The GENESIS of this Journey

The GENESIS of this Journey
Hey everyone - I KNOW that you are anxiously awaiting to hear that we are alive and well in DC - we just haven’t had internet at our house until now! Grrrrrrrrr....

I spent a few minutes at the coffeehouse one night this week just to get started blogging the details! For those of you who want ALL of the details of how God has brought us to this seaso in our life – this post is for you! If you are not interested in the details – just wait for me to start posting pics later this week! 
…Where do I start? So much to say. So many days have gone by.

I think my "last" post was just giving updates on how a chapter in our lives had closed in Huntsville.

Very slim details were known at that point.

We still do not know all of the details - but God is putting more and more pieces of the puzzle together each day.

Genesis 1...

Where did this journey begin? I think there are so many "little" pieces of the puzzle that have been playing out through the years - that I am not sure where the real "beginning" of this journey is.

During our years as youth pastors - Brad became so passionate about "creating" through video. Creating stories. Creating memories. Creating emotional connection with the power of video. He would spend literally HOURS teaching himself how to load and edit video....add music...caption...story.... AND then walk out of his little "editing hole" being totally STOKED!

At that point I think I was just a little confused. How could someone spend that much time "tweaking" a video and enjoy it? Wasn't that just a waste of time? But then over time I came to understand that this was a gift and a special "wiring" that God had put into Brad. It is a God thing. Jesus was the master parable teller - and in this digital age -video has become a master way to communicate story.

Brad would "dream" about doing something full-time in ministry with video - but by this point we were pastoring the church and right smack in the middle of our adoption process...any change in our employment or income would wreck our adoption of Mia. So I was adamantly opposed to ANYTHING keeping us from our little girl!

Once Mia had been home for a few months - I began to actively pursue making Brad's God given dreams a reality. As much as we loved pastoring our church in Huntsville, and loved our community and our friends....I had a deep sense that "something" was missing. And that "something" was seeing my husband fulfilled in doing what God had wired him to do.

Genesis 2....
We attended the General Council of the Assemblies of God in Indianapolis in August of 2007. We went as pastors to represent our church and to vote on matters important to the people who make up our churches. I told Brad that I, however, had an additional focus. My mission was to meet people and explore what all opportunities were out there for video ministry full-time. I met several key people.

FIRST of all - I attended the special workshops being put on by a guy named Mark Batterson on pod-casting and multi-media in a digital age. I was so stirred by the evening workshop- that I made Brad come back with me the next morning for the second one. I was convinced there was a connnection between what Mark was saying and with our "destiny" as a ministry couple........and I felt that Mark definitely shared a common DNA with us of being PASSIONATE about the role God intends for media in this current day. Little did I know where I would be sitting one year later...

SECONDLY I met Rita Ramsey and Don Scheske who both work with Network211 - a new ministry of the Assemblies of God that is using technology to reach the masses. Network211 is the brainchild of Dr. George Flattery, president of Global University in Springfield, MO. Dr. George called us shortly after we got connected at General Council and had us come up for a "chat". He was interested in us coming on with Network211 - with Brad playing a large role in creating the video they use for outreach on all of their international reaching websites. There was even an opening coming up at Global where Brad could possibly immediately start working in their editing room while we worked on becoming appointed missionaries... We were intrigued and excited about this awesome ministry - but didn't feel we had the expertise or experience to deliver the level of video they were needing. Not to mention the fact that we would have to be fully appointed Missionaries to serve in this capacity....which we finally embraced as a possibility for us - if that was where God needed us the most.

However, after much fasting and prayer - we just felt like it wasn't the right fit at this time.....And we didn't feel like it was a good time for transition at our church in Huntsville....

BUT WE DID DISCUSS...among all of the options we tossed around...that maybe we could become fully appointed missionaries - and then request to go spend one year out in Washington DC training with Mark Batterson's Church (the other guy we met in Indianapolis)....National Community Church....and that would give us the knowledge and skills we needed to accomplish whatever God had for us to do. But, just ideas. LOL. Again, who knew where we would be sitting one year later…

Genesis 3....
Brad spent 3 days alone at a condo in Branson this past January (2008) in prayer....just searching for God's direction for our lives and our ministry. During those 3 days he only read his Bible....and one other book....A book he got from Mark Batterson 5 months earlier while in Indianapolis...a book entitled, "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day."

After the 3 days we both felt that God had some great things to accomplish in Huntsville this year - and that we were to just wait on his timing to pursue this other ministry path.

We went home and strategically planned a relationship building ministry that we ran from June - August of this year. On Sunday nights we had "Summer of Faith and Friendship"...and witnessed a GREAT coming together in friendship among the people in our church. Like anything you do in a traditional church - there were some who didn't like it - but the feedback strongly showed that 98% of everyone LOVED it. So many stories shared about getting to know other people...forming friendships where they truly cared about others..."knowing" the other people in the church intimately..... (which is TOTALLY what the New Testament church looked like: study the book of Acts….I could go on but will save all of it for another post!)

So at the end of August we were LOVING the new sense of UNITY and FRIENDSHIP we were feeling in the church.

Genesis 4....
I was sitting in Brad's office in the middle of July...July 9th to be exact….just 2 short months ago. I had not had the opportunity to read "In A Pit with a Lion" yet - because Brad and I DO NOT share books! LOL! I like to write in mine and mark them - and he likes to only have HIS marks in a book! But I did look some stuff up on it - and read the "manifesto" of the book. I will post it in its entirety in another post...

I was reading the first line of it where it says something like..." Do not live your life in such a way as to arrive safely at death." I realized RIGHT then that I have been the safe one in our marriage and ministry. Brad has dreamed of pursuing this God-sized dream for years - but I was always there to squelch it by saying - "But honey - everything has to be logical...you have to have a paycheck...you have to be able to feed your family....you have to...."

That day - in that office - I realized that I was not believing God for big things. I have so much faith for things that "make sense" to have faith about. And I realized "why couldn't God make a way for us to pursue this big dream?"

I cried. I asked God to forgive me for holding Brad back from what he was "made" for. And I don't cry often. Usually only when I am having "God moments".

Genesis 5…
THE NEXT DAY I was searching for a little more info about "In A Pit with a Lion"....and I ran across some compelling information on Mark Batterson's blog. They were starting a brand new program at National Community Church this year where they would take on 3-4 "Proteges" to invest in and teach and train....

Hmmmmmm......God - what are you saying?? I had to ask myself.

Genesis 6....

So I pondered all of my thoughts and prayers about "Protege" in my heart from Wednesday to Sunday night. I knew that Brad was preparing for his messages and preaching on Sunday - and that this "thought" could potentially be very distracting for him. So at about 10 PM that next Sunday night - as we were getting into bed - I say...." I didn't want to say anything before now -b/c I didn't want to stress you out...."

To which he immediately assumes.... "uh-oh...who is mad in the church now?"

But he was way off base this time.

I had not told him about this opportunity b/c I knew Sunday needed all of his focus.

To my surprise - after talking about it for just a few short minutes...he said "let's do it." "Let's apply and just see what God does". This was even after I told him that there would be no salary...no pay...for the year!

Usually Brad has to think on things for a while. I was very surprised by his quick response. So that week we put the wheels in motion...wrote out our testimonies, filled out apps, sent out reference forms...we probably finished it all around July 16th.

Then it was done. And all we could do was wait. The program would be starting in 8 weeks. 8 weeks. 8 weeks! IF they chose us - how could we pull it off to be ready in 8 weeks?

First of all - we felt very compelled to apply - but we both felt it would be a GOD miracle if they chose us. We felt they were probably looking for people right out of college or college age with not many additional obligations ....like kids. So we tried to hold this opportunity lightly so that it wouldn't be too disappointing if we didn't get to go.

But in my heart of hearts...I just had a feeling that this was IT. Too many coincidences.

Genesis 7.....
We went on vacation the next week in Branson. It was the week of the Blann Family Vacation! I was checking my email regularly to see if any updates had come from National Community Church.

Finally I had an email that they wanted to interview us by phone. Hmmmm....sounds promising.

So we took the girls in to my mom and dad so that we could call and talk without any precious children screaming or singing or any of the other wonderful things they do… 

They actually had several questions for ME!? Since I had marked on my application that my passions were Children’s Ministry, Discipleship, and Technology – they were wanting to know how much of my passion could I commit to Children’s Ministry for this year. Anyone who knows me – knows that ministry to Kids is one of my passions! I have often said that if I didn’t have to worry about being “pastor/pastor’s wife” to the whole church – I would love to focus on just Children’s Ministry. So that was an easy decision for me!

After talking with us - they said we would know something by the end of the week.

Genesis 8...
Two days later, on Friday, July 25, we take the girls to Silver Dollar City. It was a great hot and sweltering day down in the "hollers" of SDC where no breeze can find you.

We were in the “kids concoctions” area (Macy was making pink gak) when Brad's phone notified him that he had an email. He motioned for me to come and read it with him. It was from National Community Church. It started out with, "Thank you for applying for our Protege program" - which is usually a nice "No, thanks"....

but it went on to say, "We would like to extend to you an invitation to be in our Protege Class of 2008-2009." ...."It starts in 6 weeks."

Wow. We just looked at each other.

Genesis 9...
Unreal. This can not be real. Even though we had prayed and hoped for this - could it really be real? Could the door to pursuing video ministry really finally be opening?

Then the second onslaught of thought processes.... "What do we need to do first? We need to sell our house. Or maybe rent it. We need to resign from the church. We need to tell the deacons and our friends. Ughhh...how do we tell our friends we are moving across the country? How do we leave our church that we love so much?

Uhhhhhggggg. Oh no. We have to tell Brad's parents we are moving and taking the girls 20 hours away from here. How? When? Oh God, please help us.

Genesis 10....
We are walking around SDC in a daze the rest of the day. For the first time in FOREVER I actually have butterflies in my stomach. About an hour after we received the email - we take the girls in to see "Bob and Larry Show". Everything means something now. They sing "I can be anything that God wants me to be." And I am in tears. Charles Shultz (creator of Charlie Brown), Jim Henson ( creator of Muppets), and Phil Vischer (creator of Veggie Tales) have always been HUGE influences in Brad's life. It was pretty significant that we got to sit through a veggie tales show directly following "THE" email.

Then we are outside looking at the "live" Bob and Larry as they talk to kids - and I lose Brad. I can vaguely see Brad in the corner of the closest store and I call his name - but he doesn't answer. A little while later, Brad relayed to me what was going on...

He said, "I walked in to the store to send a text message and I heard something...I thought....no....it can't be....and I followed the sound of the music to the back corner of the store. Usually only banjo music plays at SDC. But I heard my song. The song that was played when I was in Beijing last year on our adoption trip. The song that God used to comfort me in my greatest time of fear and anxiety. The song is "You lift me up, so I can walk on mountains..."....

"And in the corner of that little amusement park store - God met with me. It was like he was saying...."It is going to be OK. This is My will for your family. I have got your back. I am going to take care of you."

Brad told me later that during the moments he stood in the little corner of that store ....weeping...that God confirmed this direction for our lives. He was scared and wondering how in the world can I take my family to a place where we don't know anyone, we won't have a paycheck, and everything is full of uncertainty? And in the midst of Brad's anxiety - God met with him. He later explained it to me as "a God moment".

Genesis 11....

That weekend as we were still in Branson - we ran into the owners of the condo. We have stayed there for a week each year for free for 7 years - and never have had the opportunity to meet the amazing people who make it available to us. They invited us down to their personal condo to visit and we shared about this amazing turn of events in our lives. As it turned out - John is a real estate guru - and he strongly advised us to rent our home at this time because of the condition of the housing market. Hmmmm...well that is one answer to our many questions.

We return home on Monday and our first stop is to go see Brad's mom and dad. Brad and I are both SICK. We were so afraid that they were going to be devastated.

But surprisingly - they took it soooo well. Luther even said that he has been feeling for a while that God was going to move us. Wow. We never saw this response coming. We saw it as miracle #1.

Genesis 12....
We spent every day and night of that week meeting personally with deacons, leaders, and staff letting them know of the changes about to take place and that we would be resigning on Sunday. It was one of the most emotionally exhausting weeks of my life. But my heart was so heavy. Sunday was yet to come.

That Sunday Brad and I resigned to the church. I had been a part of this church for 17 years of my life. We pastored here for 6 years, youth pastored for 5 years, I had moved here when MY dad became the pastor 17 years ago… I was married in this church, Brad and I dedicated both of our girls to God in this church… It was difficult. I LOVE the people in this church. I have poured my heart and soul into this church for the past 11 years of my life. Some of the most genuine and authentic Christians I have ever known are a part of this church. The best friends I have ever had are a part of this church. Some of the most amazing young adults I have ever had the priveledge of knowing were in my class here. We had shared incredible moments with teenagers that were in our youth ministry here. We had learned to LOVE deeply here…and to BE LOVED deeply.

But this chapter in our lives was closing.

Genesis 13...
I spent the next 2 weeks putting together reports and records for the deacons, the staff, and the leadership to have in order after we were gone.

Genesis 14...
I spent several weeks on the computer perusing rental sites for Washington DC - trying to find a place to live. They had told me to expect to pay around $2000 a month for rent in the DC area - and I thought....awwwww - I can find something cheaper than that...God will help me. Apparently God wants to increase my faith. He did not provide a place to live for free - but has been giving provision for the rent. That wasn't my plan. I thought I had it all figured out how God would do it...a place to live for free...flowers and happy faces floating all around.... LOL  He is showing me that "my ways" to figure out how he is going to answer prayer are not always "His ways".

We were down to 4 weeks to moving and still didn't have a home.

Genesis 15...
I spent hours going through things...what to sell...what to trash...what to take.

We needed to raise as much money as possible to help pay for rent for this year since we will not have a salary. I listed our bedroom furniture online on Craigslist and had 4 buyers within 4 hours. It was sold in 1 day. That was one month of rent.

I had a massive moving sale.

I started packing. Packing. Packing.

Genesis 16…

During the week that we were resigning to the church - we had not even told Tiffany - our secretary....and she says "Hey, did you see this email from this guy in Washington DC?"

I panic. No one knows yet. Who could be emailing here? So I ask her tentatively, "No, I haven't seen it....what is it?"

She goes on to tell me that some guy that lives in Washington DC -JUST HAPPENED to google search Huntsville First Assembly this week, found our site, and sent in lots of stories for the church blog from when he used to attend here. He has been in DC for years - he is in the military."

I left her office thinking, "OK, I have GOT to get into contact with this guy. This CAN NOT be a coincidence. Of all weeks for him to get into contact with us."

Turns out - this guy is from Huntsville and attended here in the 70's. AND he is the brother of a couple of guys in our community that we know. Wow. Never even knew there was another Hepler.

Floyd Hepler has turned out to more than just "some guy" in DC. We established a great email friendship immediately. He began looking for house rentals for us....checking up with us on a regular basis...

Then one night I opened my email - and there was a new email there from Floyd. He said that he felt like there was some bill/obligation that I had been worried about after moving to DC - and that he felt like God was leading him to take care of that for us. I started crying immediately. And remember...I don't cry easily. I told Brad to come read this email. I told Brad that I have been so worried about health insurance. How are we going to manage it with everything else? And these two little girls need to be covered...

I emailed Floyd back what was on my heart - and he replied that he wanted to take care of health insurance for us for the entire time that we are in DC. Tears. Snif. Wow. Thank you God for miracles that I can not even imagine! Miracle #2.

Floyd has become like family to us. A close friend. And it was comforting to know that when we moved to DC - that there would be someone there that we were "connected" with.

Genesis 17...
Miracle # 3…we know someone else in DC. Ericka Witt, from Huntsville, lives there. She has been an amazing friend and help to us – I think she actually looked at like 20 houses or so for us – giving us the real “scoop” on the house and emailing us pictures. We owe her BIG TIME! Can’t wait to spend more time with her once we get out there.

Genesis 18....

August 31, 2008, marked our last service as pastors of Huntsville First Assembly of God church. There was a big feast afterwards with enough food to feed an army! Mmmm it was so good! Rick McCoy and David Mahan served up some good old fashioned fish fry food! Yumm!

Genesis 19....
Spent, today, September 1st PACKING. Plan to pull out by tomorrow night. My mom and dad were here yesterday helping to pack. Dad is staying with us until we pull out and then going on with us to DC to help drive the big truck and help unload.

Brad performed a ceremony tonight for Wyatt & Rachel to renew their vows. Their 10 year anniversary is this week and they had wanted him to perform the ceremony before we left. I will try and post pictures at some point. Rachel and Wyatt had Tonya and Billy there and I took some cute pics of all of our 6 kids running around while they were crying, holding hands, and renewing their vows. 

Genesis 20...
September 2nd. Last day to pack! Brad and I went to his office in the morning to get it packed up. Moving truck to be at our house in a couple of hours and we had not even started on his office. Yikes.

It took ALL afternoon to load the truck. I underestimated what a job it would be. We would never have gotten it done without master packer and amazing man John Goodnight showing up to direct the troops. That man amazes me. We owe him big. He worked like a dog to get all of our stuff in that truck.

TO BE CONTINUED…