Well it looks like there are going to be some rather significant changes taking place in our household in the next couple of months. Troy and I have accepted an internship at Faith Baptist Church in Warren, Michigan! We are QUITE excited, to say the least! I want to share the entire story, so bear with me because this could be quite long. J

As you know, we had been praying about what God would have us to do after graduation since our desire was really to get into ministry right away. Although we were not opposed to the idea of Troy taking grad classes at Maranatha or a to-be-determined seminary, we really felt a desire to get into a church where we could train and learn the practical, hands on aspect of the ministry. So when nothing seemed to be happening in that direction, we figured that God still had plans for us in the ministries we were involved with at the time. Graduation came and went, and we were gearing up for a full, fun summer, a cruise in the fall, and then enrolling Troy in grad school in the spring semester.

Then Troy got an email. It was from a Pastor Marty Marriott, about a possible ministry opportunity that he would like to contact Troy about. We had no idea what this possible opportunity would be, but we were excited at the mere thought that it was a possibility. So Troy gave him his number, and the very next morning he called. He informed Troy that their church had a desire to plant another church about 30-40 minutes to the north of their current church, and had been exploring many different options to see what the best way of accomplishing this would be. He told Troy that he had come very highly recommended to him by his son (who Troy graduated with) and so they talked for quite a while, just trying to feel each other out a bit to see if this was even a possibility. It went well, so well in fact that after Troy got off the phone with him, he told me that he didn’t think it could have possibly gone better. Pastor Marriott had requested a resume, so Troy put it together as quickly as possible (after a frantic call to Dr. Davis at MBBC! How on earth do you do a ministry resume?? It was a learning experience!) and sent it on over. Well, a few days after this, it was my turn. Mrs. Marriott (who now insists that I call her Miriam) called looking for me. She, too, wanted to get an idea for who I was, and vice versa, so we chatted for a good half hour-40 minutes about this and that and my idea of ministry… it was a really good talk.

So we started to realize that this could potentially be a big deal. We told our parents, and Pastor and Aunt Carole, and a few other family members, but tried to keep it under wraps for the most part because we just didn’t know where this was going yet. Well, shortly after my talk with Miriam and after Troy had a few other conversations with Pastor Marriott, they called us and asked when we could come for a weekend and visit the church. Woah! We knew it was moving along, but, come visit! Wow, this was serious stuff!

Well we arranged a time, and Father’s Day weekend we visited the church… and loved it! We stayed the entire weekend with the Marriotts, and they were very gracious hosts (they even let us nap on Sunday J), and we felt so at home our entire time there. The church is about 450-500 people on a Sunday morning, and has such a wonderful spirit. Being a bigger church (compared to what we’re used to!), we were expecting it to feel less like a family and more like, well, a big church. And when we got there on Sunday morning, we were pleasantly surprised. It seems like everyone knows pretty much everyone else, and there was just such a warm, welcoming spirit. We fell in love with it. We had lunch with the deacons and their families and a few other people who are hoping to be a part of the church-plant, and they opened it up for questions, where we were able to share a little more about ourselves and get to know them a little bit better. They are a church that really seems to enjoy being together, and have a lot of fun. There was such a good spirit. Troy preached on Sunday evening, and we sang a duet, and it went very well, and we could really tell that God was doing a work in our hearts.

So after we came home, we were trying to be a bit guarded because we knew that it wasn't a for-sure thing. We were starting to feel very strongly that God was leading us in that direction, and it was obvious that He had been working in all of the details, but ultimately it was up to the deacons to vote. So the following week, the church voted on the budget for the upcoming year, which included a salary for Troy (or whomever would be filling the position) - and it passed very quickly. Pastor Marriott called Troy to fill him in on that, and informed him that they really felt that this was God's will as well and we should be praying to the extent that Satan would not be able to get a foothold in the deacons' vote. So we've been praying and praying and praying, and God answered with a YES on Sunday, July 1st. We're going to Michigan!!! 

Essentially what the position will be is an internship for Troy to be working closely with Pastor Marriott, getting to know the ins and outs of the church and getting as involved as possible. I will also be looking to get heavily involved in the church, as they want me to be training for this as well. I'll be brushing up my piano skills to be able to use that as much as possible in the church-plant and I'm hoping to find a niche in the kids' programs somewhere - I'm going to miss my PeeWees SO much!  Then anywhere from 6 months to 2 years after we get there, however it feels like God is leading, the new church will be started with Troy as the pastor. However there is no pressure - they really want this church-plant to happen, but are willing to wait on God's timing.

I feel like I've forgotten a lot of the details already, but God has been so evident in every step of this whole journey so far, and we are SO excited to see what He is going to do in the future. Troy put it so perfectly in his testimony on Sunday night. He said "when God leads so evidently in a direction like this, it would be rebellion to not go." So we're just getting ourselves out of the way and asking God to use us however He wants to in this opportunity. And we couldn't be more happy about it!