When Provo isn't Shiny...
I’ve escaped the confines of my desk and ventured outside on the deck. My eyes were getting sore from the tedious but necessary task of confirming all your emails and going down weird side trails of figuring out the inner workings of Mailchimp. I’ve decided to gift you with part two of the story I started in May.
So we knew in our hearts that we wanted a church in Orem, but we also knew we were not the ones to pastor it. Our hearts are firmly in the grasp of college students and helping them equip the local church and reach the world.
I’ve told you this before, but one of our practices in Chi Alpha over the years is to pray every day at 10:02 that God would send laborers to the harvest fields of Utah. This practice comes and goes, but the fruit has been simply extraordinary and undeniable.
I don’t remember the day I got the phone call in 2022, but it was our district superintendent on the line. “Noreen, I’ve got this couple from North Carolina that says they want to plant a church in Utah. I’m sorry. They’ve never been to Utah so I told them they should make a trip and get in touch with you. I don’t know what will come of it since they’ve never been there.”
Some of you are being all judgy about his sullen “sans hope” tone, but we all tend to be realistic when you’ve been around the Utah block. I told you before that church planters come here all the time and then leave, but what I haven’t told you is that our superintendent gets many calls of people interested in planting in Utah for many different reasons including the gorgeous mountains that they fell in love with while on vacation, and so his hesitance was warranted.
I, however, am peeking around every corner in anticipation for God to do what he said He would do and transport some laborers here by any means necessary.
Let’s back up to before the phone call. In mid 2020, Clinton Ballew, happened upon a video of a Mormon and a Christian “debating.” All that Clinton took away from the video was that there was no way that the Mormon would come to Jesus via the harsh method that the Christian was using….but…Utah wouldn’t leave him alone. (Note: This is not the first time we have heard this. I wonder which 10:02 prayer instigated this niggling feeling?)
After conversations with his wife, Jayln (she was having the same niggling feeling as him), they made the call and planned a trip out in July of 2022 which would be punctuated with a meeting with me, Daran, and one of our local pastors. This trip would give them the answer, they believed with accompanying trumpet sounds.
Right before the trip everyone fell ill, so medicated and exhausted, Clinton, Jayln and their three cute, sick kids ventured to the airport and flew into Las Vegas (which I would recommend to no one) and drove the 5 hours to Provo, Utah. They checked into their “bargain” hotel and collapsed. Little did they know that Provo has hotels that leave much to be desired, so they tried to make the most of it, but no matter how much they tried to enjoy themselves, they were miserable, not only physically but mentally and spiritually too. The weight of Utah laid heavy on them, and that surely had to be a sign that God was not in this crazy adventure.
They thought about cancelling the meeting with us on July 30, 2022, but they didn’t because they are nice like that. We met at a crowded In-and-Out. Now we don’t sugar-coat Utah at all, but we had what we thought was a great (and also what we thought) compelling conversation.
We got in our respective cars and here is what I said to Daran, “They are supposed to be in Utah, and they are supposed to help with Chi Alpha and then plant a church.”
Unbeknownst to us this is what Jayln said to Clinton…“I’m so glad that isn’t us. I feel so sorry for them that they have to live here. We need to pray for them.”
Now, unknowingly, we made them hang out with us in Orem. Our kids played at the splash park and we talked. We took them to our XA house so they could see the possibilities. They met another local pastor of a tiny Four Square church that borrowed our building on Saturday nights. Later Jayln said, all she could see in his eyes was weariness. We didn’t know that they were so ready to get out of there and wish us well, so either God blinded me to their thoughts or they are super good actors, but…
After the day was over and they were on their way to finish up their vacation and head to the safety of the east coast and home, I was excited about what God was about to do…
Cliffhanger…so I will finish this up in one more email because there is still much to tell since they obviously ended up here.