Packing

Is there ANYONE who likes to pack? If so, send them our way! The packing has begun . . . 32 days to go.

Back to the Story

Thanks for letting me take a little blogging break without too many complaints (mom and dad!). General Assembly and World Quiz are over . . . now it's time to get busy packing! We have a lot to do in just a few short weeks! So where were we?

Our conversations on May 1 and May 2 with Dr. Downs, West Texas DS, centered around how everything was coming together so quickly and how the churches on the district were coming behind it so strongly. He was planning to take our names to the District Advisory Board in just a few days, in faith that God would provide the finances for the district to hire us. You see, there was money for the property and the building . . . but no money for staff. This was becoming so much more than anyone had imagined possible (from just a building for the church/congregation, to a potential full-fledged compassionate ministries site) in just a few weeks!

There was a potential interest, though, from one of the churches on the West Texas District in getting involved with sponsoring CNMC in some way. Dr. Downs had just met with the pastor and had expressed that one of the greatest needs was in staff funding. The pastor of Lantana Community Fellowship Church of the Nazarene, was to be taking the opportunity to his church board within the week. He felt certain they would want to get involved in some way.

It was time to focus our prayers on Lantana Community Fellowship Church of the Nazarene and on God's ability to provide funding to support our family of four for at least one full year. Our humanness wanted more confirmation, and admittedly, we were still skeptical that this would all happen the way we had dreamed.

Are You sure, God? Things sound good so far, but this is a big request. So, just one more time . . . show us FOR SURE that you want us in Cactus. Provide the funds. FLEECE #3.

A little over a week later, late on a Thursday evening, we received a phone call from Dr. Downs. He was in Bethany, OK attending meetings when he received a phone call from the pastor of Lantana Community Fellowship. The pastor was in his board meeting at the time and wanted to put Dr. Downs on speaker phone for the board to speak with him. When Dr. Downs got on the call, the board announced that not only had they decided to help support our family, but that they were committing to paying our ENTIRE FIRST YEAR SALARY! FLEECE #3 ANSWERED! Our God is so good and so faithful!

To the pastor, board, and church family of Lantana Community Fellowship Church of the Nazarene . . . even though we don't personally know you yet, we thank you for your faithfulness and obedience to God's call. We look forward to getting to know you all and to building a lasting relationship between you, our family, and CNMC. THANK YOU!

www.lcfnaz.org

Please Hold . . .

We're at the General Assembly for the Church of the Nazarene this week . . . it's been busy, busy lately, so I haven't been able to update the blog on our story. I'll be back to real life and blogging soon.

Telling "The Secret"

Allow me to take a detour from updating you on how we got here for just one post . . . tomorrow is "the day." The day in which we tell "The Secret," as Olivia and Eli have referred to it. (Which, by the way, they have done FANTASTIC at keeping such a big secret!) Vito will be resigning from Taylor Avenue Church of the Nazarene tomorrow. Our last Sunday there will be July 28.  We've told a few people already and it was so hard. Tomorrow will be even harder as we inform our friends (many of whom have become family) that we'll be leaving. Even though we know, without doubt, that moving to Cactus is what God is calling us to do, it's not easy. So, if you are reading this tonight (I know there aren't many who even know about this blog yet), please pray for us tomorrow.

Here's a copy of Vito's resignation letter.

June 9, 2013

Dear, Taylor Avenue Church of the Nazarene Church Board, Members, and Friends:

Over the past three years that I have been pastor at Taylor Avenue, you have undoubtedly heard me encourage, preach, teach, and talk about God’s desire for us to not simply be a people who attend church, but a people who are the church beyond our walls. We have a call from God to GO and DO—to be like Christ in the very midst of our neighborhoods, in workplaces, with friends, families, and so forth. It has been incredible to see us, as a church, begin to grasp this in our everyday life. I have seen us become more and more missional—going and making Christlike disciples in our backyards, our district, our country, and our world.

It is this calling, this passion to go and be the church, to be incarnational and missional—to go and do the work of God in the midst of the world that has required me to write this letter today. Honestly, I waited as long as I could to write it because it is so difficult. Through many months of prayer, Godly counsel, and numerous confirmations from God, we are convinced that God is asking us to travel down a new path, a path that will lead us away from Racine and away from the Taylor Avenue family. This decision has been incredibly difficult for our family. The difficulty comes not in saying yes to the Lord, but in saying goodbye to all of you.

Without a shadow of a doubt, my family and I truly love being a part of the Taylor Avenue family.  We believe God led us to this place. In full trust of Him we came to Racine, Wisconsin, a place we would never have considered if not for God’s leading. We followed His call because we have committed ourselves to be led by Him. We’ve resolved to travel down the path that He sets before us. We’ve entrusted our steps to Him. We came to Taylor Avenue along that very path. In the years we have been here we have been blessed to make many of you friends and honestly family. I could not have chosen a greater group of people! I truly never thought this day would come. We’ve served here with the mindset that we would be here for years to come. However, the Lord has been stirring our hearts, honestly yanking them, and we can say with full certainty that our time here is coming to an end.

Today, June 9, 2013, I am officially submitting my resignation as your senior pastor with the full intent to provide continued leadership for the next 7 weeks. Our last Sunday will be July 28, 2013. During this transitional time we will be working with the District Superintendent, Derl Keefer, and the Church Board to make this transition as smooth as possible and to prepare all of you for whomever God brings here next.

Jenni, Olivia, Eli and I will be embarking on a completely new adventure come August. We will be moving to a very small town of less than 3,000 immigrants and refugees in the panhandle of Texas to be District Missionaries. We will serve as Directors of the Cactus Nazarene Ministry Center in Cactus, Texas. We will be responsible for developing and implementing a ministry center that will show the love of God to a poor town with 17 different nations represented. This will be done through social services such as ESL, legal assistance, medical clinics, GED, and after-school programs with the intention of furthering the kingdom of God.

I have to admit, I have asked God, “Why?” Why, when everything here is going so well? Why, when it seems God has opened the floodgates and things are really taking off? Why now? However, through this experience (more of which you will hear later), I have gained a completely new level of trust in God. One I cannot deny or shake. I simply trust Him. I trust that He will not leave you anymore than He left the disciples. He will be with you well after I am gone. I trust that whomever God leads here will be exactly who is needed to lead Taylor Avenue in the days ahead. I trust that, in the future, we will all look back and be amazed, even floored, at God’s hand, God’s timing, and God’s faithfulness.

Taylor Avenue is truly an incredible church and God is doing something great here on this corner in Racine. We have seen growth, we have seen energy and life, and we have seen the mission of God being fulfilled. I honestly love being your pastor! I pray that you will not view this transition as one of our family leaving, but instead as you sending us to do God’s work in a different location. While I will not have the privilege of pastoring here anymore, I will be praying for your continued fulfillment of God’s leading and call in your lives and in this church. I know God’s missional work is not over yet. I know you will continue to seek Him and follow after Him, regardless of who stands in the pulpit. This is one of the biggest reasons I love you.

Thank you for how you have encouraged us, supported us, and made us a part of your family.  Though my relationship with you as your pastor will change, my love for you will not.  We really believe that your best days are yet ahead, and though I will not always be your pastor, we will always be family.

Humbly and respectfully submitted,

Rev. J. Vito Monteblanco

Part Deux

West Texas is interested, we're interested . . . now what? WAIT! God has been trying to teach me patience for 34 years now and He's not quite finished. :-)

After talking with the West Texas District Superintendent, we were excited about possibilities yet cautious about getting too far ahead without additional information. Not to mention, at the time, West Texas and the CNMC didn't have the financial means in which to bring in full-time staff. After a couple weeks of hearing nothing at all, I told Vito that maybe this wasn't supposed to happen for us. We were okay with that, especially considering we weren't looking to move anyway and things at Taylor Avenue were going so well. In fact, we were making summer ministry plans as well as planning a big Pentecost service with baptisms, membership, and baby dedications. God was (and still is!) definitely working at Taylor Avenue. In our conversation we debated contacting the West Texas DS but then decided against it, allowing God to take complete control. Then Vito said something to the effect of, "Let's be patient. I have a feeling we'll know something by May 1." FLEECE #2

Well, I'm sure you guessed by now . . . exactly ON MAY 1, we got a phone call and an e-mail from the West Texas DS and met again via Skype on May 2 for an update on how things were progressing. FLEECE #2 ANSWERED. 

West Texas District Superintendent, Dr. David Downs, praying at the CNMC ground breaking ceremony on 5-26-13