A Commitment Fulfilled

Back in the summer of 2003, Amy and I didn’t know what God had in store for us. We had made the commitment to Wonder City to finish the year. By that time I would have also completed graduate school. But then what? We would be free to go anywhere in the country we felt God leading us. At the same time we weren’t sure God was calling us to leave. And we weren’t sure that he was calling us to stay long-term at Wonder City. So after praying about it and having several conversations, we made the decision to stay and go full-time with Wonder City in January, 2004. We decided that we would make a three-year commitment. We figured that would give us enough time to further seek God’s will, and would allow us to make necessary preparations if he was calling us to plant a church somewhere else .

The lessons that I have learned through this process over the past three years are patience and dependence upon God. There is a saying in the neighborhood, “God may not come when you want him, but he will always be right on time.” The first year-and-a-half was very tough for Amy and me. There was no financial backing to our full-time work from Missouri Street. I had to raise my whole salary. Things for several months didn’t look good. In fact, only a few people know that during the summer of 2004, I sent a resume to a church that was looking to hire an Outreach Minister. I didn’t see how Amy and I could make it the way things were looking. Nothing materialized out of that resume, and Missouri Street also stepped up with some money. We were making it, but barely. The three year commitment still loomed over us. Would we be able to fulfill it? Would we have to go elsewhere? We loved Wonder City, but also had to do what was best for our financial future and stability.

Then the news came in early June, 2005 that the Mauldin’s were leaving. That changed everything for us. The elders at Missouri Street asked me to be the Interim Director for Wonder City. With that came more compensation. Then in November, 2005, they asked me to remove Interim from my job title. Again, financially things looked even better for us. God was making himself known to us and what he wanted for Amy and me. It would have been nice to know what God’s will for us was back in 2003. But without the process, the ride wouldn’t have been as much fun and the lessons that Amy and I have learned would have gone unlearned.

As I was lying in bed Monday night, I realized that commitment we made has now been fulfilled. I haven’t thought about that commitment much since the summer of 2005 when the Mauldin’s told us they were leaving. We now know that God wants us here at Wonder City. How long, only God knows. But we are not looking to leave. We love being in Arkansas. We love being at Missouri Street. We love being at Wonder City.