Back Home! July 4, 2012

Wow, we have been away from home for 8 1/2 weeks and it is great to be back.  Over the next few weeks I will help recap what we have been up to the past month but I will do it in little chunks in order to save you from one huge post.

Happy Fourth of July!

It is a great day to think of how blessed we are to live in a country with freedom and independence.  God has and is using brave men and women to bring this freedom to each of us.  May we each be grateful for our independence and may we use our freedom to advance the gospel for the glory of God.

Partner with us in Prayer

1. Residency at Cedar Ridge: Yesterday  I started on staff (unpaid) at Cedar Ridge for further training and equipping as we prepare to plant.  This will last around 7-9 months.

2. Financial Support:  Please pray that we would have our financial needs met.  Very soon we will have a more accurate look at where we stand and will share those specific needs in a clearer way.

3. A vehicle: We have been so blessed the last 3 years with my brother’s truck.  He has loaned it out to us while he was serving the Army in Germany.  He will be back next week and will need his truck back. For the time being we will manage with one vehicle but we are asking God to provide us with a safe, reliable vehicle so Stefanie and the kids are not stuck at home everyday.  Cedar Ridge is a 30 minute commute so dropping me off and picking me up everyday is not a very appealing option.

4. God would begin opening doors for the gospel: Would you pray with us Colossians 4:3-4:  “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.  At the same time, pray also fo us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison- that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.”  Obviously we are not in prison but pray with us that God would be opening a door within our community for the gospel to be heard and received.

May this all be for His name’s sake.

– Chris

Rhythms May 22, 2012

In some ways it has been very strange to not be in the trenches of day-to-day ministry in the context of a local church. Though I have never taken a sabbatical, my time here in South Dakota has had what I would conclude to be a sabbatical-ness to it. A time and space for reading, deeper reflection, rest, conversations, and much needed time with my wife and family. This time has allowed me to see the unhealthy rhythms and patterns I have developed over the years due to the rush and demands of life. I have asked our Father to use this time to develop healthy life-giving rhythms to my day-to-day life. It is important to have a cup of coffee and get into the Bible each morning, it is critical that I am home most nights to read to the kids before bed and talk about Jesus and pray with them, and it is vital to spend lengthier times before God seeking His kingdom. I have also had a chance to really pour into some study — this week I have been reading:
Bible Doctrine by Wayne Grudem
If You Bite and Devour One Another by Strauch (Biblical Principles for Handing Conflict)
2 Thessalonians
Building a Discipleship Culture by Mike Breen

Please continue to join us in praying for the future work of the gospel in Kansas City. We are still in the process of raising funds for the next year and we are excited to announce that Online Giving will be made available soon! God has been so faithful in caring for us thus far and He has and is using you to meet every need. Thanks be to God!

Two specific prayer requests that come straight out of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians.

1 Thessalonians 2:8
So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
Please pray that God would continue to give us a heart like Paul and his companions — where we truly want to share not only the gospel but our lives with those in our community.

2 Thessalonians 3:1-2
Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.
Please pray that God would be preparing the hearts of those who will hear the gospel.

Thank you for partnering with us in the work of the gospel in Kansas City and beyond!

Chris

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~

Sickness, Study, and Family May 10, 2012

Today marks one week into our short time in South Dakota. As many of you have heard we have been hit hard our first week with stomach flu. In tight quarters this proved to be quite unpleasant. Yesterday Stefanie felt sick and it seems that Satan has aimed his early assault not at me but rather my family. Please pray that this will be the last day of sickness.

Amidst the sickness I have begun to work out a study plan for our time up here. I will be focusing much of my time on biblical doctrine, discipleship, biblical discipline, and casting vision. Much of this includes a lot of reading and processing. I am so blessed to be surrounded by such a great group of men here who are committed to the ongoing work of the Gospel.

Finally, I would like to highlight the fact that being here has created a lot of time for us as a family. We get to spend a ton of time together and it truly has been great! The pace of life for us has slowed down and I hope and pray we will develop some healthy rhythms as a family during this time.

Please continue to pray for us as we seek God’s glory along this journey.

Chris

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!

 

On the Road May 2, 2012

Though the journey started a while ago, today we leave for South Dakota to officially step into our Residency!  We will stop in Omaha to go to the zoo and have some fun with the kids.  Once we  get settled in we will share some pictures of our temporary home.  Thanks for taking the ride with us and please pray for safe travel and a good transition for us and the kids.  May our Lord be glorified from the beginning to the end!

– Chris

A Week and Counting! April 23, 2012

One week from today will be my final day as youth pastor of Hope Fellowship Church.  Last night the church put together a wonderful dinner and program to remember and show appreciation for our service the last 7+ years.  In many ways it is a bittersweet time for us.  I still remember the first year that we were up in KC and Stefanie and I had no close friends but as the years passed by that quickly changed as we developed many life-long relationships.  The reality is relationships are what it is all about.  God the Father reconciling his relationship with man through His Son Jesus.  As we look to the future our vision is to keep relationships as our focus. I still think it is awesome and crazy that God uses His people as a tool to draw other people into relationship with Jesus.

Please pray for us this week as we wrap up at Hope, prepare to head to South Dakota, and continue to raise prayer and financial support.  Thanks for journeying with us — we know the road is long and will be difficult at times.  We love and need you!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

1 Cor. 5:17-20

God, Make Your Appeal Through Us!

Chris

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