It must have been 2013 or so when the grind of ministry life began to wear on me. I remembered an aspiration that Jill and I shared when we were just returning form our first missions trip as a married couple. We would travel at least every other year to an overseas ministry location to remind ourselves of the way God sees His work. I prayed a desperate prayer, "God, please let me travel." It was a couple months later that Go opened the door for me to lead a trip to Nicaragua with Chad Heim, who planted CenterPointe with me.
Upon returning, our church was excited to travel again. Six months later the opportunity was presented to visit the Dominican Republic to see the ministry work there. I eagerly accepted the chance to visit a Caribbean island in the middle of February. It was then and there that God grabbed my heart.
I recalled that I had proposed to Jill in our first few years of marriage that we might live in a Spanish speaking country for a while, and give myself a chance to learn the language. She agreed. But that was 15 years ago, before children, before planting CenterPointe, before buying a house. I mentioned that to Jeff Hackett and he informed me there was a position that existed on paper, that no one had ever held before of a Campus Pastor. It could be held on a short term basis of a year. I was floored. Could God be giving me a dream? I returned home and shared my experience with Jill. She was on board with giving it a shot but there were many times to work out. Our kids were still in school, I lead a growing congregation, I have a board to whom I am accountable, would they be on board? God worked out each an every obstacle. The first being, the flexibility of SCORE to allow me to spend just the summer with my family on site. subsequently, the board offering their blessing, speakers lining up for the summer and our children getting increasingly excited and eager to head out.
Jill and I made quick visit to the Dominican to see for herself where we might live, what our kids might do and how the ministry operated. This is of course was the most important endorsement of all. The spousal "veto" could put everything else in jeopardy. Well, that visit went even better than imagined. Jill discovered that our could would not only survive, they might even thrive in the nurturing, safe and spiritually adventurous climate of the SCORE complex.
I don't know if I will ever spend a full year there or another Spanish speaking country, but this one thing I know, nothing is too big for God and no dream is ever to outrageous for God to grant! I am excited to be on this adventure. I thank you for taking the time to read and hope that you will remember us on your prayers.
