A Journey of Faith

In the fall of 2008, I knew that my time as the pastor of Safe Harbor Baptist Church in Traverse City, MI was drawing to a close.  I had planted the church in September of 2003, and in those five years I watched God do some amazing things in the lives of those who attended our small, but growing church.  These people were like family to me.  We laughed together, cried together, learned together, grew together, basically did life together.  It was truly what I think a fellowship of believers should be-authentic.  I will talk more about this in another post, because it is an extremely important part of this journey, but for now it is suffice to say that I loved and continue to love those people dearly, and I would have been happy living out the rest of my days in Traverse City.

   So when God told me to prepare my family for a move, it was bittersweet.  You see, because of what God did in my heart in those five years, a new dream was born.  A dream that I knew would lead me away from the pastorate and Michigan, a dream that would take us out west. I did not know it in the fall of 2008 that out west meant Idaho, but I did know it meant away from the place and the people that were so dear to me.  Again, I will share more about this in another post.

In the spring of 2009, I announced to our church that we would be leaving.  I cried like a baby.  It was one of the hardest things I had ever done, but I knew it had to be done.  God had called us to start a ranch out west, and so we had to follow.  So in the fall of 2009, we moved…south.  That’s right.  South Carolina.  I know what you’re thinking.  That’s not west!  I felt the same way, but I’ll explain all of this in (you guessed it) another post.

So we have been in South Carolina for two and a half years, and in June we are moving again…this time out west, to Idaho, and I am pumped…mostly.  I am also a little nervous (another post.)  But this is a journey of faith for our family as we embark on “The Quest for Eleutheria.”

No, we are not moving to Eleutheria, Idaho.  We are headed to Coeur d’alene.  As far as I know there is no such place as Eleutheria, Idaho.  So allow me to explain to you the meaning of “eleutheria”.  In the bible, eleutheria is the Greek word for “freedom.”  “Freedom” is a beautiful word, and it has become a battle cry for Crystal and me.  Our desire is to see the children of our Great and mighty King live in the freedom that was granted to them when they received the blessed gift of forgiveness and salvation through our heroic deliverer, Jesus Christ. Freedom from the bondage of sin.  Freedom from the wounds of the past.  Freedom from the expectations of others.  Freedom to live out who you are in Christ.  Freedom to pursue your God-given purpose.  Freedom to walk with God.  Freedom to live in victory over the evil one.  Eleutheria-this is the message from God that we want to echo to the world and to the body of Christ.  This is what the ranch is all about.

As I have said, we are moving in June, but we do not have a ranch…yet.  I do have a plan and good intentions, but no ranch.  And that is okay.  In fact, that is the way it is supposed to be.  That is why this is a quest, a journey of faith.  I am not totally sure how God is going to provide a ranch for us.  I am not even totally sure how we are going to make it all the way to Idaho, but we are trusting our God, who has said, “It is time.  Go!”  And so I invite you to come along with us through this blog. Take this journey of faith with us, as we seek to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

 Now let me make a couple things very clear.  This is not a fund raising blog.  I will not send out pleas for support or ask you to give us anything.  Nor do I write this blog with the intent to seek to elevate my family in the sight of men.  Please know that this is not my heart.    

I do hope that several positive things come from this.  First of all, we have several friends who are genuinely excited and are praying for us, and this is a way to keep you informed about what is happening.  Secondly, I want to encourage others who have been given a dream by God.  As you see our journey unfold, I hope that it will strengthen you to begin or to continue to pursue your God given purpose.  Thirdly, if I know that I have a small cloud of witnesses following this blog, it will keep me from turning back when my faith is weak.  Most of all, I want people to see how big our God is as He performs miracles on our behalf during this journey.

I am going to be as transparent as I can possibly be.  You will know the good, the bad, and the ugly, well not much of the ugly.  But I will be open about our plans, our setbacks, our victories, our fears, our frustrations, the lessons we learn, and how we see God in it all.  I’m just going to keep it real.  This should be fun, I hope.  So, if you are ready, let’s embark on the quest for Eleutheria.