Next Steps

A lot has changed in just a few short days!!! A week ago and a half ago, we had our official interview with Cornerstone Wesleyan in Mt Pleasant, Stephen preached last Sunday, and will be starting TOMORROW! We received a unanimous vote, and we are super excited!

Friends of ours were the pastor there previously, so we knew it was open, but we really weren't even considering Mt Pleasant.  We had no desire to serve right behind friends, and they have been there 10 years - they were the ones that started the church...which if you know much about churches, this means that the next guy is the "sacrificial lamb"...and Stephen has done that twice already and had no desire to do that again.

Well, God obviously has different plans!  We went to the initial "get to know you" interview at the beginning of June, and I was BLOWN AWAY.  I loved the leadership and I felt like the church would be an amazing fit for them and for us.  God absolutely changed my heart, but Stephen really wasn't feeling it.  He still had his heart set on another church...but the week before our second interview with Cornerstone, he found out that they were going with the other candidate, and Stephen was devastated, but he still wasn't feeling like Cornerstone was the place.

Then the day before our second interview with Cornerstone, we interviewed with a local Free Methodist church, and Stephen and I both walked away knowing that wasn't the place for us.  Which in many ways left us feeling even more discouraged since Stephen wasn't really interested in Cornerstone Wesleyan.

But everything changed after that second interview...Stephen felt an immediate connection to the leadership team, and was very excited about possibly serving there!  The next day they called and said they wanted him to preach on July 3rd, and we were a little sad because we hoped to know sooner than 3 Sundays later, but we eagerly accepted and were excited to candidate there!  But then, later that day, they called back and apologized for it being so last minute, but asked if we would come the next Sunday instead, which was only 3 days later!!!  Stephen is very comfortable preaching, and didn't even hesitate...we were more than happy to come!

They voted, and by Wednesday it was official.  I just can't believe how fast all of this went!!!  The group of people we get to work with is small, but mighty! They seem healthy, self-aware, intentional, willing to challenge each other (including Stephen), and will do ministry together WITH us.  I think Stephen needs all this right now after all we have gone through these last two years. They want to hit the ground running, so that is kind of fun, too. It will be a difficult year, but we are up for the challenge and excited about it!

And, we will not have any week without pay, which is a HUGE blessing.  I trusted that God would provide, and He did, even though it didn't seem like it was possible this late in the game, after almost 7 months of searching for a church!  There are SO MANY other little things, that I haven't even mentioned, which have left me amazed along this journey to bring us to this point...little "hugs from God," as I like to say.  God is good!

Plus, we not only get to stay in Michigan, we get to stay in our district of The Wesleyan Church, but we don't have to worry about starting a new church AND moving at the same time.  And I still get to keep my job (which is IN Mt Pleasant!), which has been an amazing blessing to our family.  I am VERY excited about all of these things...it almost seems too good to be true :)

Looking forward to what God has in store for us in this next chapter of our lives!