For the past year and a half we have been like Jonah, God told us to go to one place and we chose to go to another. We have been “trapped” in the belly of a whale of our own making.
David and I have made a decision that has been a long time coming. I am sure that many of you have heard the rumor that we have decided to attend another local church. We are both disappointed that the rumor mill started up on this and that our friends did not hear this news from from us first. We really wish that people would have asked us directly instead of starting rumors. Had we been asked we would have been honest in our responses. We had not made the final decision to change churches until this week. We actually had not spoken to anyone about our plans until we were confronted with the rumor that is floating around.
In April 2009, David and I both felt that God was leading us to move to another church in the area. We actually discussed this with our home team members and asked them to pray for us about the decision. We really wanted to make sure that we were hearing from God and doing the right thing. Then in June 2009— the “big announcement happened.” We were confused and felt like we needed to stay and support Revolution through this difficult time. Around this time last year we started visiting a few other churches because we really felt that we were being called to serve in another area. In November, when we lost our baby, we returned to Revolution.
During the holiday season we still felt that God was telling us that we needed to go to a different church. We ignored what we both felt and stayed in our comfort zone. As my illness continued to progress and get worse we continued to stay where we were comfortable.
For the past several months we have wrestled with this issue and have ran from God. The unfortunate part is that we have not been in God’s will because of our not obeying God in this matter in our lives. Two weeks ago we went to Life Bible Church “just to check it out.” We immediately felt at home and at peace. The stress and heavy heart I have been feeling has vanished. We went again last week, and for the first time in in a long time we felt God moving in our lives. Its kind of ironic that we felt the need to move in April of 2009, and that’s when LBC was started– things could be so different had we listened and obeyed.
We ask that you keep us in your prayers during the coming months because we really have no idea what God has in store for us or our family. We just know that some changes are coming and we need to be where he has directed us to be.
Please know that we love each and everyone of our Revolution Church family and friends. Just because we are no longer attending Revolution does not mean that we can not still be friends and hang out.
I think one of the hardest things for my wife and me was deciding to leave the church we’d been going to for awhile. But the place changed over the course of our membership — and more importantly, my wife and i changed. sitting in a pew for a couple of hours a week and being “plugged in” to small groups wasn’t enough for us. We longed for something more … real.
Through a long process, we decided to go with a growing organic church movement instead of the institutional church — and we’re much, much happier. It’s amazing what you can do when you’re *real* with people.
This has not been an easy decision. You are right as people change and grow needs change. We were with the church for three years, which is not a long time–but is as long as we have lived in this community.