Big News from the Waggoners

Dear Friends and Family,
The day has come to fill you in on some major life changes going on with the Waggoner family! Only a handful of individuals have known about these plans and only in the last few days have we started sharing with family and some close friends. 

Since our marriage in the summer of 1999 Nathan and I have lived and worked at the WGM Student Center on the campus of Asbury College (now, Asbury University).  Hosting missionaries on a weekly basis, promoting missions awareness on campus, and mobilizing students to serve on the field has been a wonderful blessing, fulfilling our desire to be involved in missions work since childhood.  We've been told by more than one person that we have the best job in our organization, and we couldn't agree more.  On top of investing in the lives of students, we have heard numerous stories of individuals who have followed God's calling in their lives, from a variety of backgrounds to as many different kinds of ministries.  One thing we have seen is how God matches those individuals' skill sets, passions, and training in ways that only He could to grow the Kingdom in far off (and nearby) places.  

Our desire from day one has been to be open to whatever God might have for us.  In our position we have certainly been exposed to the need for laborers in the harvest field, both through personal testimonies and through firsthand exposure through leading mission teams.  Our hearts have been grown and broken in proportion to our awareness of the need, and it is great.  Nevertheless, we haven't felt that nudge or sensed God's release to a new place of work or ministry until recently.  Last month we were approached about a need and our hearts quickened in a new way.  Trying to temper our excitement, we prayed for some conversations to take place over Christmas and further doors to open.  At each step we have received affirmation and wanted to share with you that we will be preparing to move to Albania in 2013 as missionaries on special assignment with WGM, working with Planters Seed Foundation, the ministry established by Cydil's parents in 1993.

While this may seem very 'out of the blue', we have sensed God doing a new work in our hearts in the past couple of years. To use the analogy from the book Soul Shift (deNeff/Drury), the tectonic plates of spiritual growth have been moving below the surface and now you are witnessing the earthquake.  Many of you might think that saying "yes" to God in this, particularly at this stage in life, would be incredibly scary. After all, we are pretty established (probably never more so). We love our church. Nathan is serving on the board and we are leading a small group. Cydil has been blessed and spiritually mentored by an amazing group of women in her Titus Womens Bible study group. Our adoptive families group is flourishing and they are some of our best friends here, understanding our family and helping us in so many intangible ways. And finally, the student ministry has never been healthier. Our Sunday evening fellowships are limited only by the size of our building. Our leadership team of students love Jesus and are committed to the mission of the center and love our kids.  This feels like home. 

In spite of all that, while we will grieve those losses, we sense that this opportunity, this window, wouldn't stay open forever, and at risk of caving to fear and disbelief like the children of Israel at the threshold of the promised land, we are proceeding lest we miss out on even greater blessing.  We have a limited time on earth and we want to make the most of each and every year he blesses us with. Saying "yes" has not been difficult (though I'm sure there will be many difficult days ahead) because we have had to exercise faith and say "yes" to God before and he has proven himself faithful, over and over again. Our kids are our living testimonies to that.

In the process of hammering out the logistics of such a transition, we have agreed to finish this academic year and move out of the center apartment this summer. The plan right now is for us to move to central Illinois where we will live in my grandparents' farm house (they moved to 'town' about 7 years ago and my parents care for the house now as it's the hub of the farming business) and embark on fundraising and training.  Our tentative 'goal' for reaching Albania is probably late summer or fall of 2013.  The ministries in Albania seem poised to transition to the next level.  Next week we will be leaving on a scouting trip to talk with the Planters national staff to see where we will plug ourselves in.  We are most excited about working in the capacity of discipleship since this is so much of what we have been doing here in college ministry.

Some days I feel faint with anxiety over the details of moving. Since this has come together rather quickly, we had already committed to much in the next 6 months (you know us!).  We are going to be traveling a LOT between now and June 30 (3 international trips, 1 trip to AZ, 2 trips to IL, 1 trip to GA, 1 trip to IN, and 1 trip to Ohio -- that we know of).  Not all members of our little family are going on each of these trips, but still, my mind is reeling with all that must be done!  This of course is a prayer request for us.  

Another significant prayer request is the search for our replacements here at the center.  In many ways the ministry here is our 'baby' and we want to turn it over to safe hands where we know it will be cared for and nurtured.  We trust though that as God has been preparing our hearts, he is making provision and preparing the hearts of those who come to steward this after us.  

Thank you for standing with us, loving us, supporting us and praying for us.

Your family in Christ, 

The Waggoners

Nathan, Cydil, Ellie and Reni


(P.S.  And if you've been lurking around here but never became a 'follower' or left a comment and want to let us know you'll be upholding us in prayer -- you can leave a comment or join our team as a 'member' on right -- it will mean a lot to us!).




the video below was captured Sunday night just prior to the start of Global Cafe` -- Ellie gets a lesson in percussion from Doug (Asbury '12