Season of Change

Six years ago this week Lori and I embarked on a journey through northwestern Spain with two other couples, Matthew and Anita Hanlon and Scott and Shelly Stribling. The six of us had quite an adventure driving from one city to the next and praying together in each place about whether this was the city God was calling us to. When we first stepped foot in Santiago de Compostela we had no idea how familiar we would become with this ancient city.

We had no idea that this would be the place where God would stretch and challenge us more than any other place we have been in our lives previously. We had no idea how much God wanted to mold and grow our thoughts of him and our understanding of him from outside our culture of birth. We had no idea that this would be the place where our daughters would be born knowing it as their home. We had no idea how God would use us as a bridge to bring groups of summer teamers and interns here to live their Christian lives in a culture that has rejected most of its religious heritage in exchange for the idols of self and secular humanism. We had no idea of the degree that God would weave us into the fabric of this society through friends, opening a café, and through our daily lives of work and school.

When I think back on that trip and the little that we knew about what our time in Spain would really be like, I praise and thank God for his faithfulness and the ways that he has worked in us, through us, and sometimes in spite of us. Today as I step back and look out over the past five years that Lori and I have lived in Spain I am also trying to peer into our future as well.

When I look into the immediate future I feel a mix of sadness and joy. The sadness being that our dear friends Troy and Jen Hellmann and Scott and Shelley Stribling have felt called to returned to the States in March. At that time Lori and I will be officially taking over as the team leaders for Spain. After the years that we have spent together with the Striblings and Hellmanns as friends, pastors, coworkers, and family it will not be easy for us to let them go (I'm quite tempted to steal their plane tickets so that they cannot leave). They have taught us so much about who we are and who God is by the myriad of ways that they have cared for and challenged us over the years. Troy and Scott will be starting a business together in Texas and we know that God will bless their new work and ministry there!

This past summer our team was joined by Jacob and Tania Bailey. Lori and I feel an amazing unity of vision for the future that could only have been orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. As we look ahead we are excited about the new season of ministry that God is bringing us into. The last two years a lot of our time as a team has been spent learning the ins and outs of running a business in a foreign country (which is no small task). As we look ahead we are excited about all of the plans and visions for ministry that we have, but we also realize that

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"

So we enter into this future with plans, hopes, dreams, desires and the realization that we must submit each of these areas to God for he ultimately knows better than we do. We ask you for your prayers as our team transitions into this new season.

-Please pray that God would abundantly bless Scott, Shelly, Troy, and Jen in their move back to the states and in their future business endeavors.

-Please pray that God will bless Lori and I with wisdom beyond our years as we move into the team leader position.

-Please pray for Team Spain and our plans, visions and dreams for the fututre and that we will be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.