Here is a little background for those of you who are either just now receiving this news of our eventual transition, or for those who want to see how the pieces fit together!
Our
journey began back in the spring of 2003.
God was growing my heart for cross cultural missions and I participated
in a short term trip with Judson College over spring break to Guatemala. It was through the course of this trip that I
really connected with Holly and we formed a friendship. Our relationship began as we served together
and learned of each other’s heart for other cultures. The following spring, I participated in another
short term trip, this time as a student leader to La Romana, Dominican Republic. It was through this experience that my heart
was really drawn to the people of the DR.
I believed that if I was going to serve on the mission field at some
point, the DR was where I most wanted to be.
Holly and I were married in 2005, and in the Summer of 2006 we explored
an opportunity to move to the DR and serve with a baseball ministry. While we learned a lot through the
exploration process and began to get a greater glimpse of life on the mission
field, we did not feel the time was right for us to make the move.
Years later, as a staff member at Glen Ellyn Bible Church, I connected with one
of our church missionaries, Kyle Bradley who was serving in the DR. We would talk about our love for the people
and culture. For 4 years we would stay
connected while I served with the students at GEBC. In late 2013, God really began to move in my
heart and I sensed that there was “something else” on the horizon for us in
ministry. I didn’t know what it was, or
even where it was, but God knew, and in the spring of 2014, He sent Kyle and
others from GO to share with me their vision for the future ministry and
direction of GO Ministries and student ministry development and asked me if I
was open to joining them in this. It all began to make sense. Holly and I traveled to the DR with a team from GEBC in June to serve on a short term missions trip. It was critical for us to serve together, but also to see the ministry of GO in action and to meet with some of their leaders. After several months of prayer and processes, we came to the point of mobilization- we need to take action or this will just be a great "idea".
We are working on some promotional materials and some other support related items this month, but hope to be sharing more fully after the first of the year what God has planned and what it will take to get there. In the meantime, we ask that you would pray for us as a family as we seek to honor God and to walk by faith each day into this new ministry. There are times where we are excited and scared at the same time, but in all circumstances, we know that He has His glory and our good in mind (Romans 8:28), and we can be confident that He will go ahead of us!
