Change is always hard right? Change always seems to come with a certain level of uneasiness. This can be for many reasons but I believe for me (Seth) it always boils down to the unknown, and this unknown causes uneasiness. As I closed the chapter of working my job for Control Service Company, there were still certain number of unknowns, and if I’m truly being honest that came with that uneasiness. This is the first time in eight years that I haven’t driven home a company vehicle, as I looked out in the driveway it was odd not seeing one parked there. This is the first time that I am putting away my tool bag and grabbing my flight bag. This is the first time that I will have the opportunity to work beside my wife doing what we both love, while equipping the students for the field. While there are still many unknowns in our new role in God’s Kingdom, everything is known to him. The challenge is to rest in God’s knowing even though it is our unknown.
What did 2020 Teach you about God?
2020 was a year to remember for sure. We began the year confident in what God had planned for us. 2020 started out with God showing us to learn to trust in him and his provision. We sold our house in downtown Springfield, Mo, it was him who provided a buyer. We needed a place to live and rent that was centrally located for all our new obligations, he provided a home that was exactly the size and location we needed. We needed the training to tell our story and advice on how to build partnerships, he provided the education and friends who were willing to help us. We discovered that we were partnering with him in what he is doing to develop partnerships, prayer, and finances, to launch into ministry full time, he provided. The list could go on. Deb and I were in awe that we could have developed enough partnerships to launch into full-time ministry in less than a year, as we talked about this we determined that we really shouldn’t be in awe, because we could have never done this within our own strength. Only God could have provided. We serve a sovereign God! A pandemic, political unrest, or any other thing that is out of our human control isn’t out of His control. Ask yourself this question, “How did God provide for me in 2020?”. Then when you get that, share it with us as we would love to come alongside you in praising him for the blessing in your life during 2020.
Praising God:
• He made a way for us to begin work in January 2021!
Ways you can be praying for us:
• That God will continue to provide the remaining partners needed. • That the girls transition into their new schedules effortlessly. • That the transition into our new jobs goes smoothly and we are able to clearly see the direction that SOAR needs to be heading.
As this year comes to a close we know that many of you have gone through major transitions of your own. 2020 has been the year to remember for sure. We however can’t begin to express our gratitude for each of you that have chosen to come alongside us this year. We would not have been able to get through this season without your prayers and support. Your love and encouraging words have been a huge comfort and a place of stability for us this year. From our Family to yours. Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas
Training the Trainer
Let me paint a picture for you. Imagine your spouse is sitting in the car beside you trying to teach you how to drive without you being able to look out the window. Now for some of you, this picture is enough, there is no way in the world you would ever entertain this idea, especially from a spouse because you already know the outcome, but alas I will continue. It doesn’t take long for you to build up confidence that you’ve mastered this as you are driving straight down the wide 2 lane road keeping your speed perfect and the car right between the lines. About this time your spouse gets the genius idea to drive through this random neighborhood. Oh, look honey it’s our dream house, BABE, your driving in the ditch, ouch that was one of those brick mailboxes. Nevermind that this whole time you were never supposed to see outside and they were supposed to be coaching and cross-checking you not searching for dream homes. Now you are flustered and the equilibrium in your inner ear is all messed up and you can’t quite get back on track again even though you are out of that neighborhood and back on that wide 2 lane road. If we take away something that we take for granted, like sight reference, it makes the task that we could probably actually complete without seeing it very difficult to recover from something unexpended without that reference. Learning to fly an airplane on instruments is much like this, I took for granted the sight reference that was always able to reacclimate me to straight and level. While flying an airplane on instruments your equilibrium can get messed up but you have to fight the urge to listen to what your body tells you and trust the instruments. Thanks to Josh my patient flight instructor for bearing with me while I take us all over the sky. Climbing, descending, left turning, right turning, and rarely straight and level. At least he gets to smile in pics while I am struggling to keep the airplane headed in the correct direction. (Photo included for all your viewing pleasure)
Funny looking hood to block my view of outside and let me see the instruments.
Yep turning left again.
Do We Really Trust God to Follow Through
From the beginning, we set a launch date goal of January 2021. We knew that this would be a lofty goal just on its own. We prayed and felt like this was the goal we wanted to accomplish, surely it wasn’t something a little hard work could overcome. Then a pandemic hit. Nothing could have prepared us and anyone around us for the year that 2020 became. Any and all resources we had access to, just didn’t have the info or experience we needed to develop partnerships in a pandemic. There was no other path but to trust God. So we set out this year trusting that if we were going to hit the goal of being able to launch in 2021, God would provide. And provide he did. We have seen some amazing things happen this year. God has provided and we have reached 60%! This is amazing considering the circumstances and could have only been the work of God. Now I know what you are thinking. Um guys 60% is not 100% and you would be correct. In October after we had worked so hard to try to get the remaining 40% we were beginning to think that we would not be able to make our January goal. We had been praying and asked everyone we knew to be praying that God would provide but we just didn’t see how we could make 60% of our budget work. We were disappointed but hopeful that God’s timing was best. At the end of November, we were surprised again by God’s provision. The remaining 40% for the year 2021 was covered by a one time gift. Now we are not at 100% of our monthly giving budget but this means that we will be launching and beginning our work at SOAR in January of 2021. We were shocked. I laugh as I write that sentence because if you notice at the beginning of the story I said we prayed for God to make this happen. He did. Why are we so shocked when God gives us what we ask from him? Is it because we don’t actually believe he is God or that we don’t trust that he actually will provide what we need. I don’t know, but we are overflowing with gratitude for the goodness of God. Now notice I said that we still have 40% of our monthly giving. So that means we still have work to do but now Seth is able to finish his training beginning in January and we have time to finish building the remaining partnerships with a little more breathing room in our schedule. Pray for us in this season of change for our family. We are nervous and excited to see what God is going to do with 2021.
Praising God:
• Jordis’ surgery was successful and she has made a full recovery.
Felling pretty in her gown
Snuggles after surgery
Ways you can be praying for us:
• That God will continue to provide the remaining partners needed. • That our family stays strong as we continue to transition into our new schedule. • That the transition into our new jobs goes smoothly and we are able to clearly see the direction that SOAR needs to be heading.
September was mostly quiet. We have been spending the month getting into a rhythm with school and we are continuing to meet with people building partnerships. We are trying to squeeze those last few drops of summer out with a few more camping trips. October however, will bring some new challenges for many reasons. First, we have a few churches that we are beginning to build relationships with so that we can create partnerships. This process of meeting with churches has come late in our journey due to COVID. Please be praying for us as we share our hearts and God’s will for our lives to these churches. Second, many of you know that our youngest daughter deals with an eye condition called Exotropia. We have monitored her eyes for a couple of years now and it has come to a point where surgery is needed. The surgery is very common and is considered outpatient surgery. We are trusting in God’s hand to protect our sweet girl. Please pray for peace for us and God to guide the hands of the surgeon.
Praying for everything to go smoothly. Pray that healing is quick.
Pushing Through The Stall
In August families including us began the transition back into school season. This made partnership meetings inconsistent and difficult. We felt the pressure of the partnership goal increase more than it had been prior. God has proved Himself faithful through this season and has given us the strength to push through the stall. September was a month of gaining momentum, learning how to adjust to a new season for everyone, and finding our new rhythm. We are sharing our story with our home church, LifePoint Church this weekend. This weekend is our church’s 16th anniversary and we are honored to have this privilege on such a milestone day. Sharing with our home church will kick off a season of sharing with other churches that God has been providing opportunities to speak with. If you don’t have a home church or yours isn’t currently meeting we would love for you to join us at our home church. We would love to share what God is doing at your home church as well. Contact us to set up a meeting. God is getting ready to do some amazing things we couldn’t be more excited to partner with him.
We are so grateful for the support that LifePoint is providing for us. Thank you for being our church home.
God is our Cornerstone
During the month of August, I (Seth) found myself relying on my own strength to push through. Days were long and I thought if I just do more we can get this to work. Just one month of relying on my own strength in partnership development was too much of a burden for me to carry without depending on the one who strengthens me. God reminded me that he is the one who is doing the work and I am coming alongside him. This meant that I am to look to his word for direction, encouragement, and depend on the firm foundation that he has already established. Friends, what season are you in? Is God the one leading, or are you carrying a burden you shouldn’t? Are you going the other direction alone instead of walking beside him? Rest in these words from 2 Timothy 2:19 (But God’s firm foundation stands bearing his seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity”).
Ways you can be praying for us:
• That God will protect our sweet girl and that she will have complete healing. • That God will continue to build partnerships. • That our marriage stays strong in this season of full schedules. • That God would give us wisdom for these upcoming months.
New Video post! We wanted to share a bit of history. Click the video to watch.
Back to School for everyone!
1st Day of School!
August in our home means that it’s time to start back to school for the kids. This is our 7th year of homeschooling. The girls participate in a homeschool co-op that we are fortunate to be able to attend this year. We are excited about the new school year and getting back into rhythms. The girls are not the only ones going back to school. A unique opportunity has come up for some specialized training for me (Seth). Our original plan was to begin training in January but we were contacted by a pilot who volunteered to help train me. Please pray for our schedules. This season has already been busy with partnership building and now school this will add another thing to our full schedules and we will need God to sustain us during this season.
Training Opportunities
Most of you have heard me talk about my vision for the flight training at SOAR. The need for specialized training specifically geared towards the demands of mission aviation. I have been praying that God would provide for us the resources to build a curriculum from the ground up with the guidance of someone with real-world practical experience. This month I met with a missionary pilot on furlough from Papua New Guinea that serves with Ethnos 360. He is actually the training director in-country and has the primary role of getting new in-country pilots up to speed and also oversees recurring training. He and I will work together to build the new curriculum for SOAR. He has volunteered to take me through the rest of my training. This is a huge opportunity for him and us to take a blank slate so to speak and mold it the way that we can use our resources more efficiently. Equipping our students better and more prepared for the mission field is at the core of my vision. Stay tuned in the upcoming months for updates on this!
Family Reunion (Deb)
For our family, July/August is usually filled with church camp, mission trips, and many other things. This year all of that has been different. We have been blessed with opportunities to use our summer to serve but they look very different than we are accustomed to. One thing that we look forward to each year is that my (Deb) family gathers for a family reunion. I know many of you are rolling your eyes but we genuinely enjoy it. The weekend is filled with games and family time. We end the weekend every year with a small worship service. Hands lifted in love to our savior who sustains us each year. This year’s reunion was different for us and we were sad about all the changes. It was during this season we were reminded how grateful we were to be together. We were grateful for his provision and we were grateful for his grace which sustains us. The four of us have had a lot of ups and downs this summer. It was in this service where we sang “The Blessing” over our family and future generations that God reminded me he has been working and will continue to work. He was the reason we were together. Yes, we have family ties to each other, but we were also connected because we were a part of a larger family. God is working in each moment and each event for our good and his glory. Our home church regularly says this blessing at the end of the service, it has been such a sweet reminder of his goodness. So with this, I wanted to send this blessing over all of you who are reading this today.
Numbers 6:24-26 The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Ways you can be praying for us:
• That God will continue to build partnerships. • That our marriage stays strong in this season of full schedules. • That God would give us wisdom for these upcoming months.
July for us finally felt like summer. With June being filled with weddings, graduations, and many other things it was nice to hit July and a hint of normalcy. Camping, birthday, flying, partnership meetings, and community time brought some busyness but also some much-needed relief from the never-ending bad news that is 2020. We were thankful for the rest and community time in July.
SUMMER CAMPING
Typically from spring through fall, we camp several times as a family. Camping allows us to unplug from media and reset our family compass and bond. Being in God’s creation and nature is restful for our bodies and souls. We come back from these trips refreshed, recharged, and ready to focus on what God had called us to do. We also love to share these experiences with others, so if this is something you guys like to do as well hit us up and we will plan a trip together.
Cousins are the best.
Jordis and her flowers
Bella loves the hammock
Happy Birthday Seth
This year has been different for a lot of reasons. COVID has changed how we spend our downtime. For the past few years during Seth’s birthday, we have joined our church on mission with our students as we serve our partner churches in other areas. On the years we have not served on mission trips, we have typically gone to the lake or camped at a state park. With COVID we are being cautious with our family. This year Seth’s birthday was spent at home. We had partnership meetings and other things on the schedule, so we played it safe. Quiet but still good. This guy spent his birthday without complaint loving his family and others well. We are so grateful for the love that he shows us. Happy Birthday, Love. – Deb
DOING LIFE IN COMMUNITY
If you have known us for very long you know that this month we typically go with the students at our church on a mission trip. This year like many churches, our church, has had to adjust to a very different schedule. For us, that means combining a couple of events into one and staying local. We along with our students served and spent some time together in community. While we are sad to not be able to help serve other churches this year we loved spending some time with our students. Please be praying for our church and church partners in this season.
Ways you can be praying for us:
• That God will continue to build partnerships. • That our marriage stays strong in this season of full schedules. • That God would give us the wisdom for these upcoming months.
