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May 2011 Update – Where we’re going next.

jay —  May 26, 2011  Leave a comment

CCC's headquarters at Lake Hart, Orlando.

The Short Story

We’re going to be staying in Orlando.

The Full Story

Sometime in the next couple weeks, Carrie and I will be taking a(nother) scary step; while we’re going to be staying within Campus Crusade for Christ, we will be moving away from the Campus Ministry, at least for a season.

Over the past 4 months, since we found out that going back to DC was an option, we’ve been weighing a huge list of options where God might call us next. The options included positions somewhere on campus, off campus in a regional office, and on teams developing many of the cutting edge tools staff in the field will be using in the near future. Possible locations were as varied as Philly, Boston, the University of Virginia, Denver, Portland, and (of course) here in Orlando (among others). I’ve emailed and called about a dozen team-leaders, I visited Indianapolis & Portland, we spent hours in prayer, talked to friends and mentors for wisdom and advice… and still the decision came down to God impressing a calling just this past Monday.

As of Monday the options had been narrowed down to a position on the Metro Team in Portland, OR and one working with the Jesus Film Project here in Orlando. With three weeks until our daughter is born, five weeks until we have to move out of our apartment and eight weeks until we have to make our way to the national staff conference in Colorado – I was starting to get stressed that we weren’t landing on a decision. I had been waiting on the Lord’s leading and wondering if it was one of those times where He calls us to just make a decision and trust His goodness that we aren’t stepping out of his plan either way.

One of the awesome materinty photos that Melonie at Imago Photography did for us. Click the photo for her site.

I stole away from my desk for another 15-minutes to pray about our options, as I opened the journal that I use to keep myself focused while I pray I felt like I was finally hearing a solid answer from Him, “Here, you’re staying here.” Emotionally, my reaction was relief with an aftertaste of mourning – because that means not going back to campus, because that means not moving back to a more vibrant city, because I’m not sure it was the one that I would have ended up choosing on my own. As the reality has set in and we’re working through the red-tape of a ministry transfer, we’re settling into feeling grateful and hopeful for what lies ahead.

In the following months we’ll fill you all in on what the job will look like. For now, please pray for our transition into parenthood, and also that we would be able to prepare well for this next season of our lives & ministry.

Pray For

  • We have a significant amount of financial support to raise. In the past year we’ve lost nearly $800 of monthly support. We have to make that up and cover the additional expenses that go along with parenthood and living in Orlando.
  • Our daughter will be born sometime around June 3, we are supposed to move out of our apartment around June 17 and our bi-annual trip to Ft. Collins, CO will happen in mid-July. Pray for all of the details and stress that surround these transitions and travels.
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Chasing Next Year

jay —  May 9, 2011  Leave a comment

God really does always have a plan for us.

For the past few months (and really the past  year), Carrie and I have been living with the reality that God’s plan isn’t always clear for us. We have continued to learn about the primacy of our call to follow Him, with less and less concern for where we follow Him – where He leads, we are to follow. But, sometimes, just sometimes, we need to know where to follow Him next. With moving trucks to schedule, financial support goals to re-evaluate, and human resources people to communicate with – this has been one of those times.

In the midst of it, words from Jeremiah have been comforting and challenging:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare…

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

In other words – live where God puts you. Own that place and love it. In the mean-time trust Him to lead your life’s direction.

Where we are right now.

I am writing this update from a coffee shop in Portland, Oregon – a city that I had never set foot in until this past Friday.

The reason that I am here is that God has led us down a months-long journey of figuring out where we are supposed to be next year. With our first daughter on the way and the door to DC closed to us for now there is a lot to consider and it has come down to two options:

  1. Stay in Orlando and work with the Jesus Film, helping to update its effectiveness for the world-culture that is present and the one that seems to be just a few years around the corner.
  2. Move to Portland to work on campus with the metro team there (here).

The past few days I’ve gotten a great tour from some of our good friends/ministry partners from DC who moved here to go to seminary shortly before we made our move south. I’ve seen downtown, Portland State U, the Cascade Gorge & Multnoma Falls (pictured) and a glimpse of the small but vibrant and growing Church in the area. When I leave the coffee shop that I’m in right now, I’ll take my caffeine-fueled self a few miles to meet with two of the team leaders from the Portland Metro Team and talk about what the work of reaching lost students looks like here.

Pray For Us.

We hope to have a decision made within the next 9 days. Please pray that God would speak clearly to both Carrie and I over the next week-and-change. We want to follow the Lord where he’s leading without being distracted by our own desires for comfort or adventure – He knows the plans that He has for us; now we just need to know them as well so we can follow in them.

We don’t fear that we’d be disobedient regardless of what we choose. We’ve been in prayer over this constantly and neither of these feel like a Tarshish-style decision – the Lord has clearly and genuinely led us away from everything but these two.

Thanks for your partnership and your prayers in this time. We look forward to announcing to you what we’re going to be doing in our next update.

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On going back to DC…

jay —  April 21, 2011  Leave a comment

This spring as we met with our director for the Mid-Atlantic region, it became clear that, for a variety of reasons, the timing isn’t right for us to return to the Washington, DC team. It’s not impossible for the future, but not likely in next few years.

This is something that is sad for us as DC had begun to feel like home – it’s a place we love and care about a lot.

It’s been an emotional time for us, but we trust the Lord and expect a clear leading from Him. Please pray for this exciting new chapter! We have narrowed down the options to a few which we are sorting and praying through. When we know what is next, we will let you know as soon as possible.

Here is what we do know:

  • We want to go where God is leading and where we can most effectively help with the Great Commission.
  • We still feel called to work with Campus Crusade for Christ.
  • We love Washington, DC and our hearts are set on returning in the future; meanwhile we hope to live in or near a major metro area.
  • We’ll be bringing another (little) Whelpley along with us.
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Spring Break Trip

jay —  March 2, 2009  1 Comment

Hey friends, family & partners in the Gospel.

I wanted to clear up what’s going down next week as we head out for Spring Break.

We’re headed to North Africa to a country that we can’t share the name of for security reasons. To assure you, we are going to be safe and we’re actually not going to be doing anything illegal in that country. The country that we’ll be spending time in does have religious freedom legally, but the way that the culture operates can be very different. Of the countries in that region of the world it is definitely one of the most safe for Americans, the security issues that limit us are for the brothers and sisters who are naitives of the country who could be in danger if we weren’t closed about it.

We’ll fly out of the Washington-Dulles Airport on Friday at around 8:00 PM and will return almost exactly a week later (it’s less than a half-hour off). I am dissappointed that we’ll miss seeing what Friday is like in a Muslim country, but it will be an awesome experience for us and the 5 other people that we’ll be travelling with.

Please be praying for us that God would speak in and through this trip to us about where He is calling us to serve Him. We don’t expect that God is calling us overseas, but we’re willing to follow if He does. Also, pray that we’ll encourage our friends on the staff team that is over there long-term and that we’d represent Christ well in whatever way we’re able.

Also, you can be praying for our families as there is still some anxiety about us being there; especially for my (Jayson’s) parents as my brother, Ryan, will be in Iraq at the same time to run sound for a USO show for soldiers in the field there.

Thanks, we’ll share whatever pictures and stories that we can when we get back!

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