Where in the world is Nashua, New Hampshire???

Yes, it has been many months since the last installment of "Tate Time".  We have made quite a few changes in those months and everyone has asked to have an update so here goes.  When I last blogged Max was a budding 6th grader, Sam had turned 3 years old and Dave had celebrated 5 years as youth pastor at New Prospect.  Well, since that last entry, God has done quite a work in the hearts of the Tate family.  Dave and I have long had a desire to serve in some missions capacity.  We didn't have any idea what, where or how.  We actually began the application process with the IMB (International Mission Board) twice in the 13 years we have been married but always felt it was not the right time.  Were we on our time?  Were we on God's time or in His will for us?  Why did we want to go on the mission field? Were we not being content where God had planted us?  All these questions have been asked between us over the last decade.  Not really having an answer, if there really is an answer to those, we continued to serve but did not follow through with the call to missions.  Then, in the spring of last year we truly took a look at where we were and where we felt God wanted us to be.  We began to feel unsettled but didn't know why.  We had great ministries at our church, Dave with the youth and I had a great group of ladies to join in, and at times lead, bible study.  Max and Sam had Awana's and their friends and just had a sense of fitting in.  So why, at a time like this, were we feeling so restless?  We had been reading a couple of different books that just spoke to us about what it means to be a Christian in America and how have we let our culture influence the way we view God.  We realized that in being so comfortable, we had become Christians who were depending on ourselves, and on our abilities instead of on God. I began studying the book of Acts on my own, chapter by chapter, verse by verse.  Every day a new truth was revealed to me about the early Church.  A new view of fellowship, following and of faith began to take shape in my mind and heart.  I would tell Dave about what God was saying to me through His word and Dave would confirm that he was having the same feelings and thoughts.  The more we looked at Paul's missionary journeys in Acts, the more we knew our calling was to go and go now!  We began to look at all the mission opportunities that were available to us.  We looked at international missions but never felt a peace or a calling to a particular place. Through our reading and research we felt like we were meant to stay in the USA so we started researching all missions opportunities.  We came across the term MSC missionary but didn't really know what that was so we looked into it further.  Mission Service Corps missionaries are a group of believers who fill most of the mission positions with NAMB.  They are church planters, church strengtheners, college students, adults who work with college students, retired couples, singles, families with kids...the list could go on and on.  As we looked at the need for people just like us to come along side a church or enter into and area to share God's love and salvation we were ultimately drawn to become MSC church strengtheners.  There were position requests from all over the United States.  We even got a call from a Korean congregation in Alaska!  Talk about foreign missions!!  As we searched and talked with people from all over the country, we came in contact with a church in New Hampshire. The pastor there shared his heart with us and the MSC coordinators for New England were also members of the congregation (and they are from Greenwood, SC...but they've been in NH for 32 years!)  We went to visit last fall and the rest is, well, history in the making.  We are now in the process of selling our house and moving to Nashua, NH to serve the New England area as MSC missionaries.  David is already there but the boys and I will remain in Spartanburg to allow Max to finish school and get the house in order.  God is faithful. He told us to go and tell and through faith, we are answering that call in the way He is leading us.  Thank you to all our friends and families who have, and are, supporting us through prayer, financially and many other countless ways.  We love you and hope to use this blog to keep you updated on our journey. 

"Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think- according to the power that works in you- to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21

Love to you all,
Shannon