Luke and Becca

Last month we asked for your prayers while we traveled to Kansas City and participated in Candidate Orientation with Crossworld. Thank you for those prayers! The Lord answered them in a big way and we have some exciting news we want to share with you:

We’re going to Haiti!

From Candidates to Appointees…

For two weeks we were interviewed and assessed by an experienced assessment team. In addition to the assessement, we received training in cultural awareness, discipleship and support development. It was an intense two weeks, but we had a total blast!

About halfway through the process, Crossworld extended an invitation for us to join them as appointed missionaries to Haiti.

From the moment we arrived on their campus, we were impressed with the organization. We were able to observe how their commitment to grace and discipleship is fleshed out day to day. It was refreshing. We kept saying to ourselves, “If we don’t do this, I think we’ll always regret it.”

By the end of our time, that good feeling felt clearly like a distinct calling from the Lord. So, we made the decision to join them and begin the process of heading to Haiti as full-time missionaries.

What will we do? In a nutshell, we hope to join the ministry of STEP Seminary in Port-au-Prince and help disciple future leaders for the church in Haiti. We’ll send more information about that in future updates. Let me tell you, we are excited about it!

So, What’s Next?

Part of the goal of the assessment team was to produce a Personal Development Plan (PDP) that will help us be ready to hit the field. So, for the next few months we’ll be working through this plan in consultation with our Crossworld coaches and a mentor couple here in Dallas.

After we complete this plan, we’ll move into the support development phase. During this phase, we’ll begin the process of connecting with potential financial partners who will help make our ministry possible.

What Can You Do Now?

Right now, we’re recruiting a team of folks who will commit to pray for us while we complete our PDP and during the support development process. This will be so very essential to our success.

We’ll be sending out short, monthly updates with specific things people can be praying about. Since you’ve been with us all along, we’ll keep you on that list. But, if you’d rather not – we totally understand and we promise we’ll not be offended.

We were blown away by the way the Lord was faithful to answer each of your prayers while we were in Kansas City and we’re excited to see what He’ll do in this next phase!

If you know of someone who might be interested in joining our prayer support team, please let us know. We’d love to get in contact with them.

We are so thankful for each of you and your friendship to us!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Love,

Luke, Becca, Grace and Lydia

We wanted to send a brief update and request for prayer.

You may remember us mentioning our plans to spend some time in June with a missions agency called Crossworld. That time is here.

This afternoon we’ll hit the road and start the drive up to Kansas City. We’ll spend the night in Oklahoma tonight and arrive in Kansas City sometime tomorrow afternoon, Lord willing.

Then, for the next two weeks, we’ll participate in a Candidate Orientation process that will allow us to get to know Crossworld and allow Crossworld to get to know us.

These next two weeks will be jam packed with interviews, information sessions and training.  At the conclusion, Becca and I hope to have a better sense for who the organization is and how it operates.

We’d really appreciate your prayers for us in a few key areas:

• Our Kids: Grace and Lydia will be spending a significant amount of time in childcare while we’re in sessions. They’re not used to being away from us, so please pray for our girls that they are able to have fun and adjust well.

• Wisdom: Choosing a missions organization to partner with is a HUGE decision. Please pray that Becca and I will have wisdom as we interact with the organization and that we’ll emerge from this with a good sense for how we might fit with them.

• Health: We’ve had a bug making it’s way though our house this past week. I think we’re coming out of it, but we’re going into this a little run down. Pray that Lord would give us good health and allow us to enjoy this experience together.

Thanks so much for your prayers! We sure appreciate all of you!

Love,

Luke, Becca, Grace and Lydia.

Life Happenings

It’s about time you heard something from us!

New Edition

As you can see, we have a new daughter; Lydia Noel. She is a blessing! Grace is thoroughly enjoying being a big sisterand loves to help change diapers, sing and rock her sister, and smother her with kisses. Speaking of Grace – she’s about to turn two! We don’t know where the time has gone but it is going way too fast! She is the most joyful little girl. She is always smiling, laughing, and eager to discover new things.

Graduation

You read that right! Luke is in the process of finishing his last semester at Dallas Theological Seminary. Lord willing, he will receive his Master of Theology degree in May.

Work

Luke continues to work as an Admissions Counselor at DTS. Becca is having a blast staying at home with Grace and Lydia, as well as babysitting the daughter of some close friends.

What’s our Next Step?

Haiti is still on our heart. We feel the Lord continuing to lead us towards fulltime ministry there.

We hope to travel to Kansas City in June to meet with a sending organization calledCrossworld. They have been in Haiti for a long time and Luke has worked with some of their missionaries before. We’ve appreciated their philosophy of ministry and we like the kind of support they can provide us as a family. We’re excited to explore things further with them.

We’ll update you on this as things progress. In the meantime, would you pray with us that the Lord will give us wisdom as we make some important decisions in the next few months?

-Luke, Becca, Grace and Lydia

P.S. We’d love to hear from you! If there is anything we can be praying about for you, please let us know.