The last 5-6 months have been incredible for us. I'm not sure if I mean incredibly wonderful, incredibly challenging, incredibly humbling, incredibly difficult, incredibly exhausting, incredibly blessed, incredibly joyful...but I guess I mean all of the above and so much more.
Early 2014 we found out some good friends of ours from Imago Dei Church (IDC) were very seriously moving towards planting a church in Cary NC, which was only about 40 minutes from where we were living at the time. We LOVE IDC and couldn't imagine leaving, never thought we would leave until Matthew graduated seminary/the Lord moved us away, like away away not just 40 minutes away. We grew tremendously in those 2.5 years with Imago Dei Church. God used the body, the gospel preached and applied in growth groups, the power of His Spirit, the Aspire group, etc... to change us. We are so so thankful to our elders, leaders, friends, church family there. It was not an easy thing to leave, not in the least bit.
However, we had a deep desire to be a part of a church plant from the ground up. Not knowing what God may have for us in the future concerning church planting, we wanted to be on the team without leading the team. Harvest Church provided just that opportunity. As we talked, prayed, sought counsel we realized that there was no "right" or "wrong" decision. We could be faithful and obedient to God's command to make disciples at IDC or at Harvest Church. It was one of those "make a decision and keep following and obeying Jesus" choices. I love the teachings James MacDonald did on wisdom a while back. He used the example like your mom baking 3 different types of cookies and saying to choose one, while in the back of her mind she is thinking, "Oh I really hope she chooses the oatmeal..." No, she just wants you to eat and enjoy whichever flavor you want. This is what we felt like. Another resource that was very helpful to me was Kevin DeYoung's book "Just Do Something." Highly, highly recommend that to anyone and everyone.
ANYWAYS..... long story short, God brought everything together in spectacular ways! On Sunday May 4th North Cary Church had a unanimous vote to dissolve the existing church and hand the building/property/everything over to Harvest Church. This same Sunday folks from IDC that were interested in partnering with Harvest were gathered for a meal/informational meeting at the Sigmon's home (one of the IDC elders/families). We all rejoiced together at the news! How overwhelming and wonderful for this to be happening!
July 13th-We were commissioned from Imago Dei Church to go and plant Harvest Church.
July 20th-We began our core team meetings.
Oct. 5th-We had our dry run aka our first morning meeting with just the Core Team.
Oct. 12th-We had have our soft launch-first Sunday with others.
Nov. 9th-TOMORROW is our official launch!
In the midst of all of this personally in the month of May the Bishop family had a lot of changes going on... Matt applied for several jobs, had lots of interviews, and secured a new job, we packed our whole home, and moved to Cary. The Lord also graciously allowed Matt to pass all of his classes with excellent grades.
In
June we continued attending IDC, Matthew was leading a growth group/transitioning that over to our friends the Wallaces, and learning his new job. We continued to get settled in our basement apartment. We also celebrated 5 years of marriage (another post! maybe, ha!)
July-We continued to get settled and make our space work for us. It was a pretty tight squeeze with the only real "storage" being the bedroom closets. So some sweet friends and family helped us get creative.
August-Matt started another semester at SEBTS and Elli and I stayed busy with play dates and exploring our new town, continuing to get settled, and who knows what else!
September-
Mid-month: We had mold issues. Pursued fixing those. Called the city of Cary to find out if the way our dryer was venting into our home was up to code. (it was not).
Sat. September 20th: Matt spent some time online looking for other places to rent in our budget in Cary.
Sun. September 21st: Elli and I just got home from Charlotte and Matt wanted to go look at some of the places he found before our core team meeting. I'm not sure how he got me to go a long with it without a nap but we mapped out a plan to drive by 10 or so places, the last one being right by the Harvest Church building. We were sort of skeptical about most of them... still trying to figure out the right place to be on the issue of being "safe" and being a light in the darkness. Well there is darkness all round and right now as a stay at home mom of two little girls (almost two:)) we wanted me to feel comfortable going outside throughout the day with them. ANYHOW, the last place was perfect! It was two seconds from the building and from our dear friends the Pooles! We emailed the guy as soon as we got home!
Mon. September 22nd: AM-Found out from the City of Cary that the place we were living had not been approved/inspected to be rented. Called Joe (owner of amazing home) and set up an appointment to look at the place at 6:30pm.
PM-Looked at the home, fell in love with the idea of living there but then found out there was an application in ahead of us. If that person passed all the qualifications then they were in, tough luck.
Tue. September 23rd: LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE. This was a serious test of my faith. Did I trust that the Lord knew what we needed better than we did? Did I believe He was still good if we didn't get into this house will all the storage, backyard, spacious room, and incredible location? Is He faithful because that is His character or because He does what I want when I want it? There were serious prayer times and heart checks going on ALL DAY LONG.
AM-Talked with an attorney (aka Matt's amazing cousin!) and got advice on how to deal with the situation.
Afternoon-Got a call from Joe that the other applicant DID NOT QUALIFY. WHAT?! Wow! I was about to cry right then on the phone! I am so thankful the Lord put me through that test. He IS good, He IS faithful, He IS trustworthy. And I had come to those conclusions BEFORE that phone call. I believed them before, but you know when you're pushed to a whole new level of belief? That is where He was trying to take me... I'm so thankful for a God who loves me right where I'm at but too much to leave me there.
PM: Dropped off our application (now to pray that we qualify!)
Wed. September 24th: AM-talked to our attorney/cousin some more, waited to hear back about our approval or not
Afternoon-Called the town of Cary and got all the records that the place we were currently renting was not inspected or approved.
PM-Got a call that we QUALIFIED!!! Our attorney/cousin wrote an amazing and professional letter for us to take to our landlord explaining that we wanted out and why.
Thur. September 25th: AM-Matt took the letter stating that we would be vacating the premises Sept. 30th by 5pm, yes it was the 25th. I started packing. Taylor came to help pack. Matt called about some financial assistance to get us through the next week or so.
Afternoon: Landlord agreed to give us back our deposit (HUGE answer to prayer!)
PM: We graciously received funds to help with transition! THANK YOU!!!
Fri. September 26th: Saki, Jamie Lynn, and the Schells all came to help pack. Schells bought us dinner and TP:) My mom just "happened" to be on a ladies retreat less than an hr away so her crew dropped her off that night and she was able to help/love on Elli through all the craziness. Schells let us borrow their truck for the entire weekend and rented us a trailer! Ben and Matt loaded a lot of stuff.
Sat. September 27th: My dad came in town. He and Matt loaded a bunch more stuff.
Sun. September 28th: We had a whole moving crew come and help us all morning! We wiped down basically everything we owned to kill any remaining mold, folks started helping unpack Elli's room, the kitchen, hang clothes! WOW! So so incredible! We are grateful to God for you dear friends and family near and far for all your help and all your prayers!
I'm sure I have left stuff out! But with another child being born any day now I figured I better just get this story posted as is!
If you don't get anything else, get this: God is FAITHFUL! He alone is worthy of all of our hope and trust!
A couple quotes that encouraged me on that looongg Tuesday:)
The wisdom of God assures us that He will bring about the best possible
ends, by the best possible means, for the most possible people, for the
longest possible time. (Chip Ingram)
To believe actively that our Heavenly Father constantly spreads around us
providential circumstances that work for our present good and our
everlasting well-being brings to the soul a veritable benediction.
Most of us go through life praying a little, planning a little,
jockeying for position, hoping but never being quite certain of
anything, and always secretly afraid that we will miss the way. This is a
tragic waste of truth and never gives rest to the heart.
There is a better way. It is to repudiate our own wisdom and take
instead the infinite wisdom of God. Our insistence upon seeing ahead is
natural enough, but it is a real hindrance to our spiritual progress.
God has charged Himself with full responsibility for our eternal
happiness and stands ready to take over the management of our lives the
moment we turn in faith to Him.”
A. W. Tozer,
Knowledge of the Holy
Much love and gratefulness to God and others,
lauren for the bishops
