As I sit to begin the process of writing out an update I am struck by the verse in James 4: 13-15, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” I remember posting this same verse on our last update, yet at that time we had no idea where we would be or what we would be doing in a month, much less in a year. Now we are standing on the brink of change and I am struck by the same reminder... oh how marvelous to trust wholeheartedly in Jesus. With that being said: we wanted to share briefly a bit of our process and where we are headed, if the Lord wills.

As most of you know this last year for us has been quite the whirlwind. After taking a year to study at Re:train we are so thankful to look back and see the wisdom and heart change God brought through the study of His Word. Several months ago we began praying about what was next: where did the Lord want us to go, what would that look like... all of those key questions. We were greatly challenged to not seek the Lord for direction only, but to seek Him for Him, trusting that guidance wasn't as much something He gives but rather something He does. He would direct our steps; we wanted to keep our eye's on Him alone.

It was in this swirl of prayer and heart cry that we were approached by old friends, somewhat randomly, to pray about joining them in an endeavor to move overseas and begin a church planting mission within the M. E. At first we thought we couldn't agree more with their motive and passion, but surely it wasn't for us. We told them we would take time and pray. As we prayed, searched the Scriptures, and conversed with our church leadership over the course of six months the path became clearer and clearer. This was the guidance of the Lord.

Thus began the walk-out process: struggling thru hard questions and testing our own motives. We asked things like, " What if we are killed together or separate? What about raising kids or having kids? What about medical issues? What about finances? What about leaving family and friends? Why would we go? Why wouldn't we go? Do we think going is more hardcore than staying?". In all these things one thing struck deep: Jesus is worthy of our lives, whether we go or stay, whether we live or die, He is worthy of it all. If we die... we die, and we would consider it an honor to give our lives for the glory of God. If we live... may all that we do, whether in word or in deed bring Him all glory and honor. As the emotional dust settled we were convinced God was calling us to go.

Our timeline for moving is still a work in progress. We are hopefully making the transition to the M.E. in the fall, with a month-long layover in Georgia to spend time with family there. If you have more questions for us (i.e.: where are you moving to? who are you going with? what will you be doing?) please don't hesitate to ask us in person. Because of the nature of the move we can't answer much thru email or Facebook, but would love to connect with you before we leave, via phone call or face to face.

No matter where we go in life we pray that this will be our anthem. "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." Acts 20:24

A few facts and thoughts about the Middle East: The M.E. is home to the largest concentrated group of unreached and unengaged peoples in the world (Rom 15:20). This means that there are millions who have never heard nor can hear the Gospel. Jesus commissioned His church to proclaim His Gospel to all nations (Matt 28:19-20). He has chosen the heralding of the Gospel to sinners as the primary means of their salvation (Rom 10:9-15). He has promised to save people from every tongue, tribe, and nation (Rev 5:9). Therefore we must respond to this great harvest (Matt 9:36-38). It is long past time for us as the church to respond to this great harvest with the conviction that Christ has sheep throughout these lands and He is worthy to receive the full reward of His sufferings. The Joshua Project[1] has done extensive research concerning the progress of the Gospel in the nations among the unreached and unengaged. Their research puts the task of frontier missions among Muslims in perspective. As of November 2011 they reported the following statistics about the progress of the Gospel by people group and global population.

The population of the Muslim world= 1,537,185,000

Within that population of 1.5+ billion people are 2,840 different unreached people groups.

87.4 % of those 1.5+ billion people have yet to hear the Gospel.

1,343,613,000 Muslims have yet to hear the name of Jesus.

Only 1% of all Christian missionaries go to do direct ministry amongst Muslims

That’s 1 missionary for every 550,000 Muslims!

[1]Joshua Project (http://www.joshuaproject.net/global-religions.php)

In closing: As long as we can remember we have been grieved by the lives of those who do not know Christ. We have tried many strategies and methods of sharing the Gospel and have landed on what we believe to be the most Biblical and God honoring method. We're convinced that the Gospel alone is the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1:16). Therefore, the Gospel must be preached to everyone; those who believe must be gathered into the body of Christ (church) as a means of God’s sovereign design for His call to make disciples of all nations. We see this as Paul’s missionary method throughout the nations: preach the Gospel and gather those who believe. Therefore we want to go with these three crucial convictions:

1 ) Follow Jesus wherever He leads

2 ) Preach His Gospel

3 ) Gather His sheep into His body and establish a Biblical church.