After almost seven years, my family and I will be leaving California for Kentucky in mid April. The journey to this point has been long, and has taken a lot of twists and turns which we didn’t expect, but what has become clear is how God has guided it the entire time.
As many of you know, I began seeking recognition as a pastor within the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) at the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019. This led to my taking online courses with the Master’s Institute, in addition to my extensive previous coursework, to round out what was agreed upon as my possessing the equivalent of a Master’s of Divinity for this purpose. After this, I began searching for a pastorate within the LCMC on a contract-call basis to complete the requirement laid upon me that I should serve in a remunerated position as either a pastor or an intern for one year. You may also be aware that after applying to nearly twenty different churches, and interviewing with over a half dozen of these, none of them worked out. I have since been seeking the Lord’s will in turning my focus of ministry to those Christians who have left the churches hurt, confused, or even abused by them; or “runaway sheep” as I have called them. These have been on my heart for many, many years now and I believe that the time to really concentrate on them has now come.
What you may not be aware of is that during this process of time, my wife Heidi and her friend Cindy have not been idle either, and have been working very hard on what God has been leading them to. For the past two years, Heidi has been doing online coursework for a degree in alternative healthcare and wellness given how much it has done for her own medical issues. About a year and a half ago, Heidi’s friend Cindy came to her and told her that she felt like God wanted them to start a wellness coaching business together. Cindy, a retired CEO of a credit union, would do financial coaching and Heidi would do wellness coaching. Last winter and spring they had just been about to take their plans live and begin small seminars when the COVID-19 crisis happened and all in person gatherings of large groups were banned in California for health reasons. After it kept going and going, they began seeking the Lord’s will and this past fall, Cindy and Heidi began to talk about starting a permaculture farm out of state which they could also use as a base of operations for their coaching business. Initially, we thought it might coincide with one of the pastorates I was applying for, but as they continued to pray, they believed that the Lord was leading them to Kentucky. As I was still applying for churches, and I believed things were getting serious with a church in Wisconsin, we didn’t know how that would work and for a time we thought we might eventually only see each other once a month, but then Wisconsin fell through as well and the more I prayed, the more it seemed like my own pastoral focus was supposed to be different from what I had been seeking.
Around the New Year the search for farm properties in Kentucky really began in earnest. Cindy and Heidi knew though exactly what they were looking for, the size of the lot, the distance from Louisville, the cost of the property, the size of the house on the property, and so on. They were so specific, the realtor they’d been working with said they were looking for a unicorn. Easily more than a dozen properties were looked at one by one. We were all praying that God would keep them from the wrong property, and for Him to lead us to the right one. As a result, one property after another fell through for one reason or another. But always, with each property we seemed to be getting closer, and new doors kept opening.
Finally, a property opened up which matched what Heidi and Cindy wanted exactly, and we jumped on it. It had the right house, the right size lot, the right soil, the right amount of timber on the property and more. Then, just as the deal was about to be closed, without warning the owners decided not to sell at all and pulled their house from the market. We were all devastated, and really struggling for days. Cindy had already reserved a moving date for near the beginning of April, and Heidi had already contacted a local dog breeder to speak with him about reserving a puppy from a litter which would be available in April. They were that certain of this house going through. But it didn’t, and we were all asking God why, and what all of that was about.
Heidi had to email the breeder again and let him know what had happened and that the timetable was still uncertain again. As it turned out, the breeder was also a semi-retired real estate agent. He asked to know the specifics of what kind of a property Heidi and Cindy were looking for. The next morning, Heidi sent them by way of email. He texted her back and asked her to call him. She did. He then explained that what Heidi had told him matched his own house and property perfectly. He then explained that he and his wife had been considering retiring and selling their property, but they had not put it up on the market because they wanted to sell to the right people, and now they are offering to sell thirty acres of their property, including their house, barn, and lake to Heidi and Cindy to start their farm. Heidi and Cindy will be traveling back out to Kentucky at the end of this month to speak with him in person, and if all goes well they may be under contract by the time they come back. The move date is still in place, as is the puppy Heidi has reserved as one of the dogs for the farm.
In addition, Heidi and Cindy already have numerous contacts in Kentucky, lawyers and accountants lined up for their business, potential buyers for the farm’s products, and plans drawn up on the how, what, where, and when of the farm’s construction and operation.
Today, the farm property has been put under contract, and we occupy it on April 23rd. We should be leaving California by April 15th to set out for Kentucky.
Tressa, Kalissa, and I will be going with Heidi in April to permanently relocate to Kentucky, start building things up, and get them moving. Aidan is entering the Navy and will be leaving for Boot Camp by March 8th. Cindy and John are hoping to permanently relocate there a little later once all the loose ends here in California are tied up.
Eventually, once the farm is up, running, and turning a profit, the plan is to segue into what we have come to call “Transformations of Love” which is the adoptive (and potentially foster) farm home for kids with special needs we have been planning and plotting for many years now and which some of you have encouraged us on when we were researching such homes during our time in the R.V.
I would ask for further prayer that things continue to move forward, and the doors continue to open for this. I would also ask for prayer for my own ministry focus that doors would open for me to be more intentional and more active regarding it. I know it isn’t going to look like a traditional pastorate, but its a matter of understanding what it is going to look like.
Thank you again for your prayers.
