Jennifer and I sat in a Starbucks in Salt Lake City, talking with John who is the Director of Missions for the Utah/Idaho SBC. He told us a story that morning that confirmed in our hearts that the Lord was indeed calling us to serve as missionaries in Eastern Idaho, a story that neither of us will ever forget.
John never mentioned the man's name, but we will call him Tim. Tim was in his thirties, and life was good. Being raised in the Salt Lake City area, Mormonism was all that Tim had ever known of religion and he didn't see any reason to look elsewhere. He was raised by a Mormon family, married a Mormon wife, and was busy raising Mormon children. Tim met a man through work that would change his life forever. This man, that we will call Matt, was a "traditional Christian," which is what non-Mormon Christians are called in the region. As Tim got to know Matt, he observed that there was something very different about him. Tim knew that Matt was not Mormon, and that fact served as reason enough to avoid the topic of religion altogether. However, the more time that Tim spent with Matt, the more he hungered for what Matt had. Through their friendship, Matt was able to introduce Tim to Jesus and saw Tim miraculously saved by God's grace. Tim told his wife about his new-found faith, and though she was not happy, she tolerated this change probably figuring that it would eventually blow over. It didn't. Tim began to attend Bible studies and eventually Sunday services with Matt at the "traditional Christian" church. Tim was excited to share with his family what the Lord was doing in his life, but his enthusiasm was tempered by the deep roots of Mormonism in his family. The final straw fell one Sunday when Tim followed the Lord in obedience through baptism. That afternoon, when he got home from church, his father-in-law showed up to get his daughter and grandchildren, and they went and had the marriage annulled from the records of the Mormon church. Tim's decision to follow Christ had cost him his family, which might as well have been everything. They haven't come back.
John described this region, which includes Salt Lake City but extends north into Eastern Idaho, as the North American Saudi Arabia. While stories like Tim's are not happening every day, they are also not uncommon. When people follow Christ out of Mormonism it literally means to turn their back on their immediate and extended family, and their culture in general. Our family has been called to move into this region, to live as missionaries, and to plant a church that will preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. As I write this, we are a little over seven weeks from packing a Uhaul and heading west. The North American Mission Board is willing to come along side us with some financial support when we get to the point of launching Living Water, but during the missionary/core team development phase of this journey we are on our own to raise support. The Lord has shown himself faithful in providing. Further posts to this blog will include an update of the fundraising progress being made. If you would like to partner with us by praying, or by providing montly or one-time financial support, please contact me at scplath@gmail.com for more information.
Financial Update: Budget Raised
Moving Fund $10,000 $5,300
Monthly Support $3,300 $625
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Go ahead and jump...I am here
"Go ahead and jump...I am here." The first time that I heard these words, was at Woodleaf Camp in the summer of 1988, when I was 15 years old. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into by attending this camp. I had agreed to go because my good friend, Jason, told me all about the zip line, the off road vehicle course, the olympic sized swimming pool, the ropes course, and maybe something about an abundance of girls. What Jason had failed to mention was that this was a "church camp," and that there would be a man preaching the Gospel to me morning, noon, and night. The final day of camp, I found myself at the end of the ropes course, standing on a platform high in a tree. The speaker of the camp was at the bottom, holding onto the rope that was attached to the climbing gear that I was wearing. Some six feet away was a trapeze bar and it became clear that the goal was to leap off of the platform to grab the bar and be let down by the speaker. As I stood literally trembling on that platform, I heard the words, "Go ahead and jump...I am here."
That night at the gathering, the speaker talked about the ropes course and likened it to following Christ by faith. He said that I would have to trust Christ with my life much like I had trusted him at the ropes course. On June 16, 1988, I jumped, both literally and figuratively.
Seventeen years later, I had married my wife Jennifer, we had our three children, and had moved half way across the country from California to Tennessee. I heard the words again, this time not literally. I had been working in construction, but the Lord had begun to impress upon me a call to full-time ministry. I tried as hard as I could to avoid this call and managed to do so for about four years citing at least three reasons why either I was mistaken or the Lord was wrong; I wasn't smart enough, I couldn't afford to go to school and still provide for the family, and finally, I was too old. I guess I thought that if I avoided it long enough, the call would go away. Instead, I spent those four years in disobedience that robbed my life of the peace that the Lord wanted me to experience, and the call intensified. Finally, during a phone call from a friend that had no idea of my struggle, the Lord made it very clear that His call on my life would not go away. It was as if I had heard the Lord saying, "Go ahead and jump...I AM here." With submission came a peace that had been gone so long that I almost forgot that I didn't have it.
I heard it again just a year or so later, and hear it loud and clear to this day. I was enrolled in Bible College and preparing for ministry in West Tennessee, an area that I love. The Lord ignited a passion within me through an email that was sent to presumably every student in the university that I attend. The email challenged its reader to consider what it would be like to share the Gospel in a region where I would be considered a cult member. The email was not referring to third world, Muslim countries, but the Northwestern and Northeastern regions of our own. Through much time in Scripture and in prayer, and after taking a vision tour to the region, my wife and I are convinced that the Lord is leading us to plant a church in Rexburg, Idaho, where more than 98% of the those that claim religious affiliation are Mormon.
As the moving day approaches and anxieties build, I hear the phrase once again in my spirit, "Go ahead and jump...I AM here." Our prayer is that we would respond not with a blind leap of faith, but with obedient steps of faith with our eyes wide open and firmly fixed on the Father.
In the posts that follow, Jennifer and I will be sharing more about Rexburg, the vision that the Lord has given us for Living Water Baptist Church, and the progress of our missionary journey. If you would like information, contact us through twitter, facebook, or email and we would be happy to share with you.
That night at the gathering, the speaker talked about the ropes course and likened it to following Christ by faith. He said that I would have to trust Christ with my life much like I had trusted him at the ropes course. On June 16, 1988, I jumped, both literally and figuratively.
Seventeen years later, I had married my wife Jennifer, we had our three children, and had moved half way across the country from California to Tennessee. I heard the words again, this time not literally. I had been working in construction, but the Lord had begun to impress upon me a call to full-time ministry. I tried as hard as I could to avoid this call and managed to do so for about four years citing at least three reasons why either I was mistaken or the Lord was wrong; I wasn't smart enough, I couldn't afford to go to school and still provide for the family, and finally, I was too old. I guess I thought that if I avoided it long enough, the call would go away. Instead, I spent those four years in disobedience that robbed my life of the peace that the Lord wanted me to experience, and the call intensified. Finally, during a phone call from a friend that had no idea of my struggle, the Lord made it very clear that His call on my life would not go away. It was as if I had heard the Lord saying, "Go ahead and jump...I AM here." With submission came a peace that had been gone so long that I almost forgot that I didn't have it.
I heard it again just a year or so later, and hear it loud and clear to this day. I was enrolled in Bible College and preparing for ministry in West Tennessee, an area that I love. The Lord ignited a passion within me through an email that was sent to presumably every student in the university that I attend. The email challenged its reader to consider what it would be like to share the Gospel in a region where I would be considered a cult member. The email was not referring to third world, Muslim countries, but the Northwestern and Northeastern regions of our own. Through much time in Scripture and in prayer, and after taking a vision tour to the region, my wife and I are convinced that the Lord is leading us to plant a church in Rexburg, Idaho, where more than 98% of the those that claim religious affiliation are Mormon.
As the moving day approaches and anxieties build, I hear the phrase once again in my spirit, "Go ahead and jump...I AM here." Our prayer is that we would respond not with a blind leap of faith, but with obedient steps of faith with our eyes wide open and firmly fixed on the Father.
In the posts that follow, Jennifer and I will be sharing more about Rexburg, the vision that the Lord has given us for Living Water Baptist Church, and the progress of our missionary journey. If you would like information, contact us through twitter, facebook, or email and we would be happy to share with you.
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