diary of a church planters wife, vol. 1

cute husband in his "office" on some fundraising calls

If we're real-life friends or if you've been reading for a while, you know about a year and a half ago - the Lord called my husband to plant a church in Boston, MA. You can read a little about that here. And then, after spending months gearing up and praying and planning... we decided to stay. Nick applied and got excepted into the Re:Train program and we decided that a year of stability and growth and community would be more than worth putting off the church plant for a year. You can read about that here.

But now. It's time.

The year has passed, Nick killed his master's degree and worked harder than should be legal.

Our community has grown to the absolute fullest I could possibly imagine and we're definitely at the strange crossing over point where if we don't leave right now, we'll never leave. At least, I won't. Our family has grown and feels solid and we're in the middle of the longest stretch of non-pregnant marital stability that our marriage has ever seen. We've found a great church we want to partner with and we've narrowed down a neighborhood. It's time to go.

Nick asked me (a year and a half ago) to blog through this season and document it for us - church planting, that is. So here is my first attempt to describe what our life is a like right now:

It's the sweetest season of instability that you could imagine. Because, it's the good kind of instability. We're not totally sure when we'll move because we're not totally sure when we'll meet some fundraising goals. We're not totally sure what the rest of our summer looks like, because we're not sure when we'll move. We have an idea of what we'd like the fall to look like, but can't picture it. But our stability, our hope comes from the Lord who knows our plans, has carried us through the past year, and will carry us through the next one. Our excitement comes from the thousands of people living in our future neighborhood, a harvest ready to reap. Our peace comes from knowing the Lord is opening doors for our move and guiding us through this transition.

The biggest change though, that has made us feel excited and as ready as possible has been the way the Lord has increased our own fervor for Jesus. He is no longer a nice afterthought or a balm to heal a bad day. He's the hope of our lives - literally, and that is a relationship worth telling others about.

So - some main points for you.

- We'll be leaving Washington pretty soon.

As the church fundraising moves forward, so will we.

- We're making a pitstop in the South to see family & friends while all our stuff travels up to Boston. If you're in this category, we'd love to see you.

- We're hoping to be in Boston some time by mid-to-late August. Nick will be interning with Hope Fellowship Church and also working at Puma part-time, to supplement our income and be in the community.

- By God's grace, we'll launch some public gatherings in January.

How you can help.

- You can pray for us for sure. For our fundraising, for our family, for the people we'll be living among in Boston.

- Don't get mad if I forget to blog. I mean, no one really gets mad anyhow but there might be some dry spells.

- Help us network! You can tweet, blog, facebook, or just actually talk to people about our church - to encourage others to give and pray.

- Give to Gospel Community. If you'd like to be a part of what the Lord is doing through our family, in the city of Boston - we'd love your support.

Whatever you do, check out www.gospelcommunity.com to see more details and to hear more about our mission and vision. We'll keep everyone updated about our next steps!