Walking By Faith - from one church to the next

Walking By Faith... 

from one church to the next.

So for the past 2 1/2 years - God gave us the opportunity to co-pastor a church.

In the little country town of Wheatland, in a store front building on Mainstreet, God was testing the Faith of some people!!!!!!

The small church plant of Anchor Baptist church (an hour drive from us) faced an extremely difficult trial in 2013, when their Pastor had to leave due to sin.

Another Pastor in the area became their Interim Pastor, and he preached on Sundays. 

At that time we still had our church plant in Davis, but we were holding Thursday night Bible studies, so that availed us to help them out on Wednesdays. 

We just thought it would be for a few months or so,

 but it ended up being a LOT longer... 

and God gave us such sweet 2 1/2 year journey with that 

church.

Of course, at first, we witnessed a VERY discouraged, hurt, bitter, and frustrated, group of people. They had been betrayed by a man and the wounds ran very deep. However, through time, we saw God's amazing grace settle in their hearts and they learned that GOD IS THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY, & FOREVER and that HE NEVER FAILS.

We witnessed God's power first hand! 

WOW!! PHEW!!! 

I get chills and I am tearful as I write this because we had the amazing opportunity to watch God create something beautiful out of heartache.

In the beginning we thought in temporary terms, thinking that we'd just help them a little when we could, and then go on our way, but God led us to realize a greater burden. We knew God was calling us to WHOLLY invest in each of their lives and minister to their needs with all our hearts!!!!

We knew Pastor Stevens was guiding, caring, and investing as well, and we got the amazing privilege to come along side him and care for their hearts and souls.

Our main goal at first was TLC:

They needed a LOT of love, care, a listening ear, no judgement, etc...

We spent hours just listening to their hurting hearts. 

We gave each of them a Bible Promise book. 

Neil asked God for the right messages to minister to them. 

I began trying to call or text each lady once a week. 

I began to pray with ladies over the phone. 

We gave them time to grieve, but didn't want them dwelling in their hurt tooooo long. We knew that moving forward was important to gaining victory in Jesus, so we then began to take all their concerns and struggles and slowly guide each one towards healing and resolve. 

After TLC we worked toward growth:

We started a mens group and a ladies group after church on WED nights to better tend to their specific needs. 

Neil worked with the men - establishing them in their doctrine and beliefs and leading them through a few books.

For our Ladies Time,  I chose different bible study books us ladies would work through. 

Sometimes we would work on our study.

Sometimes we had several weeks of  just praying together.

Sometimes we would just read scripture to comfort and encourage.

Other times I knew their hearts were heavy & their body's were weary, so I'd just plan snacks, laughter, and chatting time.

I love these ladies SO MUCH and words can't express

  how blessed I was to witness each of them experience victories, 

answered prayers, and great spiritual growth.

This little church just NEVER gave up. I'm sure they felt like it at times, but they REALLY fought against satan and his desire to devour them.  Right before our eyes WE SAW THEIR FAITH GROW!!! 

Once again I tear up as I write... It's just pretty amazing what God has done!!!! 

The church voted and was re-named FAITH BAPTIST CHURCH and how fitting it is...

GREAT TIMES!!!!!

We had so much fun with the sweet people of this church!!!

We went camping with them...

We hosted a Dave Ramsey Financial Class...

and BOY! they know how to do snack time...for a little church they KNOW HOW to eat!!!!
LOVE IT :)

I held Ladies Bible Studies...

We started a new book on Growing in Faith so we all wore GREEN!!!!!

WE cowboy'd up for Western Sunday...

Many times we would go up on Sundays too when they had special services...

We loved on the kids...

The kids in the church became VERY special to us.
It has been neat to see them grow up and also grow in Christ!!!!

HAHA!  Many times Pastor and Jacob would end up wearing their matching ties...

We went to Ladies Retreat...

OUR LOFT WAS SO FUN!!!!!

WHAT HAPPENS AT LADIES RETREAT
STAYS AT LADIES RETREAT!!!!! 

*     *     *    *     *

SO, throughout the time we were helping at Faith Baptist, we prayed fervently about moving & taking on the Pastorate, but God never led us in that direction.

It seemed to make sense though - our church plant in Davis was struggling, Faith Baptist needed a Pastor, and my husband even got a job offer up there(he works a secular job).  A LOT of people questioned why we weren't going there, but we would tell them, "You don't do something just because YOU think it's a good idea, you should do it because God leads you to do it." 

We were VERY willing, but God never led. 

It was neat to come along side the church and pray for a new pastor - whoever it would be. I would specifically pray for their pastor's wife - that God would prepare her heart for these ladies. We prayed that God would help US to prepare these people for their new Pastor.

WELL, after more than two years of praying and waiting - It happened!!!!! 

PRAISE THE LORD!!!! 

The Cambell family is there now and
we cant wait to see this church blossom even more!

Pastor Cambell, his wife Christine
& their family

The night the church voted the Cambells in, was the NEATEST NIGHT EVER!!!!!!!! 

It was emotional and soooo exciting!!!!!

Pastor Warthan preached.

THEN...Pastor Stevens led the vote...

everyone but the young kids had their hands up, but the picture doesn't show it much...

THEN Pastor Stevens called Pastor Cambell ON SPEAKER PHONE to tell them he was voted in...it was funny!

THEN the deacons signed the paper...

THEN the church prayed (many of us were crying)...

When the service was over everyone was SOOOO happy!!!! 

Big smiles, cheering and praising God!!!!

OUR JOURNEY

Personally for Neil and I, we experienced many things on our drives to and from Wheatland. 

It was un-interrupted time for us to talk and hold hands and just be totgether...

LOL!!! We had many funny conversations, many weird conversations, a few arguments, and some serious conversations. We made many decisions together on that drive...

It was one wed. on the drive home I told Neil the Dr. found a mass on my ovary and was concerned. The very next week on wed., on our way to church, we called to tell my parents that I might have cancer and asked them to pray. Another wed., heading to church, is when we FINALLY made the decision to adopt!!!!!

If it wasn't too late, it became a tradition to stop and get  Chick-fil-a  on the way home. YUM!!!!!

We will never forget this journey we experienced with this church!!! We developed some pretty special lifetime friendships. It also grew our faith. It taught me so much about ministering & loving...how to meet needs...how to serve...how to help hurting hearts...how to show more care.

*    *    *   

Because we have church hopped a bit, serving and helping where needed, 

people have been confused at...

what ministry we are in...

do we still have our church plant...
are we evangelists...

do we still live in Davis...

HA!

Don't worry. Our life confuses us too. LOL!

We thought we were going to have our church plant in Davis forever.  We were settled and happy, but God had different thoughts for us. 

In the past year, He's led us to 5 different churches to help out and we have REALLY enjoyed it. We've been at Faith Baptist each Wednesday and different churches on Sundays...

Each church we've ministered at is now settled and so we will be consistantly attending our home church now for BOTH THE SUNDAY AND WEDNESDAY SERVICES... We just plan to serve faithfully and pray about the next step...

Now what does God have for us next????

Walking by Faith,

DeAna 

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