Willows Update

Just wanted to give you all a quick update on our visit to Willows, CA this past weekend. It went really well!

We drove up Saturday morning and Matthew spent more than two hours having brunch with about 15 men from the church, telling his story and answering all manner of questions. Emily got to know some of the ladies in the church at a tea hosted that afternoon while Matthew sat down with the outgoing pastor to get his perspective on the church and vision for the future transition of leadership. This was truly encouraging!

Saturday night the head of the pulpit committee and his wife took us out to dinner along with the retiring pastor and his wife. We had a great time!

On Sunday Matthew preached (at both preaching services) and was well received then we enjoyed an all church potluck where we got to visit informally with more of the people in the congregation. We got a little rest back at the house we were staying at (the home of a wonderful retired missionary named Prudence) then we drove around and explored the town (which didn't take long) before heading home.

At this point we are feeling very positive about this opportunity. The church seems fundamentally healthy and ready to be challenged to grow and change. The people are friendly and really seem to love the Lord, and the leadership seems capable and excited about what God wants to do in their church. We also found out that they are able to offer a salary that would be livable as a single income and got to know what seems like a really neat little town a little better. There would be a lot of adjustments if we went but we are excited about the possibilities.

We will be returning this weekend. Perhaps for part of Saturday but at least for the bulk of the day on Sunday. Matthew will speak again and we will try to get to give more people a chance to get to know us a little better. The congregation will vote on whether or not to extend the call to us on February 4th (their by-laws require a two week interval).

We appreciate all of your prayers and will update you when we hear in February. Please continue to pray for God's guidance for us and the people of Faith Bible Church and that we would guard our hearts and trust Him to know what is best for us.

Willows from the air.