TheLionRampant.net

If you’re wondering what we’ve been up to, it’s been quite a lot. Bryce has jetted away for RUF training in Atlanta and our denomination’s yearly meeting (PCA’s General Assembly) in Orlando. He was not a fan of the humidity and reportedly has said that’s what he thinks hell must be like. He had a lovely time with Jonathan, Sam, and the Strains as well as the Wheatleys from New Song, in Salt Lake.

It’s come time for us to move and we are still without a place to live. So Bryce is packing up our car and he and our beagle will be hitting the open road together on Friday morning to make the 12-hour trek to Salt Lake City. I hope he takes some pictures with our dog at the big thermometer and at the stateline rollercoaster outside of Las Vegas. I’m really hoping he’ll tweet the whole thing and take pics sort of like the traveling gnome pictures from the movie “Amelie”. (If you’re on Twitter, follow him at @bahales).

But back to the point. I’ll fly out to Salt Lake with our boys once Bryce finds a place to live. I’m hoping it’ll just be a few days later because we have a little toddler boy who will really miss his daddy. Please be thinking of us as we prepare to move and quickly find a place to live. We’ll let you know how things go once we’re on the other side.

I apologize for my lack of posting of late. Things have been hectic!

Memorial Day weekend we flew (all 4 of us) to Salt Lake City to look for a place to live. We had each had about 4 hours of sleep that night as we had to clean our house for those house-sitting and pack for a family of four. We woke up the kiddos early to jump a plane and made it with 2 suitcases, 2 car seats, 1 stroller, 1 Ergo carrier, 1 Moby wrap, 1 diaper bag, 1 briefcase and 2 kids onto the plane. I’m still thanking God for a compassionate TSA worker who waved us into the 10-minute-1st-class waiting line for security rather than the 45+ minute line for all the rest of us. Both kids did well on the flights. Naps and getting out of the car every 30 minutes while we drove around the city were an entirely different story. I spent most of the weekend either on my iPhone finding out how to get from here to there or sandwiched between 2 car seats while trying to breastfeed an infant so he wouldn’t get hysterical. We very much enjoyed the gracious hospitality of the Wheatleys, the pastor and fam of New Song Pres, and Ezra loved chasing their animals and asking for the girls of the house to pick him up. Church at New Song was wonderful. The service seemed a lovely mix of formal liturgy but executed in a laid-back Western (as opposed to New England Eastern, Southern, etc.) style that fit us. Ezra loved the nursery and the picnic afterwards and we loved meeting so many people; we already feel at home.

We got a call Saturday that the PODS we were to have dropped in our driveway which would allow us to pack up all our possessions didn’t fit so they would drop off one and then the other later in the week. This meant that though we were exhausted Sunday night when we got home that we had to stay up and get everything pretty much packed up out of our San Diego house before Tuesday afternoon, when the packers (who would pack up our kitchen, breakables and move furniture) would arrive. The whole week was really a blur. Packing, cleaning, trying to prevent total hysterical meltdowns because the toddler’s world was uprooted was pretty nuts. We stayed in Orange County with my parents and drove back and forth to get it all done.

Sunday we drove down for our last service at Harbor Pres Mira Mesa and had a lovely farewell bbq that afternoon. We then made it back to OC where Bryce promptly left for RUF training in Atlanta. He comes back tomorrow and we have a family very eager to welcome Daddy back!

Now we’re at my folks’ through June and will be moving out to Salt Lake for July 1. We’re fundraising this month and I’m going to try to get some concentrated work done on my PhD as well. Below are some pictures if your interested in seeing some of what we’ve been up to.

Traveling!

Ezra walking with Nana to go swimming

Sending family pictures to Daddy

Porter (or “Po-Po” according to Ezra)

Below is an e-mail we’ve written to update our financial and prayer supporters about the newest change in our lives (besides having another baby!). If this is all quite new to you, feel free as well to ask questions in the comments section. We’d love to think through relevant issues about our upcoming move with our readers. If you’d like to be added to our e-mail list, please let us know in the comments section.

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As you may know, Ashley and I completed the PCA’s MNA Church Planters Assessment in February 2008 and since then have been at Harbor Presbyterian Church (San Diego, CA) doing a church planting apprenticeship. As we’ve considered our calling and present circumstances, we feel that the timing and opportunity is right for us to do campus ministry through the PCA’s Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) now, ministering to students at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City.

Since winter 2008 we have pursued several options for church planting once we finish the year at Harbor. As always we have found that God’s plans do not fit neatly into our own. We have wrestled with our calling and giftedness, and wondered if church planting is indeed where we are called. As we now pursue RUF, we do not think that we are being called away from church planting, but instead are going to be involved in church planting in a different way than we expected. We see RUF as an integral part of the burgeoning church planting movement in Utah—campus ministry is an ideal way to connect with the future leaders of the church. We are excited to be a part of the church planting movement through our work with RUF, while further developing our gifts for an eventual church plant in the future.
We wanted to take this opportunity to share with you why we feel like this is where God is leading us, and ask you to pray with us as we seek God’s leading. As Ashley and I have been thinking and praying about our sense of call to ministry recently, the following circumstances cause us to see God’s leading us to RUF at the University of Utah.

Pioneering Context…
I have always had a sense that my call to ministry was to a “pioneering” environment, as opposed to pastoring in an area where there is a church on every corner. Ashley and I both grew up on the West Coast and feel that we’re best suited to ministry in the West, a pioneering context for the PCA. We are excited by figuring out how to contextualize the gospel in an area where there is such an obvious need for Jesus. What is energizing to me is not only developing gospel solutions to complex problems but also developing the requisite strategies from the ground up. It is clear to us that all of these issues would be required to develop an RUF ministry at the University of Utah.

Urban and University Environment…
Ashley and I are drawn to ministry in an urban, largely secular context. Having lived in Edinburgh, Scotland, for graduate school, we discovered how much we love the complexities of city life, particularly situated around the University. In ministry we tend to attract people that take an intellectual approach to their lives and faith, which makes us well suited to campus ministry. We don’t feel threatened by an intellectualism or theories of truth that stand at odds with the Bible; rather we enjoy engaging people who are seeking truth. My wife is an English professor and we have both enjoyed opportunities to both teach and mentor college students in the past. College is a time when people are open to exploring different ideas and we look forward to creating a safe place that helps students pursue truth, build community and serve the University.

Challenges and Opportunities for Growth…
This past year we have been wrestling with our call to ministry and our particular strengths and weaknesses. In my apprenticeship at Harbor, I’ve been working on developing weaknesses highlighted in MNA’s Assessment: gathering and involvement in evangelism. While we have had ample opportunities to work on these areas and are growing in them, we’re excited that doing RUF at the University of Utah will allow us to continue to develop these areas as we also build on our strengths. From where we sit, the challenge of starting RUF at the University looks daunting, however there are countless opportunities for God to pour out His grace on college students and on us; the prospect of seeing God at work in this way is irresistible.

Tentative Timeline…
Here’s a tentative timeline of what the next couple of months look like as we move towards RUF at the University of Utah:
April 1 – Bryce interviewed with RUF committee from Northern California Presbytery and was recommended
April 7 – Mission Utah (local church planting network) meeting approved the Hales for RUF at the University, and grant funding for approximately 50% of ministry expenses
Mid-May – Bryce and Ashley interview with national RUF coordinators, seeking final approval for RUF at the University
May-June –
Bryce concludes work at Harbor Presbyterian Church
Bryce and Ashley raise prayer support for RUF ministry
Bryce and Ashley raise financial support for RUF ministry
Bryce finalizes transitional logistics
The Hales family moves to Salt Lake City
July –
The Hales settle in to Salt Lake City, begin networking
Bryce attends RUF staff training in Atlanta
August – The Hales begin campus ministry at the University of Utah

Please Pray…
As you can see, God has brought us through a lot in the last year. At this point all indications are that we will be moving forward to begin RUF ministry at the University of Utah. If you pray, we would appreciate your prayers in the following areas:
-Pray that God would confirm his calling to RUF at the University of Utah
-Pray for the necessary approvals from the PCA’s denominational and regional committees
-Pray for the transitional logistics of moving our family from San Diego to Salt Lake City
-Pray for our family, including our sons Ezra and Porter, as we seek to create a home life that nurtures our children and serves others
-Pray for God to provide the funding and prayer support we need to begin RUF ministry
-Pray that God would be at work in us, enabling us to love him and preparing us to fulfill the ministry to which he calls us
-Pray for the students we are seeking to serve

More information about RUF is available at www.ruf.org

Thanks for your support and friendship!

Peace,
Bryce & Ashley