Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Letter to Friends in Salt Lake

As you know, we came to Salt Lake three years ago to participate in the launch of K2 The Church. Along the way we have developed some pretty amazing friendships with you and others, used our free time to help various ministries get started at K2, and added Jesse James and a Utah-born sister-in-law to our family. It has been a wild ride, requiring even more of us than we thought when we started out.

Before the Salt Lake church launch became a topic in 2002, we had been discussing plans to move to Texas to raise our family near family. We had already been living away from family for the five years of our marriage and were feeling the urge to settle more permanently. However, as the K2 project came into focus, we felt led to put our personal dreams on hold and come participate in what God was about to do here. We believed there was a role for people who would come help build momentum, and then move on once the church became established.

As you may know, Justin's company has paid somewhat erratically since he started there. God has always provided, and Justin has felt peace all along that he was meant to keep this job for as long as we are in Salt Lake. This has been confirmed because despite investigating several other opportunities in the valley throughout the three years, nothing has ever come to fruition. Recently the company entered yet another period of financial unpredictability, leading us to evaluate broader options.

So we sat down together and took inventory of where we are, where we want to be, and what kind of path we might be on to get there. Based on (among other things) feeling a sense of completion with the birth of K2, a growing intensity of desire to be with family, the unclear future of Justin's company, Maren preparing to start kindergarten in the fall, and the fact that we have nearly completed our home renovations, we felt that the time has come to wrap up our stay here and move down to Texas to settle.

It has been our privilege to be in the front row and watch God changing lives in Salt Lake. Our own faith has been grown, our ministry experience has increased, and our sensitivity to those different from us has been heightened. God has supplied us with wonderful friends through K2, and our lives are richer and more mature for having been here. Thank you for being our family away from home.

May God bless you all as you continue on here in the trenches and take K2 into its next chapter.