I'm a little late to the game but it's our decade challenge! Bet you can't even tell which picture is 2010 and which is current right?? Where you were when we started 2010? What did life look like for you? In some ways it feels like it was not that long ago but in other ways when I think back over the last 10 years it feels like 2010 started a whole lifetime ago. Jordan and I had already been married 2 1/2 years and we had made our first move down to the big, scary state of Texas (to which we adjusted quite well I would say)! We had lived in seminary housing in Fort Worth when we first moved down there but right around the end of 2009 was when we found our first home in Burleson, Texas and moved into a house! So I remember 2010 started with some big time adulting things and it was so fun, sort of. We signed up for internet service for the first time (we're pretty cheap people so don't judge), we bought our first lawn mower, and painted/decorated the inside of our very own piece of property. Oh and the chickens....we bought our own chickens and planted a garden so we could "live off the land". We were just a couple of crazy kids! As I think back on that time I'm pretty sure if you asked me then where I would be in 10 years it would be something totally different from where I am now. It's interesting how God's plans come together isn't it? Anyway, as we head into the 20's decade I thought it would be good to reflect on my favorite 10 moments of the past 10 years to help focus on all God has done for us and how we got to where we are now. So here it is.
2010 allowed us the opportunity to continue serving at Bethesda Baptist Church in Burleson, Texas. The above picture is from our 2010 Falls Creek week which was just the BEST week of the whole year usually, as far as ministry goes. I just loved every year I was able to go and each student that was able to go with us. Anyway, so Jordan was the youth minister there for about 7 years and boy did God know what He was doing when He opened that door for us! Bethesda was a blessing from the very beginning and they continue to be a huge blessing to us today, even from thousands of miles away. The people there are honest, hardworking, they love the Lord, and they are truly some of the most GENEROUS people I have ever met. We were pretty positive that we would be there for the 2 or so years it would take Jordan to get his masters degree at Southwestern and then move on to something else. However as his graduation came and went that church kept loving us, providing for us, and convincing us to stay....so we did! Looking back now we can clearly see how God was even then preparing us to be church planters here in NYC - Jordan started as a part-time youth minister but ended up doing children's ministry, worship leading, outreach/evangelism ministry, and probably other things as well that I just didn't know about. That's pretty much what church planting is all about...planning and orchestrating and leading ALL the different facets of ministry, at least in the beginning. Bethesda was also the first church to jump on board and commit to supporting us. Knowing that even as we were leaving the church believed in us, was praying for us, and even still paying us some money was an incredible support and encouragement to us then and still is today. Love y'all down there in Burleson!
In 2011 we made some special memories traveling to LA to visit Bonnie and Chase (my sis and brother-in-law). It was beautiful and wonderful and we saw lots of sights, and it also pretty much began our love and commitment to The Office. Yes, I'm talking about the show with Steve Carell. We had watched it before but this trip will solidified for us just how amazing it is. 😁 So what does this have to do with ministry? Well here's my take on it. Ministry is hard and church planting has been super hard. There's all kinds of stress and pressures and at one point a couple years ago I made Jordan go see a doctor because he was constantly rubbing his chest/arms, not sleeping, complaining of not being able to breathe, and I was afraid he was going to have a heart attack. Real talk: yes we pray and read the Bible and love spending time with Jesus but honestly sometimes don't you just want to put something on TV and lay down and not think about anything at all? The doctor basically told Jordan that he needed to find something that would help him take a step back and take a break from things. So on some nights when we just need a break from the reality that is church planting we watch The Office! And we remember back to 2011 when we were in LA and got invited to go on the set where they were filming. IT WAS AWESOME! The above pic is from the set and they let us look all around, except in Michael Scott's office because there were some clues in there for the upcoming season that we could not know about. It was such a good vacation, before kids, before life was too messy and hard and chaotic, and I'm thankful for such sweet memories.
2012 was such a special year for us. Jordan and I were so blessed to be able to take our first overseas mission trip together. He had been on some trips and I had as well before we got married but this was our first trip together. It really did not register to me that much at the time but as I look back on it now I distinctly remember the fire and the passion and just the pure excitement that came forth from my husband as he preached the Word of God to people who so desperately needed to hear it. I had previously committed my life to the Lord for mission work and Jordan had surrendered to the ministry. But during the two weeks we were in Africa I believe God planted and also grew in us the desire to go somewhere where there is not a strong gospel presence; to commit our lives to sharing the Good News with people who do not have access like we did to get to a church. We did not know where we would end up, but after that trip we knew we had been called to go somewhere to reach the nations.
Of course you have a life-changing trip and are all on fire and ready to go out into the world and preach the gospel, and then life happens and again God's timing is different than ours. 2013 brought us our first pregnancy and the birth of our sweet little Maria! And I would not change anything about that year at all. During the 9 months of pregnancy we had some scary moments, visits to high risk doctors, and towards the end ultrasounds every week to monitor the growth of our baby. It was definitely an eye-opening year for me, and one where God began to reveal some areas of my life that needed to change. I have always been one who likes to be in control of things, or at least feel like I am. But all of you who are parents out there know that you're pretty much just helpless to grow this little life inside you. Sure I took my vitamins and tried to eat healthy (when Jordan wasn't trying to get me to have a craving at midnight for tacos!), but being pregnant really opened my eyes to the fact that God is the true creator and giver of life. It's His plans and purposes that prevail and however this child developed was right in line with His perfect plan and perfect will.
2014 was pretty much just a year of learning how to function as a mom. Motherhood was such a hard transition for me and the learning process was a lot harder than I expected it to be! I always had said that as soon as I had kids I was going to stop working and be a stay at home mom. That was mainly because that's the only experience I had known and I just thought it was supposed to be like that. But again, God had other plans and exactly 12 weeks after Maria was born I started back to work. I was scared and fearful and full of all kinds of questions such as - who is going to take care of my daughter, am I going to miss all her important milestones, what if I can't keep up with breastfeeding her a whole year, even things like what if she likes her caregivers more than me (keep your comments to yourself Dana!). Over and over again the common theme I can see in all of these years is learning to let go of my control and trust God and His perfect plan. It's just so dang hard sometimes! Maria ended up staying in the home each day of one of the best women from our church who I am forever grateful for, God allowed me to see and experience most of her "firsts" that year, and Maria has been healthy and growing ever since, even if that first year of breastfeeding did not pan out exactly as I had wanted it to.
2015 was a pivotal year for our family. After several years of talking and praying and also doing some fasting intermittently we contacted the North American Mission Board and planned a trip to NYC to meet with some people in charge of church planting in the NYC metropolitan area. We knew that God was leading us to step out in faith and go somewhere to tell others about Jesus. We had looked into the International Mission Board but that did not work out. So our focus turned to North America and where we could go that would allow us to be a part of what God was doing to reach the nations. It soon became clear that there is no better place than NYC to reach the world, because the world is right here! On our first trip to really scout things out we prayed a lot, walked around the different boroughs, visited some church plants, and dreamed about what it might be like to actually live there. Well Jordan did most of the dreaming. I definitely was just going through the motions. Jordan was all in on the idea of church planting in NYC before we even started the process to come. I, on the other hand, took quite a bit longer. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jordan was meant to be a church planter, but in the Bronx?! Being more of a country girl than a city girl the idea of moving to NYC, even more specifically the Bronx, with no backyard, no pastures, and so many people packed on top of each other seemed completely overwhelming. And just the shear amount of noise! There's always SO MUCH NOISE. To top things off I am a math major people....I like formulas and nice equations that you can find the answer to, steps to follow, and plans laid out. Spoiler alert: that doesn't happen like ever in church planting. I was convinced that yes Jordan was a church planter but was that really supposed to be in store for me too? BUT GOD proved once again that I just need to let Him lead and be in control and trust His plans, not mine. His plans are always better....always.
2016 was the year of make all the big life changes you can possibly make in 1 year and it was pure CHAOS. All glory to God because He is the only way we made it through that year. Well it was through God and also because of you wonderful people out there who pray for us regularly. We feel those prayers for sure! We made another trip early in the year to NYC to go through the assessment process with NAMB. It was basically 3 days of being interviewed. We both were questioned, our marriage was looked into, and our finances were laid out on the table. IT WAS EXHAUSTING. But at the end of the 3 days we received a thumbs up (with no conditions) from NAMB to come to NYC and be church planters. So we quit our jobs, sold our house in Texas, moved to Oklahoma for a couple months because it happened so fast, started living on support, found out we were pregnant with our second child, moved into temporary housing in Brooklyn, and began hunting for a place in the Bronx. God opened some doors BIG TIME and we found our new home in the Bronx, prepared to move again, then had a baby 2 months early and also the week we were supposed to move, and also it was Christmas day. When I actually read what I just typed out it seems even more crazy lol! BUT GOD has been faithful through it all and we are still standing and still going strong, well at least I'm still going strong probably 75% of the time. So yeah, 2016 was pretty much just all about change. It was also during this year that again, God continued to show me how to surrender, how to give up the idea of being in control of things, and yield to His plans. That year really brought life and meaning to the verse in Proverbs 16:9 that says "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps."
In 2017 we see God forming the very beginning of a new body of believers in the Bronx, called Everlasting Church. We really did not know what we were doing, at all. But we just got out in our neighborhood and tried to start meeting people, praying that God would lead us to people of peace. After trying to start a Bible study in our apartment, and pretty much getting shut down (I mean, this IS the Bronx and when you're out inviting strangers into your home you get some weird looks), we just stepped out on faith and rented a party hall right in the middle of our neighborhood and invited people to come. And they did! 😮 We had our first gathering and it was awesome. Then the place we rented basically shut down any further attempts to meet there and we started looking for a new place. After going door to door to different businesses to try and find something to use on Sundays we came across Full Element Martial Arts who agreed to let us meet in their facility. They were a God-send! There were mats on the floors, flaming dragons on the walls, and no shoes allowed, but we were so grateful for the opportunity to have a spot and God used it! We started with just monthly meetings, then twice a month meetings, then finally every Sunday. God sent some of the best NYC people to us and we were able to meet Jasmine, Mercedes, and some of the BEST neighbors. Slowly but surely we were forming connections and God was opening doors. It was a hard year for sure and I missed big time being a part of an established church. I truly believe though that God can take what LITTLE we have to offer and He'll use it. So even if you feel like you're not doing enough know that God looks at the heart, and He honors obedience. Even in the midst of bad attitudes and lots of tears and frustration (mainly all from me) God continued to open doors for us and I'm so humbled and grateful for that.
2018 brought with it 2 huge answers to prayers! We had 5 new people move to NYC to specifically be part of our church planting team and our church was able to move into the Brady Court Community Center, the place we had been waiting on since Jordan and I moved into Brady Court the beginning of 2017. The Dence family as well as Anna Bowen and Alexis Jeffries, all from Tenessee, moved to our city in May and June of 2018. I cannot put into words just the amount of encouragement and new life that breathed into our family. To know that these people were willing to uproot themselves and join us and believe in the mission God had laid on our hearts came at just the right time. We were tired. I hadn't listened to Jordan preach a sermon hardly at all as my main goal was just to keep my kids quiet during church so that others could hear the message. When this team of people showed up though and began helping with the children, began filling in for Jordan to preach, began helping lead mission teams and filling in whatever areas needed to be filled in for me personally it was just the boost of wind in my sails that I needed to keep pressing on. Even though things did not work out for long term like I had hoped with all these individuals I hope you all know you were an answer to prayer and came at just the right time. Finally in October of this year the Brady Court Community Center was completed and our church was able to move in there for Sunday services. We had been praying for this space for over a year and it came not a moment too soon! We knew we needed more space to really be effective, especially if we wanted to encourage more families with children to come. Again, God was showing that although His timing and plans may be different than what we would like in the end it's always for the best.
Finally, 2019 has been a year of tremendous growth for our church and we believe God has great things to come in the next decade! Out of the last 10 years, 2019 was probably the best one yet. Here are a few of the reasons why:
- We prayed for salvations and baptisms and had 7 baptisms and even more salvations - Praise God! - ✅
- We prayed for more families with children to come to our church - ✅
- We prayed for church growth and are currently looking to move into a school early this year so that we can have more space - ✅
- We've prayed that God would show us how to reach teens in our area as there is a high school right across the street from our church and God has started bringing them to us - ✅
- We prayed that God would send us leaders to step up and take on different roles in the church and the last Sunday of this year as our family was on Christmas break to Oklahoma we had some of our church members step up and lead in some singing, prayer, and Bible study - ✅
God's faithfulness to lead, provide, take care of us, and continue to teach my stubborn self every day more about His grace and tender mercies sometimes leaves me breathless. If you ask me where I'll be in another 10 years from now, who even knows?? Jordan is all about the dreaming and planning and making yearly goals, 5 year goals, even 10 year and 20 year goals. He's a visionary, a dreamer, and I love that about him. I'm pretty much not. So I'm just going to trust the Lord day by day that He's taking me down His path, for His plans and purposes. I may not know what tomorrow holds, but I keep reminding myself I know WHO holds it. That's good enough for me.
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