Returning & Residency.
After five years of getting ready to move to Denver we finally arrived. After a month of living with Ally’s parents we finally moved into our own home, our temporary mansion. We began our stay in Denver with visiting family, celebrating holidays together, and starting our own holiday traditions, and then… we returned to Iowa.
Returning
It’s Christmas after all and there is no one we would rather be with than family on Christmas. But honestly, it felt wrong. Leaving Denver felt wrong. Driving across Nebraska felt wrong. Visiting Cedar Falls and seeing friends felt wrong. It felt like we weren’t supposed to be there. In fact it felt like we had simply left to plant our church, failed, and had already returned with tails between our legs.
Yet we knew, fought to believe, and know today as we sit in our home in Denver that this is not the case. We are so grateful for our time in Iowa, but to be completely honest with you all we are so glad to be home here at 3108 S. Cherokee. There was much to learn from these emotions and experiences, but one of the primary observations we made is that Denver is home. We love Denver. We claim Denver as our own. God has given us this place, and we joyfully receive it (especially now that we can eat in restaurants again! YAY COVID).
THANK YOU FOR HELPING US START OUR STAY HERE.
Residency
Now that we are here we have officially kicked off our church planting residency with The Oaks Church. We have been planning, scheming together for the future, but this has been primarily through listening and speaking to our King, Jesus. What a treat it is to partner with Ally, our kids, our dear friend and co-laborer Derick, and all the others at The Oaks. This place is officially becoming our new church home and family.
Something else we are grateful for is our official acceptance into the Send Network family as missionaries to the city of Denver! We have been assessed, begun our training, and been receiving the amazing love and care that this family brings to all of its planters as we seek restoration through multiplication.
One area that God is highlighting for us in this early stage of residency is team building. Specifically, team members who will join us in Capitol Hill to plant Capitol City Church. What we have been praying for, and even experiencing, is a unity of Spirit that transcends logic and catchy vision (of which I seem to have only an average amount). What we are praying for is that we would be unified in passion, zeal, and longing for the longing and aimless citizen of Cap Hill will experience the freeing and empowering grace of Jesus. Grace that unifies. Grace that builds up. Grace that sets free. Grace that fills us with worship and wonder.
We want to ask you to pray for us as we seek God’s desire for our team. We are eagerly praying how to lead this team, but also who should be on it! Maybe it is you. Maybe it is not. Either way, we ask you to join us in praying for our team now (the VWs and Elle), and our team to come. We are beginning to see with fresh eyes the potential in each person to not only join us, but to be a participant in planting churches across Denver and the world as we seek the renewal of the city through the renewal of the citizen.
Prayer Needs
Pray for Ally. It is her 30th birthday this Saturday and I want her to know how blessed and loved she is by our good good King Jesus through his Spirit and the unity of His Body. (She may hate that I included this)
Pray for unity between Ally and I. We are young parents with young kids who moved twice in the last 2.5 months across the country to plant a church. We need some help and prayer for incredible unity.
Pray for Aksel, Flora, and Frances. One of our hopes is that they would experience a double portion of the Spirit than what Ally and I have or will receive in our lifetime. We pray for their souls and their wellbeing as we seek this insane endeavor.
Pray for unity in our ever-forming team! We have one amazing committed team member with a handful more considering joining. We are excited to see this form, but we want unity more than anything.
Pray for our neighbors. We have two couples on either side of us who do not know Jesus and are of course very okay with that. Pray for these two couples that we would show compassion to them, the heart of Jesus as gentle and lowly, and that their would be a supernatural encounter that they cannot ignore!
Pray for the longing and aimless souls in our neighborhood, Capitol Hill. We are praying that God would give us divine appointments with the poor, the homeless, the wealthy, the millennials, and anyone who resides in this area. Pray for healing, repentance, and renewal.
Pray for our funding to be fully met. We don’t just ask you to give, but to pray that others would join us! We want a vast network of partners to be in on what God is doing. We feel like we are sharing in the spoils of what God is doing when we gain new partners in any way.
Here are our goals:
250 Prayer Partners
A team of 15 people by 2022
$110,000 raised for Phase 1 (Nov. 2020-Oct.2021)
Here is our reality:
218 Prayer Partners
1 team member (that isn’t a VW)
$92,600 raised (84% of the way and up 10% from last month!)
