Catching Up

Sorry I havent blogged in a while, life has been really hectic lately. I thought it would be easier to just do a one-punch update to let everyone know what's going on in our world. The trip to Germany was awesome the concert was off the hook. I love how God breaks barriers in race, language, and culture. There are pics on my facebook page of the trip. I got to share my faith alot and planted lots of seeds. I would love to go back again and sing. When I returned home from Germany the devil was really busy. I started being harassed at my job and we made the decision that I should resign. Alex and I went to spy out the land in Austin and we made some great new friends. We spent a week praying and driving around the city. We ate so much Church's chicken it was unreal. But God showed his presence immediately by providing a meeting place in a demographic that has no churches. We actually felt God leading us to be in two locations and we have favor already in the community. God helped us make alot of great connections and we look forward to putting legs to this vision. God has confirmed that Austin is the place. We are currently taking a church planting class to help fill in the gaps. I'm doing the bulk of the planning, while Alex is working on sermons. Planting a church is hard work. We already have been attacked financially, physically, and emotionally. Both of our dogs have died within a 60 day period. Our best friend in ministry passed away tragically in a car accident. My father has disowned me again, to name a few trials. But God is faithful, we are eating hamburgers and hotdogs, not take out because our finances are extremely tight now that I'm not working. I spend atleast 12 hours or more daily on church planting stuff, reading, researching, and planning. I've had a couple of interviews, but know decisions being made yet. We were depending on my income to save for the move and pay bills off, but apparently God has another plan. The key is being patient and waiting on God, but also doing the necessary things on our part so He can work on our behalf. We still don't know how or when we will tell our pastor were leaving. We want to leave him in a great position after the building is complete. He won't be able to pay our salary and we don't have many job prospects here. We can't make it on a minimum wage income here the cost of living is too high. I know Alex will have an even harder time finding a decent job. But we are simply trusting God to figure it all out. We are preparing to move and will do what ever we have to do to survive. Where God leads he provides. The area that we are planting in is urban, so we face alot of challenges. Austin is known as the graveyard of pastors. Some of the biggest names in ministry have tried to plant churches, but failed miserably. We have resolved that if we leave it will be in a body bag or if God tells us to go somewhere else. We both sense destiny and our kyros moment in the distant future. Keep us in prayer that God move heaven and earth for us. We need $ to plant the church and are praying that our friends and previous churches will support us or sow seed in our ministry. We are also trying to recruit a team to go with us.