alright, here we go...
Saturday, January 21 at 10:59 PM

the news. (even though most of you who read this thing already know it.)

i'm moving back to anderson to be the assistant to the volunteer director at newspring church. i'm ridiculously excited about the opportunity to once again be a part of newspring. and i'm even more excited because i've heard God's voice clearly and i know i'm following His leading.

now, let me explain how this all happened...

first, let me say that my decision to move back has absolutely nothing to do with midtown or anything negative there. midtown is a very cool church, striving to change lives in cola. the people are incredible and i love them all dearly. they've been amazing to know and learn from these last several months. i really believe that God wants to use midtown to impact columbia and beyond.

three weeks ago when i was back in a-town for new year's, i heard God speak to me in a way that i haven't experienced too many times...and what i heard Him say was that if He ever led me back to newspring, it would be awesome and i'd be right where He wanted me. i didn't know what that meant. was He calling me back now? did it mean that He might in the future? what was i supposed to do with that information? it weighed heavily on my mind and my heart. i wanted so badly to figure it all out. it was a confusing time because i felt i'd been led to columbia and now i was sensing God preparing me to be back in anderson. so, after a couple weeks of wrestling with all the questions that sprang up from this encounter...i just gave it all up. my prayer became "God, i don't know what you want. i don't know what you're saying. i know what i heard, but i'm not sure what that means. so, it's up to you. the last thing i heard definitely was to move to cola. so i'm gonna keep doing this thing until you tell me clearly otherwise. and when i say clearly, i mean that you've got make it 100% obvious that you want me back at newspring. i don't want my feelings/emotions/whatever to get in the way...you work it out."

after offering up that prayer for about a week...i got a phone call completely out of the blue. shay from newspring calling to offer me the position. i almost dropped the phone. COMPLETE shock. and excitement. and joy.

of course it's bittersweet to be leaving the midtown peeps. but it's just the greatest feeling in the world to know i'm simply going where God wants me.

it's funny to look back over the posts from the last few weeks. so obvious how God was working on me. the quote about questions? um, yeah. talking about how awesome newspring was? yep. had no idea then that i was about to be heading back there. there really are so many cool things like that involved in this whole journey. i would tell you all of them...but it would be quite long and not nearly as fun as telling you personally. so, you should call me if you want the full details.

and that's it. now you know. i'll basically be back in a-town for good in two weeks. start the job the week before the first service in the new building. living with lili once again in a yet-to-be-determined location (that has room for a foosball table). loving life. thankful for chances to see so incredibly how God orchestrates all things in His timing. it's SWEET.