How did you end up in Montana? Part 2

How did we end up in Montana?

The short answer is grace.  God's gracious favor rested upon us, and He led us to this place at this time.

Of course from our perspective, the path to Montana was far from straight and clear.  From my limited perspective, I think the Lord often leads us day-by-day so we have no idea of how things will work out.  As I read scripture, 

He promises to go before us and behind us, but His servants  still walk through the wilderness.

Earlier this week I shared how M.E. and I always had a strong desire to move to Montana.  Anytime we were in Montana, it felt like it was our place.  I can't explain it except to say, Montana felt like the place where we were to be and where we fit.

When things started going south at my former church, all of my ministry friends and colleagues from away from Seattle told me to "get out."  This was not going to end well, and folks were so kind to offer several ministry opportunities.

The most obvious and likely spot for us was for us to move back to New England.  We love New England, and we have had many successful years of ministry in New England.  Most can not say this.  It is a tough spot to minister.  We had friends, contacts, and experience in NE.

One opportunity in particular looked great.  It would be a complete restart of an established church.  Such a "legacy" church restart sounded great.  The only hold-up was one of my former colleagues.  In many ways, he stood in the way of us coming back.  Folks in NE could not understand, and I could not also.  Why Lord?

I also had made some calls to churches in my denomination located in Montana.  One retiring pastor was a great source of encouragement and information.  He shared that his church needed someone with my calling to help them grow.  He also shared that several other churches in Montana were in need of pastors.

What great news!

The problem was nothing worked out.  None of these contacts, none of the networking, none of the efforts I put into it opened any doors even a crack.  In fact, I meet with the regional ministry group and one church only to have the door closed rather rudely in my face by both.  Again, why Lord?

I had no idea that God was at work behind the scenes.

In God's providential timing, I was meeting with several ministry colleagues in Seattle last fall.  They knew my situation and what I was going through.  Before a meeting, I was sharing with a pastor from a sister denomination that our family had no idea what God was doing.  I also shared that our greatest desire was to move Montana, but nothing was open to us.

His eyes lit up.  "You really want to move to Montana?" he asked.  "I have some people you should talk to.  This might well be one of those God moments."

Truly, I had no desire to look at a church in a different denomination.  To honor my fellow pastor, and perhaps out of curiosity, I talked to the local church leader.  I really liked him.  I found out this situation would be very similar to the one in NE that I found intriguing.  This is a "legacy" restart.  There is a building on the growing side of town, but not many people.  I would be given free reign to do what needed to be done to restart this church on a new foundation.  I was invited to visit.

In the same week that I rudely experienced closing doors in my own denomination, I traveled up the road to this wonderful town.  My son and I both liked it beyond description.  I have to confess that I don't always trust my judgment, because I tend to be optimistic about everything.  So I arranged for my family to come and visit.  After two days here, we universally loved it.  After five days here, the church asked us to come and be their restarting pastor.

What was God doing?

I have to confess that even with all of this confirmation, I was still waiting for something to fall apart and make our Montana dream impossible.  There were so many details that needed to work out perfectly to make this happen.  In addition, other great offers and opportunities presented themselves.  We had an opportunity in Seattle.  We had inquiries from other places.  Maybe we should wait to see if New England would work out?

I felt more in the wilderness than ever.

So, we took our time.  We prayed.  I visited Montana more.  I talked with our sister denomination.  They would be very generous with their financial support to help get this ministry restarted.  Still, we waited.  We prayed.  We visited and investigated.  Did I mention we prayed a lot about it?  Thankfully we had the time to wait, to pray, and to listen for the still small voice of the Lord.

In the end, every door was opened and every obstacle was removed so we could move here.  Unfortunately, this meant saying no to other offers and situations.  Fortunately, it meant holding God's hand and walking with Him to this place.

Grace.  It was grace and mercy.  All of the starts and stops, all of the closed doors, all of the doubts and fears.  Our life seemed like a march through a dark swamp.  Looking back, I can see that God's hand leading us straight to this place.  We praise Him for His grace to us.