One God + One Phone Call = A New Journey.

7. In October, Cary and I celebrated seven years of marriage.
6. After six years in seminary, Cary graduated in December with his Master's of Divinity degree.
5. Between the two of us, we've had five jobs since we've been married
4. We've moved four times in the last seven years.
3. We've been through three cars
2. We have two kids
1. We serve one God

On August 1, 2007, Cary and I moved to North Carolina to start seminary. Not knowing exactly how long we would be there or where it would lead us, we started this journey together. Now, six years later, we have finished and God has done so much with us during that time. Cary knew he wanted to go into the ministry when he finished, so we sent resumes to 13 different churches in the spring of 2013 and 16 more in the fall of that year. On December 1st, we got the first call back. We now know that this was the call we had been waiting for. We've been living with my mom and step dad for six months now. I previously blogged about this move here

Here's the story:

We went to Cary's brother's house for Thanksgiving last year. We traveled back to Gatlinburg on Sunday, Decemeber 1st and had only been home for about twenty minutes when Cary got a call. He went outside to talk and was gone about ten minutes. He came back in and told me that it was a church that had gotten his resume. It was the head of the search committee that called and they set up a phone interview with the rest of the search committee for the next Sunday night. We were really excited and prayed all week for this interview. Sunday came and Cary had the interview. The committee wanted some time to talk and pray about it and they would get back with us about moving forward from this point. They let Cary know that he was the only guy they were looking at right now. We also prayed and patiently waited for their phone call. After about a week, David, the head of the search committee, called back and said they did want to move forward and meet us and have dinner. We set the date for Friday, January 10th. It felt like forever waiting for that date to arrive. The holidays seemed to help it go by faster.

Finally, January 10th arrived. Cary and I decided to make a day "date" out of it. We needed to open a bank account here, go to Costco, and just have some time together. My mom kept the kids for us and off we went to Knoxville to enjoy being together before our big interview dinner. We ate lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and drove around exploring some of Knoxville. We met the search committee at Aubrey's Restaurant. We were pretty nervous when we got there, but we prayed together in the car before we went in. We got inside and found our party, and everything went great. We swapped stories, talked about our families, had lots of laughs. There was never a dull or awkward moment. We really enjoyed ourselves. After dinner they took us to the church to give us a tour and tell us a little more about the make up of the church. We then went and sat together in the pastor's office to have the more formal interview. They asked us some more in depth questions and since they knew a lot about Cary already, they wanted to know my testimony and where I grew up, etc. We ended the night on a really good note and once again, David said they would talk and pray and let us know what was next.

The waiting was the worst part. I knew God was in control and would lead us where he wanted us. We thought things were going really well and again, patiently waited for a call. By the next Wednesday, David called back and said they wanted to continue in the process with us. The search committee really liked us a lot and wanted us to meet the pastor and his wife. Pastor Bobby called Cary the next day and we set up a lunch date for Monday, January 20th at Olive Garden. Once again, my mom kept the kids for us so that we could go and meet them. Lunch went really well. Things just seemed to flow and the conversation was great.  We left lunch feeling uplifted and positive. The next step was to get a background check done. David called over the weekend to let us know once they got it back, they would set up a deacon's meeting to make sure they were all on the same page. This meeting was scheduled for Wednesday night January 29. We had a really big snow storm move through on Monday night and Tuesday. We were only supposed to get about an inch, instead we got about 4-5 inches of snow. Church services and meetings for that Wednesday were called off, which meant the deacon's meeting would be put off until the next week.

We didn't have to wait that long. David decided to call all of the deacons personally, on that Tuesday night, the night we had all the snow, and then called Cary. He said he just didn't want to put it off another week. He called them all to make sure they all agreed to bring Cary before the church for a trial sermon and a vote. We were so so excited! Cary began preparing for his sermon and reached out to some other pastor's and professors for advice. David and the deacons decided to set up a meet and greet with the church for Saturday, February 8th and Cary's trial sermon would be the next morning on Sunday, February 9th. Saturday night went great. We had a wonderful turn out and met so many new people. When Sunday morning came, we were both really nervous, but we prayed together and with pastor Bobby before going into the sanctuary. Cary did so well delivering his sermon. He never missed a beat. When he finished, we left the room so the church could vote. We waited in the hall, patiently, nervously.... After about five minutes, they called us back in and it was a unanimous YES! God is so good and deserves all the glory. He worked all of this out and lead us right where He wanted us.
After so many years of hard work, sacrifice, and following the Lord's direction, Ebenezer Baptist Church is where He has lead us. Cary is the new Minister of Education and Students.
They wanted him to start right away. Today, February 10th is his first day. I cannot express in words how incredibly excited I am about this new chapter in our lives. We serve an amazing God and He is always faithful if we just follow Him.

I want to thank all of our family and friends who have prayed for us and with us and supported us over these last seven years. We would not be where we are or who we are today without your love and prayers. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Please continue to pray for us as we start this new chapter/journey in our lives. Here are some specific things you can pray for.
1. That we would be passionate about serving this new church and loving these students.
2. That we would find a house quickly. We are currently an hour from the church,so time is of the essence.
3. That Cary and I would be patient, gracious, and forgiving over these next few months. We know they are going to be challenging. Between Cary driving an hour both ways to and from work, looking for a house and going through the buying process.

God is our rock and we will stand on Him.