A New Direction

Some History Ever since I was a young kid, I have enjoyed programming as a hobby. I have been programming at home since I was 12 years old. When I go into a bookstore, for example, I read programming books for fun. It's simply how I was wired. When Amy and I began to do ministry at Long Beach State, we realized that we were lacking in software that we needed to do our ministry. Keeping track of students and contacts is a pretty complex business and no software existed which covered what we were doing in ministry. So I set to work on programming something that would help us in our personal ministry at Long Beach. This work eventually helped us in doing our ministry here in Davis and we made it available to other ministries to use as well.

A CallingWhen we were at the national staff conference in Colorado this past summer, I thought about whether or not I should program anymore. I had been working intermittently on my software for eight years and although it was a help to my ministry, I didn't see it going beyond my personal ministry and I wondered if it was distracting from my purpose in ministry. I had seen God close many doors as I offered my technology to other staff and had come to the conclusion that the door for this purpose in my ministry was closed and I shouldn't program anymore. I believed that if God wanted me to program, He would make that clear. I told Amy about this. The next morning, when I came down to breakfast, Amy told me that Jason Chandler was staying at our hotel. Jason Chandler oversees the web development for Crusade. Amy said, "There are no other Crusade Staff staying here but us and the Chandlers, that looks like an open door to me." I prayed a small prayer to God, "God what are you doing opening a door like this, you're just dragging this out. Now I have to see where this leads and I really don't want to ask someone to look at my software once again when my work is just going to get rejected." I assumed that Jason was way too busy to deal with some little staff member like me who is just puttering around with programming. Nevertheless, Jason met with me. I started to get confused. Why wasn't God closing this door? He knew that once it was opened, I needed to see where it led. Jason said what I had programmed was terrific work and that there were 4 or 5 different jobs that I was perfect for in Orlando (in the Crusade International Headquarters). That meeting led to a teleconference with another missionary in Orlando who directed programers for the Campus ministry in the US. He wanted to meet me in person and arranged for me to take a vision trip there. When I arrived in Orlando, I realized that the campus ministry's programming department was understaffed. This explained the lack of software for ministry and why so much work had to be done by hand by staffmembers on the field like myself. I quickly realized that there is no bigger impact I could have right now than resourcing 1000's of others to do ministry more effectively.

Confirmation We have decided to transfer to Orlando, but initially we were a little bit confused by the call there. It was not at all where we expected God would lead us in ministry ever. But God confirmed this decision to me. I was reading a book, Red Moon Rising, about the 24-7 prayer movement that was growing around the world. It told the story of how one church began praying 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and how it spread from church to church throughout Europe. Before I read this I had been questioning my decision for a transfer and the more I read the more I began to seriously regret my decision. I wanted to work on the field, I wanted to see a movement like this explode around the world. What was I doing? The book said that the founder promised in a speech at their first conference that the movement would be taken world-wide and that the churches would be connected through a website. In retrospect He didn't know why he had said that. He didn't know how to program and he didn't know anyone who did. He said it before he thought about what he was promising. The next morning, he received an email from someone who was at the conference. The email contained a link to the website he had described the previous night. He later met with the man who made the website to ask him about how he made the website so fast. The man turned out to once have worked for a large company, keeping their computers working. He stated he had taken a trip in an airplane and received a vision from God. He said when he looked out a window on the plane he saw a vision of points of light kept in connection with one another all over the globe. He knew in his heart what God was showing him and he was supposed to be part of making that happen. Originally he didn't know how, but he quit his job, and wandered, searching for God's direction. When he heard the founder of the 24-7 prayer movement, he knew that he was the one God called to program their site. In this way, God enabled the movement to become worldwide and reach nations all over the world. When I read this, it was like God was telling me, "You think programming is less spiritual than running a movement but that is your hangup. I'm calling you to serve me here. Like I called this man with little information, I am calling you and I want you to trust me."

I know this is a radical change of direction, but I also know that God is calling us here. God is right, the man who programs for the ministry serves just as vital of a role as the man who runs a movement. I found out that there are maybe 1 or 2 people in the nation who can do what I'm being called on to do, and neither have my experience in leading a movement and knowledge of what staff on the field need. I don't know why God called us here or what He has in store for us, but I know that He has something big in store.

Thank you for your continued support of our ministry, pray for us as we make this transition next fall. Much Love, Ken