Where we are... the church and the Gansons :)

I suppose, after 3 1/2 months of regular Sunday morning services, it's about time I update what's going on in our neck of the woods!

We've been in South Carolina now almost a full year and a half, and not only can I (usually) find my way away Rock Hill without a GPS (a minor miracle in itself, considering my genetics), but this place is actually starting to feel like home.  (Or at least, one of them.  For me, it feels like I still have three homes... Maryland, Ohio, and now South Carolina.)  It's an odd sensation of relief that I feel "comfortable," balanced with a tension that I don't want to be "too comfortable" and lose some inner passion about why we are called here.

To sum up what we've experienced in the church these past few months, it has been AWESOME.  I know there's some of the "fresh adventure" excitement still going on, but I can't get over how fun this time has been and how clearly God has been moving.  I really, really love our church!  We have roughly 40-50 people coming Sunday mornings (we don't actually count, but I think that's about right), and there are a lot of families on the "fringe" who are involved in our lives during the week or who might come once in a while on Sunday mornings or who just aren't interested in "church" yet but we have relationships with.  Most importantly, we see discipleship happening... "iron sharpening iron", strongholds being broken down, practical outpourings of God's love to both fellow believers and those who don't know the Lord yet.  

One of the coolest things is to see how God has lined up just the right people for our church.  We knew coming down here that He would have to have people prepared for us, and He has not disappointed!  There are a handful of families who, from the time they walked in the door, it felt like we all looked at each other and said, "Oh, there you are!" as though we are long lost friends.  These are families who have had a vision in their hearts of a group of people who value community, who want to live missionally in their neighborhoods and workplaces, who pursue simplicity for the sake of generosity, and who want to live in a way that allows "margin" for the Spirit to use them where He sees fit.  Families who don't want to be content with a "normal" Christian life, but are willing to let God take them out of their comfort zone and answer the call to do "radical, mundane things."  If you get VCRH's newsletter, you're introduced to one of these families each month.

On a very practical level regarding Sunday mornings, we never dreamed that VCRH would be this "far" this early in the game.  Somehow God has given our church a total of four other people (besides Ben) who have taught Sunday mornings, so Ben hasn't had to prepare a sermon every single week. Our worship team started out with just Karl and Lindsey Bucher, and the Lord sent us an awesome drummer right away, plus another gifted musician who can play multiple instruments and used to lead worship at a Vineyard in Washington.  Financially, we had anticipated this year having a significant deficit since we are small, and we assumed we would have to rely heavily on the support we raised outside the church to see us through these first three years.  But we have kept things "simple", and the Lord has given us generous people... the giving we received in February and March from people WITHIN our church has met the budget without any outside help.  If this keeps up, we might be able to write our church planting supporters at the end of the year and say, "You can stop giving now!"  As it stands (and we wait to see how the trend continues), we may have a pretty significant surplus at the end of the year... which means we can move even quicker to giving away our goal of at least 50% of what comes into the church.  Thank you, Lord!

And now, about us personally... Since the beginning, we wanted to foster a church that was not only simple but encouraged the idea that "everyone gets to play"... instead of a church where people expect the staff to do all the work of feeding them and "running the show" with lots of programs and "extras".   Along those lines, we prayed that if the Lord wanted Ben to work bi-vocationally that he would provide the right job for him. What a financial blessing it could be to a church if it was able to operate well with part-time staff!  And what a blessing it could be to a pastor to be able to naturally maintain relationships outside the church through the workplace.  It looked bleak at first, as the only part-time work Ben could find paid very little.  But it feels like the Lord may have opened a door in this area of our lives as well.  

Several months ago, one of the members of our church (Mike Jette) approached Ben with a "proposition."  He has been a certified financial planner for 20+ years, and works for Carroll Financial Associates in Charlotte, a very quality firm in the second largest banking city in America.  He was overwhelmed with his client load and wanting to make more "margin" in his life for travel and other ministry.  He knew Ben's educational background was in business and finance, so he wondered if Ben would want to come work for him part-time.   It quickly felt like the Lord confirmed this move in our hearts, so now Ben is helping Mike manage his clients and do all sorts of administrative details.  Mike is paying for Ben to take the Series 7 test that would give Ben the credentials of a Certified Financial Advisor.  Ben still has months of studying to do before he's ready for that, but once he becomes a CFA, he can take on clients of his own or just continue to support Mike and his clients.  It's ironic that this is probably what Ben would have been doing if he had not become a full-time pastor out of college... but in that case, it would have been much harder to start "from the ground up" with no clients instead of having someone take you under their wing and hand you what you need.   

And Ben absolutely loves it!  He comes home everyday sharing stories about good conversations they had with clients.  If clients are willing, at the end of their meetings,  Ben and Mike pray with them about anything going on in their lives.  I love that in a business arena where there can be a lot of greed and materialism, Mike and Ben get to operate under different principles, even if it may mean less money for themselves sometimes, and one of their goals is to help people not base their security on their bank account.  They encourage generosity and live it out in their own lives.  Part of Mike's testimony is that he came to a point in his life (along with his wife, Sharon) when he knew the Lord was asking him to live on much less and give away much more.  They stepped out in faith to do this... and then the stock market crashed.  Yet somehow while so many people in the financial business world were floundering, God kept sending people to Mike out of nowhere and that year ended up being his best year ever.  (I know this isn't how it always works... I'm not a proponent of the "prosperity gospel"... but this is how it happened for him.)  He has story after story of God's faithfulness and how abundant your life can be when money is not on the throne.  He and Ben have such similar hearts in this, and this job has felt like a win-win-win: for us, for Mike, and for the church.  We're excited to see how the Lord uses it in the future.  

And of course, the other big thing happening in our lives right now is the fact that we have begun the adoption process.  (As announced in my last post.)  We've signed a contract with an adoption agency, paid the first payment, and finished our initial home study paperwork.  We'll have a social worker assigned to us soon to start our five home study meetings, and then start on our dossier to send to Haiti.  Most likely, it will be close to four years before we actually bring home our children (we're hoping for siblings), but God is already using this adoption to totally rearrange our hearts.  

Some of you may know that adoption has always been on our hearts.  We planned to start a domestic adoption once we got settled here in South Carolina and felt like the church was going well.  We hadn't even been open to an international adoption because it didn't feel "practical."  We are "number people", and the cost and time of an international adoption felt like it was WAY out of the range of what we could do.  But once the undeniable conviction came that we should pursue an adoption through Haiti, we realized that God was about to take us out of our comfort zone in a whole new way.  

I know it may not be "kosher" to talk about personal finances, but money is a huge part of adoption, and through this process, I've realized that my own feeling of security often came through our bank account.  Not that we ever had a lot of money, but our last year in Ohio allowed us to build a little bit of a "nest egg",  and it's been a long time since I worried that we don't have "enough."   Even while Ben struggled to find a job, and then held jobs that paid little, I could look at our bank account and not feel overwhelmed.   So... yeah... adoption is changing that.  :)  To adopt two children from Haiti, it will cost between $40-45,000, and we don't have ANYWHERE near that.  Our nest egg is already disappearing fast, and will probably be gone before we even get all the paperwork sent to Haiti.  But we're confronted with this thought: Would we obey God even if our bank account got to zero?  Would we trust Him to provide even without a concrete plan?   This is SOOOOO against our nature.  We try to live frugally, to budget, to make all the numbers balance.  Ben is the king of spreadsheets and tracking expenses.  But we can't get away from the feeling that to not pursue this would be to disobey.  And so... as we've "let go"... we have never been so joyful to see our money disappearing!!  I of course have moments of freaking out (when my eyes turn away from God and look too long at the situation), but overall, we have a very deep peace in what we're doing.  (I often feel like the man telling the Lord, "I do believe!  Help me in my unbelief!")

It doesn't escape me that the Lord first spoke to me about Haiti and adopting from Haiti through the story of Gideon in the Bible.   Within a week of announcing we were adopting, we had a series of unusual expenses pop up... expenses from properties we own in Ohio, a mistake with our taxes that means we have to pay out much more than we thought, Micah fracturing his ankle, car repairs, plus other things that took a significant chunk of money... and it was all weird enough stuff that it felt clearly like when the Lord told Gideon, "You're already outnumbered, so let's reduce your army down to just 300 men... and watch me work."  There's something very "Gospel-like" about realizing we don't have what it takes, and God will just have to work it out.

I don't know what the future holds with all this.   I suspect I see some things God might be lining up.  For instance, we can't apply for any grants or loans until our home study is approved, and if my numbers are adding up correctly, it looks like we will have just enough to make it to that point, and then have a little time before the "next payment".  So maybe God will grant us amazing favor with the grants and loans we apply for.  Maybe the timing will work out that Ben will get certified as a CFA and the Lord will send him some major clients just when we need it.  And last night, I discovered an organization I think is amazing called "Both Hands" that raises money for adoption by helping a widow.  (If you want to watch an amazing video, check this out:: http://www.bothhands.org/our-story).  I'm hoping to apply to Both Hands for the very first thing once our home study is approved.  

One thing I know for sure: "Some trust in chariots and some in horses [and some in bank accounts], but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." :)

  

Haiti

At the end of February, Mike and Sharon Jette, along with Lindsey Bucher and I, were able to take a short “vision trip” to Haiti with the Outreach Foundation. During our time there, I honestly saw a lot of what I expected to see (extreme poverty and a nation devastated by decades of natural disasters and man-made turmoil), but what I didn't expect was how personally God spoke to me during the time we spent there.

The Outreach Foundation exists to find solid, biblical, indigenous churches and ministries who are doing their work with excellence in countries all over the world... and then connect Americans with those ministries to further missions. The ministry we visited in Haiti is called Haiti Outreach Ministries (HOM), and I was blown away by all they are doing and their vision. HOM has bases around Port Au Prince that each consist of a church, school, medical clinics, vocational training facilities, and other resources to benefit the community. We visited each of these bases, spent some time sharing ideas for initiating micro-finance programs in their communities, and prayed over two houses which were built for Haitian families using financial contributions from friends of the Outreach Foundation. There were certainly heart-breaking moments, like walking through some of the many slums and seeing women making “mud pies” (basically sun-baked mud) to fill their children's empty bellies. But there were also moments of great joy and hope, like seeing the children in the schools who were thriving and who understood what hope their education was offering them.

All weekend long, the Lord kept bringing the story of Gideon to my mind. When the Lord appeared to Gideon, he was the least in his family, which was least in all the clans of Israel… and he was hiding in a winepress from his enemies. But instead of calling Gideon what he appeared to be, God said, “The Lord is with you mighty warrior.” He was calling out in Gideon a truth that Gideon didn't even know was there. I saw Haiti Outreach Ministries doing that with the people and children they interacted with. One of our Haitian guides, Fritzno, who lives in the poorest part of Port Au Prince and has very little, is currently attending school for Political Science because he wants to “defend what is honorable” in a country laced with corruption...all because someone from HOM told him about Jesus, showed him that life has hope, and in essence said, “The Lord is with you, mighty lawyer” before Fritzno even knew the Lord had placed that in him.

I feel that the Lord could do incredible things with Haiti. All throughout Scripture, God uses the underdog and the “least likely” to accomplish His purposes; Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere (and by some measurements, the world), certainly fits that description. In the story of Gideon, the Bible says, “Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.” I wonder, as more and more Haitians turn to the Lord in their poverty, if God might choose to use the little nation of Haiti to do something amazing.

I'm so excited for how Vineyard Church of Rock Hill might be involved with Haiti in the future. Haiti is so close to us (only a 3 hour flight from Atlanta!), so it's a cheap, easily accessible place for us to regularly take trips, even with our kids. I could see us partnering with HOM regularly to build houses, run medical clinics, do VBSes, feed children, and a myriad of other things. As we strive to be a generous church, maybe we could budget to build a house every year for a family in need, or sponsor a classroom of children to go the whole way with their education. The possibilities are endless!

One final thing the Lord spoke to me personally, but this AFTER we returned home: Ben and I have known for a while that we are meant to adopt children at some point, but soon after returning from Haiti the clear conviction came that this was the country we should pursue adoption from. So this week, we applied with an adoption agency and are starting the loooong (possibly 3-4 years) and expensive process of bringing home (hopefully two) children from Haiti. I see the Lord's hand weaving so much together….with our family, with Vineyard Rock Hill, with Haiti… and I'm so grateful!

In the glow...

Here we are two days AFTER the first official Sunday morning service of Vineyard Church of Rock Hill, and it feels like we're kind of hanging in the "glow" of everything this weekend meant.  I know this probably feels more significant to Ben and I just because this has been something like 7 years of God working in our hearts to plant a church, but I'm pretty sure everyone who was there Sunday morning would agree that God was moving.  If there was one way to describe this past Sunday morning, it would just be "the sweet presence of Jesus."  It was better than we dreamed it would be!  (Yes, I cried practically the whole morning.) :)

Funny story though... Sunday morning I tried my best to get the kids out the door.  I ended up waking them all up early (it somehow feels inherently wrong to me to wake my kids up... this is probably why we homeschool.) :) Not that we were going to be late for church, but I really wanted to get there early enough that I might actually get to help Ben and the others set out the signs and breakfast.  It was like herding turtles to get them to the van, so I may or may not have punched the steering wheel when I finally got everyone in, turned the key, and the van wouldn't start.  I actually wasn't surprised the van wouldn't start because a bolt has rusted off that holds the battery in place, so any time it wiggles out of place, the cable doesn't connect right... we just have to push the battery back into place and wiggle the cable to get it going again.  It shouldn't be a hard fix once we finally have the time to take it to the garage, but we've just put it off because October has been so busy. 
ANYWAY, I got out, tried to pop the hood... and it wouldn't open.  I tried again.  And again.  I came to the conclusion the latch was broken.  After 5 minutes (or maybe it was one, but just felt like five), I pulled out my phone to call Ben.  Somehow I had turned on the Bible app on my phone in my pocket, so when I pulled it out, the "verse of the day" was waiting right there for me.  It said, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for there is enough evil in today."  (Not sure what translation it was, I just remember the "evil" part.)  Argggghhh!!  About that time, Micah said, "Hey Mom, I think you forgot to pull the lever inside the van first."  What a smart kid.  In my haste, I HAD forgotten to pop it from the inside first.  Hood popped, cable wiggled, van started, we were on our way!   His eye is on the sparrow... :)

I wish you all could have been there to experience our first morning.  We had breakfast at 9:30 while the kids ran wildly around us... then sent the kids with Mike and Carrie to their classroom around 9:50... then Karl and Lindsey led us in worship starting around 10:10 (we purposefully started worship AFTER 10 - even though we "advertised" that the service starts at 10 - to place an emphasis on allowing people to fellowship over food first), and then Ben gave an awesome sermon.  I love hearing my husband preach, and he had a lot stored up.  :)  He spoke on Exodus 33 where God told the Israelites that they could have the Promised Land but that He would not go with them... and Moses's response that he would rather stay in the desert and have the presence of God than to gain the Promised Land but lose the Lord.  This is our same prayer for the church... as long as we have the presence of Jesus, it doesn't matter if we're small or large, thriving or limping along. Just give us Jesus!  This felt like the theme of our prayer time Saturday evening, and it felt like what we experienced a taste of Sunday morning.  The Lord is so good!

For those who like a little something to listen to, you can click on this link to listen to Ben's sermon:
http://rockhillvineyard.org/content.cfm?id=327

For those wondering about our attendance, I think we had something like 25 adults and 17 kids... the grown-ups weren't actually outnumbered like we thought we might be!  Besides the team, we had some folks who have already "joined up" with us, some others who are exploring the Vineyard, and a few friends who are already involved in other churches but who came to "show the love" on our first service anyway.  We even had one couple come who said they had been watching our website for months waiting to see when we would have Sunday morning services because they had been involved in a Vineyard church in Kentucky before they moved to the area and they missed it so much!  (We went out to lunch with them plus a bunch of other folks after church and we really like them... I hope they decide to be "keepers". :)) 

We can't wait for November 16th!  In the meantime, we'll enjoy "being the church" in everyday life, outside of Sunday mornings, and with other local churches.  I love me the Body of Christ!

Four days left!

In just four short days, we'll have our first "preview" Sunday morning service.  We got word from the YMCA roughly 2 weeks ago that we can indeed use their facilities for a price we can afford, so it's off and running and everyone is scrambling to get it all done!  I keep saying, "I can't wait to get started", although I probably need to bite my tongue and remember that we HAVE gotten started.  That's what this past year has been about because Sunday mornings do not make a church... the people/relationships do.  I guess Sunday mornings just makes it a little more "official" feeling. :)

I read a devotional this morning with my kids that describes well how I've felt about this church-planting adventure so far.  It's from the book, "Thoughts to Make Your Hearts Sing" by Sally Lloyd-Jones. 

"When you were little, did someone big ever carry you?  Did you rest your head on his shoulder, lean your whole weight on him?  Faith is leaning your whole weight on God.  Resting your head on his shoulder.  Faith means resting - relying - not on who we are, or what we can do, or how we feel, or what we know.  Faith is resting in who God is and what he has done.  And he has done EVERYTHING."  It occurs to me that I could carry Abby sleeping in my arms all the way to China (figuratively speaking... she's heavy!), and when she wakes up, she would be in China although she never actually took a single step.  Somehow, we might actually see a church grow here in Rock Hill, SC, and it's like we're just "waking up" to what God has been doing. 

Because this is our first service, we aren't promoting it much because we know there will be details and kinks to work out (like who is going to take care of certain details Sunday morning, exactly what would be the best way to direct people through the YMCA maze to the room where we are meeting, etc.)  We've invited the few people who have already "joined up" with us and some others who have expressed interest in gathering with the Vineyard.  For all we know, there may only be 10 of us there this Sunday, but there will definitely be the presence of the Lord.  We feel like the little kid being carried in his Daddy's arms, and we know that's the only way to keep building a "church." 

I was thinking this morning of all the ways God has provided for our church, and all the people he has "perfectly" aligned with us.  When Ben needed to buy a computer for the church, he talked to one friend who knew exactly what we needed and even donated some money toward it.  When we needed to research printers, he talked to a friend in the printer business who just said "Here's what you need and here's how to get the best deal."  Same thing with projectors.  It would have taken us FOREVER to sort through all the details trying to figure out that stuff, but we "happened" to know just the right people to talk to.  We needed a logo, a website, and a million other little papers... no problem, we've got an awesome graphic designer on our team (Lindsey.)  We needed signs for the church.  Lindsey kicked butt designing them and Mike works for a sign company who donated the signs.  (We just had to buy the stands.)  We needed sound equipment and microphones.  Karl knew the details of what was important to get, and amazingly, instead of tracking down each piece of equipment (using a pretty strict budget), he found a church about an hour away that sold us EVERYTHING we needed (minus a microphone) for close to HALF the price of what it was worth.  (Side note: it turns out Karl is also amazing at putting down quarter-round and flooring... a fact that has come in very handy to us in our new house. :)) Ben ordered a projector through amazon.com, but before it processed, a Vineyard pastor 2 hours away texted and said, "Hey, do you guys need a projector?  We've got a really good extra one you can have."  Just in time to cancel the amazon order at no cost. :)

 I'm still amazed that God moved people here with us from two parts of Ohio and Kansas whose giftings are perfect... the Buchers are gifted worship leaders, Mike Zieber actually went to seminary specifically because of his calling to work with children and families (and kids FLOCK to him and Carrie and their girls), and the Hanfords are amazing at hospitality and naturally building deep relationships.  Plus, Seth's whole job is computer security so he knows all about techy stuff.... and kind of everything else.  (Seriously, he's a walking encyclopedia.  Sometimes when Micah asks me a question during homeschool and I don't want to take the time to look it up, I tell him to ask Seth next time we see him.)  Rachel has worked at Panera for years and loves to bake, so we're serving a GOOD breakfast every Sunday!  (Also, since Carrie is kind of a professional at making the best cheesecakes you've ever tasted, I'm sure we'll make that come in handy somewhere.  Winning people to the Lord one cheesecake at a time!)  I'm pretty sure Ben and I are just along for the ride with this group.  As long as Ben preaches a sermon now and then, I guess we'll earn our keep. :)

In other Ganson news, the painting and flooring is done in our new house (minus a few details), and we are starting to move things in.  There's still a million smaller things to be done, but it's definitely livable at this point!  Hopefully we'll be staying in it by next Thursday or Friday night... that might actually be possible, especially if any more soccer games get canceled due to weather like they were last night.

We've had a busy few weeks, and there's more to come.  Please pray for this Sunday especially!

We're still here!

It's been on my mind for a while now that I better post SOMETHING, so that no one thinks we're dead.  Here is my list of excuses for not posting anything in four months:

1)  My husband is super awesome at always sending out monthly church-planting updates via email.  He's kind of like clockwork.  So if you REALLY want to know what's going on (on a regular basis) and you haven't already asked to be on that email list, let us know and we'll add you!  His email address is ben@rockhillvineyard.org

2)  Ben also told me a while ago that he started a blog post (one of his "it's been a long time since I preached and I have thoughts that need to get out" posts), but it's been sitting in the draft page for a month or more.  So it's his fault too.

3)  There is some sort of radar in my kids that goes off when I am either on the computer or on the phone.  It signals that it is time to whine, cry, fight, cling, or otherwise cause havoc.  Thus I've acquired an aversion to sitting at the computer for longer than 10 minutes at a time.

4) I'm unfortunately task-oriented and a lover of efficiency.  And since this blog isn't always on the top of my list, and since reason #3 is detrimental to efficiency, I've pushed it off several times even though I kind of enjoy it.

Now that I am fully justified, here's a quick recap of where we're at:

• Summer was pretty relationship-heavy for everyone.  Since I knew playdates would be harder to do once homeschool started up again, I tried to get together with friends several times a week.   There was also some traveling, and a lot of our team traveled as well for family reunions, etc. 

• Mike and Carrie Zieber (Ben's sister) and their four girls moved to Rock Hill to help with the church plant, and since they bought a little fixer-upper, we've spent a good bit of time helping them get it all settled.  The Hanford's have also just moved into a house that Amanda's Dad bought here in Rock Hill.  Us Ganson's are looking for a house to buy so we can save a little money when our lease is up here in October.  (Rent in Rock Hill is ridiculous.  Buying, though a little more expensive than what we were used to in Ohio, is much more reasonable, and would save us a good amount of money every month.  Plus I could -hopefully - have STORAGE!!  And a washing machine that holds more than four towels!!  And a living room/dining room/kitchen area that is big enough for us to stop tripping over each other!! And NO light berber carpet that shows every piece of dirt!!!  (or shows orange soda that your friends spill on the carpet before you even move in) :)  Okay, in reality, I really am very thankful for the place we've been this year.  It has worked out great, and I'm glad we rented at first.  I just - as you can tell - have a few vices with the place. :)

• We just got back from a trip to Springfield.  It's the first time we've been back in 10 months and it was FANTASTIC.  We love so many people there like family, and it was especially good to visit VCN Sunday morning.  Ben preached and then we had a lunch afterward.  (When we pulled up to VCN, Caleb said, "THAT'S the church!  That's the church I wanted to go to!"  Every Sunday in South Carolina when we visit a church, Caleb always said, "Not this one!  The OTHER one!")

• We are still searching for a building in which to hold Sunday services.  Our hope was to do a monthly "preview" service October, November, and December, and then start weekly services in January, but if something doesn't open up soon we may have to postpone a little.  Ben had slowed down the search a little because the facility we really wanted seemed like it was going to work out, but in the end, the cost was too high.  There are still two other facilities that have expressed positive responses, but in true Southern style, it is very hard to nail down the person who needs to give the "yes" and to get a definite price.   This is becoming priority 1.

• When people ask "How is it going?" it's hard to know what to say because we're trying not to base our "success" on normal, objective things, like how many people are "members" or how many "converts" we've had.  We don't even have a Sunday morning service yet (or even structured "programs") which is when people tend to view us as "legitimate", so we can't tell you what attendance is like.  What we do know is that our team has done an awesome job at building authentic relationships with folks.  Of those people, some are definitely already following Christ, some are people who have some church background and would call themselves Christians but don't attend any church and might not be able to explain exactly what makes them a Christian , and a few are definitely not following Christ.   There's also several great examples of people who seem to be growing closer to Jesus, and who have caught a bit of a spark or interest.  I think we are close to being able to start two or three separate "community groups" within the next several months. If we started a Sunday service right now, our guess is that we might have between 30-50 people who would be regular attenders, but who knows!   According to our church planting coaches through the Vineyard, we are right on track, whatever that means!  :)  And ALL of that - if it's even accurate - is just a reflection of God's faithfulness because the past 10 months (or closer to a year for the rest of the team) has not seemed at all like we really dug in and worked hard.  There was a lot of hard emotional stuff that happened this year, and with lots of our team moving and issues with jobs and folks visiting from out-of-state and traveling ourselves, it's amazing that anyone on our team had time and energy to build relationships at all!  But somehow it's working. 

• For our family, we're also really praying for a new job breakthrough for Ben.  He continues to valet at the Charlotte airport three 10-hour days a week, but we'd love to have something closer for him.  Plus, the pay has decreased since the new valet company has taken over.  The management has recognized Ben's leadership potential, and they have talked about promoting Ben to a supervisor which would be fantastic financially, but we don't know if that will actually pan out or not.   Regardless, he has developed some great relationships with his co-workers.  (They unfortunately just all live 45 minutes away from us or more!)

We continue to covet your prayers.  We know the Lord has a plan for absolutely everything; pray that we would be discerning in where he is leading us and that we don't try to run ahead of him.



   

A few quick notes from Janelle....

• Tomorrow (Wednesday) is Ben's birthday.  The big 3-4!  Someone we recently met said he still looks like 25. I'm not sure if that's good or bad at this point. :)
• I now realize that I don't especially love meeting new people.  I just want to have good friends.  But you have to do one to get to the other!  (I apologize to those of you who knew me from age 2 through about age 21.  Somehow I used to be an extrovert by all appearances, but my theory is that was actually just immaturity.. either that or  I am now a mild introvert by default because "alone time" sounds so foreign and exotic since I have young children.)
• Soccer has been so, so good for our family.  Micah is truly loving it and I feel like there are a handful of really good relationships forming there between some of the other parents and us.  We've got two more games and an end-of-soccer celebration coming up, but we have plans to continue getting together with some of them beyond soccer season.
• We were SO BLESSED last week when a special friend sent us a check and told us to use it for a family membership to the YMCA.  He knew that we were considering it, but I'm not sure he knew how little room we had in our budget for it.  Everyone tells us that summer in South Carolina is kind of like winter up north... you just don't go outside the house (or in this case, outside of air conditioning).  We've been so easily interacting with people the past month or so because of the amazing weather, so we wanted to find someplace we could expect to build relationships INDOORS in the summer.  I've already acquainted myself with a few women in some of the classes (I've only been to two classes, but I already have a new facebook friend from one of them! :))  and Ben is looking into some groups of guys that get together to play basketball.  It feels like this is going to be a really good opportunity for us, both relationally and physically!  Plus, the cool thing is that the night before we found out we were getting this check, Micah had just prayed at bedtime that we'd be able to join the Y.  (He wants to play racquetball with Ben.)  Ben shared about Micah's prayer with a guy at work, and his response was, "Hey, get that kid to pray for me!" :)
• This past Saturday evening was probably one of the most fun evenings we've had since we've been here.  The weather was BEAUTIFUL so we sent out a message to most everyone we know that we were going to meet up at a local playground that has some picnic areas.  Most of OUR new friends couldn't make it, but we had lots of friends-of-friends there, and it was just an awesome evening of hanging out with  15 or so people (plus a whole gaggle of kids).  We even made some new friends at the park.  
• It feels like our net is spreading wide, so to speak.  We (and our other team members) have lots of relationships forming or slowly growing.  It's sometimes hard to know which ones to pursue more intentionally and deeply, and which ones the Lord doesn't plan to go much further.  We'll just keep praying for those people we encounter, and try to follow the Lord's leading in all of this.  We're praying for a lot of "natural" conversations, and this seems to be happening regularly. 
• I'd better be off to bed.  Abby has (another) stomach bug, and I'm guessing a full night's rest is probably not in the books for either of us.  We love and miss you all!

Rain Clouds and Silver Linings

I suppose it's about time for another update.  (Thank you, AGAIN, to my sister-in-law Machelle for emailing me to say "so what's up?"  Updating this blog is often on my to-do list; it's just a matter of getting the "other stuff"... you know, like "feed and educate children"... OFF the list.) :)

To quote a better writer than myself, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...." 
 This past month or so has been hard on our team in many ways, especially the Hanfords. I guess I'll start with the yucky stuff first and get that out of the way.

 As most of you know, Amanda's mom, Sue, was diagnosed with cancer back in November, and it has suddenly begun to progress rapidly.  Doctors are no longer able to provide any treatments for her and she has been put in hospice care.  The Hanfords are in Ohio this weekend with their family.  If you pray for anything surrounding this church plant, please pray for this sweet family who has already been through so much. 

We're also waiting to see what the Lord has planned for Mike and Carrie Zieber who are committed to joining us in Rock Hill as soon as Mike can find employment here.  It seemed for a while like there was an almost-perfect fit at a sign company here in town, but the discussions there have drug on and fizzled out to the point that it looks like it probably won't work out.  So they keep searching, and we all keep waiting.

Ben has also stepped up the job search/applications once again (although, honestly, he's never stopped looking since we got here.)  He's still scheduled every afternoon to work a couple hours as a traffic cop for a local school system, and twice a week as a valet at the Charlotte airport.  With the end of the school year 2 months away, we've known we need to find something to replace the traffic cop job.  But a couple weeks ago we also learned the valet company lost their contract with the airport, so that job will be gone in June as well.  (They also sent out an e-mail to their employees this past week warning them that they will begin laying people off sooner rather than later, so we really don't know how much longer Ben will have a job there.)  We would LOVE it if Ben could find a decent-paying job here in Rock Hill with early morning/daytime hours (as opposed to evening hours) and good interaction with people. 

Rachel has been struggling trying to get enough hours at Panera to keep her budget afloat, while also desiring a daytime job instead of 3rd shift.   It looks like an on-call part-time job with another company has opened up for her, so that's great, but something still needs to change with her Panera employment situation!

On a totally DIFFERENT end of the spectrum, Karl Bucher is swamped with work and working long hours in construction/restoration/whatever it is he does.  We're praying for change there as well, either a decrease in hours or a totally different job.  This man has got some serious skills in wood-working and leather-work as well as horse-training, so it would be great if he could eventually provide for his family using a combination of these things he loves.

SO.... our team hasn't quite been just frolicking through a field of daisies, BUT there's an awful lot of good stuff happening too:

First of all, we had Ben's parents visit for an entire month!   We've never had either set of parents living in the same city as us, and I have to say it was WONDERFUL to have "Grandma and Grandpa" here.  They were such a huge help with the kids and our schedules, plus it was great to have someone of a "more mature generation" in our Community Group time.  And besides that, we just like them. :)

Ben started coaching a city soccer team two weeks ago.  Micah LOVES it and looks forward to every Tuesday and Thursday evening.  It's just been practices so far and one little scrimmage game, but I have to admit, I haven't seen hardly a thing that happens on the field because I'm chatting with the parents on the sidelines.  There are a couple of moms who seem especially "natural" to connect with, and Ben has been enjoying some of the dads.  I'm hoping some of these folks are ones the Lord has "planned" for us.  Our other team members have also been experiencing some really great breakthroughs in meeting and getting to know folks, especially since it's light out in the evenings and we have warmer days more and more frequently.  (Side note:  This winter has been unusually snowy/cloudy/chilly for South Carolina, but it feels like an AMAZING winter compared to what we're used to in Ohio.  I can't overstate what it does for one's spirit to see so much SUNSHINE during these winter months!  I am constantly thankful for that.)

We had a few people tell us a while back that here in the south, we would probably find that it's easy to meet people, but difficult to get "below the surface."  Now that we've been here a few months, we're seeing bits and pieces of that.  There are some relationships that naturally won't progress much further, like our neighbors (one of the first couples we had over for dinner) who are moving back to Charleston in a couple of weeks.  Some relationships we originally formed have fizzled a little because of complications in schedules or sicknesses.  (I think I've had play dates scheduled with one friend at least 5 times that had to be canceled because first her kids were sick, then my kids were sick, then her in-laws came for the week, and so on...)  Other relationships seem to be deepening slowly but surely.  So I guess we'll just keep moving forward, trying to stay sensitive to whatever the Lord is doing in each relationship. 

A really great book our team has been going through is called "The Tangible Kingdom" by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay.  These guys kind of "accidently" built a church just by building relationships with folks (no strings attached), and the book has been both a big encouragement and also a little daunting (like when they mentioned that they found it often took about 2 years for most of their relationships to deepen to the point where they had some "open doors" spiritually.)   I think we've slowly been changing our mindsight from "We're here to build a church" to the mindset of "We're here to love people... and we're thinking in the midst of that, a church will be formed."

One of those things that seems to be a "God thing" is our new involvement with a place called Pilgrim's Inn.  This is a place in town where homeless women and children  can stay and get back on their feet.  It's a very "holistic" approach, helping the women find jobs, get the support they need, find a place to live, totally transform their lives.  We've been serving and eating dinner with them "family style" the last Wednesday of each month, and it has been a very natural, wonderful fit for our team.  We're also thinking the Lord might have more in store for us there... this may be a possible place for Lindsey to start out leading Refit exercise classes, maybe even for us to start some Sunday morning services.  These have just been thoughts or ideas so far, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Lord connects us more deeply with this organization and the women living there. 

Speaking of Sunday mornings, we have absolutely nothing in stone, but at this point we are leaning towards starting regular Sunday morning gatherings in January.  We'll probably do some "preview services" in the late fall, and maybe start doing some small "in home" services before that. 

So that's the nutshell version of our life today.  (Actually, if you want to know specifically what TODAY looked like, we skipped church because of yet another intestinal/stomach bug - the Buchers have it too - and I just put Caleb in time out for purposely farting on his brother AGAIN.  It's a rainy, movie-watching kind of day, but more sunshine should be on its way later in the week.)

 I'm still trying to figure out a more efficient way to move pictures from my phone to my computer, but when I do, I'll put a few up here. :)


****Sad update: about an hour after I published this blog post, we got the call that Sue, Amanda's Mom, has passed away.  I know they could use lots of prayers.***