Next

I am a firm believer that God is always teaching, maturing and prepping us for the next move in His plan. I certainly wish that the next step for me weren't so soon. The economy is tough on all of us right now and when our personal budgets hurt so does Adventure's. I would have to be pretty egocentric to believe that the nations financial system has crashed just so I will take that next step ;) In spite of what He may or may not have wanted I know that He foresaw this coming since the beginning of time and that gives me confidence that in His plan there is a place and position that He has planned for Kristina and I. Please pray for us as we search out His will and pray for our hearts as Adventure has quickly become our home, our family and our friends.

Just to give you some more perspective on our current situation I have copied Tony's letter below.


Dear Family and Friends of Adventure,

Many of you have faced some pretty tough financial challenges over the past year. You've had to make some dramatic changes to your personal economy in order to meet your obligations. Prices are rising dramatically all around us. You've cut back. You've postponed or gone without. Some of you have had to take on second or third jobs. Others of you have lost jobs altogether and are starting from scratch. Some of you have been battling the front edge of this for four or five years. Some of you have only had to deal with the challenge of fuel prices up until recently. It has been a challenge for your family.

As a church family, we deal with many of the same challenges. We, too, are forced to make some tough calls based on getting our expenses to stay lower than our income. To do that, we have reduced, recycled, reused, and cut out completely, but we are now at that point we talked about at the beginning of the summer.

Our increasing operating expenses exceed our income, and the only remaining item we can cut is staff. It is with a heavy heart that I write this to let you know that we are closing out Travis's position on staff at Adventure.

Some of you have recently experienced being laid off or having your job position cut. Some of you have shared how your job simply quit scheduling you, and you were forced to leave in order to live. Some of you have told me that all you received was "the notice" and that was it: you were unemployed immediately. Others of you were met by a security officer, handed a box, asked to gather your things, given a few days severance pay, and issued a warning against returning to your old place of employment. We're better than that.

We love the Roehm's, so we are taking care of them beyond what many of you have received in similar situations:

- We've asked Travis to finish the month of October on staff with us and prepare his ministries for his departure. We had already planned to second him to The Bridge Church in Dubuque the next two Sundays to help them as they transition after the loss of their pastor (an area in which Travis is very gifted).

- We are going to continue to pay him in full through December 31st that's essentially a total of 84 days full severance pay from the day on which we first broke the news to him).

- We are allowing him to continue to use the office, the office and staff cell phones, the church Mac, and the office resources until December 31st as he searches for a new ministry and sorts out what God has in mind for him.

- We have also expressed to Travis a desire that he and Kristina continue to consider us their church home into the future as they seek a new mission.

I encourage you to pray for them as they explore their options. I can also tell you, personally, that I feel Travis has a great future ahead of him. Yes, it was a short stay here, but sometimes God does those things to prepare us for what is ahead. Had I not gone briefly to Ankeny, IA, I would have never ended up here in Davenport - something for which I thank God daily!

As for Adventure, we want to continue to be good stewards. Adventure's strength has always been her volunteers. We may, in some strategic areas, hire part-time staff who won't be totally dependent on the church for a living. There are some areas that simply need the attention of paid staff because of the responsibilities involved. We may need to soon make the first part-time hire in order to continue our momentum, overlapping Travis's severance period just briefly.

Thanks for your generosity and graciousness in the past, and remember to keep Roehm's, Adventure, and our nation in your prayers.