"God has a global purpose for every detour in life."
In the summer of 2007, through consecutive events and multiple open doors, God made it glaringly clear that Riverside, California would be my new home and place of ministry after my 2 year stint in India. My transition to California living was easy and effortless thanks to knowing friends that were networked in all the right places. God birthed a couple of new passions and honed in on some skills during my time here in the last 3.5 years. These were a passion for college students and a passion for mobilizing others to gaining a heart for the lost across the globe. God used this time to grow me professionally with some awesome colleagues and mentors and to help contribute and understand the missions conversation in a university setting. My time in California has been a blessed blessed season and a season of reaping the joy of operating in ministry that is within my giftings. I have seriously LOVED every minute of it.
When my job ended at California in August, I was devastated and lost. I had moved to California to work at CBU and now that my ministry and reason for being in California was over, I began to pursue what God had for me next. I experienced about 5 months of silence and questions. The weight of choosing my next path was hanging over my head and quite honestly paralyzing me and stressing me out. I found great peace in the above quote, "God has a global purpose for every detour in life." I was actually just hoping that God did indeed have a plan, and he did!
In January, I received an email from my old college pastor Curtis Jones asking me to call him that day and that he had a few things to run by me. After hanging up with him on the phone, I was left with the a new decision to make. Him and his wife, Amanda, have decided to plant a church in Houston, Texas and they have asked me to come be a part of their team as their missions person. After a lot of prayer and consulting with people that love me here in my community, I have decided to accept the position!
What?
This means that I am officially moving to Houston, Texas to plant Bayou City Fellowship!! I think that my mother is most happy with my decision. I have not lived in Texas since 2005. I will be working bi-vocationally until the church is big enough then hopefully I will be able to come on as full-time staff. So it looks like I might have a future of Starbucks in Texas also, for a short time.
When?
I will be completing my first masters degree (Masters of Intercultural Studies) on May 19. So I plan to finish my degree and then enjoy my last summer in beautiful Southern California. I will make the road trip with my roomie Becka towards the end of July. Our church, Bayou City Fellowship, will debut to the public in the fall. I plan to transfer to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and finish my Masters of Theological Studies at their Houston campus.
Who?
Most people think that I have gone off the deep-end by leaving California to start a church-plant, especially because there are some crazy people out there. I was talking to a friend here in So Cal about how Curtis and Amanda was my old college pastor and she replied with, "Oh, so they're family." Yes. Curtis and Amanda are family. When I left for India, Curtis and Amanda looked me in the eyes and said, "we love you, we support you, and we always want you to be in the circle of people we know and love." And they have been faithful to a fault to their word through my journeys in India and California. They have been my biggest encouragers, supporters, and fans since I met them. They truly are family! I would be honored to be pastored under Curtis, but to be on the same team as him is an opportunity I was unwilling to pass up. Not to mention, Beth Moore will also be planting with us, in case you needed some credentials.
My Thoughts
I am super excited about what's next. However, I have no idea how to think or begin to say goodbye to California and all the people that have made my time here so awesome. It's always challenging to leave one really awesome season of life to pursue the unknown. I can't seem to conceptualize yet that pursuing one means I am abandoning the other. So I am going to try to live in my ignorance for as long as possible.
***I have a goal to find at least one Californian to take with me. Who is game?
