Why I’m quitting my job

As you may know, my wife and I currently live in York, England. We see the spiritual need in the UK and have it on our hearts to serve as missionaries here. In the future we hope plant a church in Scotland, Lord willing.

At the moment we are serving at Calvary Chapel York, specifically on staff at the Bible College. This is a wonderful home for us and is a significant ministry in itself, as each semester we have around 60 students coming from all over the world to study God’s Word and grow in a deeper commitment and relationship with Him.

Most of the staff here are full-time, but I’ve been working a full-time job to support us. This job, however, is just getting in the way of our real service and purpose for being here. I have been able to teach one class a semester but virtually no free time beyond that for student discipleship or anything else.

All this to say, we believe the Lord has told Tasha and I that I need to quit my job and go full-time serving at the church and Bible College beginning next semester (September).

This is both exciting and scary. Exciting because this is what we want to do. But scary because my job is our main source of income. By quitting, we will be in the Lord’s hands, relying upon Him for financial provision month by month. We will be several hundred pounds short of needs each month unless something changes before then.

However, we could share many stories of God’s provision for us, including my job, our apartment, and even finding each other. We are confident that when we look back on this situation, it will be just another story of how the Lord provided miraculously.

Where you come in

This is where you come in. If you have stumbled on this blog or are a regular reader, please pray that the Lord will provide our needs and open the doors for us to pursue this ministry. The Lord has called us, so He will provide, but His provision includes the prayers of His people.

If you want to support us financially, you can contact:

  • Me at lindsaykennedy@calvarychapel.com
  • Calvary Chapel Bothell at missions@ccbothell.com. They are our main supporting church in the USA and finances can be directed through them.

What this means for the blog

  • If you’re still reading by this point, the original reason for this blog was to talk about my ‘digital seminary’ experience: independently studying with (mostly free) resources. I haven’t had as much time to pursue this as I originally thought, so with this new change I expect the blog will continue to grow.
    • Book interactions. Originally I hoped to interact more with books (particularly the bigger ones) on this blog. Now that my personal study will involve scheduled time for this, I’ll finally be able to do it.
    • My ‘digital seminary’ experience. I plan to take free courses online and will share my experience doing so and recommendations for others who are studying the Word independently like me.
    • Basically, much more of the same. I will continue to review books and post resources and interviews, so just expect more!

What I will be doing at Calvary York

Specifically, here’s what being full-time at Calvary Chapel York Bible College will look like next semester (Lord willing):

  • Teaching 2-3 classes. Two of them are settled: Philippians/Colossians and Christ & the Cross – a class I’m in the process of putting together. More on that later.
  • Discipleship. A big part of the experience here is not just found in the classroom but also in personal discipleship. Tasha and I are planning to use our time wisely and focus on building up these students in the Lord while we still have them here.
  • The Website. I plan to overhaul the website for the church and Bible College and increase our online presence.
  • Leading outreaches. We are still praying for St. Andrews and will be leading more outreach trips, specifically to St. Andrews
  • Other practical needs.
  • More personal study. I prayed and considered (again) pursuing seminary, but for a number of reasons we decided against it. Instead, I will be taking free classes online and ‘making’ some of my own. Since I hope to plant a church in the near future, I want to spend as much time now in the Word as possible. Also, I’m going to be plugging into learning Greek.

Please be praying that the Lord will continue to provide for us, and give us the faith to trust Him in this new change!