Meat Man March 30, 2013

Chris finished up his church plant residency at Cedar Ridge Christian Church in February.  While it was an awesome learning experience for him, it feels good to get that wrapped up.  Next on the agenda — get a part time job to make money and meet people. 

 

In mid-March, Chris got a job at the HyVee grocery store on Barry Road.  And the best part?  He works in the meat department!  Years of hunting and eating meat makes him a perfect fit for this job! 

 

Maybe that’s not the best part though…..maybe the best part is the nifty hat he gets to wear.  Freshhhh!

 

 

He has to shave for this job.  It’s taken me a while to get used to seeing him without some kind of facial hair!  HyVee’s catchy slogan is “a helpful smile in every aisle.”  Here is Chris modeling his “helpful smile.” 

 

 

So if you’re in the market for some fresh meat, go see Chris at HyVee!  His hours vary but he usually works the 3-10pm shift several times a week. 

 

Paul made tents during his ministry……Chris sells meat.  Do your thing.  

 

~Stefanie~

Money Money Money December 7, 2012

I (Stefanie) have always been responsible for paying bills, budgeting, and any other financial tasks since Chris and I got married.  Every couple has one — the Scrooge-like spouse who sends texts that say, “Do NOT spend any more money until Friday” or “Why did you spend $22 at Burger King two days ago??” or “If you find a any change lying around you should probably go deposit it into our bank account.”  Haha, okay, I’m exaggerating a little bit but you get the idea.

Since money is my department and I am sometimes practical to a fault, I was obviously concerned about our income when Chris started talking his crazy church planting talk.  When he informed me that we would raise support for our income I had the strong impulse to vomit.  I was worried.  Raising support — so unstable, so uncertain — seemed like the end of the world to me.  BUT I realized that I really needed to let go of the security that comes with a regular paycheck and trust that if God is leading us in this direction that He will provide for us on the journey.

And He has!

Just because I’m officially responsible for the fiscal aspects of our life doesn’t mean I’m particularly good at it.  I haven’t balanced a checkbook since high school and usually only have a rough idea of how much money is in our bank account.  But I think God has used my mediocre bookkeeping skills to our advantage because somehow money stays in our checking account even when it doesn’t make sense.

The monthly support commitments we’ve received add up to roughly half of what we need to live each month but somehow there’s always enough money to get by comfortably.  In fact, I haven’t had to send a “Do NOT spend any more money until Friday!!” text since we started this church plant journey.

In an effort to insure that we had a full paycheck in December, we did not draw a paycheck from Heartland at the end of September and asked them to only pay us $2000 at the end of October.  (Heartland is the non-profit organization that collects all of the support money in an account and then writes us a check out of that account.  If the money is there, we get a check.  If it’s not, we don’t.)

It doesn’t make sense.  How could we live for two months only receiving one $2000 paycheck??  I do some part-time work for my Mother’s business but I certainly don’t make enough money to live on for a whole month.  And it’s not like we didn’t eat during those months — we lived life as we normally do and every time I checked our bank account there was enough money.  Enough.  More than enough.

I told Chris that I’m going to start checking our account balance even less now so that I don’t accidentally catch God putting money into our account!

I’m really, really glad that we took this leap of faith and trusted God to provide for us because He is doing a much better job than we could.  And this whole raising support thing??  Well, I guess I’m okay with it now.  Paul did it and I love reading Philippians 4 in light of our current journey:

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.

As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once. I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness.

At the moment I have all I need—and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen.

We are so, so, SO thankful for everyone who has supported us both financially and in prayer over the past eight months — EIGHT MONTHS!  Haha, sometimes I can’t believe we’ve survived that long!  Many of you have committed to monthly support or have given us unexpected special gifts at just the moment that we needed it most.  We pray that God will in turn supply all YOUR needs from his glorious riches.

We will continue to raise support during the preliminary phases of church planting and during the infant stages of a new church (so feel free to click on the Pray/Invest tab at the top of the page!  haha!).  Chris’ full-time residency at Cedar Ridge will wrap up in January and then he will be part-time there for a few more months.  In January, he’ll start looking for a part-time job near our home so please put that on your prayer list.   Also in January, we will begin having regular meetings in our home with a group of people who have expressed interest in being a part of our core church planting group.  Prayers for these meetings would also be greatly appreciated!

So there you go!

Everyone always asks about money.  Or if they aren’t brave enough to ask directly they ask a series of roundabout questions to find out how we’re doing financially.  So this is a blog to answer those questions.  We’re doing okay.  We have enough and we can only credit God with getting us this far — and that’s a fantastic place to be.  Fully dependent on God, enjoying each day, and not worrying about the future.

Matthew 6:26-33  That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

“And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

More than enough.

Merry Christmas from the Borkerts!  We’re hoping to get Christmas cards out to everyone this year (but don’t hold your breath because I have that hope every year and it rarely happens!!). 

 

****Oh, and one more thing I forgot to mention and thank God for —

After insurance, our bill for Timber’s hospitalization in September was over six thousand dollars.  I noticed on the Children’s Mercy Hospital website that you could apply for financial assistance from the hospital so I thought I would give it a shot, not expecting much.  I assumed that they would knock a percentage off our bill but they recently sent a letter stating that they had covered 100% of Timber’s hospital bill AND what was left of Flora’s hospital bill that we had been making payments on since 2009!  PRAISE GOD!

We’re Still Here . . . Just Livin’ October 9, 2012

~from Stefanie~

So, a friend recently asked how she could keep abreast of what’s going on with us in regards to church planting.  My initial response was “Read our blog!” but then I remembered that it hadn’t been updated in a very, very long time.  Hm…

Chris is in the middle of his residency at Cedar Ridge Christian Church and is learning a lot from the leadership there.  There’s not a lot of exciting “news” to blog about but maybe we should be updating on the less exciting things too.  After all, if you are reading this then you probably care about us and might be interested in more than just the front page headlines.

So, here are some Borkert updates —

• Chris has preached twice now at Cedar Ridge and will preach a few more times during his residency there.  The church was picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church on his very first day preaching!  What a welcome!  Haha…  For more on that story, see this post on our family blog.  He also just returned from a 4-day trip to Chicago with some cool guys.  They attended a training session on something.  Ha!  Let’s see — something like “how to engage people on their first and second time visiting a church”??  Or something like that.  Obviously I need to listen more closely.
• Flora started 2-day preschool in August.  We went back and forth on whether or not we wanted to send her to preschool (is it really worth all the money??) but decided to go for it when North Oak Preschool (right across the street from our house!) generously offered us a half-price tuition rate.  That discount coupled with “scholarship” money from some of Flora’s biggest fans made preschool possible.  I’m glad it worked out because she LOVES preschool.  I wasn’t sure how she would do but she is absolutely thriving in the school environment.
• Timber and I had an unplanned 5-day/4-night all-inclusive stay at Children’s Mercy Hospital in September.  He had an abscess in his neck that had to be treated with IV antibiotics.  Every night the doctors warned that they may have to do surgery the next day to drain the abscess but every morning it was a little bit smaller so they held off on surgery.  That was an answer to prayer!  Surgery would have meant a longer, more expensive stay at the hospital, a scar, and, well, SURGERY.  Poor little guy had to spend his 2nd birthday in the hospital but the nurses provided cake and balloons and a really nice birthday gift!  He’s 100% better now — back to his healthy, happy little self.
• Scout is crazy.  He got his flu shot tonight and laughed when the nurse poked him with the needle.  He also just read a Level 1 reader book to me.  He’s endless energy.  I love him….and he is definitely my biggest challenge.
• I have recently realized that I need a vacation.  I don’t know what that looks like right now but my wheels are spinning trying to come up with a feasible, affordable “vacation.”  I probably feel this way because the kids picked up a stomach flu bug while Chris was in Chicago.  You never feel quite as alone as when you’re quarantined in your own house with no one to talk to over the age of 5.  And that’s when I realized that we are  kind of alone right now.  Well, maybe not Chris — he’s made many new friends through Cedar Ridge and other connections — but since I’m only down in Lenexa once a week for church I haven’t really made any new friends there.  And although my “old” church friends and I try to stay in touch it’s just not the same.  There’s an awkward disconnectedness now.  And I was prepared for that to happen.  We were aware that some distance needed to be put between us and our Hope friends and that’s part of the reason we disappeared to South Dakota for two months.  I guess I’m just looking forward to being out of the transition phase and settled into a new church family.   I’ve been thinking about the famous Ecclesiastes passage lately —                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 For everything there is a season,a time for every activity under heaven.

  A time to be born and a time to die.

  A time to plant and a time to harvest.

  A time to kill and a time to heal.

  A time to tear down and a time to build up.

  A time to cry and a time to laugh.

  A time to grieve and a time to dance.

  A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

  A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

  A time to search and a time to quit searching.

  A time to keep and a time to throw away.

  A time to tear and a time to mend.

  A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

  A time to love and a time to hate.

  A time for war and a time for peace.

  Despite my need for vacation and lack of friends I’m really quite happy with my life.  Haha….it came across as kind of depressing in that paragraph but I wanted to be more authentic than just saying, “I’m fine.”  I am fine though.  Really.  🙂

  So, there you go.  We’re still here.  We’re happy, we’re healthy, we’re stumbling down this path God put us on, and we’re loving it.  Please pray for us.  We need it.  🙂

A Better Day May 14, 2012

Thanks for your prayers for Timber!  He slept all night and woke up this morning fever free!  He was a bit of a grump all day but I’ll take grumpy  over fevered and lethargic any day!

The kids had an exciting afternoon!  They received an unexpected care package  from their friend Bella Anthony in Kansas City!

 

The contents of this care package kept them all entertained for the rest of the day.  I don’t think Timber let go of those cars at all — he ate dinner with the cars on his tray and is now asleep with two of them in bed with him.  Flora loved her princess stamps and Scout has already colored several Mickey Mouse pictures for me.  This was seriously EXACTLY what we needed today.  Thanks, Bella!!!  And thanks to Bella’s mommy, Jenn, who probably had a little bit to do with it.

   

 

 

 

Storms May 13, 2012

Today we went to River Community Church in Dell Rapids, SD.  This is one of several church plants that Chris is working with during our time here.  Chris went to a different church last week but the kids and I stayed home so as not to share our stomach bug with the community.  So this was our first time going to church in South Dakota!  Yay!  Timber seemed to like the nursery (he only cried for, like, 5 seconds when I left him) and Flora and Scout loved the children’s church program.

Andy preached (I always feel like I should say “praught” — like teach and taught) on a story in Matthew where Jesus and his disciples are traveling by boat.  A huge storm overtakes them and the disciples — most of them seasoned fishermen so you know it was a BIG storm — were scared.  But Jesus was sleeping through the storm.  They woke him up in a panic thinking they were all going to die and what did he do?  He just told the storm to stop and it did.  And he rebuked them for worrying.

Fast forward a few hours and find me cuddling Timber as he battles a 104 degree fever.  He’d seemed fine all morning and then I noticed he felt warm after his nap.  He’s had a fever all evening and is now fast asleep — but probably still with a fever.  I HATE it when the kids get sick.  It makes me feel sick and anxious and dejected.  I am very “Woe is me” when one of my children is ill.  But today I kept thinking about that sermon.  And I realized that Jesus is in this boat with me and he’s not worried about Timber.

There have been a lot of fun times here in South Dakota but all the sicknesses really wear me down.  Not physically, because I’m not the one sick, but mentally and emotionally.  I’d like to say that I have enough faith that I can just sleep through these storms but I don’t.  I keep checking how high the waves are and how close the lightning is.  I’m trying though — I’m trying to remember that Jesus is in this boat with me.  I’m praying that he will make Timber’s fever disappear just like he calmed the wind and the waves on that stormy night long ago, but also trusting that He will be in the boat with me even if the storm continues to rage.

So our prayer requests for today:  Pray that these storms would calm.  Please pray that Timber’s fever breaks soon and stays gone.  I don’t know what is causing it but I just want it to go away — preferably without another visit to the doctor (I took Scout to the doctor last Monday after he had been throwing up for 3 days).  Also, pray that the rest of us avoid this fever and that we can all just be healthy for a while.  We’re really not a sickly family but maybe we’re just not accustomed to these South Dakota germs!  Also, pray for me to have peace when the kids are sick.  I try not to worry but I’m usually not very successful.  And pray that Chris will be able to get some work done.  All of our illnesses have kind of interrupted his schedule.  He’s been awesome about it though — I wouldn’t want to be in South Dakota with anyone else!

~Stefanie~

Hello, South Dakota! May 4, 2012

Well, we made it!  We’re finally settled in here in Chester, South Dakota.

Our day of traveling couldn’t have gone any smoother.  We had a quick, easy trip up to Omaha, a fun 4-hour break at the Omaha Zoo, and then an easy trip up to South Dakota.  The weather was great and traffic was light.  Thanks for all of your prayers!

Our little basement apartment is perfect.  It’s small but not too small and very nice.  I’m afraid it might be slightly less nice after Flora, Scout, and Timber live here for five weeks but I’m trying to keep everything in the condition we found it.  I was quite impressed with myself for squeezing all the kids’ clothes into this hall closet!

We have a beautiful lake view and a screened in porch area that the kids love.  I put all their toys out there and they are happy to spend most of the day in what I’ve dubbed the “playroom.”  This morning we watched a big storm roll in over the lake and had to “batten down the hatches” to keep the playroom from getting soaked!

 

Yesterday I dropped Chris off to meet up with some local pastors while the kids and I got groceries and explored Sioux Falls.  It’s a 35 minutes drive from our house to Sioux Falls — a big change from the 2 blocks from our house in Kansas City to the local grocery store.  I hope I remembered everything!  There is a local gas and convenience store down the road, but my hopes aren’t high for getting fresh produce here…..

Overall, things have been great.  Our hosts, Jim and Lynn, are super nice and have made us feel SO welcome.  The weather is awesome, there’s a school playground nearby, and cows in the field behind the house that are still mesmerizing the kids.  Speaking of the kids….please pray that they continue to adjust to this big change well.  Yesterday they didn’t sleep much or eat well and were all pretty grumpy most of the day.  I’m trying to cut them some slack since I know they are just trying to process all the new things but I’d like to have my happy, easy-going kids back sometime soon.  They DO love their bunk beds though!  Flora surprised us by jumping right up on the top bunk and sleeping all night up there both nights.

Chris will write an update sometime this week on his side of things.  Here are some pics from the past few days!

Our basement apartment screened-in porch

Sunset over the lake on our 2nd night here.

View from the back of the house. Can you see the cows in the distance?

Checking out the lake on our 1st night here.

Park! It’s a school playground so we can only play when school’s out but better than nothing!

 

South Dakota March 30, 2012

We are busy writing personal notes on letters and addressing envelopes today.  Hoping to get the information letters out soon.  I’ve also started my packing list for South Dakota — WOW, I’ve never packed for 5 weeks before! 

Many people have asked where we are staying in South Dakota.  The church that Chris will mainly be working with is in Hartford, SD and we will be living in the 2-bedroom basement apartment of a house in Chester, SD (about 10-20 minutes away, I think).  We’ve heard it’s a house on the lake so lots of new adventures for the kids, I’m sure! 

Hartford and Chester are both near Sioux Falls, SD but still 5 1/2 hours from Mount Rushmore.  I was willing to make the trip to see Mount Rushmore if it was within 2 1/2 hours of Hartford but I don’t think it’s worth a 5 1/2 hour drive.  We’re going to stop at the Omaha Zoo for a few hours on our way to South Dakota though.  The kids don’t know yet but they are going to love it! 

Big Changes for the Borkert Family March 28, 2012

Below is a general summary of where we are and how we got here.  This information was sent out in letter form to many people and also published on our family blog so it may be old news to many of you.

Greetings Friends!

As you may or may not know, Chris recently announced his resignation from Hope Fellowship Church effective April 30^th.  We are following the Lord’s promptings to plant a new church in the Kansas City area.

Church planting doesn’t mean that we are leaving our church because we are unhappy there.
Church planting doesn’t mean that we think we can start a “better” church.
Church planting doesn’t mean that we will try to lure all our friends away from Hope Fellowship.

Church planting means that we see a need for more churches in our area.
Church planting means that there are still so many lost people in our city.
But ultimately, church planting means following God’s leading.

If you are wondering why we want to start a new church instead of building up an existing church you’re not alone.  Many people ask this question.  The short and sweet answer is “because that’s what God commands us to do.”  For a more elaborate answer, view Tim Keller’s “Why Plant Churches?” response.  The idea is to plant a church and have that church ready to plant another church in 3-5 years.  It’s multiplication.

So, where did all this come from??

Church planting has been in the works for several years with the leadership at Hope Fellowship being included in the entire process.  It all started four years ago when Chris was encouraged to attend a Church Planters’ Retreat by the Regional Minister of our church’s association (our association = SWA).  Chris was excited and ready to plant right away but I (Stefanie) was pregnant with Scout and not ready to make such a huge life change.  Chris continued reading everything he could find about church planting and talking to people about it.  Finally, after we were done having kids, we pulled it off the back burner and started taking more serious steps to make it happen.  We had to take several personality/IQ/mental stability tests for the SWA’s church planting committee and eventually met with them for a formal assessment.  We were approved and our name was added to a list of potential SWA church planters.

Chris also formed a relationship with the Vision 360 Kansas City catalyst and began pursuing a relationship with them.  Vision 360 is basically a church planting organization that plants churches all over the world.  You can read much more about Vision 360 on their website.  We took even more personality-type tests for them and met with a group of their Kansas City representatives who recommended us for a formal Vision 360 assessment.  Whereas the SWA assessment process took about 8 hours, the Vision 360 assessment was 4 intense days!  We were sent to their assessment center in Orlando, Florida this past October (not a bad place to be sent!) to participate in an assessment with 10 other couples from around the country.  The end result was that we were “conditionally recommended” for partnership with Vision 360 with the primary condition being that we complete a 9-12 month church planting residency.  We were tremendously encouraged during our time in Florida.  Discerning, professional, godly men and women thoroughly assessed us and were very excited about us planting a church!  They confirmed that this was God’s calling and were very optimistic about our church planting future

Vision 360 continues to offer encouragement and invaluable knowledge and experience for our church planting journey and we are excited about our relationship with them moving forward.  Hope Fellowship is not in a place to be able to support us financially in this venture but we hope to leave there blessed with the moral support of the church family we have grown to love over these past 7 1/2 years.  We will certainly miss seeing the people of Hope Fellowship every week but are also excited to start the next chapter of our lives.  Please remember our family in your prayers as we step out into this Great Adventure!

So, where are we going?

We will leave for South Dakota during the first week of May and stay there for 5-6 weeks while Chris does a short “internship” with a church that has planted other churches in the area.  We will spend some time visiting our families in Colorado and Arkansas and come back to Kansas City in late June.  Chris will start his residency (like an internship) with Cedar Ridge Christian Church in Lenexa, KS on July 1st.  We plan to stay in our current home while Chris makes the 30 minute commute to Lenexa.  This residency will last approximately 9 months.  Chris will be able to learn a lot about church planting from Cedar Ridge and will get to interact with other church planters in the Kansas City metro area.  During this time of residency, we will be praying about where to plant a new church.  That is the question we get asked most often — “Where will your church be located?” — and the answer is we simply don’t know yet.  Ask God, maybe He’ll tell you!
We will also be raising support during this residency period as it is not a paid position.    Many of you will be getting letters from us in the next few weeks.  This is the part that totally freaks me out but I’m trying to stay calm and trust God to work everything out for us.  I don’t like the idea of asking for money.  Chris says it’s just my pride (and he’s right) but it’s also the security that comes from a regular job with a regular paycheck.  I’m still trying to give that fear/worry over to God and place my security solely in him.  We will need to fund-raise our salary and money to launch the future church plant.  The goal is to officially “launch” a new church in Fall 2013 and for that church to be self-supported in about two years.

Whether you give financially or not, we ask that you support us with your prayers.  This is an exciting, but also scary, transition for our family and we need all the prayers we can get!

Blessings!

The Borkert Family

Chris, Stefanie, Flora, Scout, Timber