Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Our First update!!!

Following our Rabbi!
"Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way walk in it..." Is.30:21


We wanted to update everyone with what is going on in the life of the Henderson's!
After being married for a whole year and taking our first year of marriage off from ministry, we have been seeking God for the past few months, asking for His guidance and direction for this next year and God has been faithful to hear our prayers.  At the end of August/early September my husband received a phone call from his grandparents about an opportunity that had opened up to serve as a youth pastor at their church Central Fellowship.  Now for those of you who don't know, Granny and Papa live in Decatur,Texas which is a fairly small town about 30 minutes outside of Dallas.  We felt prompted to submit resumes, testimonies, and even one small picture of us.  We heard back from the pastor within a week, but his response was wanting to wait and not be hasty with the decision at hand.  So, we thought okay...we will wait too.  After 3 weeks of waiting, we then received another phone call from the pastor offering to fly us out to Texas to meet them and the congregation, and also the kids.  During the first and second week of October we were in Decatur, experiencing the people, and really seeking what God would desire.  Our first night there, we were experiencing similar feelings that we have had being out on the mission field, the feeling of being overwhelmed!  We did not actually arrive in Decatur until 8:20 p.m. which technically was 6:20 pm california time.  We received our iterinary for the week, and the first thing on our list was to go to a prayer breakfast the next day at 6:30 a.m....which is 4:30 a.m California time and also a grand tour of wise county! Unfortunately, we could not sleep that night....but by God's grace we were up bright and early on Thursday morning for the prayer breakfast.  It was really was a sweet time, to sit and meet some of the highschoolers for the very first time! We met at the local Mcdonalds, had some coffee and one of the parents who attended shared the word, and Jordan prayed! What a sweet start to our week....
  
We then, went to the church with CF's pastor Monty Tuttle, and he gave us a tour of the church.  And literally we were in awe of how amazing the building was.  Each room has a theme of its own, decorated by some very creative volunteers in the church.  They even have what they call a snack shack where the kids can get candy, and pizza before church starts...very cool.  After we had a tour of the church, it was time for tour of Wise County.....and it's fairly big-as in spread out.  We visited some high schools, got a personal tour of Decatur high school, and then we went to one of the only mexican food restaurants in town...and it was pretty good for tex-mex.  


Friday, we went to the big game... a rival football game between Decatur and bridgeport.  The rival has been going on for many years and has taken place in the same stadium for many years.  It was a pretty big deal, we didn't know it at the time until a helicopter flew in onto the field just to bring the football in....seriously! Saturday we visited with family all day pretty much, it was good to see Jordan's cousins and talk with them, we missed them a lot.  


Sunday!!! Sunday Jordan taught the high schoolers for the first time! He gave his testimony and shared out of Psalm 139.  It was really good time.  Later that day they had a youth event set up at a ranch where the youth were invited along with their parents and grandparents for food and fellowship.  The ranch has a cabin, and a lake with canoes, and even a deck to jump off on.  And you better believe that it didn't take long for most of the high schoolers to get into the water....and somehow even Sara jumped into the water as well.  It was a really great bonding time with the youth, and their parents, and most of the elders too.  It was a lot of fun! We were exhausted afterwards. 


Monday came around...and Jordan and I had dinner at one of the elders house.  They have a house that is so cute! It has a porch that goes all the way around and they have swings and rocking chairs on the porch.  We asked them what they did to fill their time around there and they said "Just sit out on the porch."  Amazing really! We then attended the elders meeting late that night, and that is where they extended the offer to Jordan to be youth pastor. We had been praying all week and we really felt the Lord leading us to say YES.  


We arrived back in San Diego that Thursday, and now we are in a transition process to move to Decatur Texas.  We will be leaving around November 15!  It is a bitter sweet process, excited for what the Lord has ahead but sad to leave so many family and friends...and a beautiful ocean! 
S.E.N.D. MINISTRIES...We are currently on staff, and do not plan on stepping away from the ministry but there are some major open doors to span the reach of S.E.N.D. ministries to Texas...a new base! So please keep that in prayer as it is all in the works!We really would appreciate your prayers during this time, so here is some major prayer request for the journey of the Henderson's...


1. Vision (fresh from the Lord)
2. Transition. (Packing/cleaning, getting a renter into our place, the drive!, culture shock)
3. A place to rent


We really appreciate you, thanks for reading and we will keep you updated as much as possible!
For His Glory,
Jordan and Sara Henderson
If your interested here some links:
www.sendministries.com 
www.centralfellowship.com