ESBS RELOCATES TO FLORIDA!
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When we moved to Lake Lure, Tom was concerned that the
mountains there were too small and the temperature too hot (yes, insert chuckle/scoff/snarl here).
Yet, over the course of 9 years, our hearts filled with love for this
place and its people. Lake Lure
became a home we never thought we’d leave as we discovered just what these
mountains had to offer. I (Julia) birthed
2 new lives here and figured my hair would grey and face would wrinkle watching
our children forge friendships with families at the small church and hometown
school we love. We lived alongside
ESBS students, saw them come and learn and grow, and saw God grow a wonderful staff community around the school. We grew too, as ESBS flourished where God planted us.
Over the past two years, God has continued to grow the ESBS community, as He's made our hearts ready to
respond to the next adventure ahead...a move...a rebirth for the school...and a call to leave this wonderful mountain town, for the place He’s taking us next.
We’re moving the school to a community called Oviedo, just outside of Orlando, to plant it at a thriving and exciting conference center there. Here's how this all came about:
In November 2014, Tom and Caleb met for lunch in Lake Lure
with Jon Davis, the Executive Director of Canterbury Conference Center in
Oviedo, Florida. He happened to be
in Lake Lure and Caleb knew him, partly because Canterbury was the place Caleb
first heard about ESBS and made the decision to come and be a student
here. As Tom and Caleb shared
about our search for a new location, Jon was instantly excited and invited us to come check out Canterbury. Our program was a perfect match for his vision of seeing a long-term discipleship community form at Canterbury.
A week after meeting Jon, Tom and I were in Hawaii. He was teaching at a YWAM school and we
were also celebrating our 10 year anniversary. On our first morning there we stepped out onto the streets
of Kona at 5:30 a.m. and the first person we ran into "randomly" was a man named Dave Behring,
someone we’d never met, but who happens to be on the Board of Directors for Canterbury,
and who was the one who initially encouraged Caleb Ives to apply for ESBS
(while they were at Canterbury together 4 years ago). He and his wife were in Kona for an art show. We were surprised to meet him like that, and we chatted
about what had just happened at Canterbury. He had already heard about it. He prayed for us right there on the sidewalk. It was a wonderfully weird experience!
As we've searched for a new location over the past year we’ve
sensed the Lord saying that He’s going to provide the place and when He does,
it will be like a sailboat whose sails become full of wind blowing and pushing
it. It will be like the sun rising
and where there was darkness, there will all of the sudden be
illumination. It will be like
opening a present on Christmas morning.
We feel like now the Lord is bringing these words to fulfillment by
providing Canterbury Conference Center as the new home for the ESBS.
In December 2014 six of us from the ESBS community flew to
Canterbury to officially explore a partnership. After several great days of meetings we said “no” to the
partnership and decided to continue to pursue a location in Lake Lure. In may ways Tom led that decision,
keeping the school in Lake Lure was something he’d always wanted to do, and we
had an open door with a property there at the time. We announced the decision to stay in Lake Lure in January 2015.
In April plans to remain in Lake Lure began to deteriorate. Our ministry model had already outgrown
the facility we were moving into. As we began to move in, it became clear to us all that we couldn’t do what God was
asking us to do there. The
property couldn't
facilitate growth. After discussions
with the owners, we chose to discontinue the planned rental agreement.
A partnership with Canterbury was obviously an open door we needed to re-investigate.
By early May we had been back down to Oviedo once more, for
three more days of meetings with Canterbury, and we’d achieved a working
partnership. By May 11th both boards had approved the move, and by
June 3 all of our ministry supplies had been relocated to Florida. When God moves…sometimes you just have
to hold on tight.
Our first morning at Canterbury in May, before the meetings
began, Julia and I participated in morning prayer on the campus. There were two scripture readings for
the day. We were asked to read
them both. The first one was from
Deuteronomy 8. “Remember the long
way that the Lord your God has lead you these 40 years in the wilderness, in
order to humble you, to test you to see what was in your heart, whether or not
you would keep his commandments….for the Lord your God is bringing you into a
good land…where you will lack nothing…you will bless the Lord your God for the
good land he is bringing you into…(Deut 8:2-10 parts omitted). Julia was asked to read that scripture,
and I saw the tears well up in her eyes as we both felt those words impacting
our hearts. Next I (Tom) was asked
to read from Luke 9:18-27 “If any want to become my followers, let them take up
their cross and follow me, for those who want to save their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.”
God was speaking.
The meetings were a huge success, and a strong partnership was created.
Emmaus Ministries will operate in partnership with
Canterbury much like it did with Lurecrest. We will maintain our own 501(c)3 status. Our curriculum, calendar, costs and
staff will not change. What WILL change is that we will be
integrating ourselves into a campus that has deep connections in Central Florida,
and where the school will have a much higher visibility than it ever did in
Lake Lure. College groups and
ecumenical ministry fellowships meet on Canterbury’s campus on a weekly basis. Youth ministry training, and church
leadership training also happen there regularly. Additionally Canterbury operates in partnership with the
Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, which is the most conservative and
orthodox Episcopal diocese we’ve ever seen. The diocese has been very receptive to the partnership we’ve
created, and we’re so excited to see all the ways that God will plug us into
what He’s doing there.
So, we’re excited about this new season for Emmaus, and for
our community of staff members.
Currently we have three families and two singles transitioning out of Lake
Lure and towards Oviedo. The past
month has been a wild ride for all of us, but we’re so confident that God is up to something
good. After 9 years at
Lurecrest, we are THRILLED to follow God into this new adventure. We all feel like Emmaus Ministries is positioned to really grow and thrive in Florida. This partnership is
replete with signs of God’s providence.
We stand in awe of His provision, and with heart of faith we say “yes”
to the leading of God towards the “Good land” he is calling us into.
Tom and Julia