Dear Missionaryish Family,

A quick update on RUF International at UCI as we keep pressing on with discerning next steps.

Where things stand

Some things have already happened:

• RUF International supports launching this new work at UCI.

• We have been assessed and identified as potential candidates for it.

• The RUF Committee and the Missions Committee of South Coast Presbytery are on board.

• Trinity Orange County has committed as our anchor church: $75,000 to start, and $17,500 per year in ongoing support.

Again, this is not a guarantee of anything. There are real steps we have to take as a family, and others that require decision makers at the presbytery level and at the churches that would come alongside us.

For those unfamiliar with a presbytery, it is essentially a regional board of elders. Most of Southern California south of LA falls under South Coast Presbytery, and the pastors ministering in this area come together to make decisions as a body.

September

Two things happen next month.

On September 1st we meet with the RUF and Missions Committee of South Coast Presbytery over Zoom. Chad will cast the vision for UCI and offer his endorsement of us. I have about five minutes to share the call. Then we walk through the phased approach: committee support for the long term plan, hired first as campus director, ordained later as campus minister.

They will also start work on what is called an affiliation agreement. That is the document that spells out the working relationship between RUF and the presbytery for a particular campus: who employs the campus minister, who provides oversight, how support is handled, and what each side is responsible for. It is the piece that turns a shared hope into an actual arrangement, and it is the one I am watching most closely.

Then South Coast Presbytery gathers September 22nd and 23rd at New Life in La Mesa.

I want to be honest about what this trip is and is not. It is not the meeting where anything gets decided. It is the gathering where the whole region is in one room, and where a lot of pastors who have never heard our name will be standing around with coffee.

That is the point. We want to put a face to the name. We want them to meet Reagan and to meet the kids, because sending a family to plant a ministry is a different proposition than hiring a person, and it lands differently when the family is standing in front of you. We want to be known before we are ever an item on an agenda.

It has been three official years in the making. When we left for Oklahoma we flew almost immediately to Denver to be assessed: a long week of interviews, sermon delivery, role playing, and getting to know the RUF International team we would work with directly.

The hope is to fly all seven of us out on the 19th, start in Orange County, then drive down to La Mesa for the 22nd through the 24th. Time with Trinity. Time with Family. Time for Reagan and me to connect with supporters of ours who live in that area.

Sending a family to UCI to plant a ministry is an enormous undertaking. There will be spiritual challenges, financial challenges, infrastructure challenges. All of it is impossible unless God fills in the gaps.

What we are still discerning

We are not there yet. Here is what is actually unsettled.

A place to stay. A house opened up that lands ten minutes from the meeting in La Mesa, big enough for our whole family, at $15 a night. It comes through a hospitality service for missionaries and pastors, so it is legitimate, but it is only reserved for now. I have to submit references and clear a few hurdles, and the host has not reviewed our request yet. If it comes through, it changes things, because it makes bringing all seven of us possible.

Flights. Seven people is the real cost, and we will not book until things are confirmed on RUF's end.

Timing. This lands while I am still in classes, and school has already started for the boys. It will be a crunch.

The numbers. We still do not have the full budget picture for what supporting our family in Southern California would actually look like. That is not a complaint, it is just where things are. We are asking for it, and we would rather move forward with clear eyes than with enthusiasm alone.

So there is a lot to think through, and we are genuinely holding it open.

How you can partner with us

Pray. This is the main thing, and it is not a throwaway line.

Pray for the September 1st meeting, for Chad as he casts the vision, and for clarity in the few minutes I have to speak to the call. Pray that the place to stay confirms, to see if God wants us out at presbytery. Pray that the numbers come, and that they are numbers we can build a life on. Pray for clarity about whether God is continuing to call us to international students at UCI, and whether this is the season to pursue partnership with the churches of Southern California.

Give, once it is confirmed. If things come together and you would like to come alongside us financially for this particular trip, you can give through our normal Missionaryish giving site and we will apply it toward these costs.

One more thing

I have five classes left before finishing my degree. Right now I am in Isaiah through Malachi and Hebrew 1. Next comes Hermeneutics and Hebrew 2, and finally Hebrew Exegesis.

Then ordination, though I do not have to be ordained to start. RUF acts as the calling body and the presbytery is the credentialing body, so if everything comes together the ideal is to begin as campus director, with ordination finishing the process.

Everything is slowly moving forward. Not everything is settled. Nothing is signed. We are trying to figure out whether this trip is the next step God wants us to take.

Thank you for your partnership. None of this would be possible without you, and we are grateful for your ongoing support, your love, and your prayers.

Much love in Christ,

David and Reagan

Family Snapshots