After a great deal of prayer over the previous six months or so, we believe that our heavenly Father is calling us to take a role on the campus ministry leadership team of the Pacific Southwest Region.
There are many of you who hear this for the first time. Some of you received an email from us about five weeks ago. We would love to be able to walk through the entire process with all of you, so if you would please take a moment after reading this and send us your current email, we will send that longer explanation.
In short, this fall we received a phone call asking us to consider a move that would broaden our scope of ministry and oversight. We have received these phone calls in the past and prayerfully considered each inquiry, but it became apparent that the Lord would have us to pursue this opportunity a bit further than previous conversations. As we prayed, it became increasingly clear that it was time for us to move to a new frontier.
The Pacific Southwest Region is composed of California, Arizona and Hawaii along with the southern portion of Nevada. Our new ministry role will allow us to give broader oversight to the region in the United States with the greatest number of students, the greatest diversity of students as well as the greatest number of international students. At the same time, this region is among the least churched areas of the country.
Honestly, this letter is so hard to write because on one hand we firmly believe that God is leading us to make this enormous move, and we are full of excitement over the opportunities that we will have to trust Him as we move forward in faith. On the other hand, we are experiencing real loss as we anticipate leaving our family, friends, and a fruitful ministry here in St. Louis.
These times of changes give us pause to reflect on how the Lord has blessed us. More than ever, we would deeply appreciate your prayers as we put our house on the market and as we begin the process of visiting with people about joining us as ministry partners in light of the increased expenses of living in Southern California.
Thanks so much for your love and care for us.
When are you going to make the move?
Simply put, we don’t know. We are putting our house on the market next week, Lord willing. (If you know of someone looking to buy in Kirkwood, please send them our direction!) Then, we will be responsible to raise our financial support to meet the expenses of moving as well as the on-going expenses of living in Southern California. We would like to be on location for the kids to start school this fall, but God will have to work miracles in order for this move to take place so quickly. We know that the market is challenging right now to sell homes, but God is still sovereign. We believe that He has called us this direction and will provide everything we need in His timing.
Do you know where you will live?
No, not yet. We will live in Southern California because the regional office is in Irvine. Some of the staff live in north San Diego country while others live in Orange County. This is another area where we will wait on the Lord.
How are the kids adjusting to the news?
We have our good days and our difficult days. Just like us, the kids love their friends and living in St. Louis. They have days when they are really sad to be leaving and days when they get excited about what the future will hold. Mackenzie, in particular, has hard days, having just finished her first year of high school. She’s made lots of friends, and we’re really proud of how she has transitioned to public school. She is, of course, disappointed to go through it all again.
What is compelling about this role and location?
We will communicate more about this later, but the sheer number of students is staggering. There are 3.5 million college students in the Pacific Southwest Region. In addition to the sheer size, there are cultural challenges that make launching and establishing student-led movements formidable. We believe that the Lord is calling us to move toward this “giant in the land.” Our experience with the San Diego Summer Project over the last 11 years has been something we believe the Lord has used to prepare us for this move. From a relational standpoint, we are looking forward to working with a great team who are already on the ground there.
Will Dan continue to help oversee the summer mission and training opportunities for the campus ministry?
At this point, the answer will be ‘yes.’ It is a great privilege to help mobilize thousands of students and CCC staff members to take the gospel all over the world—we don’t hear the Lord calling us away from this yet.
Will you still be needing financial support?
Yes, your partnership is just as important as ever. Our needs will increase significantly with this relocation. We will be spending the summer working to expand our team of ministry partners. For those of you who are already giving financially, the system for your contributions will remain the same. You will continue to receive the same return envelopes with our names and account numbers.
What will happen with the campus ministry in St. Louis?
I saved this for last because we I have good news to report. Tim and Aubrey Dorsch will begin to lead the team here in St. Louis beginning this summer. They will have a great (but a bit thin!) team around them as they start the fall semester. I am excited that Lee and Laura Watkins, Stefan and Beth Helm and JB and Abbie Windle will be among those who remain to give on-going leadership. Lee Watkins will assume the leadership role with the medical students.
We often talk about movements growing to the point where they possess “self-sustaining local resources.” Since Tim and Aubrey (like so many others on our team) have graduated from St. Louis area schools (Tim from Wash U and Aubrey from Webster), we are seeing laborers from this harvest field now leading in reaching St. Louis. This is another evidence of the good fruit of your faithful partnership over the years. Please keep the team in your prayers through the summer and the fall. As we leave, the team here is smaller still because Justin and Kate Stringer—two of our St. Louis area staff—along with a couple new staff members, will be moving to Springfield to give leadership to our team at Missouri State University and throughout southwest Missouri. We praise God that He continues to multiply leaders from St. Louis to move forward in reaching out to others everywhere.
How can we help?
Please do send us your current email address (to dan.allan@uscm.org). We’d love to be able to cut our paper and postage expenses and keep all of you more current, as we continue to partner together in this new place.
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