Change

Change...I don't necessarily like it, but that doesn't really matter. We all change, things change, times change, and yet God remains constant and unchanging. It is comforting to me to know that no matter what uncertainty and change comes, God is and will always be constant.

I wanted to inform those who may not have heard, or who have heard through the rumor mill , what is going on in our lives right now. For the last 3 months we have been praying and seeking answers to the financial situation that we have/are in while working at the Christian Campus House. CCH has grown from an average attendance of 60 +/-, to well over 200 this past year. This growth is exciting but brings with it many challenges that are in many ways unique to campus ministry. New students in the ministry does not mean that we receive any additional gift income to help in our ministry costs (i.e. salaries, utilties, etc.)

The bottom line is that we needed more staff to be able to disciple the many students but our gift income is limited. We have looked at various ways to increase giving to CCH but none of those are guaranteed nor are they quick solutions.

On our personal end, we have slowly been using up our reserves during this last year. On June 4th (our anniversary and not a good day to do this I know), I went over our detailed expenses. We have been back in the States for a year now and have a better idea about what things actually are going to cost us. Some things are fairly cheap (i.e. insurance for the boys due to our income level, and we receive some food stamps that help with groceries), but other things such as insurance for myself is high. We have used up all of our savings, and I have cashed in one of our two IRAs that we had to help cover some unexpected expenses. Since I have not opted out of Social Security my tax bill is extremely high due to paying self-employment taxes, and as of right now unless I use cash from the other IRA, I'm not sure where the funds will come for that bill. God has answers though I know.

I tell you all of this so that you might understand why we feel compelled to look for other employment. CCH will not be able to raise my pay level without leveraging the ministry, and in reality all of the staff is in need of increases in pay and hopefully insurance some day. CCH did not fire me, and I am not leaving here with any malice or hard feelings. I care about this ministry and the students of UCM that it is trying to reach. I care enough that I felt it would be better to make the change sooner rather than waiting around and continuing to receive a paycheck for months while I look for other employment. The staff and I also agreed that it would be better for the ministry transition if I made the move before school started. It would be very hard to have me around preaching and then all of sudden change to someone else. Brad Smith (the new Director of CCH) needs to be leadership from the beginning so that the new students will see him as the leader and also allow him to set the vision and direction that he feels CCH needs to go in the future.

This makes the transition a little harder on us, but not impossible, especially not with God involved and leading. One of the keys for us is the boys and getting them settled in school. We have looked around the Warrensburg area and it seems that the doors have been closed that would allow us to stay in Warrensburg. I could flip burgers at McDonalds (that was Joshua's idea) but I don't see that as a good long-term use of my gifts.

So...we are going to be moving to Moberly and I will be doing some part-time stuff at the Bible College. I will be teaching a couple of classes this fall and will be working on getting their online education classes started. There is also a church that is close that is needing a short-term preacher so that will also provide some income. As long as our house sells within the next few months we should be fine financially. There are still many questions for the long-term that have yet to be answered but we are trusting God to guide each step. Hopefully my faith will grow through this experience.

The boys are very excited to be able to be back in Moberly but will miss their friends in Warrensburg. It is nice that we are only a couple of hours away from Warrensburg, because I can see us continuing to come back and visit our family and friends often. We love the 'Burg and the church here. What a blessing the church has been to us.

I am going to be changing my email address so feel free to update it in your computer and don't hesitate to email or call me if you have any questions. My new email is wangjrpew@gmail.com or jralls@cccb.edu. The wangjrpew address is my personal one and the school is having me use the cccb.edu address. You can send mail to me at either one. We are keeping our cell phone numbers for right now so you can always call us on the phone if you would like.

Thanks for praying for us and for your friendship. I am blessed to have you all as friends. I will do my best to keep in touch during this transition and hope to hear from you. I will also try my best to continue to make blog entries for Todd and all of the rest of you who read this. God bless you all.