Hello Prayer Team,
We are excited to announce a new direction that we feel God is leading us. After 10 years in Weimar, we are stepping out in faith to pursue work at the Black Forest Academy in Kandern, Germany. This has been a dream of mine (Scott) since 2002 when I served at an English camp at the Black Forest Academy (BFA) with a Good Shepherd short-term team. That summer inspired me to go into teaching with the pursuit of returning to BFA someday. That fall, I even changed my foreign language requirement from first-year Greek to German. Here are some ways that we feel God has uniquely prepared us for this work.
As a family, it will allow us to
- Continue with hospitality. We want our home to be a place where our kids can bring their friends and for us to host Bible studies and disciple others.
For Scott, I can use my giftings and passions
- Teaching
- Coaching
- Discipling young men
For Heather, she can utilize her giftings and passions
- German language proficiency/fluency
- Discipling young ladies/moms
- Continue with German short-term foster care
For our kids, it will allow them to have more Christian mentors and role models as they are nurtured as third culture kids. Stuart, as our special son, could still utilize German special needs programs that would not be available in other countries.
This is a huge step of faith for our family, as teachers at BFA are support-raising missionaries, and I will no longer be on a regular salary. However, we know that all things and any salary actually come from God, and he will provide the funds we need.
Here is our current projected timeline.
- Finish the 2020-2021 school year in Weimar. (Stuart’s school doesn’t finish until July 25th.)
- Travel to Oregon July 29th.
- During the 2021-2022 school year
- Reconnect (and connect) with family and friends (old and new)
- Recharge at our home church, Good Shepherd Community Church
- Raise support
- Return to Germany in summer 2022 to begin the school year at BFA.
There are a lot of unknowns and needs during this transition, and some people have said it might take longer than one year to raise support, but we know that God can make it happen in one year if he wants us to return to Germany in the summer of 2022.
Here are some immediate needs that we ask you to be praying for, and if you are prompted by the Holy Spirit, to help provide for while we are in Oregon.
- Inexpensive housing
- Transportation
- Schooling for our kids (we are praying that they would be able to attend Good Shepherd School)
- Work for Scott
- Success in support raising
This is an exciting and life-changing moment in our family’s timeline. God has used COVID and other series of events to open our hearts to this transition and we are ready to take this leap of faith. We eagerly anticipate that God’s mighty hand will support us as we begin this new journey.
Thank you for your faithfulness to pray for us these past 10 years, we are excited to see in what new ways God will show up during these next 10+ years.
Blessings,
Scott, Heather, Stanley, Holly, Stuart, and Samuel.