NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

This is one of those blog posts that to be honest I don’t even know where to start!  As many of you know, I think in pictures, so forgive my illustration if that isn’t how you think!  In our Christian life it seems that God has many different ways of teaching us things.  Sometimes as we are making decisions, the best thing to do is just pray that God will make the way clear…if a particular path is not what God wants ask Him to close the doors, and if it is what He wants ask Him to throw them so wide open that there will be no doubt.  Sometimes such a prayer results in slammed doors, or doors that are cracked open and our journey of faith is to walk through those open ones, no matter how small the crack.  Other times, however, God blows the doors off the hinges to clear the way…this is one of those times.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been considering the idea of moving toward buying a house off campus (still nearby of course).  Last fall we had to ask five of our married student couples to move off campus so that we would have any room at all to house married students for our freshman class.  It’s a good problem to have, but a problem none the less.  I’m living in an apartment on campus that could be used for such married housing.  I’m just not okay with taking up that space long term when there are students who need it!  As I was out of ministry a couple years ago to raise my support, I began looking toward the eventual goal of buying a house, and what finances would have to be in place to allow that to happen.  Realistically, it looked like such a step would still be another two to five years down the road…until about three weeks ago.

Houses around the school here go on the market occasionally, and I always keep my eyes open.  One house in particular has been on the market for three years.  I looked at the price last year, and knew there was no way it was possible.  As I drove by in mid-February, “something” prompted me to check again.  The price had dropped by 30%.  I went and looked at the house, and really liked it; it’s so much more than I would have even dared to hope for in this area of Waukesha (taxes are high, and the houses often small).  Thus began a whirlwind journey of asking God what He wanted.  To make a long story short, I didn’t have the money saved yet to be able to make a down payment, didn’t think there was any way I could qualify for a decent loan, and the whole idea seemed generally impossible.  Then God stepped in.  I gathered a prayer group around my decision process, and started to explore the options.  I must say, I spent the next weeks dreaming in numbers!  We specifically prayed that God would make the path I was to take abundantly clear.  I could spend hours telling you the many ways, big and small, that God has made the path clear.  All that to say, I am under contract on the house, and plan to close on April 23rd!

I must say, this is an equally exciting and terrifying thing for me.  I know without a doubt that this is where God is taking me, but when I re-worked my budget to account for the expenses of having a house and mortgage and then changed my recommended support levels, I went from a safe 88% support level to 47% in a matter of hours.  I will need to raise about $2400 more each month to cover all the house related expenses as well as increased taxes and fees that come with the increased income.  I also need to raise around $20,000 to cover down payment, closing, and other such costs.  God is already doing some pretty cool things in those areas, but we’re definitely not there yet.  I would greatly appreciate your prayers for all the details involved, as well as the financial side of things.  If you are interested in some of the financial details, head to my “Give” page—I’ve updated it to explain what’s going on with the house.

This has been a God sized topic from the start.  I’m a fixer by nature and I tend to try to find ways to make God’s plan work out.  This time, from the first moment, all I could do was stand back, cross my arms, and say, “Okay God, how are you going to pull this one off????”  It’s been a stretch for me to let go of my tendency to fix things and allow God to show me the details…but it’s been amazing!  This house so perfectly suits me, my personal needs, and offers a huge potential for ministry opportunities with our students.  I look forward in the coming days to telling you more about how God “pulled this one off.”

This month especially has seen me very busy in both my school ministry and my church ministry.  The beginning of March I had the opportunity to attend Awana Summit, the annual national event held in the Chicago area for more than 1,000 high school students to compete in AwanaGames, Bible Quizzing, Volleyball, and Fine Arts.  It is a four day event, and two of those days include a college fair.  We had a steady stream of students coming by our table the entire time.  It was really encouraging to talk to these Bible focused and missions minded students, and I look forward to seeing some of them come through NTBI these next couple of years!

In my Christmas letter, I mentioned that I was doing some writing for our women’s Bible study curriculum at church.  That work has continued into the new year, and I must say I was getting pretty weary of staring at my computer screen!  I felt rather like an expectant mother as the volume that I had labored so hard to help produce finally went to press!  It has been wonderful to get involved in this process, and to see the light bulbs come on even for long-time believers as we examine Scripture in chronological order…really focusing on the story that God orchestrated in His pursuit of relationship of man.  I must say, I have never gone at it quite in this way, not ever jumping ahead in the story, but camping on what God is revealing about Himself step by step.  There have been some wonderful “ah, ha!” moments for me personally this year, but I will save that for another post!  The writing opportunities have also developed into some speaking opportunities as we took the women into a Passover experience.  It was an incredible time to examine the beautiful pictures of Christ that God placed in this ceremony that has been observed for thousands of years.  Please be in prayer with me as I consider the options for my involvement with women’s ministry at church this next year. I’ve been leading a small group this past year, but God may be directing into more of a large group teaching setting…I just need to be sure I don’t over extend myself!