Update from The Marshalls: 2010 and Beyond

Our time in Africa was powerful. It really opened our eyes and directed our hearts. We learned so much about the African landscape, with its massive spiritual and social needs. Some of the experiences we like to describe as “the best worst thing that have ever happened to us”. In the end though, we were convinced that South Africa is where we should be. We truly fell in love with the people and our hearts ache to be back with them.

Disappointment, Decompression and Refined Vision

While in South Africa we were acquainted with several really great organizations; Traditional churches, house churches, and mission teams focused on the un-reached. Our plan is to stay connected and serve these organizations. We had previously decided to work with a church plant in Cape Town, but after further investigation, we learned that it wasn’t going to be a good fit for our us.  This was disappointing because it left us with no immediate clear path back to South Africa. But as we talked with our mentors, decompressed from the year and really had a chance to meditate on what we learned it became clearer what our next steps should be.

Returning to South Africa: Inspiration, Preparation and Immigration…

We saw so much opportunity for the Gospel, and met many African leaders we really want to invest in and serve. We are certain that Cape Town, South Africa is where we want to be, long term… That being said we have decided to take some time (a year or so) to prepare before we return. There is MUCH work to do. The first hurdle is visas. It is logistically difficult to live in South Africa on volunteer visas. Volunteer visas last a limited period of time and are restrictive. We have decided to attempt immigrating to South Africa. This does not mean that we will revoke our US citizenship, rather we will pursue dual citizenship. The first step towards citizenship is finding  jobs in south africa, or starting businesses. We are really excited at the prospect of starting businesses. The entrepreneurial spirit is a huge need in South Africa. People who can create jobs, develop markets and stimulate economy are in high demand (especially in regards to web technology).

Discipleship & Entrepreneurship

Nichole and I believe our gifting in business may be something that He wants to bless Africa with. Along with simply loving Africans and seeking to bless their communities, we could potentially earn access and influence that would otherwise be unobtainable. We also feel that working and doing business in South Africa puts us in an ideal place to learn the culture. When we first started thinking of going to Africa this was our vision, it has been neat to watch things come full circle and see the vision be more defined. We recently started calling it Gospel Entrepreneurship… Starting businesses with a “double bottom-line”.

This kind of mission work will allow us to create unique community and offer holistic discipleship/development to Africans that we are working with. It would also allow us to be a valuable resource to the ministry organizations that we will be partnering with. If you would like to learn more about this kind of ministry checkout this book On Kingdom Business: Transforming Missions Through Entrepreneurial Strategies

This Year: Working, Learning, Preparing and Adopting

2010 will be a big year. We will be solidifying relationships with sending churches. We are both resuming our jobs; Nichole will be doing dental hygiene and making sure I don’t break something, and I am doing social media consulting in higher education along with launching a new business that creates mobile applications. Sojourn, our church in Louisville, has a pastors school that I will be attending to get further training.  To top this all off we feel strongly about trying to adopt a child from Africa this year. We are signing a lease for a little home in Germantown, Louisville, and hope that it will be the last lease we sign in the US for a long time. Needless to say, we need your prayers for all of these endeavors.

Your prayers and support this year have been invaluable. 2009 was a hard year, and we really couldn’t imagine having done it without all of you. The letters, notes, comments, phone calls, emails, twitters, facebooks and messages have truly blessed us.

As always, we love to get comments from you! Feel free to ask any questions too, and from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU.