Our family moving is news because…it means our two-year limbo period is over. Hooray!
Our family moving is news because…because we’re so excited about what we’re moving FOR and towards. That’s been awhile for us. We left China only knowing God was finished with us there. We left lots of places in 2016, always moving on but never seeing around the next bend. This time, we know what’s ahead. We’re not leaving upstate NY ‘cause we hate it or because I just couldn’t stand my friend Verlyn any more; we’ve been called to Atlanta. We will be working among refugees in the most ethnically diverse square mile in the United States. We’ll be a part of Envision Atlanta (itself a part of the CMA, the organization we’ve always belonged to) which is already meaningfully meeting the personal, educational, economic, occupational, spiritual, etc. needs of these families who find themselves far from home. Perhaps we know a little bit about what that’s like.
Our family moving is news because…God used the closing of our culture center and coffee shop in 2012 to move us from Xi’an so he could move us to Xining where he would give us Everett so he could move us back to the U.S. so he could move us to Oswego Alliance Church which had connections to Envision Atlanta so he could connect us to the EA site coordinator on his visit north so we could go visit south and see EA and know: this is the place He has been preparing us for for years. Wow. Wow! [At least that’s how things appear from our little human vantage point.]
Our family moving is news because…it won’t happen without YOU.
1. We will not be able to thrive in this new ministry without a team of committed prayer partners. And we have no desire to merely survive; we want to thrive. His Kingdom come. His will be done.
2. But we will not even survive without an invested team of financial partners. Or be allowed to start, for that matter. It’s already April and we’ve got to raise 50% of the cash and 80% of the commitment towards some pretty big numbers.* And soon after that reach 100%. It feels crazy, it really does. But we’re moving once school’s out, regardless. We did not choose this path. We are not driving this…what are we on? A ship? A train? An avalanche? A story. God Almighty is the only real Author around here. And what is the lesson he has hammered home the past two years? “YOU CAN TRUST ME. I can take care of your family.”
I am not being facetious when I tell you I did not have the faith for a decision like this when we came home two years ago. Possibly not even close. Not for a family this big. Not for a ministry inside the US. Not for numbers this big. But I mentioned that we’re not driving?
“So what if the money doesn’t come in?”
Sorry, we’ve already leapt. What, I couldn’t get a job at Ace Hardware in Atlanta if things got as harrowing as 2016 again? We couldn’t live below the poverty line in Atlanta as well as we have in Oswego? We could.
I just don’t happen to think that’s what He is doing this time. Not again.
But time will tell. I have no guarantees, and have been wrong before. At this point, the final outcome is more in your hands than it is in mine.
Most of all, this is news because…it feels like dawn after a long, long night. It feels like Aslan on the move again. And when does that ever fail to send chills up your spine?
Envision Atlanta has a vision to start a movement that will see 1000 churches planted by the year 2027. Getting there will take creativity and work, and already in the works are after school programs, kids’ clubs/camps, English classes, job training, and small businesses, with plenty of wild ideas to come. We’ll share about our roles soon, but it’s going to be a great fit for both of us.
The snow is melting, and the Kingdom (as well as the Johnson family) is on the move. And we couldn’t be happier about it (please, Lord, make it the last move for a long, long time). One advantage to having lived in so many places is how many people we know. One seeming disadvantage might be that most of our friends made in the last decade and a half are living off of raised support themselves! But we are not afraid. Our God is big. And, hey! What about that crazy “HH for WK” campaign? A whole bunch of you know exactly what I’m talking about ‘cause you just knocked our socks off with it! But this time…far less than something like a couple of people pledging ten grand a month…we need an entire army who will pray and pledge…a few dollars a month.
Be one of them?
P.S. Details coming! If you already know you want to join the financial side—and people do PRAY where they PAY—save us a step! (We’re really at a loss to understand where in the world we’re supposed to fit in all these phone call contacts that our fundraising coaches talk about…) Send a private message telling us of your monthly (or one-time) commitment, and we can at least start filling in blanks. An online giving option will be available WITHIN DAYS.
*We’re still waiting on those final numbers, actually. There’s a living allowance and then housing, health insurance, retirement, funds for ministry, travel, etc. These healthy and good numbers are decided for us by wise and experienced leaders (and our official employer is the South Atlantic District of the CMA).