As we continue along in this transitional season of ministry, we wanted to take a few minutes to update everyone as to our current situation.

On the whole, I’d say we are doing well as we work through the varying emotions that accompany prematurely phasing out of a long-term ministry. There are good days and not-so-good days, but as there are more of the former than of the latter, I’m calling it a “net-positive” experience, so far. We have been able to talk with each other, and the Lord, openly, honestly, and often, which has been great.

One of the results of these many times of prayer and conversation is that, as we have attempted to assess our family’s needs and consider our abilities and available options, we have come to believe that it would be wise for us to plan on stepping out of the Ethnos360 after returning to the US. Though we continue to have a heart for seeing the Gospel taken to the unreached, we believe that our specific role in seeing that accomplished would do well to take on a less “formal” capacity for a while.

In light of this decision, one of the things that has been helping us throughout this time, as we work to process the present, and plan for the future, is that we have been becoming more aware lately of some of the ways that God has been moving things behind the scenes to help prepare the way before us. It has been very encouraging to stand witness to God’s providence as He has seemingly orchestrated several factors to come together almost perfectly to help us ease into our eventual transition stateside.

Nothing is official yet, but we have begun serious talks with our sending church in Upstate NY, and there is reasonable potential that something may be able to be worked out for our family to help fill a ministry role there. We believe this could be an opportunity of great mutual blessing, as our sending church is comprised of some truly loving people (whose input our family will need), and the years of ministry experience we have gained here in the bush has (I think) helped uniquely equip us to be a blessing to the body of believers there.

On top of that, our housing situation in that area has continued to improve while we have been over here in PNG (thanks to much hard work on the part of our awesome family!). If things continue to progress the way they seem likely to, it looks as though we will be leaving PNG this spring, spending a few months connecting with supporters and sharing what the Lord has been doing here among the Iski, eventually taking a bit of time off with our family in the summer, and then (possibly) slowly transitioning into a ministry role in our little country church. All within the context of supportive friends and family!

Obviously, there is still a lot of room for details to change, and we are wanting to hold our plans loosely and be open to God’s leading, but from our perspective, it is exciting to see the direction things are going. It is certainly a lot different from what we were planning a mere six months ago, but it has that comforting feel to it of something that God is involved in.*

We don’t pretend to have everything figured out, and we don’t claim to have the inside  scoop on what the next phase of life is going to look like, but we ARE confident that the God who led us to live out all these years in the depths of a remote jungle swamp is just as engaged with leading and directing our lives in our present circumstances. We appreciate any prayers that you might be willing to say on our behalf as we continue to move forward in this unique transitional stage of life.

Thank you for your continued love and support as we continue to minister among the Iski people and slowly wrap up our lives here in the jungle.

*Of course, we believe that God is involved in ALL things, whether we feel like it, or not. It’s just that sometimes His active engagement seems more experientially evident than it does at other times. And those instances are pretty cool.