The unexpected happened with a family attending our Family Discipleship Training School; what a testimony of God's faithfulness! [4:18 video]

MOVING. I couldn’t believe it when my parents told me we were moving. My family and I were living in a beautiful, mountainous valley in North Carolina at the time. The view of the Smoky Mountains from our house was breathtaking. Relocating to Texas with my parents did not sound like a good idea to a stubborn eleven-year-old like me - especially when I heard we were going to be missionaries and live in tight quarters for a season.

God has placed an urgency in my spirit to create opportunities for entire families to be trained, equipped, and filled with a passion to live a lifestyle of missions wherever God takes them. With the grace of God, my wife and I have been able to do just that here at YWAM Tyler.

I've often wondered why there is such an urgency in God's heart to do something like this. Having a family myself and seeing what God continues to do in us, I can sense His desperation. God is yearning to wake up families to stop settling for the things of the world and to seize their God-given assignment.

Last summer our family of four embarked on a new chapter in our lives as we arrived with great anticipation at YWAM Tyler, ready to begin family missions training. We came with no expectations - just a willingness to learn and grow in our faith. Now, I can look back and say we made the best decision for our family by taking that leap of faith. During our five months of training we grew closer to God and to one another, as our marriage and family relationships were strengthened. We now have God in the center of our family’s life, where He belongs!

In the middle of summer it dawned on me: "Everything we need for a Fall Festival celebration is right in front of us!" 

“Are you insane?” is what you may be thinking, and I do have to confess that we’ve felt that ourselves as we look to the future. To give a little background, our last three years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding times of our lives. We’ve walked through joy, grief, hopelessness, and anticipation. After serving two years in Jordan, we returned to America in  May 2015 

Sixteen years ago I made a collage, which represented my life vision/mission statement. Included on it were the biggest, most epic dreams in my heart.