have you ever noticed that leaves don’t really have any particular desires of where they’re blown and even if they did, you wouldn’t know it? they simply submit to the will of the wind. that’s how amanda and i have really strived to live as much as possible; submitting ourselves to the will of the Holy Spirit and letting Him take us wherever He desires. it’s not always easy, certainly not always convenient, and can often be abrupt. but isn’t it amazing how when you give God the control, you always ultimately find yourself in a much better destination (whether physically or spiritually) than you ever dreamed possible?

we moved back to austin, tx in september of last year… only 5 months ago! we were so excited to be here and have felt the leadership of the Lord the entire time we’ve been privileged to be back. we have held loosely to it though, rather than clutching with a white-knuckled, kung fu grip, as is very tempting when you love a city and a church as much as we have loved austin and the austin stone… but now the winds have changed recently and we submit willingly… and eagerly!

on march 1 (less than a month away! YIKES!), we will be relocating yet again to the great city of st. louis, mo where i will begin partnering with the journey church as a worship leader and pastor. needless to say, i am extremely excited… you really can’t have any idea how pumped i am! i will be working alongside lead pastor darrin patrick who also happens to be an acts29 network leader, and close friend of my current pastor (they’re writing a book together actually!).

this is a pretty amazing opportunity for us and we would certainly appreciate your prayers in the coming months. thanks guys!

grace and peace,
stephen miller

i was recently asked the following question, after God was gracious to supply a new guitar to replace my stolen one. i was praising Him for his goodness and received this question… if you have ever had a question like this, i hope my response is an encouragement to you…

question:
“So, God buys you a new guitar, but destroys Haiti? Or is God only responsible for the good things that happen? I’m not trying to be rude, I’m genuinely interested in hearing an explanation. I’m sure you’ve heard that question before.”

response:
bro, i totally get this question. it’s hard for me to grasp how haiti’s disaster could have happened under the control of my God who so loved the world that He gave his only Son to save those who were lost if they would only believe in Him and make Him their Lord (john 3:16). hurricane katrina, the tsunami a few years back… all of it. i will say this…
God gives good gifts to His children in the way that a good father gives good gifts to his kids that he loves. and he works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. because of this, every good and perfect gift that i receive, i know is either directly, or indirectly from Him (matt. 7:11, james 1:17, romans 8:28).
my home. my family. my health. my income, friends, church, talents and job. everything good is from Him. this is called grace, whether general grace ( like the sunrise shines on the just and unjust alike) or specific (“because I belong to Christ, i receive a blessing…”)
God is good. there is no evil in Him. there is mercy. there is love. there is justice, grace, compassion and holiness. and because there are all of those things, there is an utter hatred for all things evil… particularly sin.
so in the same way that there is general grace (good things that come to all people because God is good), there is also a general wrath, or judgement being poured out on sin (romans 1:18-19, 3:23, 6:23). every many has sinned… from the time the first man and woman, adam and eve, ate the fruit in the garden. i’m a sinner, you’re a sinner. americans, chinese, africans and australians are sinners. and because of our sin, there is justice, and therefore consequences. on the specific and personal level there are two forms of this consequence. 1. either Jesus took the blame for us and paid the penalty on the cross, and we receive His grace, OR 2. we pay the penalty ourselves for eternity in hell. however, on the general scale, i would say that because all creation is subject to the effects of our fall and our sin, we have an imperfect world that we live in as a consequence. people murder people. children are molested. wars happen and thousands die. punks take over planes and run them into a couple of buildings and thousands die. tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes happen and thousands die. all creation is subjected to futility because of sin (romans 8:20).
i don’t think people should be asking, “why did this happen to haiti?” as much as we should be asking, “why doesn’t this happen to everyone everywhere, because we’re all sinful.”
crazy dudes like pat robertson ask the question, “what did the haitians do to deserve this.” people with a right view of their own sin ask, “why doesn’t this happen to me? i’m just as sinful as they were!”
and it’s in moments like this that we look at our lives, and our sin and repent… remembering that we are not inherently good. we are inherently evil and unless we repent, our fate is worse that that of many of those who died in the haitian earthquake. our hope is no longer in ourselves or our own righteousness, but our gracious and compassionate savior Jesus, who loved us enough to give himself up for us on the cross. and not even just that, but that He was God and the grave couldn’t hold Him, but he defeated death, and therefore defeated sin so that we could be saved. there is grace even in situations like this earthquake, where beauty will come out of the ashes, and there will be strength arising from the despair and there will be gladness from all the mourning because many will take this moment and realize that they need a savior and that nothing other than Jesus will do…
i pray that you are one of them…

For almost a year now, we have been discussing, praying through and seeking wisdom about what our family’s next step is. Last year around this time, we were seriously considering adoption, but as we began to learn more and more about foster care we started considering pursuing that as well. So we took the class to be certified, filled out the paperwork, and all the other things that we needed to complete before we would be able to have children in our homes to care for in the absence of their parents. There was only one problem. We weren’t sure how long God would have us remain in Houston. And with that, we decided, for stability’s sake, that we needed to delay until God had us in a more permanent location.

August of 2009 came and went, and we had left Sugar Creek where I was on staff as a worship pastor. God was moving us on to itinerant worship ministry for a season and we were going to be moving back to Austin. This was it! The moment we’d been waiting for! We could now start foster care! We took our CPR and First Aid classes, finished most of the paperwork, got our fire inspection, etc. and were practically ready to pull the trigger, but still weren’t at peace. I knew that at some point God was wanting us to be foster parents, but just wasn’t sure if NOW was that time. I genuinely felt like the Lord was saying wait a little longer. Amanda and I discussed it and prayed together at length and she let me know she had been feeling the same way, which was a major confirmation. The more we prayed about it, the more we felt that foster care wasn’t going to be just a short season in our lives. We don’t want to do it for 6 months or a year and then then move on to other things like adoption, but rather we see foster care as being more of an ongoing mission in our lives. Something that once we start, we continue for quite some time. That being said, we have also felt strongly about adopting internationally for several years now. To take a child from a different country, different culture, different religion and make them our own. It’s such a picture to the world of what God has done for us. So what now?

It has been over a month now since we began praying about adoption again. This is something that has always been on my heart and mind to do. But more specifically – we’ve been praying about international adoption lately. Amanda had been saying how badly she felt that God was leading us to adopt from Kazakhstan. Honestly, I thought we would adopt domestically first. The more I prayed about it in secret, and we prayed about it together, the more the Lord began to sway my heart that He was passionate about international adoption for us. We want to have an inter-racial family to display with our lives that God is the God of all nations and skin colors and languages and that we are passionate about what He is passionate about. We also want to adopt from a nation where the gospel is scarce and our child would otherwise not have had a chance to know Jesus Christ.

And so here we are, completely and totally surrendered, ready for what the Lord is getting ready to do in us that will completely change our lives forever! We want to adopt! We believe the Lord is calling us to adopt! So we’re adopting. And Here’s why:

1. Because God has put it in our hearts to have another child.

2. Because God set the example for adoption by adopting us and making us His sons and daughters when we were not His, and even still, heirs with Christ! (Rom. 8:15, Gal. 4:5, Eph. 1:5)

3. Because God desires the hope of the Gospel to spread to all nations through international adoption, displayed by Jesus shedding his blood to purchase for Himself people from every nation. (Rev. 5:9)

4. Because God loves the orphan and has given us the gift of adoption that we might care for him. (James 1:27, Deut. 10:18)

5. Because in caring for the orphan we care caring for Jesus Himself. (Matt. 25:40)

6. We want to be a walking display of the Gospel and an encouragement and inspiration to all who watch our lives to adopt as well, that God would get all the glory from His bride embracing mercy and loving justice.

Certainly there are many obstacles, but mainly regarding the cost. This adoption is going to cost somewhere in the ball park of $25,000-$30,000, and will take about a year to complete once our funds are raised. But I believe that God is in this. That He began this work in us and He will carry it to completion. I believe that because God cares about the orphan and about His church standing up for justice and adopting orphans that He will provide the money. At some point very soon we will begin the fundraising process and I would ask that if God lays it on your heart to give, please do. However, right now, our biggest need is prayer. Please come alongside us and pray that God would continue to guide our path with the light of His glory. That He would continue to give us wisdom and discernment. And that He would order our steps and teach us His will in this. We will keep you posted along the way.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen and Amanda Miller