I was recently told that my position at Crown Financial Ministries was going to be eliminated and I would have the option of staying with the ministry and taking on the Caribbean. While this was an incredibly attractive offer (especially during this unusually long and cold winter), it would also require taking my fund-raising efforts from $35,000/year to $120,000/year.

With much prayer and consideration for our new marriage, Rocio (my fiancee) and I both felt it was time to part ways with Crown. We don’t know what God has next for us, but your prayers for this transition are coveted.

I will miss my time with this great organization. Since college, it’s been all I’ve known. I leave behind a joint effort with hundreds of personal prayer and financial supporters. Together God has used us to do great things. Here’s a quick recap of some of my favorite memories during my time at Crown:

Interning with Dave Rae – The former President of Apple Canada housed me and poured his life into mine for a couple years, and I still root for the American’s against his Canucks. The ungrateful audacity of me. Smile.

Meeting Larry Burkett - I don’t think I’ve eaten Fruit Loops since.

FX03 – Our big plans were never fully realized but Chancy Burrell, Hope Welborn, Liz Hart (Kelley), Tim Krauss and Marianne Ramsey (Krauss), Megan Pawlos (Pacheco), Joanna Royal and I made for a heck of a summer experience for 8 college students, and a cool short-term missions program came out of it.

Traveling with and being mentored by Dr. Dick Wynn – This man still is my hero. It’s a goal of mine to make it to more countries with Rocio then I have been to with Dick Wynn. This will take some time.

Interns – Elicia Olsen, Ashlyn Ward (Bishop), Anna Soliven (Rosado), Michele Scott, Felix von Keyserlingk (Germany), Alex Morrison, and Christina Wolverton made a huge impact while they were here. They raised their own funds so they could serve people with God’s truth on stewardship. And there’s one more…Enkhtuya Purvee (Mongolia) is about to serve with Crown Taiwan.

Andrés Panasiuk’s call out for the nations to thank and pray for the United States in their language – We had just finished praying for the nations at the 2004 Crown Reunion. Following Andres’ lead, the nations then turned and thanked God for us. Humbling, unifying and awe-inspiring, I was right next to my friend Richard Samuel from India. The way he passionately cried out to God in Tamil made me weep.

12Stone’s Small Group’s round-the-clock prayer support for my Pakistan trip – For the first and only time I remember, I experienced fear before an international trip. I mentioned this to my co-leader, Jessica Roberts (Brothers). She recruited 24 people from a couple of the 12Stone Single’s Small Groups to pray for me 24-7 while I was there. This completely overwhelmed me.

Like-minded discussions with Chuck Bentley on how to help Crown serve the poor – We’d get so into it, he seemed to always have to postpone or cancel a meeting or two. His pressing has helped grow my passion for serving people in poverty. So grateful he would give his time so generously to me.

Dr. Suparno’s devotional on stewardship and the Cross – He patiently and powerfully pointed out why all stewardship ultimately points to the cross. His humility and passion for Jesus has marked me.

The intern from Hawaii that was my opposite – When Anna Soliven (Rosado) started her internship, she made a point of saying her gifting was to help make inefficient things become efficient (I might have said my gifting was to make efficient things become inefficient). She’s put up with countless tangents and “tools” of creativity over the past 4+ years, and she has given and sacrificed much for the people of Crown ignite! and our global field staff. As a brand new mother, her son and whatever else she lends her attention to will be blessed.

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Wow. And that was just a snippet. God has been incredibly generous.

If you’re one of my friends who have worked or volunteered at Crown over the last 9 years, I’d be honored to hear some of your favorite memories (or your perspective on mine above).