I remember back in the day, before anyone knew we were leaving, I was struggling with this thought: how would I get it all done? If you know me, you know that I'm not a recruiter. I love the thrill of allowing God to build the team instead of me having to campaign for a team. However, I used to really struggle with this the thought of leaving Albuquerque alone, just Jenn, Emery, and I, or if someone would join the adventure with us. It was a constant point of stress in my life until one day I was reminded that Moses had the same struggle. God had commanded Moses to leave Mt. Sinai and head to the unknown world He called "The Promised Land." It sure sounded cool, but how would Moses pull this feat off?
In Exodus 33:12-13, Moses gets real with the Lord and voices his concerns...
Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”
I love God's simplicity. Instead of giving Moses the Google map of his journey with beginning point, end point, and stops and turns along the way, here's how He answered his doubts...
Exodus 33:14 - And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
In other words, "Moses, did you really think that you had to have someone in addition to Me? Come on, bro, I'll take care of you" (that's a loose translation).
After I read that, I knew that whether it was just the 3 of us from the Miller family that moved to Clarksville or not, we'd be ok - God was taking the lead. To this day, I am glad that there were times when no one showed any signs of coming with us - it forced me to trust the Lord.
And now here we are. Weekly staff meetings, weekly pastor meetings, a church building, work getting done while I focus on studying - it's amazing the team that God has assembled at Awaken Church. I'm thankful for these 4 team members (one of which I'm married to) that make things happen. I'm also thankful that there's just a handful of us so that I have time to pray for each of them by name every day. And of course, there are many more people that have helped since we got here - it's been amazing to see the body of Christ come together!
In case you haven't gotten a chance to meet them, here's a quick run-down of the Awaken team and their roles at the church (in no particular order)...
Nate Witiuk
All-around go-getter. He oversees the cleaning and the getting-stuff-taken-care-of side of the church. He makes the phone calls, sets up inspections, cleans, and much more. He also oversees and plans out our Saturday night services and edits and uploads our podcasts so that we can get the Gospel out even further. Good guy.Jenn Miller
My wife. I had no idea when I married this beauty almost 6 years ago that I was marrying the worship leader/accountant of our church plant! God did though. She's also the most important support I have. Without her, I wouldn't be here.Denver Miller
Same last name, different mother. He's a brother in the Lord, though! Awesome guy who serves the church in many ways as well: maintenance, handy-man work, doing anything that needs to get done. He oversees and plans out our Wednesday night services and was the initiator of FREE coffee on Wednesday nights! Gotta love that.Jennifer Witiuk
Jenn is married to Nate, and although by night, she works as a nurse, by day (and also night), she is a lean, mean, kids ministry machine! She loves those kids and goes out of her way to make sure they're safe, sugared up, and learning about Jesus at each service! Super cool chick. So glad she's a part of Awaken.Click on their names to read their bios on our website or go directly to our About Us page to learn and read more!
1 comment:
thanks d00d, i think i needed to hear that. :)
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