Beginning a New Life

Have you ever embarked on a new journey in your life that is both uncertain and completely certain at the same time? Last week my family and I moved to Nashville, TN, beginning a new chapter in our life. We left a place (Memphis, TN) and a group of people (Harding School of Theology, Raleigh Community Church, White Station Church of Christ, Highland Church of Christ, ETC.) that we loved dearly and learned a great deal from. We moved in order to set out on a mission that we feel God has been leading us to for the last two and a half years.

 Laura and I moved to Memphis so that I could attend Harding School of Theology full time, however, school was only partially the reason for our move to Memphis. Ultimately, we moved to Memphis to discern God's will for the direction of our lives. We quickly realized that God was positioning us so that our time in Memphis would be some of the most formative years of our adult lives. We worked harder than we have ever worked and we experienced growth like we had never experienced before. Our time at HST, the apprenticeship at Raleigh, working with City Missions at White Station, Laura's M.A. work at Leicester, and starting a small cleaning business, all provided extensive experience in ministry, networking, evangelism, leadership, time management, education, communication, vision casting, and so much more. But what each of these experiences really brought was an affirmation of a call to join in God's mission to reach lost people by planting new churches. This call to mission has become the focus of our lives. It is what is driving us forward with an intense passion and purpose. It is both motivating and humbling. And so now we are beginning a new chapter of our lives.

But where to plant new churches?  

This was the "great" question that we had when we moved to Memphis. Where was God leading us to? This part of our journey has been powerfully led by God's hand. Through great times of prayer and discernment, through friends, family and spiritual mentors, we began to notice that at every turn there was a door that was opening pointing us in the direction of England. We had an invested interest in European Missions having spent four months in Greece and nine weeks in Romania. But we had also considered California and the Northwest. But God kept opening doors for us in England. Laura began attending Leicester University for her M.A. in Ancient History and Archaeology, we had multiple connections already in place in London. Some of our best friends from HST had plans to work with a church in Scotland. God's hand was leading us toward England. 
Last summer I spent two weeks in England trying to discern if this was where we were supposed to work and if so, what city in particular was God leading us to. Everything during those two weeks pointed to London as the place God was calling us to (more on "Why London" to come in later blogs). We received a great deal of affirmation of this specific call from people in both England and the US. 

So why move to Nashville?

We are very clear on our call to plant churches in London. However, we are also very clear on some growth areas that we need to work on in order to be successful church planters in London. While in Memphis we were able to work on a great deal of skills and disciplines that will help us in London. But because of the limited nature of any context we were unable to grow in a few areas of particular interest for planting churches in London. Specifically, preaching and teaching to a post-Christian context, the use of small groups (house churches, missional communities, community groups, etc.) and finally, a focus on young adults. There are several successful church plants in London that I have been able to meet and interact with. All have these three things in common: dynamic preaching and teaching, a focus on young adults and some kind of small group ministry built into the DNA of their church. So we began a search for places where we could develop in these areas. We discussed this search with several people and one church kept coming to the top of everyone's list, Ethos in Nashville. So we have moved to Nashville to attend Ethos and to learn from them how best to plant a dynamic, growing church. 
We are very excited about spending the next couple of years in Nashville learning from Ethos. We have joined a house church and last night went to the first meeting. It is a great fit for us and our family. I am excited to grow and learn along side those amazing people. 

This begins a new chapter for the King family. We have a lot to learn and accomplish over the next two years. Pray for this journey. Also, join us on this journey. In later posts I will discuss ways for people to get involved in this mission. For now, just pray for us as we get settled in here in Nashville. May we honor God in what we do while here.