What In The World Are You Doing?
I was 14 years old and sitting on a rooftop in the middle of the night when I made the decision to follow Jesus.
I had this long conversation with God, and I remember ending
it by saying, “I don’t really have much to offer you, but I promise I’ll go wherever
you want me to.” The next day, I was baptized and I knew that my life was no
longer mine – but His.
SO much about my life has changed since that day; however, I
fully intend to stay true to the promise I made Him at age 14: If you
need me, I’ll go.
This morning, Maiah and I made the decision to resign from
Edgewood Christian Church and go plant a church somewhere in North Carolina. We
have been riding an emotional roller coaster to make it to this decision, but everyone
is wondering one thing: What in the world are you doing?!
In order to fully explain that, I need to bring you back to
when I was 14 years old.
First Things First
Something you need to know about me: I am the most
non-charismatic person you will ever meet. I have no idea how to relate to
anyone when they say things like “I felt God calling me to do this.” God has
never called me, and I’m pretty sure it’s because He knows I would just let it
go to voicemail (for real, I stink at answering my phone). I’m not an
emotionally driven person. I can clearly express how I’m feeling, but I have
always been able to control my emotions and keep a calm demeanor about myself.
I’m not knocking people that are more charismatic/emotional; if anything, I’m a
little jealous.
For me, it is less of a calling and more of a
responsibility. I relate more to Isaiah 6:8 when it says, “Then I heard the
Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for
us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
Work needs to be done? Let me do it.
Someone needs help? Let me help them.
There is a need somewhere? Let me step up to the plate.
If I am gifted in that area and I am able to help, I feel
irresponsible when I don’t use my talents to help be a part of the solution.
When I was 14, I told God, “Here I am. Send Me.”
In college, I had no idea what I was going to study until I
was exposed to kids in the area that really needed Jesus. From there, the
decision was crystal clear:
·
I work well with kids.
·
Kids need Jesus.
·
I’ll work with these kids
and teach them about Jesus.
I was very content with my last job, until I learned about a
desperate need my home church had. From there, the decision was crystal clear:
·
I like doing youth ministry
·
My home church really needs
to kick start their youth ministry.
·
I’ll go help my home
church.
For the last 4 years, I have had a blast doing youth
ministry at Edgewood. We have had such a good time and made so many
relationships. I have seen the lives of students completely transformed, and I
have gotten so close to so many people. I love this church, and I love these
kids.
However, God has recently shown me a new need: a church for
people who might not necessary like church.
I was approached by some friends this year with a crazy
dream. They said, “Kevin, we want to plant 5 churches over 10 years, and we
think you would be a great person to plant one.”
If I’m 100% honest with you, I knew right then that I was
probably going to go plant a church. Because of how my brain functions and my
past experiences with Jesus, I knew that I would be a part of this plan and
that God was calling me to go plant a church. In fact, it was pretty crystal
clear:
·
North Carolina needs more
churches to reach lost people
·
I love the church and I love
lost people
·
I should start a church for
people in North Carolina.
However, because I am stubborn and love a good argument with
God – I said, “No way!” Besides, I LOVED where I was. I was in my home city, at
my home church, surrounded by family and friends that I love and cherish. We
have a house and my wife would soon have an awesome job. Why in the WORLD would
I leave?!
And Jesus being, well Jesus – He responded back by throwing
these passages my way every time I picked up my bible.
“Go and sell all your
possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven. Then come, follow me.” – Mark 10:21
And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a
hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. – Matthew 19:24
And my personal favorite… *eye roll emoji insert here*
Remember, it is sin to know what you
ought to do and then not do it. – James 4:17
So, my 14 year old Kevin tapped 27 year old Kevin on the
shoulder and reminded me about the commitment I made to Jesus. He reminded me
about the duty I have to do whatever He wants – and that this life wasn’t about
me or my happiness – but about serving other people.
So with many tears and much heart ache, we made the decision
to conclude our time at Edgewood and go on this new journey to go plant a
church where there are no churches.
Field of Treasure
One of my favorite parables is in Matthew 13:44 when Jesus
says:
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a
treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it
again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field."
We read this parable and think it’s cute – but have you ever
thought about how other people viewed that man? How many questions people must
have had for him! “You’re selling your house?! You’re selling your clothes?
Your selling your donkey?! Why?!”
Yet, he gladly sold it all. In fact, he welcomed their
criticism - because he knew something that they didn’t. He knew that everything
he had was nothing compared to what was in that field.
We relate so much to this parable. We are giving up two
incredibly awesome jobs and selling our house to move to a job that doesn’t
exist. We’re giving up financial stability to go to a salary that doesn’t
exist. We’re giving up family and friends and HOPING that we can make more. To
an outsider, it makes no sense. However, if you are wearing kingdom glasses and
seeing this the way God looks at it, you can see that we are going to a field
of treasure.
We believe that God loves those lost people in North
Carolina, and even though leaving Roanoke is painful, we think the reward in
heaven will greatly outweigh everything if it means we bring others to Him.
We’re so thankful for all of our family and friends in this
area and all over – and we appreciate you understanding what we are doing and
why we are doing it. We have felt nothing but overwhelming love ever since we
have been in Roanoke, and we couldn’t have asked for a better group of people
to serve along side for the past four years.
FAQ
We know you still have a lot of questions, and we want to
answer them as best we can – so we’ll try to cover a few here:
1) When are you leaving?
We’re hoping to leave around the end of August/beginning of
September if everything goes as planned.
2) Where are you going after Edgewood?
I’ll be on staff at Restore Church in Jacksonville, NC and
be doing a residency (school) with an organization called Passion For Planting.
I’ll spend around 10 months learning how to plant a church & fundraising,
and then we will move to where we are planting.
3) Where are you going to plant this church?
We’re not incredibly sure yet. We want to make sure we make
the right move for the kingdom and for our family – so we will be taking a road
trip in the next few weeks (along with a lot of prayer) before we officially
decide. Some of our choices include Fayetteville, Wilmington, Goldsboro and
Kinston. We will keep you posted with where we decide.
4) What about Maiah’s school counseling job?
Maiah turned down her school counseling job and she will be
looking for another job in Jacksonville this year. (Shout out to my wife for
trusting me in this crazy dream of mine).
5) Are you going to sell your house?
Probably? We’re going to look into that this week. So if
you’re looking to buy one – let’s chat ;)
6) How are you going to pay your bills?
Good question. I’ve been wondering that myself. If you got
any ideas, let me know. :P
But seriously – I’m going to try to hit the ground running
fundraising as soon as I can.
7) Will you miss youth ministry?
Yes and no. On one hand, I’ll totally miss it. I’ve done
youth ministry for the last 8 years – and working with students has literally
been the most fun job you could ever ask for. However, I say “no” because in
some ways, I don’t ever plan on fully leaving youth ministry. I still look
forward to working camps and conferences. I obviously will have students in my
future church – and I’m excited to connect with them as well. However, I am
also ready and looking forward to this next chapter in life as well. Besides,
I’m getting old and can’t keep up with the slang anymore. :P
8) (And probably the most often asked question) - Aren’t
you scared?
I can’t yell “yes” loud enough.
It is incredible scary to leave what we know and go into the
unknown. We have no idea what our future looks like, and because we are both
planners, we are freaking out not knowing every detail along the way.
And yet, there is this weird peace about the entire
situation. I feel like God is sending me in this direction, and I’m constantly
thinking back to my 14 year old self on the roof. I have a million questions
and concerns, but He is only asking me to trust Him in this entire process.
I just recently did a week of camp, and one camper in
particular came to me EVERY time something wrong happened. He would say things
like, “Kevin – you know its almost time to switch activities, right?!” “Kevin,
you know it’s about to rain – and we won’t be able to swim, right?!” “Kevin –
you know that if you use this color powder, people are going to be dirty and
it’s going to make a mess – right?!”
I would smile and assure him, “Yeah man, I’m aware. We got
it.” I always thought his worry was so funny – as if no one had thought about
these things except him.
I imagine God is the same way with all of my worries as
well. I’m constantly talking to Him about the many things I’m worried about –
and He is just smiling and saying, “I know, buddy.”
He knows we need to figure out housing. He knows we need to
figure out money/salary. He knows we have a lot of work to do before we plant
this church. He’s aware of it, and I know He is able to handle it all.
Love, Love & More Love
Again, we can’t stress enough how much we really do love
Edgewood and the Roanoke/Salem area. Today, many tears were shed – and it was
just a reminder of how many people actually care for us – and how much we care
for them. Saying goodbye is never easy – but it helps a little when you know
that you are saying goodbye for the right reasons.
“How Can I Help?”
Some people have ALREADY started asking us how they can help
us moving forward – and we’re so excited that people believe in us that much.
Here’s what were hoping for:
1) Pray
Man, we can’t stress that enough. My prayer life has
increased so much these past 3 months, and I have seen some pretty cool things
happen. There is a ton of power in prayer, and so you constantly keeping our
family and this future church in your prayer would seriously mean the world to
us.
2) No, seriously, pray for us.
I think we live in a culture where people say, “I’ll pray
for you” as way of being polite and showing that you feel for them. That’s cool
and all – but seriously, if you could even stop what you’re doing right now and
say a quick prayer for us, we would really love it.
3) Consider Partnering Financially
I was taught from a young age to never take hand outs – and
to pull yourself up by your boot straps.
However, God has taught me a different lesson these past 2
years: It’s okay to depend on other people, and it’s okay to depend on Him.
By leaving Edgewood and planting a church, I really am
depending on a lot of other people and
churches who have a Kingdom mindset. In a real way, I am at the mercy of many
people saying “Yes” to supporting me financially, and I quite at peace with
this decision – mainly for two reasons:
1) God is
not short of cash. One way or another, He is going to send people our way to
help us do His work.
2) If I
know my friends/family/churches like I think I do – I know that they will want
to be those people that God sends.
It is one thing to make a financial investment and receive a
good turn around/make a lot of money. However, consider the heavenly investment
you would make by giving and contributing to lost people meeting Jesus. How
cool is it to know that, when you get to heaven, there might be people there
that you have never even met – and yet you played a role in them getting there
because of your gift? I can’t think of any better way to spend money.
If you’re serious about helping us financially, we would
love to talk with you about it. I don’t have anything set up right now, and you
probably wont be able to give until around September when I get started, but a
commitment in general would mean the world to us – and it would certainly help
build confidence in us moving forward on this journey.
I have lived many places and met many people – but Roanoke
VA is the place where I was born. Edgewood Christian Church was where I came to
meet Jesus – and the people there have always been my family. This is an
incredibly hard decision, but we think that something big will come of it.
To all of our friends and family – we love you more dearly
than you know, and we look forward to sharing this journey with you. To all of
the people in the church planting world that have been helping me and praying
for me on the daily – I appreciate it more than you know. We’re excited for
this next chapter in our lives, and we can’t wait to see what God is going to
do!
