Many of you are visiting our site because we have spoken at your church recently and handed out prayer cards. Those cards are intended to serve as a regular reminder to pray for our family as we transition to this work in Zimbabwe. What we may not have mentioned, though, is that we are keeping track of how many of you are actually praying…

…Thought I’d let that mess with your mind for a second. No, we don’t have surveillance capabilities on your prayer closet. What I mean is this- the IMB has asked us to get a list of 100 specific individuals to form a “prayer team.” Many of you have verbally committed to pray for us as we go, but we need your names and contact information to become part of our team.

To be added to our official “prayer team” as well as included in the list for our *upcoming* prayer newsletter, please email pastornick130@gmail.com.

Among the many surreal moments we have had over the past few weeks, one that is certainly a highlight is the experience of getting U.S. Passports for all 7 kids. It began the day of application. Apparently both parents/legal guardians need to be present for each child who is applying, which only means one thing for us- FAMILY OUTING!

You should have seen the faces of the Post Office workers when we walked in that afternoon with all the paperwork in hand to apply for 7 brand new passports and 1 renewal (mine). To top it off, apparently early May was the time to get passports because there was already a line almost out the door when we arrived and they were all there for passports! One might have been tempted to think that we knew something everybody else didn’t :).

Despite the long line, the ladies at the Taylorsville, KY Post Office were phenomenal and got all of our kids’ pictures taken and applications sent off. After a few weeks of processing, the finished products landed in our mailbox this week and the kids have been ecstatic. Jimmy literally just stared at his for several minutes saying “Whoa” under his breath. He asked if this was like his “license.” I replied, “Well, sort of…but it’s not a license to drive, it’s a license to fly!” He seemed content with that answer.

The Passports are just a symbol to us of the reality that is coming up fast. Please be in prayer for the travel process we are about the embark upon. The journey is a long one anyway (20+ hours just in flight time, not counting layovers, etc.). Pray that the kids would have supernatural calm and compliance throughout the journey and that there would be no snags with passports, visas, or baggage along the way! Thanks to all of you who are holding the rope so faithfully!

Most of my interactions these days seem to begin something like this, “Are y’all about ready to get going?” While I realize most people probably mean psychological readiness, when we hear “ready” our minds cannot help but revert to a single word- CRATING! Those of you who speak with us often have likely heard us use this word a number of times. But for any/all who would like a glimpse into our lives over the next month and a half, here is a brief primer on the glamorous world of “crating.”

Basically, for M’s traveling to less-developed areas, the company allots a certain amount of cubic feet for shipping personal items and/or items that may not be available in country. For our family, between the 400 cubic feet for Kyndra and I and the 100 cubic feet allotted per child, we are looking at a whopping 1100 cubic feet to fill. While this doesn’t sound like much, it is probably way more than we will actually use. Some of the main questions we are using right now to prioritize what to crate are: “What do we actually need?” “What can we buy cheaper here than there?,” and “What will we need within the first few months of our term and what can we wait on?” Once we have a list narrowed down (huge thanks to Taylor and Jess Wolfe for all of their guidance/help in this area) we get a moving company onsite to pack up. And this is the beginning of a journey.

The moving company will begin by wrapping and packing all of our stuff (that we aren’t putting in luggage for the initial trip) into 200 cu ft. wooden crates like this one.

Once these wooden crates are loaded, the moving company will then transport these crates by truck to their shipyard where they will be packed into 20 foot international shipping containers. You may recognize these containers from “Doomsday Preppers” fame. And while we won’t be using ours for a post-apocalyptic dwelling, it will contain a good deal of our livelihood and earthly possessions.

This is the portion of the journey where we can especially use your PRAYERS! The shipping container with all of our belongings will not be allowed to leave the shipyard until we have obtained a Temporary Employment Permit (TEP) from the Republic of Zimbabwe. This is the visa I will need in order to be able to enter and reside within the country for a year and be employed as a theological seminary professor. I will not bore you with all of the documents we must supply in order to obtain this permit, but suffice it to say they stop just short of requiring a vital organ (although we do need a full chest X-ray for every family member to certify we are not importing any infectious diseases!). A specific prayer request in this regard would be to pray that all of our documentation would be approved on the FIRST SUBMISSION! Apparently there has been a trend recently of having the first submission denied and a TEP only granted upon appeal. Please pray that we are approved the first time through and do not have any delays due to a visa appeals process.

As I mentioned, this process also affects our shipping. The sooner we obtain a TEP, the sooner our container can leave the shipyard and be loaded onto one of these (eat your heart out Captain Phillips) and can begin the journey to Africa.

The way I understand it, once the container reaches this point in the process, the projected travel time to our doorstep in Zim is only about 8-10 weeks. So (theoretically) if we can get this TEP approved while we are going through training in Richmond (July-Sep), then we can head on to the field in early October and only 2-3 months would go by before our crate full of supplies arrives. Please pray that the process will happen in this way as this would make the transition for our family so much easier!

Thanks for all of you who have prayed for this process up to this point. Please continue laboring with us by presenting these requests to the God who is not limited by any port policies or international visas.

 

These are words I have found myself uttering time and time again throughout this process of calling, assessment/appointment, and now deployment. It seems that around every corner there has been yet another connection linking our family to the work that has been done and continues to be done in Zimbabwe- Connections that at times seem so random and yet so providential that all we can say is, “Small World, But No Coincidence.”

One such connection came about through a series of email exchanges I had a while back regarding shipping theological resources to Africa. At the time, my interest was motivated by the situation at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe (BTSZ- I will explain more on this situation in a later post) and the need to rebuild a solid theological library there. Some friends of mine and I were able to collect a relatively small amount of resources and carry them over by hand, but this strategy would not be workable in the long run as it was both cumbersome and expensive. But as God’s providence would have it, I was soon able to get connected with a ministry called Book-Link International. It’s founder and president Olin Williams and his wife Ernestine are retired school teachers, but in their twilight years have been passionately committed to gathering, sorting, and shipping theological/educational materials overseas for over a decade. Book-Link is truly global ministry, but is based not far from where we live, right here in my home state of Kentucky!

In my desire to send more resources overseas, and specifically to Zimbabwe, I contacted Olin. It was then, in one of those “Small World, But No Coincidence” moments, that I learned Olin and Ernestine were not only committed to sending resources overseas, but had actually served a term as Master’s missionaries with the IMB in Zimbabwe from 1998-2000. During that time, Olin established a great relationship with BTSZ and was in fact currently in the process of collecting materials for a container to be sent there in Summer 2015. It is amazing to see the way God works out His plan in His timing. This container which Olin has been laboring for years to fill will contain thousands of volumes that will now likely arrive right around the time my family hits the field to begin the task of theological education. The Lord indeed provides for His work!

As though this gift weren’t enough, one final touch of God’s goodness was an offer Olin made. He asked if I had any personal resources I would like to ship to Zimbabwe but didn’t want to pay to ship myself. Little did he know he was asking that question to a certified bibliophile (“lover of books,” a.k.a. any Southern Seminary student) who had been frantically looking for an option to take my resources overseas with me when we go. In God’s good kindness, through the efforts of Book-Link International, I was able to pack up my entire personal library and it will be included in the container headed to Zim this summer (below is a pic of part of this shipment with me standing in front for scale).

Last Saturday, a group of men from Redemption Hill helped me pack up these resources and transport them to Book-Link’s headquarters in Eubank, KY (thanks Daniel, Dave, Mason, and Seth). Then this past Thursday, a couple of us returned to meet and help unload a shipment from Southwestern Seminary. A group of the faculty there (led by Dr. Brent Ray) had collected an entire U-Haul truck-load (shown above) of volumes to send to BTSZ. Another “Small World, But No Coincidence” moment came when we realized that the driver of the U-Haul was an SWBTS student who was commissioned as a new Missionary alongside us last week here in Louisville! The Lord continues to use His people in providential (and non-coincidental) ways to provide for the work He plans to do. Please pray that this shipment would make it in one piece to its destination, free from weather damage, theft, and/or exorbitant taxation!

And while you are praying, be sure to thank God for Book-Link International and for faithful servants like Olin and Ernestine Williams who (well into their retirement years) are still tirelessly and faithfully serving the Lord for the sake of His glory among the peoples of Zimbabwe.

It all started with what seemed like a passing thought…maybe a dream…a dream of a dream even. Highview Spencer County Campus had been meeting in a school facility for over 6 years. If you have ever had anything to do with “mobile ministry” you know that 6 years of setting up, tearing down, driving/parking trailers, maintaining/replacing mobile equipment, moving last minute due to school schedules, etc. can feel like an eternity. As grateful as we were for all that God was doing through a temporary location, we were ready for  Him to provide a permanent one. So we began to pray intently for just that. That’s where the journey began…

In the Fall of 2011, a visitor we had never seen before came to attend one of our Sunday services. None of our staff recognized her, but as it turned out she was the neighbor of one of our members. As they greeted one another, the lady let our member know that her church (Parkland Hills Baptist) met on the other end of town and that they were in the process of praying about God’s next steps for them. Their pastor had retired and they were coming to the end of a mission agreement with their mother church (Parkland Baptist in Louisville) and didn’t know what the future might hold. I’m not sure who initiated what, but the end result of that conversation was a phone call to me asking if I might be interested in talking about a potential partnership.

My first call was to this lady to see what kinds of ideas she might have in mind. My next call was to the only staff member listed on Parkland Hills’ website, Mike Gross (currently an RH member). Through these conversations, it was unclear to me what any kind of partnership might look like. There was of course no handbook or paradigm for the kind of conversation we were having, but we continued to pray. I remember laying in bed one night with Kyndra literally unable to sleep thinking about the possibility of our congregation somehow partnering with Parkland Hills in a way that might enable us to become more permanently rooted in Spencer County. But this would have to be a work of God. It would be entirely up to Him to make something out of this “nothing.”

Over the next few weeks, I began to get word from more contacts about this conversation. Chief among those was Pastor Tom Curry of Parkland Baptist Church. Tom and I met for coffee the Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2011 and started tossing around some ideas for what a potential partnership might look like between Highview Spencer County Campus and Parkland Hills Baptist Church. If memory serves me well, the idea that was born from that meeting is what would eventually become Redemption Hill Baptist Church! In subsequent conversations with the leadership at Highview, it began to become more clear that the Lord was up to something special. Over the next few weeks and months it was decided that Highview and Parkland would embark on a joint-venture to plant a new autonomous church on the edge of Spencer County.

(First joint-service with both congregations together)

God had answered our prayers, but we had a lot of work to do! Those who were there early on remember that much of this work was somewhat tedious. We formed a “Vision Team” comprised of representatives from both congregations to start laying out what this new church plant might look like. Constitution, by-laws, mission statement, core values, church covenant, leadership structure, etc., all of this had to be hammered out and agreed upon before we could move forward. Much of this work was also very physical. The space needs of Parkland Hills were starkly different than those of our Highview campus, so there was a TON of renovation to do.

 

Finally after months of HARD structural work (both physical and organizational) and the addition of yet a third congregation into this venture (shoutout to you Gathering peeps!) Redemption Hill was born!

In June of 2012 we began our “core group” phase during which we inducted our initial charter members. Then, in August of 2012, Redemption Hill officially went public. The only words I can think of to describe the ride from that point are “hold on tight.” It is absolutely amazing to look back through these pictures and think about all that God has done in this place over the nearly 3 years we’ve been together as a church. The ministry that has been accomplished, the moments we’ve shared, the memories we’ve made, and the lives that have been changed. It is purely a work of God’s miraculous grace that has brought us to this point. And as the song says, it is this same miraculous grace that will lead us home.

This past Sunday we celebrated (I use that word loosely 🙂 my final Sunday preaching at Redemption Hill. Thank you so much to all who made this such a special day for us. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement, your thoughtful cards and notes, your generous gifts, but most of all for just being Redemption Hill. I looked around Sunday morning and resonated with the Apostle John’s words in 3 Jn 4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” The greatest gift I could have (and did) receive as an out-going pastor was to simply see your faithfulness, heart for the Lord, and love for His church put on full display!

As we begin this new chapter of our lives and ministry, we do so knowing that we have the greatest church in the world behind us praying, giving, and going to help advance this good news alongside us to the ends of the earth.

Thank you Redemption Hill. To God be the glory, great things he hath done!

This past week has been a whirlwind of emotion and information as we have finally completed the phase of our process known as “Appointment.” As we have realized with so many things along this journey, God’s timing and plan are absolutely perfect. Originally we were slated for an appointment week in Mississippi, but were delayed due to insufficient medical information. We were then moved to an appointment in Houston, TX, but were delayed a second time due to an issue with kids education info. After this second delay, we were beginning to get discouraged thinking we might never be able to get to this point in the process. But then I sent a text….

I asked a friend of mine if he knew where the next appointment service would be held. And then, like music to my eyes, the response came…”Highview Baptist Church in Louisville.” We instantly knew that the delays had been for good reason. What a gift from the Father! First of all because of the location. While neither of the prior locations were bad, there definitely would have been a lot more for us to consider regarding logistics (namely childcare). Having the appointment here in our hometown of Louisville meant we had many dear friends from Redemption Hill (our sending church) who were able to help us look after our brood while we were in training/orientation all day everyday for nearly a week (huge thank you to all who served in this way!). The location was also ideal for our church, family, and friends to be within driving distance of the appointment service. But equally meaningful as the location was the venue. Highview Baptist is the first church Kyndra and I joined as a married couple and also the first church where I served on staff (for over 5 years). Only God can work out details like these!

Appointment week was a sweet time of getting to see old friends and meet many new ones. We had an especially great time getting to know two other couples headed to our same Affinity (Sub-Saharan Africa). It was awesome to see firsthand the army God is raising up to send out into a world shrouded in darkness with the glorious light of the Gospel. These are sweet brothers and sisters with whom our hearts were bonded immediately. Please pray for the rest of their process as well and the work they are going to do in the SSA Affinity.

In addition to meeting new people, we were also able to be briefed on many issues related to our new role within the company (IMB) and what life is going to look like in the coming months and years after our appointment. Throughout this process, we were consistently affirmed in God’s calling on our lives as well as our confidence in the organization God has raised up at this time in the SBC to facilitate local churches sending God-called missionaries. Perhaps you have read some of the press releases about the decisions made this week by our Trustees. If not, you can get a general picture here and here. Long story short, it is an exciting time to be a Southern Baptist and particularly to be part of the International Mission Board. There was a surreal moment this week when I looked down at my new company name tag and thanked the Lord for what He is doing to mobilize the SBC to the nations. The fact that we get to be part of this still boggles my mind!

The culmination of appointment week was, of course, the appointment service. Wednesday night well over 2,000 people gathered at Highview Baptist Church East Campus to celebrate what God is doing in sending 34 full-time missionaries and their 27 children. The service overall was incredible with meaningful worship and a challenging message from Dr. Platt. But by far the most poignant portion of the service for us was the prayer time for those being sent. As family, friends, and loved ones gathered around us to pray, I looked up and got a small glimpse of all the people God has sovereignly placed in our lives over these past 11 years. All I could think of was Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” 

As of this week we have been officially appointed as IMB missionaries. What an honor and privilege! But we understand we didn’t get here alone. We are looking to the example of those who have gone before us as well as the prayers and support of those who are running alongside of us. We want to give a huge thanks to all who came out and showed their support Wednesday night. It was a service we will not soon forget and this was a moment that will serve as a constant reminder of all who are praying for us and cheering us on as we seek to make Christ known to the peoples of Zimbabwe!

Thanks for visiting our weblog. You may be wondering where we got the title. If you haven’t already put the pieces together, “Abundantly Moore” comes from two sources. 1) It’s obviously a play on our last name (or “surname” as they say in Zim). But 2) (and more importantly) the wordplay comes from a portion of Ephesians 3:20-21 which says, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

This verse perfectly summarizes how we feel about the mission that lay before us. As we think about moving our small army to southern Africa to engage in the much needed task of leadership training/theological education, we fully understand that if we attempt this venture in the power of our own flesh, we are doomed to fast failure. The only glimmer of hope we have for success is by leaning into the One who is able to do “abundantly more” than all we ask or think, according to HIS power at work within us! This blog title is more than a blog title, it is a prayer that God would bring about His glory through us in the churches of Zimbabwe.

(As a side note, the word “abundant” also happens to describe our family photo fairly well 🙂

Thanks for following!