It sounds like you would be doing what every believer is called to do in their spare time. Why should support you to do this full time?

Great question! We have asked that of ourselves. We have asked that of other missionaries. We ask that of anyone who seems to be doing something that comes easy for them or looks to us to be a lot of fun. Who wouldn't want to make millions playing baseball? Who wouldn't want to have a personal jet for taking them from meeting to meeting? Who wouldn't want to make a living praying or studying the Bible or writing? Well, we all know that while it may appear to be an easy thing, people who focus on the use of their gifts are usually working very hard at what seems to come easy. There is always a cost.

Beyond education, we have had opportunity to experience the ups and downs of discipleship relationships. We have lead in churches of various styles and sizes. We have learned to learn to trust the Holy Spirit in the lives of others. We are willing to spend the time to pray and mentor those with tough questions and life experiences. We have grown accustomed to giving up our personal space to make room for the spontaneous gathering. We believe that God is calling us to reach those who, like us, have a deep desire to connect with God and tough questions that are now putting walls between them and that very God who is seeking them out. We believe we can mentor those who are seeking. We will obviously have more time to invest, more energy to invest if we are not working full time jobs in effort to fund our mission. We believe that God will form community with these people - that the Kingdom of God will be revealed. The more time we have to focus on this, the more likely we are to see a undeniable move of God among His people.

We do however, as a strategic move, plan to work jobs in the community so that we never loose sight of people in the marketplace. It has been our dream for the past two years that Gene's music would also one day completely fund our mission and raising support would no longer be necessary. That would be our preference, we trust God in that and in His timing. We also have come to believe that raising support, relying on the generousity of our friends, as well as trusting the Holy Spirit in the lives of others is something that God is still asking of us. We have learned fantastic lessons of faith by parntering with others - interdependence is what we were made for, this is our lesson in it. We have played both roles - the support role and the recipient, both come with powerful lessons on the Body of Christ.

As we have considered our mission and the impact on our kids we have not been able to get away from the simplicity of "God's call" to go. He has not called Juli to be an RN, or Gene to be a song-writer. He has called us to "go and make disciples". He has given us an apostolic gifting and asked us to trust Him in this new work He is doing. He is seeking those who are lost, He asks us to be available. He has burned this on our hearts.