Glynn and Rebekah McKenzie will be planting a church in Colorado Springs this spring and Chris and Tara Daukas will be planting a church on the west side of phoenix, in Peoria, this summer! Along with them, our church will be forming teams within our church body of people who feel God's call on their life to join them. Many dear and precious friends will be sent from our body and will embark on this God exalting, life changing adventure!
I am so encouraged by how God used Rich Richardson, our senior pastor, to lead and cast vision for this historic point in our church. Our church had been going through the book of Acts and has been so well served by "the Gospel set ablaze in our hearts" and what that means functionally in our day-to-day lives. The last message was September 28th, the night of our family meeting. God used the pastoral team and their preaching of His word to change hearts and prepare hearts for this new chapter in our life as a church. We went to church that morning and Jon Payne did such a great job of closing out this series. He spoke about Paul being in chains but that the gospel can never be chained. The gospel will not be hindered by men but will always be moving forward. The gospel is unstoppable! Rich stood up at the end and encouraged the church that the book of Acts is just the beginning, a great and glorious beginning, and that we get to play a part in the story! So what part are we going to play? The anticipation of the meeting was so high! The family meeting opened up with a great video of where we have been as a church and then asked, "where are we going?" Rich stood and made the announcement about the church plants and then so humbly, and with so much zeal for the glory of God, cast vision for why we would do this. Why would we do it? Why would we send two dearly, dearly loved pastors, their families, and other treasured members of our church out of our midst? Why would we sacrifice deep friendships like this? I loved it when Rich said that he ached to sacrifice for God! Oh Lord, would that be the desire of my heart! We sacrifice because God sacrificed His only begotten Son on a wretched cross for our sin, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life! We sacrifice because our hearts ache for the glorious gospel to reach and save those who are destined for hell and eternal separation from God! Oh how we wish we could be there this year! But we are a part of the story in a different way as Jason gets trained to go back and serve this dear blessed church! (By the way, anything I have written about what others have said, especially from the pulpit, is all my paraphrase. I am not the most exceptional notetaker!)
With all of the excitement and joy, there is certainly pain. Tara and Rebekah are dear friends of mine, as Chris and Glynn are for Jason. They will surely be missed! We have a long history with Chris and Tara, one that we cherish! We have gone through some great and some tough times together and have walked with each other and seen God's amazing care, active support, and fatherly benediction in our lives. The gospel just gets brighter and more glorious with each season of life! I am SO grateful for our first home being right around the corner from the Daukas home! What sweet years as neighbors! I can certainly testify to God's amazing work in and preparation of their hearts and lives for this great calling! The way they have joyfully and faithfully taken on the singles group. They have truly owned it and given their all to shepherd these souls. It has been amazing to see their heart for evangelism come alive as they have reached out to their street in our neighborhood and been a light to dying hearts in that community. Most impactful for me has been how I have seen Tara grow in humility as she serves God by serving her husband and her three little ones. Life is not about her, life is about Christ and God's call on her life! This year she is joyfully homeschooling Taylor, and pretty much Trevor too =), and surrenders "her" life to sow into her family. No question hard work, but God has given her such a sweet joy and trust in Him. Just recently, Chris and Tara were going to buy this dream home. I saw it and trust me it was beautiful! The process that occurred for them to have even been able to buy this home is a story in and of itself. Everything was great and everything was happening just as it should. Then, quite suddenly, although they have felt this call for years, the decision to plant this church happened. They had to make a very quick decision about this house. Oh how God was glorified Tara when the gospel was more important to you than this dream house! It was supernatural! God had brought you to the point where you needed to sacrifice for Him! And with joy and resolve, you gave up a good thing for THE glorious thing! Thank you for the example you are to me!
Rebekah, a godly, wise, humble servant! I have learned SO much from this dear woman! Several months ago in our care group leader's care group, Jon asked us who our heroes in the faith were. I answered that Rebekah has been one of my heroes. I so look up to you in how you serve Glynn, you serve your kids, you serve God's church and His people, you are humble, you love God's word and you always present yourself as needy for the gospel. You are as "real" as it gets! This "realness" has served my walk with the Lord, my marriage, my parenting, and how I desire to serve and care for others. A verse that came to my mind as I was thinking about you was, Isaiah 66:2, This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. Thank you for how you have poured yourself into my life and for being my friend!
So many thoughts, so many emotions, some tears, and a whole lot of excitement! Thank you Lord for saving us and giving us abundant life! To Him be the glory forever and ever, Amen!
