The Seed

Hey Everyone! Adam and I just got home from an amazing week in Birmingham Alabama.  In the last 5 days we have sat in 21 one hour long sessions (no joke) talking only about church planting, so as you can imagine my brain is FULL!  There are so many big things and little things that have to be done to make planting a church a reality. All of a sudden a year and a half does not seem like a lot of time! But its all good! I know that God is for us and if God is for us who can be against us, right!

    In one of the last sessions Layne Schranz (a pastor at church of the Highlands) repeated a quote that I thought was so powerful and thought I would share it with you all. "The power is not in the sower, the power is in the seed."I love this quote! It is an amazing reminder that God does not use us because we are qualified (no one is) but he uses us because of our willingness. The power is not with us as the sowers but the power is with the seed we plant, the power is with Jesus. And I am convinced that If we (the sowers) can introduce the people of Oregon to the power of Jesus (the seed) their lives will never be the same! Hold on tight people, this is going to be one exciting ride! =)

Alabama with the ARC

Hey Guys! Adam and I are headed to Birmingham Alabama Saturday morning for a 5 day training with an amazing organization called the ARC (association of related churches) The ARC works with church planters providing support, guidance and resources to launch and grow new churches. We are super excited to glean wisdom from successful church planters and also to spend time with other couples who are about to embark on the same adventure. Please Pray for us while we are there that God would inspire us and speak to us. I will post the link to the ARC's website if you want to check them out. Cant wait to tell you all about it when we get back! http://www.arcchurches.com/

Oregon Video

Our Story

     A few years ago Adam was at a pastoral conference with our senior pastor. The speaker at the conference said to the crowd "There are some of you here today that God is calling to plant a church and you don't even know it yet." And that was the beginning of our story.

    Adam came home from that conference and said to me "I think God is speaking to me about being a senior pastor someday." Now, this was a really big deal because Adam had always said "I will never be a senior pastor!" He had no desire to ever be one, even though I always knew in my heart that he would be.  So when he came home and told me how he was feeling I just smiled and thought to myself "well, duh." :o) Time passed and the dream was put on the shelf; still there but kinda forgotten about. Then, Panama happened.

    Our church here in New Mexico is part of an organization called Equip.  Adam and our Senior Pastor Jerome Wade go to Panama a couple times a year speaking to the pastors and leaders of Panama inspiring and equipping them for whatever God has called them to do. His first trip to Panama was about a year ago. While he was there training others how to be great pastors, he was reminded of the whisper from a couple of years before that said "someday he would be a senior pastor"and while in Panama, the whisper became a loud calling that he could not ignore. God was speaking.

    He came home from that trip to Panama and said to me "Dana, I know without a shadow of doubt that God is calling us to become Pastors." And so we began to pray, and pray, and pray.  During this time of seeking God and asking him what this all meant,  we were haunted by the idea of Oregon. We couldn't get away from it. It seemed like every new person we met was from Oregon, every license plate we drove past was from Oregon, every time we turned on the TV it was something about Oregon. We started to believe that this was where God was leading us. So we bought two plane tickets and took a trip to the most beautiful place on earth, Oregon.

    Since then, we have taken a couple more trips to Oregon and we are completely convinced that this is where God is leading us. Oregon has the least church goers per capita then any other state in America. The amount of homeless youth living in Oregon is unacceptable and heartbreaking, there is a spirit of hopelessness and depression that lingers over the state. We are determined to introduce the people of Oregon to a living God who loves them, who has a plan and purpose for their life, and his name is Jesus!

    Please pray for us. We realize that we are going to war with the powers of darkness that oppress the state of Oregon and we need people praying and fasting for us. We are convinced God is going to do amazing things in Oregon and that we will see many salvations, families restored, people healed and set free, and even more then we could ever imagine! We serve a great God who does great things! Stand with us and believe with us for the people of Oregon. We love you all!

New Adventures

Hey Guys! This is my new blog that I am super excited about.  Many of you already know that Adam and I will be launching a new church in Oregon January of 2013. This blog is going to be my way to share with you everything as we begin this exciting adventure. Make sure to subscribe so that we can keep you updated on all God is doing, we want to share this experience with everyone we love!