. 

The big question we all have for God at this point is whether we'll be in Chippenham at the start of Cor Deo when the important bonding and orientation takes place.  We’re praying that we'll be there and you may be part of the answer to that prayer.

So here's why I'm writing, on Friday (January 4) Ron, Peter, and I will evaluate our progress and decide how God’s answering our big question.  If you've already pledged or given support, can you please pray that the balance of our funding will be pledged in the next few days? And if you've intended to pledge but haven't followed through yet, would you prayerfully consider taking that step this week? If you're supportive but not in a place to give right now, we understand.  Or if you want to hear more about our plans, that's great.  We're ready to do all we can to fill you in.

How much more do we need?  Well, it would be an easy decision if we had at least 85% of monthly support committed or pledged.  This figure will allow us to support ourselves for a short period while I lead in Cor Deo and finish up developing our final 15% of support from Chippenham.  So, if we had five partners commit to give $200 a month, eight commit to $100 a month, and another fifteen to twenty commit to between $20 to $50, we'd be on our way.  Some additional one-time gifts to get us started are also needed, but the monthly commitments are the most important at this point.

So what happens if we don’t reach our goal?  The answer is that we’ll begin discussing our "plan b."  This may leave Erin and our children in the States for a couple weeks while I go to join the Cor Deo team in the initial stages of this years program.  We hope I can develop relationships and avoid the social awkwardness that could take place when we would join the team full-time later on in the year.  We want to avoid the uncertainty of "plan b" and the additional stress it will be for all of us. 

What about the visas?  As some of you know, we've applied for our visas a couple weeks ago.   We just received an email today from the UK consulate giving us notice that our applications are in process.  We should hear from them in a couple days or a couple weeks (they like to keep it vague).  Please pray it's only a couple days.  

Thank you for your time, We’d love to celebrate with you this time next week as we share the additional stories of God’s faithfulness and Him granting us the desires of our hearts. But if not, we know His plans are good for us for he is good. 

Happy New Year!