The Big Announcement at Meadowbrook Community Church

I got a call this morning from Pastor Ron around 7:30 or 8 am, asking if we would be willing to share a short 10 minute testimony on how God has been leading us these past few months. My instantaneous internal response was "NO WAY, IT'S TOO EARLY!" but calmly, I responded, "Sure, I'd love to." I walked into the kitchen and told Jenn to dress up, we're speaking this morning at church. (She and I were already dressed, I just wanted to freak her out a little. Mission accomplished.)

This was certainly a HUGE step of faith for us. We have already announced to our small group back in August our plans, but announcing this before the church is a whole different ballgame. At the time, we were going through a 4 week church-wide campaign called "Power of a Whisper" by Bill Hybels, and we asked our small group to pray for us for regarding a confirmation for Africa. We've also let several of our friends know about our plans, but that's about it. To announce our plans in front of our home church (both services) was certainly taking it to the next level. The Lord gave us real peace though throughout the morning and so we walked up on stage and shared our hearts. It was truly a singular moment in our lives.

• We had many come up to us and give us big hugs and said they would be praying for us.
• We had friends that started crying, thinking about us leaving and going to South Africa
• We received a large check from someone in the audience that responded to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We didn't even know her. We weren't asking for money.
• We had one lady that walked up to us and said she believed God told her that we would have no problem selling our home (she didn't even know if we were renting or owned a home). We need to be careful about not reading too much into these "whispers from God," but we were comforted
• We sensed God's leading and confirmation

We covet your prayer. We need your prayer. This is the one thing we sensed when we led the team of 14 to Ghana in 2011, we knew people were praying for us and we felt very anointed. We need prayer.

Here is the link on what I shared first service. I was hoping they would post what I shared in the 2nd service on line, (I forgot a few things 1st service), but here it is. Pastor Ron's whole message is about 40:00 long. I start speaking around minute 23:00. I would recommend listening to the first 23:00 so you understand why we were asked to share on this particular morning.

Audio of Mark & Jenn's Testimony at Meadowbrook Community Church 9/23/12