Tag: ministry

10 years + forever.

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This summer, Kevin and I will celebrate ten years of marriage.

After dating/engagement for almost four years, we got married on July 5, 2013, in a grassy field in the middle of a park in downtown Lawrence, Kan. We made a commitment to love one another, to choose one another – in sickness and in health – for richer and for poorer – until death do us part. Ten wonderful years we’ve had in the covenant of marriage, and truly, I treasure every second of it.

Our first five years before having children were dedicated to pursuing a call to ministry through the mission of Young Life. I’ll never forget the day that Kevin and I were on a bike ride “date” from our rental house on Tennessee Street to that same park at which we said our vows. After talking about the potential of grad school and moving away for several years of dating and early marriage, I challenged Kevin to truly lead me, to lead our marriage, and decide if we would stay in Lawrence or move away. He rose to the challenge and boldly told me the Lord was calling us to stay. I rode my bike the entire way home in silence, angry at God and at Kevin. I didn’t understand what was next for us here in Lawrence. 

It was only a few months later that the Lord made it clear why He called us to stay. He provided an opportunity for Kevin to come on full-time Young Life staff as the KU Young Life College director in 2015. We got a dog, found Free City Church, bought a house, and made Lawrence our home.

In this next season with Kevin on staff, we had all three of our children – Lydia in 2018, Eliza in 2019, and Caleb in 2021. While my role within Young Life shifted between volunteer to part-time staff back to volunteer, our primary family mission remained the same: to share Jesus with college students and help them grow in their faith. We spent many summers and weekends with our growing family at Young Life camp. We spent countless hours on KU’s campus at Young Life Club, leading small groups, and meeting with students in coffee shops. We’ve met and had the opportunity to get to know so many incredible people through this ministry from all over the country. Many of our best friends we met through this ministry. We’ve been ministered to and ministered through the mission of Young Life on staff or as volunteers for all 14 of our years following Jesus together. 

It is with this beginning that Kevin and I share that our chapter on Young Life staff has formally come to close.

Leaving Young Life staff was an emotional decision for us, and one that we have spent many hours talking over together, in community, and with the Lord discerning next steps. I have wrestled much with God as I process through the callings He has for us, and the purpose He has for Kevin, who is truly the most gifted minister I know. What we’ve heard from God over again is that a change in his job is not a change in his calling. For the gifts and calling of Christ are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). 

Rather than a calling away from ministry, God is calling my husband—both of us—to ministry in different spaces and in different ways. Last August, the Lord led me first to step away from Young Life and on staff in the role of KIDS and Communication Director at Free City Church. He has affirmed this calling as the exact fit for me and for our family in this season of our lives. As we waited and continued to listen for Kevin’s next steps, our biggest prayer was that it would be a job that served people in the local Lawrence community, provided a work-life balance that would allow him to be present at home and in church ministry, and would financially provide for our family of five. 

This prayer, the Lord answered, far beyond our expectations. We are excited to announce that Kevin has accepted a role as an Associate Financial Advisor with Edmonds Duncan Registered Investment Advisors. With their office located in downtown Lawrence, Edmonds Duncan helps individuals in our local community achieve financial objectives with confidence and personal service. We are so grateful, and I can’t wait to see Kevin take on a new challenge and a new adventure!

This has truly been a season of transition in many areas. As we cross over our 10-year wedding anniversary in a few weeks, Kevin will start his new job and our oldest daughter Lydia will prepare to start Kindergarten. Our church is going through a transition as well, having launched out a new church in Topeka, Kan., sending out many of our dearest friends, and I step into a deeper role on church staff here in Lawrence.

When it seems that I am facing change all around me, it’s the Word of God that brings me great comfort and peace:

“But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
-Philippians 3:7-8

Young Life staff has been an identity marker for us. I have been proud of our role and the way Kevin has served the Lord faithfully as the KU College Director. I have loved this season of having and raising little children. I have so many fears as I look ahead to the next chapter: having school-aged children, Kevin transitioning out of ministry, and our community here in Lawrence shifting. This verse from Philippians reminds me that any circumstances I could control or chose for myself, I count as “loss” when compared to the incomprehensible value of knowing and following Christ.

When my foundation is Him, though the rains will fall, and the floods will rise, I will not collapse, because my peace and joy is built on the Rock (Matthew 7:24-25). 

The intimacy I experience with Christ through obedience and faith is far more fulfilling than any other life I could make up for myself. For me, to live is Christ (Phil 1:21). 

In the midst of change –
here’s to 10 years of marriage,
to the next 10 years,
and
Lord willing,
the next 20, 30, 40, and 50 years.

Our circumstances,
our community,
our jobs,
will likely change again over this time frame.
Our marriage will grow and continue to sanctify us.
Our children will grow up and move away.

But one thing remains:
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

God is working all things for my good
and
His glory.
He is worthy of all my trust
and
all my life,
in every season
forever.

family on mission.

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It’s 7:45 on a Tuesday morning. My three-month old sleeps next to me quietly in her portable bassinet next to the dining room table. She’s been awake long enough to already earn her first nap of the day. My husband left the house early to meet with a student for morning coffee. Even our dog is sleeping on his bed in our living room. The house is quiet and the only sounds are the clock ticking and the occasional car driving by.

In this place I am able to sit down and write. It’s been too long since I’ve done this.

Much has happened since my last blog post announcing my move into full-time ministry. We had a house full of guests for about six weeks straight – no wonder I’m enjoying the quiet! Family came in multiple waves to spend time with our little one and we opened up our home to friends who needed a temporary place to stay. Not to mention we took an end-of-the-summer vacation and a sometimes-regretfully, do-it-ourselves bathroom remodel. I finished a grad school class and we have been working hard to prepare for another school year of college ministry.

The summer has ended and time is flying by. Lydia is changing every day and discovering the world around her. It’s this week, as the new school year starts and Lydia has gone from newborn to infant by definition, that I am overwhelmed by the joy of being a family on mission together.

 

M I S S I O N A R Y . F A M I L Y .

Kevin and I are perhaps unique in that we share the same calling as husband and wife: to reach college students at the University of Kansas and help them grow in their faith. The calling we have is as strong as if we were missionaries sent abroad, except our mission field is in our own backyard and in my own hometown.

When we dreamed of having a family years ago, our goal was that our life wouldn’t stop when we had kids. Instead, whatever God was calling us to do in that season, our children would join us in that calling. They would become a part of our ministry team rather than hindering us from pursuing it.

And so, on the very day that we drove home from the hospital after Lydia’s birth, we took the scenic route home. From north Lawrence to our home on the south side, we cut right through the center of town so we could show our 4-day-old the place where our family is called to do ministry.

We showed her the University of Kansas campus, our mission field.

As we drove around Memorial Stadium and up the hill to Jayhawk Boulevard, we prayed for Lydia and for our family’s mission. We prayed that God would use Lydia to reach college students at the University of Kansas with the good news of Jesus.

 

O N E . D A Y . A T . A . T I M E .

And while our calling hasn’t, our everyday life has indeed changed with this little one. I know that there will be days when I need to choose her over student ministry. I may leave our meetings early so I can put her to sleep, step away so I can feed her or meet her needs, or say no to something good so that we can maintain healthy boundaries and prioritize time as a family.

Someone asked me how I was feeling about the year of ministry with Lydia, and I responded with my plan: take it one day at a time. She’s changing so quickly and it’s impossible to predict what her needs will be a few days from now, let alone weeks or months! We’ll take two cars places for a while. She may end up joining us at Young Life Club all semester, or we may end up getting a babysitter by the end of it. But for now, I am loving having her come with us to meet new students. In fact, she draws them in and gives us the best conversation starter. She enjoys the countless people that love on her and want to hold her and make her smile.

Here’s to the start of another school-year of ministry, transitioning from a family of two to a family of three.

One day at a time, this is my constant prayer:

As a family, may we go where the Lord sends us.
As a family, may we pray for those the Lord brings us.
As a family, may we serve where the Lord calls us.
As a family, may we love as the Lord loves us.

 

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

promotions.

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Last November I tagged along with my husband to the annual Young Life College conference in New York City. Almost 13 weeks pregnant, I’d just recently had a conversation with my boss informing her that at the end softball season, I would not be continuing on as the KU Director of Softball Operations. I wasn’t leaving for another job nor was I leaving to be a stay-at-home mom. I knew that my vocational calling was in ministry. There was no job waiting for me, but I needed to have faith and trust the Lord in this calling even if it didn’t make logistical sense.

At that conference, we got to hear from a profound speaker who is on the executive leadership of Young Life. He told a compelling story of how he took a professional demotion to follow God’s calling in his life. His words have stayed with me through this season:

“A promotion in this life is getting one step closer to the thing that God has ultimately created you to do.”

God gave me confidence and clarity in that moment. Yes, I’m leaving a career that has a clean and clear road to professional prosperity and financial security. Yet it feels like this step out of college athletics and into full-time ministry is a promotion.

 

T H E . B E G I N N I N G .

For the past eight years, I have been serving in a ministry called Young Life. I became a student leader as a sophomore in college while I was also a student-athlete at the University of Kansas. My husband Kevin, who I was dating at the time, also became a volunteer Young Life Leader in the same year. Pouring our lives into college students, building relationships with them, mentoring them, and helping them grow in their faith has always been a passion that both Kevin and I have shared. This ministry is what kept us in Lawrence even after we both graduated from the University of Kansas and got married. In 2014, when we realized that full-time ministry with college students in Lawrence was our long-term calling, I was interning with Young Life and Kevin was preparing to transition out of personal training and into a full-time, paid role as KU Young Life College Director. The following year, I was a private softball coach and pursing this joint mission with most of my time alongside Kevin.

In the spring of 2016, I was offered the position as Director of Operations for the KU Softball Team and a chance to work under my former Head Coach, Megan Smith. Since I was already established in Lawrence, this opportunity was too good to pass up. I knew that taking this job in college athletics ultimately meant that I would be sacrificing Young Life, but at the same time, this job still fit into my primary calling to serve college students at the University of Kansas. In my mind, this just narrowed my focus to serving the softball student-athletes. I was excited to be around the game again at a high level and wondered what God had for me in the world of college athletics.

 

T H E . P R E S E N T .

During my two years as Director of Operations, I learned a lot about a career in college athletics and a lot about myself. I loved working under Coach Smith and of course working for my alma mater. Being around the game again was energizing and exciting for me. The Director of Operations job was difficult and tedious, but after my first year, I felt like I settled into my role and was thriving. However, I also quickly discovered that a career in college athletics meant sacrificing my gifts and calling to be in full-time ministry. While I was serving college students in a sense, I was more behind the scenes instead of in a direct mentoring and leadership role.

I missed the ability to build deep relationships with college students.
I missed leading Bible Studies and teaching students about Jesus.
I missed our weekly Young Life Clubs and engaging with new students.
I missed helping students find a community where they would be accepted and loved for who they are.
I missed spending my days working alongside my husband to reach students with the gospel of Jesus, build them up as leaders, and launch them into the real world.

Additionally, my administrative gifts that helped me succeed as a Director of Softball Operations were also needed in Douglas County Young Life. Kevin is such a natural pastor, teacher, and evangelist, but he needed help with the event planning and fundraising that comes with vocational full-time ministry. As his wife, who also feels a deep calling to this mission, I’ve felt compelled to come into more of a direct role by his side to help out in these specific areas.

We had dreamed about the upcoming transition even before the exciting news that I was pregnant with our first child! Our daughter Lydia’s anticipated arrival only confirmed that the time was now to pursue my calling because of my ability to work from home or bring Lydia on the job with me in ministry. In God’s perfect timing, Lydia’s due date was in mid-May, just after the conclusion of softball season. Sure enough, I packed up my office on May 11 and went into labor three days later! I’ve had the great joy of easing in to my new role with Young Life and in full-time ministry ever since.

 

T H E . F U T U R E .

Already, this summer has been filled with ministry to students who are in town and planning ahead for the upcoming school year. Our Young Life students love to come over to our house and hold Lydia while we talk about Jesus and life, and this brings me so much joy!

I also took over as the volunteer chair of our Young Life Committee for donor care and am using my gifts to serve on the financial side of our non-profit organization. Additionally, I am serving the greater mission of Young Life as a Personal Donor Development Coach, mentoring new Young Life Staff in their journey of fundraising personal support. While these two roles give me titles and direction, they don’t pay much. My dream is to help our organization get in a place financially where my role would turn into a part-time paid position that would be more sustainable for our family long-term. But this dream is ultimately uncertain and not guaranteed.

Regardless, I have learned this:

Permission to pursue a calling
does not come from a job title or a paid role,
but from a personal prayer life.

Seeking the Lord in prayer for the last five years since graduating college has put me on a path that has lead me here. I am more confident than ever in my gifts, my calling, and where the Lord is asking me to work and serve with the best of my time.

 

T H E . B O T T O M . L I N E .

As I step forward into this new season of motherhood, I wanted to share this important part of my journey too. Not only am I fulfilling my calling as a mother, but I’m also living freely in my calling to pursue the work that God has before me. The Enneagram-Type-3 “Achiever” in me has battled through a false need for having a paid job to be in ministry, but the Holy Spirit reminds me that’s not how the kingdom of God works.

So yes, I’m a stay-at-home mom perhaps by society’s standards. But to me, I went back to work the day I got home from the hospital. My work simply doesn’t look like the world’s work. There’s no paycheck transferred into my bank account right now, but my reward is in the joy and satisfaction of knowing that I’m walking in obedience to God’s calling on my life.

So here I am
by no means have I arrived
and yet
I’m one step closer
to what my Father in Heaven
ultimately created me to do
for His glory
and my good. 

Cheers to promotions.

 

“And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)