Starting Over - My journey into foster care

I just realized how long it has been since we talked, sorry about that, we have been busy in my house.

I am not even sure where I am desiring to go with this post...should this be a call to action for others, am I trying to get you all involved in something larger than us, do I want you all just to hear my heart and what has been going on in our lives, or do I just need to vent. This post may turn into several as I begin writing and see what words are hitting the "paper".

Let's start at the beginning  We have become involved in the foster care process. Over the course of the past 3 months we have had 5 different boys in our home ranging in age from hours old to three years. Most of those boys were only with us for short periods of time, however, currently we have a boy that has been with us from birth and will be with us for the foreseeable future. This has been a huge adjustment me for me...my youngest turned 14 in February and to start over with a baby has been fun, challenging, joyful, and heart wrenching all at the same time. It is not an easy walk, but I am fully convinced that this is what James was talking about - when he said to "be doers" of the Word and that religion that takes care of orphans and widows is what the Lord desires. This becomes tangible in very real ways...changing diapers, or getting spit-up on (which by the way this little guy really likes to do to me when I get home from work). You forget how helpless and dependent one so small is after 14 years. It has been a very fulfilling experience.

But it is hard to guard our hearts...if that is possible at all? We would desire to provide this little guy with a loving permanent home. He is bonded to us, if I call home to talk with Renee and she puts the phone by the baby, he hears my voice and starts to coo back at me. We love him as if he were ours because he is... and yet he is not. We are in this odd state of limbo. We know what we desire, we think that would be the best option for this boy. We think most people who would here the details of how he came to be with us would agree...however; add laws, DHHS, visitations, lawyers, bio-parents, and all of the other circumstances into the mix and everything becomes cloudy.

We know God knows the outcome, we know that He is in control, and He can over rule all of those other things that muddy up the water. It is just this process is so taxing. There are visits and a constant parade of people in and out of our home; trying to keep up with the home and extra emotional baggage from the situation is completely draining and taking care of a baby on top of all that too... Like the parents of any other newborn, we just want to adjust and settle into a good family routine; however, our routine is dictated by all of the outside factors.

This could just all be amplified right now, louder than usual and harder to deal with, as the baby had visits over the weekend to make up for lost time due to weather conditions...meaning the the rhythm we have been establish on the weekends when we don't have to worry about visits, workers, etc... was taken away this past weekend.

Please be praying for us!

Hopes and Dreams

cat·a·lyst- noun - a person or thing that precipitates an event or change

It is an interesting term....as it is so nondescript even by it's definition. I like to judge, to decipher, to evaluate....call it part of my rational thinking or whatever but is this catalyst a good thing or bad thing? Catalysts are different...they are not weighed by positive or negative, good or bad, right or wrong....they are simply something that happens prior to a change, or in the sense of chemistry enact the change but they themselves are not the change... There really is nothing else like a catalyst. We can look at the results of the change and evaluate the outcomes...but it is not the catalyst that causes that result!

Ok, so what am I talking about? As City Impact is heading into the final portion of our capitol campaign for our new building....we are in need of a catalyst, something that will help precipitate change. Our campaign has come so very far...but we still have work to do. We feel very confident that this is the Lord's leading for our ministry. We know our students need a building to call home! Our programs need to have room to grow, not for our sake but because we know that there are so many in our community that need God's Love in their lives!

We think we have found our catalyst, this October, City Impact is hosting our annual benefit dinner...Hopes and Dreams! But catalysts merely precipitate changes....we need active parts to be changed that is where you can come in! I am inviting all of you to come to this event learn and hear first hand from the students and families that are being transformed by God through the ministry of City Impact! Hear us as we dream about as we talk about what we feel God leading us to do in His new building. Maybe you can get involved too...perhaps you to will be transformed through this night!

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Great opportunity for Youth workers!

Dare 2 Share is a ministry that I have seen for a number of years through several different youth groups. Caleb and KOK went to D2S. As did Pastor Kirk and CBC...and other students that I have had a chance to work with. But to my knowledge City Impact youth have not had a chance....that looks like it will change soon! If you are a fellow youth worker check this out! 


Step one: I get to check out a leadership training in October! You can go too- check the info in the video!

Partnership

Partnership

Partnership

I want to express that this is a partnership. I can not serve without you. I also desire to have koinonia with all of you, to pray for you and encourage all of you through sharing God's story in this ministry. Although it is our calling to go, perhaps God is calling you to be a part of this ministry too. 

City Impact is in Lincoln, if you would like to be a part of our team of dedicated volunteers or just see what openings we have need of, you can see that information here at: http://www.cityimpact.org/get-involved/category/serve


My commitment to all of you! 

I will authentically share God's work through the ministry of City Impact.  I will share these stories through my blog, e-mails, and newsletters.  

I will pray for you! I so covet your prayers, but even more so I want to know how I can be praying for each of you. 

I am willing to share our story with your church. While I may not be able to come to your church to teach, I will make every effort to communicate to your local body. I will explain to them how God is working through our partnership. 


Would you consider partnering with us in our ministry?

City Impact has a the vision: To see urban youth, families, and neighborhoods transformed from the inside out by equipping people with the Good News of God’s love and the mission:To share the transforming hope and love of Jesus Christ in urban neighborhoods through holistic youth and family programming and community investment. 

This is a tremendous calling and can not be completed without God's people faithfully giving their time, talents, and treasures to see it fulfilled. We need your help and support to make this vision a reality. Would you pray, then be faithful to the leading of the Lord.

City Impact has great website http://www.cityimpact.org/get-involved/category/give that can help you get invloved with a financial giving. Mike Friend heads up City Impact's devlopment team, his contact information can also be found on the same webpage.

Please mail donations to:

EPIC FAIL!

Sorry guys. When I copied our August newsletter into a PDF and copy; paste it in to my blog last night it really worked. NOW not so much! If you would like to see it and didn't get it e-mailed from me already; send me an e-mail and I will forward it to you!

August Newsletter!

Christmas Letter!

December 2010

 Merry Christmas from the Johnson Family!

Even as I write those words to all of you who we love and care for, it occurs to me that we soon be an ocean away from all of you during this special time of the year. 2010 proved to be an exciting year and brought many changes for our family.  The biggest change came as we accepted a position with Avant Ministries to be Team Leaders for a Short Cycle Church Plant mission in Italy. We are in the process of fundraising and God has truly blessed this ministry for us; we are just over 30% pledged of our total need with a large matching donation that is under consideration; which will put us over the 50% threshold. We are very excited about where The Lord is leading us and cannot wait to start ministering to the lost in Italy in 2012!

Caleb and Faith are both in a new school this year, Lincoln Christian, which has also been a great blessing for our family. Caleb (13 and in 8^th grade) was instantly recognized as a leader amongst his classmates and was elected to serve in Student Council. He has also been very busy with extra curricular activities including; drama, basketball, and pep band where he plays both the French horn and percussion. Faith (11 and in 6^th grade) has integrated into her new class as well. She has been a top academic performer, enjoys art and music. We recently went to her Christmas concert where she sang, had a speaking part, and played the trumpet. Even though she disliked the red bow tie and cumber bun she had to wear, she and the whole school were excellent.

Renee has done a fantastic job turning our new apartment into our home. She has an eye and passion for interior design that make our home comfy and beautiful. She has also been busy blogging about our journey into missions; www.paxromanaiv.blogspot.com and has developed a good following, I highly recommend you look into it if you haven’t yet.

I am still working full time at Target and wow, this Christmas season sure keeps me busy!  Also, I have been volunteering in ministry at Crete Berean Church. I co-lead the Oasis ministry with my brother in law Kirk and have been blessed to do most of the large group teaching. This has given me an opportunity to refine my preaching / teaching skills and I am truly appreciative. I also enjoyed volunteering to help with Caleb’s drama performances working with lights, make-up and teenagers; drama is still something I love. I have a good bit of training at Avant in February and March of next year, I will be away for three out of seven weeks, please pray that my time away from work and my family will go smoothly.

As we look forward to the upcoming year we are praying for each of you too. We are praying that God will use you to accomplish His purpose for your life. We pray that this season will be a blessing to each of you and your families. May the God of the universe remind you of the blessing poured out on the earth through His Son, Jesus Christ and we wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Johnson’s

Michael, Renee, Caleb, and Faith!

Holiday 2010 Update

Hello from The Johnson’s. We wanted to send all of supporters and prayer partners an update over the past few months. God has been leading us on this missionary journey and it has been exciting to see that affirmed over and over again as He has blessed us during this process called deputation.

The first update has to do with the leadership of our team. On October 28^th, 2010 I received an e-mail from Avant Leadership saying that Renee and I have been officially confirmed as the leaders for Avant Team Italy IV.  All I can say is that God is so great, we were not looking for this as we came into the process of becoming missionaries; but now that we are, we will lead as best we can in the model of Jesus Christ. Michael will be attending Team Leader training at Avant’s campus in Kansas City in February or March of 2011. The entire team is scheduled to go through team training in March of 2011 if all goes according to plan. Michael, as team leader, is also to be included in a survey trip to the field with Avant leadership to locate and finalize the area that we will be ministering to, also scheduled for early spring of 2011! That is up to four weeks off that Michael will need from work and away from family; please be praying for this as it looks like a big financial obstacle right now! 

We also took a trip to Chicago Illinois in October to do some team building and fund raising. We were able to stay with some of dearest friends and had a wonderful time with them. We took a trip into the city with most of our team, where we had a chance to spend the day together laughing, shopping, and touring Moody Bible College. We also had a chance to Skype with Emily, our team member in Virginia who was unable to make the trip.  While there we also had one of our members say that she was not able to commit to going with us, so we now have an opening on our team. We are praying that God will fill this void quickly and that just the right person will feel called to venture forward with us. We know what a huge step of faith going through this process is and we are in prayer for a smooth process for our newest team member.

Finally, an update on the financial side of the mission. We have been blessed to have established about a dozen commitments for financial and prayer partnership. We are at approximately 20% of our total monthly need pledged. Several of our donors have not committed a firm number as they are praying for God’s leading in partnering with us.  We also have our a request for a large matching donation, we are praying that when we hear back from all of these partners we will be at or over 50%! We ask that you would join in praying with us that God would make this happen! We will be sending out prayer cards with our Christmas cards in early December.

Lastly you can reach us by facebook, e-mail, paxromanaiv@blogspot.com or telephone if you have any questions or just want to catch up. We would also love to hear from you all if you have any prayer requests, as we are committed to praying for each and everyone who receives this letter. Thank you for your heart for the lost in Italy and seeing God’s fame being spread throughout all nations!

In Christ’s Peace,

Michael & Renee Johnson

Missionary Appointment

7.25.2010

Hello from The Johnson’s. We wanted you to be one of the first to know about what God has been doing in our lives over the past year.

Last summer Renee and Caleb took a mission trip to Kansas City and while there serving, had a chance to visit Avant Ministries. It was there, listening to a presentation on Short Cycle Church Planting (a unique vision of missions that is team based and operates on a limited timeframe, usually five years) that a seed was planted.

Also last summer, as you may know, we felt called to place our house in Omaha, NE on the market. We did so in preparation for Michael completing his bachelor’s degree and a possible move out of Nebraska for graduate schooling. This also gave us an opportunity for us to move so that Michael could work on an internship at Crete Berean Church in their youth ministries.  The time at Crete went very well and we saw God building a new movement in the youth of that area. As we began looking for full time youth ministry positions we found little success and felt God beginning to move us in a new direction.

When we stepped back and looked in hindsight at the internship, we realized that we had been on the mission field for the past nine months. We were working in a new city, ministering to a new mindset of people, and it was for a finite time. With this in mind we began to seek God’s leading for our lives and what missions may hold for our family. I filled out an interest form for Avant; several days later I was talking to their recruiter. It was during that conversation that I became convinced of the fact that we had been indeed called to work on the mission field. Only we did not know where.

In early July of 2010, our family traveled to Kansas City and went through Avant’s Candidate Orientation Program. Over two weeks we were equipped and trained in missions and we got to hear about Avant’s heart for winning the lost and some of the countries they are currently preparing teams for. Renee and I clicked instantly with several other candidates that were interested in planting churches in or around Rome, Italy. As we prayed and talked with the leadership with Avant they also felt that our leadership and life experiences were what that group needed. We were asked to pray about leading that particular team.

Upon completion of the program we were appointed as missionaries for Avant Ministries and were placed on the Short Cycle Church Planting team headed near Rome. Our plan is to be in the field in early 2012. We will travel to Avant to complete some team building exercises and a leadership-training seminar. The next twelve months will be a lot of travel to do fundraising and getting all of our affairs in order to move across the ocean. This will be a huge task, but we are confident that The Lord is with us. We are asking for your prayer through this time of transition and we hope that we can sit down to talk with you soon.

In Christ’s Peace,

Michael & Renee Johnson

What is that title all about?

koinonia: it is an ancient Greek word that means fellowship. At least if you translate word for word but that doesn't quite capture the essence of koinonia. It is a word that has action implied fellowship, but also participation in a common effort or goal. Further more it means that people are communicating on a deep level. That is the desire of my blog: to have fellowship, participate, and communicate with those that are interested in the journey that I am on. I find it some what ironic that this will happen through the anonymity of a computer but as my family, my team, and I go on our missionary journey it will be one of the best ways for us to experience koinonia with you!

It is also important for me to express that this is not just my journey, but you who are reading and praying for us are participating in the journey God has placed us on.