Twas The Night Before Departure …

Well, tomorrow begins the next phase of the journey.  Remember a couple of years ago when Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy went on a rant when the media was criticizing his players? You can click here to see a very shortened version of it. Basically he yells .. “I’m a man! I’m 40!”  It’s kind of funny but I can relate a bit. I’m 36 and something “happened” when I hit that magical number … well, it felt like a unique milestone for me. But it was more like a, “ok Sean, this is it … you’re going to Vancouver to plant a church so you better ‘get your game on’ and step out and trust God.” Tomorrow we’re loading up the moving truck and stepping out.

Excited?  For sure! Scared? A bit. I guess having been in the role of a church planting strategist for over 4 years now I’ve seen a number of guys tackle church planting. Some new churches took off while others saw slow growth while others stagnated while others didn’t make it all. It’s a sobering enough of a reality that keeps me trusting God and depending on Him because without Him I am doomed to failure.

So here I am … I’m 36 and ready to take off across the country in a moving truck with Grant and Camden. From the beginning we prayed and trusted God to at least get us there. I set a goal to raise $10,000 for the move and other related expenses.  I figured that if I can’t trust God to get us from Point A to Point B then how could I trust Him to grow His church and redeem the lost? On the eve of our departure I’m humbled to say that God has provided the $10,000 that we needed. We were able to rent a moving truck, pay for travel insurance for the next 3 months, and so many of the things that come up with a big move like passports, airline tickets for Katie and Seth, and so on.

So here we are Lord.  This morning at Fruitland Community Church (who commissioned today) we watched a video about the persecuted church. I remember reading a quote from some American missionary that cause me to pause and reflect. Basically he said, “God called us to go, not to come home.” Indeed. On the eve of our departure we want to not only plant churches in Vancouver but to also plant our very lives along with the Gospel.