Ministry Monday: A Long Overdue Update

There are many many new things going on in the King Family. I have neglected the blog for so long that I am afraid I won’t be able to share all the details, but I do want to share the basics of all that God has been doing in our lives these last several months. He has turned our lives upside down and we wouldn't have it any other way!

I feel like the real breakthrough started in July when I wrote the poem, “The Way” that I shared on the blog. That poem was my commitment to follow wherever the Lord was leading and submit to Him fully, surrendering all my dreams, all my plans, and all my ways. After writing that poem, God lead us to leave the church where we were ministering. We had no clear direction as to where to go next, we just heard Him clearly say that it was time to move on. So, we took a step of faith and walked away from our ministry there and the salary that went along with it. We immediately entered into the most difficult financial struggle of our lives, but there was a peace in my heart about the decision we had made. We were trusting the Lord to do something! As difficult as it was to hold onto Him, we knew that He was all that we had to hold onto!

Then, in the midst of this struggle, we received some news that turned our world completely upside down. On August 16th, I found out that I was pregnant! After 4 years of praying for and trying to conceive a child, we had given up hope, and here in the midst of financial crisis, God chose to send that child to us. We were in complete shock! Then, after the feelings of shock came an unbelievable joy! We could not understand God’s timing in all of this, but we were so grateful for the gift that He had given us…the chance to enter into a new ministry called parenthood.

A month passed and we continued praying and trusting the Lord, though it was not easy. We visited a few different churches and had the opportunity to minister in a few other churches. We worked on organizing our ministry, Middle Man Ministries, and the Lord gave us new goals and ideas. We planned, prepared and executed the annual Praise 96.3 Youth Conference once again, and began to discuss the success of the event over the years and whether we should continue it or not. Then, the Monday after the conference, my dear husband gets a call from a church whose youth had attended the conference. They had heard that He was currently between churches and wanted to interview him for a position working with their students. We had felt like the Lord was leading us into a time away from church ministry to be refreshed and renewed, so we were not pursuing any church positions at the time. However, we also feel that we should never turn down an opportunity to meet and talk with people who contact us about ministry. So, we made plans to meet with the committee that Wednesday and talk with them.

 Wednesday came, and we drove out to the church. We met the pastor and the youth committee and talked with them for over an hour. We could feel the genuine love and concern that they had for the young people. We could hear in their voices that they wanted something more for their youth, something solid! Everything they wanted seemed to line up with our passion to see the lives of students changed and to see them experience real spiritual growth and development. We began to feel drawn to the church and its people. Then, Thursday morning, the committee called and offered us the position with a generous salary. We wanted to visit for a few weeks before making a decision, but by the second week, we couldn't hold out any longer. We knew that this was a God ordained opportunity and we began to have a vision for the ministry. So, we accepted the position and we haven’t looked back.

In the 2 months that we have been there, Grace Baptist Church already feels like home. The people feel like family to us, and we feel greatly blessed to have found a place to worship and to serve in community with other believers! I don’t know how long God will allow us to stay at Grace, but I can tell you that I have never felt more welcomed and loved by a church family. I can tell you that unless God has other plans, we intend to raise our family at Grace and watch many many youth grow into adulthood, loving and serving God!

We have been so blessed these last few months. Even though we are still in the midst of a financial struggle, God has proven that He is faithful and trustworthy if we will just submit to Him. He has provided for us financially, He has given us a loving and supportive community to worship and serve with, and He has blessed us with the child that we had prayed for all these years.

As we say at Grace every Sunday morning, God is good…all the time, and all the time…God is good! We look forward to what God is going to do in our ministry and in our family!