We will all have moments in our life that will forever stand out in our minds. Amber and I had one that I would like to share with you...
Tuesday May 8th, 2007 we were
ministering at the young adult ministry of our church and something
crazy happened... It was a fairly small group gathered that night, maybe
20 or less. We had just finished leading the group in worship and I
began to share the message for that night. I don't even remember much
of what I was sharing that night except for a quote I had heard Pastor
Francis Chan share during a message of his...
'The rarest thing in the world is to find a young man without pride and an old man without regret.'
At some point during my message I kind of zoned out for a moment and had this crazy feeling overwhelm me. When I looked out I didn't see the small group gathered that night, but I saw a room full of people in a building that I didn't recognize. To try and sum it up... I felt like for the 1st time in my life I could see us leading a church. Many people have told us that they saw us leading as pastors of a church one day, but this was the 1st time I actually entertained the thought. After a few minutes I refocused and finished my message. At the end of the night I asked my wife Amber what she thought of the night. Her response was a little overwhelming! She shared a similar thought with me that she felt during the gathering that night before I got a chance to tell her what I saw and felt. The next night we talked more and felt like God was starting to open our hearts to the idea of one day planting and pastoring a church. At that time it was just a dream, but we knew that it was something that would be a process, so that night I wrote all of that stuff down in a journal.
Fast forward to Summer of 2011... we are serving at an incredible church in Florida and God is doing so much in our midst! God started working on my heart one night while I was praying. He challenged me with this thought. He did not just bring us to Florida for the things that we could do for him. More importantly He brought us here because of the things He desired to do in us. As we started to seek Him, the vision for planting a church started to re-surface... but this time it didn't go away. Almost daily in some way, shape or form God started to speak to us about this idea. He started to give us more and more vision for this dream and the Holy Spirit really started to challenge us to prepare our hearts for this next step of faith that we were going to be taking!
January 2012 during a time of fasting and praying God reminded us of the experience we had in May of 2007. After finding the journal entry, God confirmed that our season in Florida was coming to a close. We prayed about this and shared our hearts with our Pastor. Embracing this call is the culmination of many prayers, time in the word and steps of faith. God has used many people to speak into our lives, bless and encourage us throughout this process of seeking Gods will for our life. Everywhere we look we see God calling us to plant a church. August 2012 Amber and I will be transitioning to plant a church in York, PA. This is not a rushed decision, nor is it one that we take lightly, but rather the public announcement of something God has been stirring in our hearts for years. July 1st will be our last day at Celebration of Praise.
'The rarest thing in the world is to find a young man without pride and an old man without regret.'
At some point during my message I kind of zoned out for a moment and had this crazy feeling overwhelm me. When I looked out I didn't see the small group gathered that night, but I saw a room full of people in a building that I didn't recognize. To try and sum it up... I felt like for the 1st time in my life I could see us leading a church. Many people have told us that they saw us leading as pastors of a church one day, but this was the 1st time I actually entertained the thought. After a few minutes I refocused and finished my message. At the end of the night I asked my wife Amber what she thought of the night. Her response was a little overwhelming! She shared a similar thought with me that she felt during the gathering that night before I got a chance to tell her what I saw and felt. The next night we talked more and felt like God was starting to open our hearts to the idea of one day planting and pastoring a church. At that time it was just a dream, but we knew that it was something that would be a process, so that night I wrote all of that stuff down in a journal.
Fast forward to Summer of 2011... we are serving at an incredible church in Florida and God is doing so much in our midst! God started working on my heart one night while I was praying. He challenged me with this thought. He did not just bring us to Florida for the things that we could do for him. More importantly He brought us here because of the things He desired to do in us. As we started to seek Him, the vision for planting a church started to re-surface... but this time it didn't go away. Almost daily in some way, shape or form God started to speak to us about this idea. He started to give us more and more vision for this dream and the Holy Spirit really started to challenge us to prepare our hearts for this next step of faith that we were going to be taking!
January 2012 during a time of fasting and praying God reminded us of the experience we had in May of 2007. After finding the journal entry, God confirmed that our season in Florida was coming to a close. We prayed about this and shared our hearts with our Pastor. Embracing this call is the culmination of many prayers, time in the word and steps of faith. God has used many people to speak into our lives, bless and encourage us throughout this process of seeking Gods will for our life. Everywhere we look we see God calling us to plant a church. August 2012 Amber and I will be transitioning to plant a church in York, PA. This is not a rushed decision, nor is it one that we take lightly, but rather the public announcement of something God has been stirring in our hearts for years. July 1st will be our last day at Celebration of Praise.
Since
following Gods lead to move to Clermont, FL we have been blessed to minister
among a truly great church family and staff at Celebration of Praise. We
have made wonderful friends and shared incredible experiences. Celebration of Praise has treated us with the utmost honor and we will always
view our time here with fondness. You have cared for us as individuals and as a
couple and you are to be commended for it. We could have easily made this our
home forever, but God is leading us to start walking out the vision that He has
been birthing in us the last several years.
To all of our family and friends, we love and appreciate you so much! We humbly ask for your prayers and support as we take this huge step of faith.
Thanks for taking the time to read. Our story is not finished... once again we are stepping into the water! Check out Joshua 3.
If you would like to stay connected with us on this journey please keep checking back to www.jimmyandamber.info
If you would like to stay connected with us on this journey please keep checking back to www.jimmyandamber.info
