Church Planting Assessment

I was going to write something explaining what Karrie and I are up to this week. But Karrie already did so I'll just copy and paste what she wrote. I'll blog again when we get back this weekend...

Aaron and I have both mentioned our plans in our blogs in bits and pieces. We've not been 100% clear about our plans and have not given any real details, due mostly to the fact that we've still been putting them together! Though I still don't have a ton of info to share yet, I think it is safe to share our intentions and a little bit of our plan for our family.

After much consideration, prayer, research and the start of planning, Aaron and I have decided to plant a church. What this means, really, is that we're starting a church, with a team of course, and Aaron will be the Lead Pastor. The whole endeavor is just as difficult, crazy and complex as it sounds, so this is something that will take a long time and a great amount of support to put together.

Crazy, huh? Believe me, we're still trying to figure out how God thinks a goofy, crazy hooligan like Aaron and a space-cadet like me have the business to lead a church. At the same time, we've been blown away by seeing God's hand on our lives in preparation for this adventure. Just in case it isn't obvious, we both feel called to do this. And I wouldn't be the sap I am if I didn't share that I'm so proud and confident of my husband who I feel has the DNA and makeup to be a great, great leader and teacher for God.

Part of our preparation over the last three months has been getting ready for an assessment with a Christian church-planting organization called Stadia. (You can read more about what and who Stadia is by clicking here) They have an assessment process for people considering to take part in church-planting as done through another program called CPAC (Church Planting Assessment Center). Endorsement through this program is vital to receive support from Stadia.

The first chunk of the process is completing an enormous amount of paperwork: surveys, various personality profiles, and the beast of all applications in which I felt like we were writing out every thought we've EVER had about God and the meaning of life. That wasn't necessarily exactly what they were looking for, it just felt like we wrote A LOT. We had to individually fill out these lengthy questionnaires in which every single answer was an essay. Aaron, of course, had more to do than me. We also had to have several references fill out evaluations on us personally and on our marriage.

All this paperwork was preparation for the 4-day interview/assessment that we are physically on our way to as I type this! It is the end and the culmination of the assessment process and we are so excited the time has finally come for it. We've been waiting for it for months! So, after kissing and hugging our boys 800 million times, we left them in the care of Grandma, Papa, Uncle Nate and Grammy for the next four days. I already miss them, but I'm so excited and ready for this week. We are praying and are confident that it will be revealing and confirming.

Thank you to all of you who have been so helpful and encouraging through these last few months. There are some people in our lives that we have been so blessed by and, as cliche as it sounds, we would not have been able to do some of the incredible and insane things we've done had it not been for God's provision through you. Thank you, more than anything, to our families - you've been AMAZING and incredibly supportive and helpful since the day we left for Arizona and entered a life of full-time-ministry over five years ago. This summer you've been no different, and we are so grateful.

To all of you, we humbly request some of your prayers. Pray with us as we go into this assessment and ultimately endeavor the adventure of starting a church. We are hopeful that through every facet of our lives it is God who is at the center and not us... and that is precisely what we are praying for with this church-planting/starting endeavor.