Closing Day

Yesterday we signed all the documents to close on our new house. We are really excited to see this as our new home. We have begun picking out paint, some furniture, and other tid bits. We will be moving in over this weekend. Please be praying for us that all goes well and we are able to be settled so that we feel we can finally be ...home.

Today is closing day for the "The Rest of The Story" too. I left off last time in October...

October '05 saw Rachel and I go to KC to attend the ONETHING Leadership Summit. We were really touched by what all we saw and encountered. We really had no idea what to expect, but what happened was 5 days of refreshment. We heard messages from people like Dwayne Roberts, Mike Bickle, and Allen Hood. They challenged us, provoked us and made us think. They presented this thing called Christianity in a light that we had never heard/seen before. We loved it, the IHOP Prayer Room was/is tremendous. We were completely blown away by the music, the messages and the people we met.

All my life I have felt like I was called to preach. Not necessarily from a pulpit, but usually in small groups and over coffee. I have known this since I was a child of 5 years old or so. However, all those years I put that notion in my pocket. Until October while we were in KC. During the summit, we attended one of the regular church services. Like alot of churches, they have informational tables set up around the perimeter of the sanctuary and one of those tables said "Forerunner School of Ministry". When I went to that table, I saw a card that said "Apostolic Preaching School: Redefining Theologic Education Through Night and Day Prayer". When my eyes landed on that, it was like a beam of light hit those words. I have nothing against theology, but a true ministry, in my opinion begins and ends with an intimate relationship with God. I thought, "THIS IS IT". While we returned from KC to Fairbanks, we thought for sure that we were going to move to KC. But, it wasnt that easy.

We got back to Fairbanks, and we saw relationships growing deeper, some starting fresh, and ministry happening left and right. We were intern leaders for a cell(home) group, and for the first time in our marriage we were having guests over regularly. This all made us take pause and really pray abot what God was trying to tell us. We got to a place that had us believing that we couldnt just uproot the family from a life in Fairbanks and move to KC just for me to go to school. There had to be a better reason.

Fast forward a couple months to December and the answer came. In mid Decemeber, we listened to a service performed by the Childrens Equipping Center online. The kids ages 5-12 gave testimonies and sang songs and shared about what the CEC has done in their lives. Rachel and I sat on the couch and were stunned. We couldn't breathe, we had tears from the power and authority these little ones had in their hearts. When that service finished, we knew that we had to move to KC to raise our kids in the CEC. We were tired of the kids being babysat while at church. We dont want to see coloring pages and puppet school, we want to see them praying with authority and power to see God answer. For an example (sorry Jackson) go take a look at this young man of god's site. His name is Jackson Bohlender, he is 13 and has a heart for God that is incredible, and yet, he is still all boy and full of life and fun.

I will stop here and write another post next wek to detail the confirmation we got to make this move, how it all came to pass, and what the near future holds for us. For now, I leave you to go move to our new house, and maybe hit a garage sale or two. God is GREAT!