Ministry Details

Thanks for visiting our blog! We're about to start a great new adventure. Here are some more details:

9 Months and Counting!!

Nope. Not pregnant! BUT, in 9 months our goal is to be in language school in Costa Rica!  We are so excited to be taking the next big step towards full time ministry in Ecuador.  We have joined a great organization called Alteco and look forward to serving along side the indigenous Christians of the Amazon Basin. Alteco is an acronym for Amazon-Lowland-Tribal-Empowerment-Coallition.  Alteco is placing Country Coordinators in each of the 11 South American countries that make up the "Green Window". We feel called by God to go to Ecuador because there are Christian Indigenous leaders in that country that have a passion to serve and reach their people for Christ.  We're honored to be a part of this as we ourselves have a passion for discipleship ministry and look forward to being used by God to empower and serve these leaders to do the work that God has set before them to do.

Why language school in Costa Rica?
After a bit of research we landed on The Spanish Language Institute in Costa Rica for language training because it is important for us to have whole-family language training with complete submersion in a Spanish speaking country.  While Chris and Tina attend school for language, 8 hours a day, the girls will attend regular school with a supplement in Spanish.  We know, of course, that the girls will probably thrive in the Spanish language before we can ask a solid question!

Where will we live in Ecuador?
After our year of language school is complete, we will move to the jungle city of Shell, Ecuador. You may have heard of Shell as it has a rich history in missions.  Nate Saint, Jim Elliot and others were burdened with reaching the unreached tribal people in the this region and their sacrifice opened the door to ongoing ministry in the area.  God is doing a new thing as the Indigenous Christian Leaders are rising up to answer the call to continue to work in their region.  The rich history in Shell serves as a great platform to step into this new territory and we are expectant to see what God has in store for our brothers and sisters who are ready and able.

The next 9 months will be spent sharing about this ministry and asking you to pray about joining us on this great new frontier.  9 months isn't long to meet our goal but we know God is totally in control and able to do more than we can fathom.

Blog In Progress!!

We are in the process of updating our blog.  Stay tuned for backstories and up to date information about our plans to move to Ecuador for full-time ministry!
Thanks for your patience.

Mount Ida - Burden Is Light-a ??

Yesterday we participated in an unconventional Timberline tradition. Each student is required to wake at 2am and hike the 12,000 foot Mount Ida in pitch darkness. We enjoyed a time of reflection while watching the sun rise near the peak and then summited a couple hours later.

This activity wasn't just planned for torture purposes (even thought at times it was torture - think 30 degrees plus whipping wind chill!) or physical conditioning (even though our muscles are a little tight today!). During the sun rise we were taught about the burden of sin. As an application activity, we wrote our personal sin-burden in chalk on a large rock and hiked to the peak while lugging our sin in our pack. This was a great time of meditation and prayer. Later, we left our sin burden and representative rock at the summit of Mount Ida. With Him our burden is light and we have the God-strength to lay down our burdens through the victory at the cross. Awesome!

This morning we studied the book of Ezra and had a two session Hebrew lesson of the beginning of Genesis. God's Word is rich and we are so excited and blessed to be daily digging into the Truth that is life transforming.

Thankful and Blessed!

This is the week! Chris and Tina begin school on Wednesday and are very excited to have a set schedule. We spent this last weekend with our dear Beckett friends at Family Camp at Camp Elim and were blessed with good teaching, fun playtime and great family time of hugs, dancing and chatting. God ordered this time for us to connect and energize as a family before beginning our schooling. Thank you Lord!

While we are on the topic of praise. Let us share a few big victories with you!

- Praise God! We have raised about $15,000 in on-time gifts and only have $7,000 remaining to pay for our school in full! We not only met our September 7th tuition deadline but exceeded it by $3,000!!!! Some of our financial needs remain ($7,000 for school and about $1000 in monthly support) but we are so encouraged and trust the God who brought us here.

- Georgia and Reese are doing well in school. Reese is on cloud nine with her own desk and enjoys eating lunch and having recess with her older sister. Georgia is enjoying her new friend Abby and is in the "Dolphin" learning group. According to Georgia, Dolphins have a lot of hard work but she thinks she is up for the challenge!

- The renters for our Highlands Ranch home are settled in and seem to be very good renters! In fact, they asked if they could do some additional upkeep while staying at our house. God met this need exceedingly, above and beyond what we could ask or imagine!

Keep praying! We aren't there yet but are surely blessed by a God who knows our needs and a family of believers that are walking by our side.

Love and Blessings!

Chris, Tina, Georgia and Reese

1st Day of School!!

Reese started Kindergarten today and Georgia began her 2nd Grade year!! The girls were so excited and, as expected, a little paused about what to expect at a new school. We were blessed by Georgia's new friend, Abby. When we arrived at Winter Park Christian School, Abby was waiting for Georgia outside the school. Once she saw G, she began yelling her name and running through the rain to give her a big hug. The transition was seamless. Thank you Lord!

Here begins our Winter Park adventure!

Clinging to the Truth!!!

Our family "moved" to Winter Park this last Tuesday and it has been a rough journey! On Tuesday one of our cars broke down and may be beyond repair...Chris missed work on Wednesday to tend to the car situation and was in bed for half the day with a migraine...Reese was hit in the ear with a stick and nearly needed stitches!!! The list goes on.

The pastor at our Winter Park "foster church" said it best, "Satan does not want more believers in the Winter Park Valley!" Spiritual warfare is real people!!! How do we answer to Satan's attempts? Honestly? At first we whined a little... THEN we got on our knees, dug into scripture and are seeking the prayer support of our fellow believers!

We would love for each of you to know our day to day victories and struggles so that you too may be spurred on by God's great power and provision. Thank you for walking with us as we seek God's will for our lives. He is faithful!!

Just for fun, we have listed the scripture references we have been CLINGING TO lately!! May they be an encouragement to you as well.

Ephesians 1:18-20

Psalm 91

Hebrews 10:23

Col 4:17

Hebrews 10:35,36

Lamentations 3:22-26