Here we are in Palo Alto, CA…yes, you’re reading that correctly :)!

“Palo Alto?!” You may ask, “what happened to San Rafael?” Well, that’s a great question. One that we found ourselves asking as well. So, let us explain what the Lord has been up to:

“The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9

When we first set out to start a church we didn’t start with a location. We knew that we would need a job to support ourselves and so wherever we could find Evan a job would be our area. When we honed in on the Bay Area as our target there were several job possibilities in the area. We visited the areas around these job possibilities and more than anything we felt like we could choose where we wanted to be. So, we chose San Rafael and waited for the Lord’s provision.

In the last few weeks, a lot has changed. Evan received a job offer near Palo Alto and the provision we were waiting for to get us to San Rafael was no longer an option. It seemed like the things we had felt so great about being able to plan were unraveling before us and we felt stuck. To our eyes, what we chose and what was being provided to us were at odds, and changing our location affected not only us, but also our team. And if we were changing our location, what was all this business with choosing San Rafael?

After a couple days of shock and confusion we sat down and we prayed. Somewhere in the midst of all of this, the Lord was up to something, but we needed to hear His voice before we could decide on anything. The Lord reminded us of these scriptures:

1. The story of Peter walking on the water (Mt. 14:28-31):

• Like in the story of Peter walking on the water, the point was not that Peter could walk on water. The point was that Jesus used this opportunity to teach Peter about faith and keeping his eyes on Him. For us, San Rafael was like asking the Lord to let us out on the water, and when He started leading us in a different direction and we started sinking, He used that to teach us how to keep our eyes on Him, not our circumstances.

2. “Seek first my kingdom and everything else will be added unto you.” (Mt. 6:33) And “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Mt. 8:20)

• Somewhere along the way, this all became too much about a location and securing something for ourselves—the house, the job, the location. But through this series of events that changed a huge part of the plan, the Lord got to gently remind us that He is the one who secures our future for us.

After the Lord said these things we knew our answer. So just a few days later we accepted the job, then one week later we moved into a place in Palo Alto—which is a whole other miraculous story we’d love to tell you about soon!

While we get our feet on the ground here in Palo Alto, our team will remain in Aptos at The Coastlands through the holidays. After the New Year they’ll start their transitions up to the area.

Thanks for all your support of us and our team!

Evan & Lindsay

We’ve been busy!

Hello! I hope you’ve had a great summer! It certainly flew by for us!

We’ve really been enjoying our team building time at the Coastlands–we’re going to have to take a new picture to include our new team members ! As a team we’ve been meeting every Monday night together, getting in The Word and letting the Lord prepare our hearts for when He opens the doors for our departure.

Evan has been interviewing for a few different jobs over the summer and just this past Monday he received a generous job offer from one of the companies. God’s instruction to us as we approached these different interviews was to take them all very seriously–even though there were a couple we felt “would never work” for various reasons and naturally would have dismissed them without this instruction. We didn’t quite know what God was up to at the time He gave us that instruction, because two out of the three companies would be at least an hour commute both ways. But Evan went ahead and gave his best for each of the interviews and now one of these “long-commute” companies is becoming a very viable option.

We haven’t given our answer quite yet, and we’d love all your prayers while we decide! We’re very excited that this might be the open door to the next phase of our church, and we should be giving our answer to this company next week.

We’ll update you when its all ironed out ! Thanks everyone!

Location, Location, Location!

Hi everyone! After taking a few trips up to the Bay Area, which I will tell you about shortly, we have decided on a location for our church. Across the Golden Gate Bridge leaving San Francisco you will make your way into Marin County, drive about 10-15 minutes or so past the bridge and you’ll be in and around the San Rafael area: where we plan to start our church!

The Scouting Trip…

Its been an interesting process choosing a location! Toward the end of June we took a trip up to the Bay Area to investigate the different pockets we were choosing from. Two of our wonderful, encouraging friends with crazy stories of faith in their own lives came with us and recounted many a story of how the Lord provided for them as they stepped out in faith. We started out in the Mountain View & Palo Alto areas on the Peninsula below San Francisco. These held interest because of the possibilities of work around the area. We drove through neighborhoods and downtown areas all around there and stopped for lunch at the University Cafe in Palo Alto.

I should tell you at this point that Evan and I both had a specific place in mind where we really hoped we could go, but we both, for different reasons, felt like it would be impossible to make it work. We also didn’t want to ignore any other place the Lord might point us to, so we had patiently weaved our way through the Peninsula until we stopped for lunch keeping our ears and eyes open for anything the Lord might say. While we were at lunch our friends were telling us another fun story about steeping out in faith and how the Lord met them and gave them a house to live in that they never would have dreamed would be possible. Then our friends casually said, “Yeah, when you’re working for the Lord, you just end up being in places you have no business being.” Both Evan’s and my ears perked up and San Rafael came to mind. So we finished up lunch and opted to drive straight up to the North Bay rather than continue our exploration of the Peninsula.

In San Rafael we got off the 101 Freeway and started exploring all of the side streets. We drove through downtown San Rafael and into San Anselmo (the next town over), then up and down the residential streets just getting a feel for the area. By chance we stopped in a neighborhood and ended up meeting a friendly young man outside his home who happened to be a residential real estate agent. “Hmmmm,” we thought, “is that coincidence?” We finished up our tour around the area and to satisfy our curiosities, headed over the Richmond Bridge to explore the Berkeley area in the East Bay. After a fun drive through the University area and downtown, we headed home after a very eventful day…however, still undecided.

The Decision…

Both Evan and I really wanted the Lord to be CLEAR about what specific area to go to. We both loved the San Rafael area and felt a connection with it, bet we were both a little terrified of choosing a place and then having it be the “wrong” place to go. I mean, we both are of the opinion that there isn’t an area in the world without the need for Jesus, so in a sense, you can’t really miss when you’re looking for a place to bring the Gospel to people. However, we had fears! What if we decide on San Rafael and we’re wrong? What if we decide on San Rafael and Evan can’t find a job close enough? And so on and so forth…they all seem like legitimate questions, right? This is His church, this is His plan, so wouldn’t He want to be the one to choose it?

So we prayed, and prayed some more, and prayed some more. We both felt a longing for that area, but didn’t quite see the writing in the sky to make it clear. Ok, I’m exaggerating that just a bit, but I think you might understand what I mean. When you have to make big choices in life, that affect not only yourself, but other people, you want clear answers from the Lord! I don’t want to make the decision, because I don’t want the responsibility if I’m wrong. So basically, when it comes down to it–if I’m being super honest now–I’m really afraid that choosing this and then putting my faith in the Lord to provide for us is going to blow up in my face, make me look stupid and leave me stuck to pick up the pieces and start over again.

One morning a couple of weeks later we had great news from two of our friends from the Coastlands that they would be joining us on our church plant. Hallelujah! Lord, you’re working even in the midst of our confusion ! So, we sat down that morning for breakfast after we got the exciting news and filled in Evan’s dad, Daniel, about our thoughts on location. And as expected, he brought a totally different mindset into what we were thinking about. After hearing his story about how they chose to plant the Coastlands church in Aptos (that’s a whole other great story ), what we basically came away with was the instruction “JUST GO SOMEWHERE!” You mean, we can have the freedom to choose where we want to be?! Radical thinking .

So, Evan and I conversed about our thoughts and in the most non-spiritual feeling way decided on San Rafael. It felt a little odd because we’d been waiting all this time to be “lead” to the specific spot the Lord wanted us; write it on the wall Lord! Give me a vision! But instead He gave us the permission to choose what area we wanted to be in. Our hearts felt so incredibly peaceful and excited!

Later, when I was thinking about our decision I was reminded of the story in Acts 16 where Paul and his companions are trying to go into Bithynia, and it says that “the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.” Then Paul was given a vision to go to Macedonia and concluded that they needed to go there to share the Gospel. As far as I can see, throughout Acts, the Apostles didn’t receive a vision for every place they needed to go next. They just kept spreading the Gospel everywhere they went and tried to be strategic by picking either very influential cities and/or cities with ports where a lot of traders came and went–that way they could potentially come and hear the gospel and then spread it everywhere they went afterward. In this case they did receive a vision, and it instructed them to go to Macedonia. However, Macedonia is not a city, it is a region. They were pointed toward a region and beyond that they didn’t get any specific instruction on the where.

Concluding…

For us, we felt led to the Bay Area region in California, so we did the strategic work we knew how to and decided on San Rafael. After our decision we spent a day with our new real estate friend, who took 3 hours out of his schedule to give us a grand tour of San Rafael and its surrounding areas, and we both felt the Lord settle in our hearts that this is a good place for us to go. We still have a lot of things we are waiting on the Lord for, but his promise to us is that our future is secure in Him. So we believe there will be means of employment for each of our members to live there, there will be houses/apartments we can afford to live in and most importantly, that He will grow His church where we’ve decided to start it.

Catching up from where we left off…

Hello! I must apologize for the length of time it has taken me to get back on the blog and send an update! The last two weeks have been very eventful!! To give you an idea of what has happened since Evan’s graduation, I’ll give you the reader’s digest version:

The week of June 13-17  was the week of the move! We packed up the 24-foot behemoth of a Budget Rental Truck with our stuff and our team’s. The following day we drove to Santa Cruz, and the day after that we unloaded the truck and returned it to the rental place. Evan was super brave driving that massive thing all over LA and up to Santa Cruz, however there were a few scary situations on Hwy 46 and needless to say we couldn’t have been happier to get rid of the truck after unloading!

The girl’s settled into their rooms on campus at the Coastlands and Evan and I settled into our room at his parents’; not too long later we geared up for VBS (June 20-24)! The following week we were all disbursed throughout the campus helping the many, many other volunteers pull off another incredible VBS. Christina even got to give a testimony about her week at the weekend services this last week (I’ll post the link when they’re available on the website). We went to both services so we could hear all of the testimonies because they were so inspiring! I can never be reminded enough about how valuable it is to give up my life in service to others !

Yesterday, June 27, John and Debbie Childs took Evan and I on a day-trip around the Bay Area. John gets to be up there a lot because of his work and so he knows many of the areas. It was so fun to drive around and get a feel for the different communities that we could potentially be living in soon! We drove through countless downtown villages and got lost on the neighborhood side streets just taking in the ambiance of each area.

The trip didn’t necessarily narrow the options for us at this point, but it was so valuable to get the feel of many different communities and know a little more specifically how to pray about the future we’re stepping into. We are still job searching for Evan, which is the factor that, at this point, we still feel will determine our location.

The other night praying with some of our friends about the church plant and some future decisions the Lord gave us a picture: It was of a ream fabric that was partly unrolled and the Lord said ,”the portion that is already unrolled is what you are currently living in and your future is what is wrapped around the ream. I already have your future laid out for you and a place prepared for you, and I will unroll it one turn at a time, in my timing.” Even though both Evan and I (and I’m sure most people!) would want that ream unrolling more quickly concerning our future , we trust the Lord and His timing, and we are so encouraged to be reminded again that He is the one making a place for us–not ourselves!!

Looking forward to having more details for all of you, but still content to wait until the Lord provides them !!

Take Care everyone!

Graduating…check! Moving…underway!

Hi again! Exciting news!! Evan, as of Friday, June 10th, is Dr. Evan Brown, PhD!!! The whole Brown side of the family came down for the graduation and we had a great time!

Here’s us, post graduation, with Daniel and Pamela. It was so exciting to hear his name called and see the diploma in his hands ! God has been so faithful through this whole process! It is so great to be on this side of it and remember back on all of His promises we held onto during this last year that got us to this place .

We’re currently packing up the last boxes in our house and heading out in TWO DAYS! Thanks to our team the packing went a lot more quickly than expected! Both Evan and I have never had this much stuff to move before! I think, combined, the two of us have picked up and moved close to 25 times in our lives, but neither of us have had to move more than a bedroom’s worth of stuff. Packing up a whole house is quite a task, I have even more respect for people who move with children!!! What a job!!!

Here’s a couple of pictures of our packed up house:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bye house, we’ll miss you! Tomorrow our team and some of our friends will be coming over to help us load up our 24′ truck (please pray for us and our driving skills!!!). Then we’ll head to Christina’s to get her stuff, to Marine and Narine’s to get their stuff and then park the truck overnight at Media City Church. Wednesday morning Evan and I and our team will meet at the church and drive on up to the Coastlands. We’ve got an exciting, packed couple of days (pun intended).

Back to the boxes!!

Our Goodbyes to SoCal…

Hello everyone!

Yesterday marked our last Sunday at Media City Church in Burbank, CA. Pastors Billy & Kristen and the council prayed Evan & I and our team out for both services and passed on the traditional baton of ministry…no literally, a real baton!

When Pastors Billy & Kristen planted their church in the Santa Barbara area a few years back (prior to being at MCC), the pastor of their home church that they were launching out of gave them this baton. A fairly dented, bright blue relay baton. The idea is that this is a physical reminder of the charge we have been given to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrew 12:1).  And all of the dents remind us of those who have gone before us and that even though we’re going to an unknown and unfamiliar place, we are not alone, we are in good company .

I’m not sure exactly how many church planters this baton has been handed down to (the dents seem to indicate many!), but we consider it an honor to be the next to carry this baton! We’re hoping to get to pass it on as well someday when we send out our very first church plant–and buy some more batons to keep on handing them off !!!

This next week will be very eventful! Its our last week down in Southern California and we haven’t even started packing yet! Don’t worry though, its in the schedule . Wednesday and Saturday we’ll box up everything in the house, on Friday Evan graduates, and the following Tuesday we load up the moving truck so that Evan and I and the team can drive on up to the Coastlands!

We’re sad to say goodbye to this chapter of life, but very excited for what is next! A life lived following the Lord is pretty exciting !

Thanks MCC for all of your love and support, we will miss you!!!!!

The Thesis has been defended!!!!!

Coastlands (May 14/15)

So, first off, last weekend at The Coastlands was great! If you missed it, you can catch the sermon on their website in audio or video form:

You can go to their website, and on the right hand side click on “Sermon Video” or “Sermon Audio” and Evan’s teaching is titled “Bag in the Can”:

http://www.coastlands.org/#/media

Thesis Defense

Secondly, thank you for all of your prayers and encouragements for Evan last week as he prepared to defend his thesis this last Friday (May 20). The defense went really well!! He has a few formalities to follow through on, but we can very confidently say that we will soon be calling him DR. Evan Brown !

AND we’re 24 days and counting until our moving day to The Coastlands! So excited for the next step into our future!!

This weekend…

This weekend Evan & I will be attending a wedding of some very dear friends from the Coastlands. While we’re there Evan will be speaking at both services on Sunday Morning, May 15th (9am & 11am). Following services we are having an interest meeting for anyone who would like to know more about how the church plant is going. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come! We are excited to share our heart for this plant in its beginning stages and to include everyone in what the Lord has been and is currently doing in our lives and our team members’ lives through this experience!

The meeting will start at 1:30pm and will be held at The Coastlands–for those of you at the Coastlands who are interested in attending, the church bulletin will have more info on what room this will be held in.

Love you all!

Evan & Lindsay

Evan at Media City Church, Burbank, CA

Hello!!

As promised, here is the link to listen to Evan’s teaching this past weekend at Media City Church:

http://www.mediacitychurch.com/#/resources/messages

Click on “Launch Media Player,” Evan’s most recent teaching is from May 8th.

Thanks everyone!

A quick update…

This Sunday, May 8th, Evan has the great privilege of teaching for the Sunday morning services at Media City Church. He’s been on a teaching hiatus since we finished One Accord back in February, so he’s quite excited to get back up there and do what he loves doing most: teaching the Bible!

The services are at 9am and 11am. If you can make it, we’d love to see you there! If not we’re pretty sure they put all of the sermons on they’re website, so I’ll follow up with the link after they post it.

Evan is SO close to finishing up his Thesis and submitting it. Then on May 20th, he’ll be giving his defense. We’re still in the job searching mode, focusing in around the bay area, and we’re having weekly meetings with our team, praying, eating good food, getting into the bible and having fun preparing!

Thanks again for all of your prayers! We’ll be starting the countdown until the (first) move soon!!