What would I do for the kingdom of God?  I wish I could say with absolute certainty I would do anything.  I would be bold, relentless, and radical and nothing would stop me from serving the King in whatever capacity He called me to.  But sometimes I wonder, is there a phychological line I've drawn in the sand.  A line that I've never verbalized but still know is there?  Would I run the risk of being imprisoned, martyred, how about made fun of, or possibly losing my job in order to stand up for my Savior Jesus Christ?  If God told me to sell all my possessions and give the proceeds to the poor like he did the rich young ruler, would I do it?  What if he wanted me to give up my son like he asked of Abraham?  Could I endure being the modern day Daniel, Shadrach, Mechach, Abednego, John, Peter, or Paul?
After telling people of our plans to go to Haiti we've received a variety of different responses.  People immediately think about the poverty and the struggle to endure such circumstances.  A couple of responses that continue to come up are, "Wow, that's amazing" or "I could never do that".  It's in these responses that there is encouragement, because we are doing what God has called us to do even though it may be difficult. 
But if enduring difficulties to prove our dedication to following Christ is the goal, we've completely missed the mark.
In Matthew 9 Jesus quotes a passage in Hosea ,"I desire compassion and not sacrifice."  In Matthew 22 Jesus declares that the greatest commandment we could ever follow is to fully love God in heart, soul, and mind.  The second greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as we do ourselves.  The rest of the law is established upon these two.  1 Corinthians 13 says, "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove moutnains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing."

The better question seems to be, will I have compassion?  Will I display the love of Christ no matter where I am?  It doesn't take going to Haiti to be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, unless that is what He has called you to do.  What it takes is compassion and the putting on of love.

My family and I plan on moving to Haiti to bring compassion and love to a hurting people.  We will be using the venues of developing the community through building infrastructure and sound affordable homes in a process that will restore dignity to an inpoverished community.  Opporunities for evangelism and discipleship are already presenting themselves in amazing ways.

If you would like to learn more about what we'll be doing you can check out Paulos Group on Facebook or go to paulosgroup.org. 
We continue to look forward to the day that we will be there on the field, doing the ministry the Lord has called us to.  If you would like to partner with us by praying for us or financially supporting us we encourage you to email us at jking@paulosgroup.org. 
You can support us by going to:
www.paulosgroup.org/help/financially/ and go to the Personnel categories and select Josh and Joy King. 
Or you can send a check through the US Postal Service or your online banking to: 
Paulos Group
3170 Airmans Drive
Unit 1085-PALO
Fort Pierce, FL 34946

Joy's Testimony

Some of you may know that I grew up going to Grace Bible Church in Elmhurst.  My heart for missions began there.  I can remember anticipating missions week every year and being in total awe of the missionaries that came to speak.  I loved to hear about how God was using them.

Recently Christ has taken me down the path of becoming a missionary in Haiti.  Christ has walked along side me every step of the way in making this decision with my family. 

From the moment we began to consider the possibility of being part of a team of missionaries in Fort Liberté to our actual decision to go took approximately 8 months.  So, this decision did not come lightly.  There was a lot of prayer and teaching from the Lord, that brought us to this point.  I have no doubt this is where He is leading us.

Even though I have always been sensitive towards missions the Lord had a lot of teaching and molding to do in my life before I heeded His call to go.  Deep down I knew He was leading us to Haiti, however I had some concerns as to why I couldn’t make the actual decision to go.

My human mind couldn’t grasp the Spirit revealing to me that my excuses or concerns were worldly, made up, ideas that society has created.  For instance, we find our stability in our jobs, our community, our homes, our finances, our safety, etc.  But really, the Lord is the one who is allowing us to stay where we are in these areas and its solely by His grace.  At anytime, our jobs can be lost, our homes can be lost, and our finances found in disarray.

We tend to forget the Lord is sovereign over every aspect of our life.  So true stability is solely in Christ.

From a Godly standpoint, these excuses or concerns I had did not inline with Christ being completely sovereign over all.  I knew I had to be wise and discerning with this decision, so I needed the Lord every step of the way.   If I am digging my toes in the ground, knowing where I am to be, yet refusing because of my comfortable, “stable”, safe life, I will not feel peace.  Romans 8:6 says, “The mind set on the flesh is death, the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.”  As we speak, I feel great peace from the Lord.  And have truly come to understand the meaning of stability.

I later visited Haiti to have some of my questions answered.  Safety was one big concern I had and the other was the culture and environment.  Could I handle these?  My questions were answered within the 3rd or 4th day of visiting.  Fort Liberté is quite safe and welcoming to foreigners.  And with an adjustment period, I feel, we can handle the life there.  That doesn’t mean there aren’t dangers, however, I have to remind myself that I am inline with the Lord’s will for us and I do not want to be anywhere else.

After the Lord spent some time working in me, I could wisely decide this would be the path for our family.  I have never been closer to the Lord than I am today and it is because He has been teaching and guiding me every step of the way in this process.  Does this mean fears don’t creep up?  No It means I go to the Lord with my concern and wait for His response and as I read and study His word, pray, and seek wise counsel from others I know He will answer.

I am excited to go.  I look forward to ministry in Haiti.  When I visited Haiti and met with the Haitian people I felt, “in my element”, as though I was born to do this.  One thing I hope to do in Forte Liberte is find Deaf Haitians.  As some of you know I went to school to be an Interpeter for Deaf people, so I hope to be used in this area there.

I do pray, everyday for my kids.  I know there will be some difficult transitional moments for them as well as us and that is why we need believers in Christ to come alongside our family and be committed to praying for us.  As we all know, it is easy to set our minds on this life instead of Christ.  This is my biggest fear, losing sight of Christ through difficult times.  So, I welcome your prayer for us because it is most needed! 

Video

Please take a few minutes and watch the video posted on the side bar to the right.  It's a brief video sharing our plans of going to Haiti.  We hope you enjoy it.

http://youtu.be/mR_uEKXB7jE

The Story of God's Leading in the King Family

During the fall of 2009 I was on my way to a men's retreat in southern Ohio.  As I was traveling alone I was listening to Moody Radio.  A man was speaking about how the Lord had led him out of the comfortable position he was in and into a ministry of uncertainty.  It wasn't until this man took this step of faith that the Lord made Himself "big" in this man's life.  As I was listening to this I felt the Spirit speaking to me.  God had already shown me His Word, but in these moments He used It to begin revealing His plan for me.  There I was, an associate pastor, enjoying the ministry, living in a community we really enjoyed and loved.  But maybe this wasn't where God wanted me.  I had been wondering what was next for me in regards to ministry, but I thought I was asking that in regards to me staying at my current church.  The Lord was moving in me to do something I hadn't really considered.  After I arrived at the retreat, I stored these thoughts in my mind as I knew they were significant, but not sure why. 
A couple of months later I realized my time to move on from my current church ministry had come.  The Lord couldn't have made this any clearer.  Following Him in faith I submitted my resignation without knowing what would be next.  Resigning without another job in place was something that required faith and trust in Him to provide, for my family.  This isn't something I would encourage others to do, but in our situation, it was the only option.  It was absolutely amazing and humbling to see how the Lord provided for our financial needs in the next year.  I was able to find a job, Joy was able to increase her workload, the Lord led people to be financially generous with our family, and somehow all of our bills were, and have been, paid and on time.  As a person who often tries to bring rational thought into life's circumstances, I must admit that there isn't a way to explain this last year other than to say God was at work.
It was soon after my resignation that the Lord began to reveal where He was leading us.  On January 12th, 2010 a devastating earthquake hit Port au Prince, Haiti.  The devastation was massive.  You probably can recall what you saw on the news.  Buildings were decimated, bodies lined the streets, children became homeless and lost their parents, people were dying, the hospitals were filled, horrible living conditions were established in tent cities, and cholera broke out.  These people were in a lot of need.  I had compassion on these people, but my heart wasn't pulled in the direction of purely humanitarian work.  I knew of a missionary friend who was in Haiti so I contacted him.  He shared with me that the best way to help the region is through long-term investment and for people to join them in ministry on the field in Fort Liberte.  This perked my attention.  I continued to have phone and email conversations for quite some time with him about his vision for ministry in Haiti.  During this time I watched as the Lord continued to pull me in that direction.  It really was a surprise to me. 
I continued to interview with churches and continued to send out my resume.  For some reason I wasn't finding a ministry that I believed the Lord was calling me to.  One church I ended up visiting.  This was a really good church and I could have done well there, but I just didn't feel right about it.  It's obvious now that this was because the Lord had different plans for me. 
I realized I needed to visit Haiti so that the Lord could give me a yes or no in regards to if He wanted me to serve there.  It turned out that I had an airline ticket in my name that I could use.  I visited in May of 2010 and on the way home I came to the conclusion God was calling me there.  But I knew Joy would need to come to the same conclusion for herself.  So I never told her what I thought.  On my way home, the airline had overbooked the flight and were offering vouchers for those who would forgo their seats.  I got $400 which helped Joy pay for her ticket when she went in July.  When she left I was thinking about the other options on the table for us because I didn't believe she would come back sharing my conclusion.  When she returned, she shocked me, she said she believed the Lord was calling us to Haiti.  We agreed that the two of us needed to spend some time praying about this together.  As we prayed, we became more and more convinced that this was what He wanted of us.  Amongst many other conversations, reading God's Word, and continued prayer, we made the decision together that we were going to Haiti. 
We continue to look forward to the day that we will be there on the field, doing the ministry the Lord has called us to.  If you would like to partner with us by praying for us or financially supporting us we encourage you to email us at jking@paulosgroup.org. 
You can support us by going to:
www.paulosgroup.org/help/financially/ and go to the Personnel categories and select Josh and Joy King. 
Or you can send a check through the US Postal Service or your online banking to: 
Paulos Group
3170 Airmans Drive
Unit 1085-PALO
Fort Pierce, FL 34946

Leaving a great community

Right now my family and I live in a home and neighborhood that we absolutely love, Cuyahoga Falls, OH.  Josiah, now 6, was born in Elmhurst, IL when we lived in a small garden apartment, but we moved here when he was only 8 months old.  Hope, now 4, was born while living here.  So naturally this is the only place they've ever known as home.  Our neighborhood is full of kids that Josiah and Hope are friends with.  Every chance they get to go outside and play, that's exactly what they are doing.  Often times you will find a group of 8-10 kids playing kick the can or kickball in our backyard. 

Joy and I have built great friendships with most of our neighbors.  As a neighborhood we've put together numerous block parties, attended parties together, shared a neighborhood tool shed, and helped each other out in many different ways.  We're living in a great community. 

We've always felt like we've lived modestly, but must admit it has still been comfortable.  We haven't been able to do everything with our home that we would have liked to, but have still been able to do what was needed and a little more.  We haven't always been able to take the vacations and spend the money that some can, but we've been able to enjoy each other and the time we have together doing the things we do together.

If you like where you live and have found it to be a place you can call home, why would you leave?

My family and I have decided to leave the place we love.  We will be leaving and going somewhere that will be completely different than where we are now.  We will be moving to Fort Liberte, Haiti.  This is where you say "WHOOAA!"  A pretty drastic change huh?  After sharing this with one person he said to me, "That's a pretty difficult place huh?"  Most people are shocked and immediately have a ton of questions flood their minds questioning the wisdom of such a decision.  Trust me, we've had the same questions ourselves.  What about your kids?  What about the poverty?  What about your health?  ETC. ETC.

So why would we leave Cuyahoga Falls, OH for Fort Liberte, Haiti?  There is a very simple but very complex answer.  We are moving because God has called us to minister to the people of Fort Liberte, Haiti.

I look forward to unpacking the complexity of this decision and explaining the Lord's calling on our lives in future blogs as well as sharing with you our progress.  I look forward to what this future holds and I invite you to come along this journey with us by staying posted.