The story: As you all know, it has been our dream from first coming on staff with Revolution Five that we would train for 3-5 years, then launch our own school to teach leadership and discipleship in Nepal. We have a huge heart to disciple and train up the believers in Nepal, and to equip them to spread the gospel to their villages, and eventually the whole country. Our hearts from the beginning have been to get to Nepal as soon as possible, and plant our lives among the people there longterm. In fact, even a year and a half ago, we were planning to move to Nepal right around now. Obviously, as this email would indicate, there have been a few changes as far as this plan goes.
It started two Octobers ago. I was in Nepal, and Jocelyn was back in Colorado Springs, 7 1/2 months pregnant with our daughter Ember. That was the same trip when Jocelyn got into her major car accident. Before the accident, and my 50+ hour trip to rush back home, I met some longterm missionaries in Nepal. As I was telling them about what we felt God was calling us to, they really challenged me that our time in Nepal might not be what we thought it was going to be. I promptly decided I didn’t like them very much, and in the craziness of getting back to the US to take care of Jocelyn, forgot about the whole conversation.
Around Christmas of 2019, Joe and Anelise Couch approached Jocelyn and I about coming back for the school year of 2021 as the interim Institute Directors for that year. They had been looking for someone to fill that role, and after a lot of prayer wanted to see if we would be open to staying on one more year as they continued the search for someone who could fill it longterm. This was a big deal for us, because we were planning on moving to Nepal the summer of 2020, and this would push back our launch date. As we prayed about it, we felt like God graciously confirmed the choice He wanted us to make through scripture. As I was in my quiet time the day after Jocelyn and I had been trying to figure out the right choice, something in my reading of Luke jumped out at me. “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” -Luke 24:49. We felt that God was challenging us that He was going to send us out to Nepal, but that we needed to “stay in the city” (or stay in Rev5 in our case) until we received the additional training that this role would provide us. We told Joe and Anelise we could come back as the Institute Directors for class of 2021, and set our launch date to move to Nepal in the summer of 2021.
But as the 2020 school year came to a close, and we were looking at the start of the 2021 school year, my spirit had some growing tension in it whenever I would think about going to Nepal. I felt so certain that we were called there, but at the same time, felt like God was starting to challenge my expectations of what Nepal would be like, and the timing in which it would happen. Around this time, I also felt like God strongly impressed on my heart that we were going to be involved in Rev5 longer than I had originally anticipated.
I felt a little like Jacob in Genesis 32; like the second half of 2019 all the way through the first half of 2020 was a giant wrestling match with God. There were a lot of things Jocelyn and I felt like He was speaking to us, the confusing part was it felt like He was sending some mixed signals. Speaking and giving us a heart for discipleship in Nepal while simultaneously speaking about our calling to the states. All the while, there was a growing tensions in our nation, and a heaviness in both our hearts to see the bride of Christ be who she was made to be in the US. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function”. I guess you could say our intelligence was being tested; it was a really difficult year.
The conclusion: All of this culminated in November of this past year. We had been praying and wrestling and asking God, and seeking mentors input, and we finally felt like God made a few things very clear to us. He brought back to mind Luke 24:49, and challenged us that the command to “stay in the city” wasn’t simply for a year, but the command was to stay until we were released. As we looked at our role in Rev5, and where our nation was, and at the things that God had been impressing on our hearts, we knew the answer. We weren’t yet released. We really felt that God was challenging us to completely let go of the timing of Nepal; both when we would launch there, and how long we would live there once we moved. And instead to put down roots in the US. This sounds funny, because we’ve both always lived in the US. But our hearts had been in Nepal for a few years at that point, and even though we never left, it felt like God was in a way “calling us back” to the US, and to really make it our home for the time being. That was also really difficult, as Jocelyn and I were both determined to never get too comfortable here that we weren’t willing to leave. But we felt that God was saying it wasn’t yet the time to leave, even though it would be easier to do now than later. We are confident that He will give us the grace and strength to leave whenever it is His time.
What does this mean?
Practically, what it means is that Jocelyn and I are continuing to stay on staff at Revolution Five as the official Institute Directors. This is a big step in responsibility for us, as our main job is now running the 9 month program with the students. This past year, even though we were initially asked on only for one year, went really well. So we are excited that even though we aren’t launching into Nepal, we do feel that we are launching into more of a leadership in ministry capacity instead of simply a training role. We will continue to live off of support here in the US. Nepal is not off the table. We still have a lot of hope and expectation for being called to Nepal in the future. But the timing is off the table right now. We are not going to start trying to relaunch there until God makes it clear that it’s time. Because of this, we could be in the US for 10 or 20 more years, or we could move next year. We have simply been invited into deeper levels of surrender.
On the non-practical side of things, it means that we are in a bit of a grieving process. Especially for me, my heart still longs to be in Nepal all the time. I feel a bit like I’m mourning the death of something. Jocelyn and I were watching a mountaineering documentary recently and it had a few shots of the Nepali people… I literally had to pause the movie because of the tears coming out of my face! But it also means that we are both so excited to be continuing on with Rev5. God made it very clear to us that this is where we’re supposed to be for the time being, and we totally trust Him. We love what we’re doing with Rev5, and feel like we are living out our calling to disciple people every day that we’re in it. So it’s definitely bitter sweet, and we would very much appreciate your prayers for us as we process through this huge change of our future plans.
In summary, God has challenged us to take the timing of Nepal off the table for now. We still believe we’re called there, but will not be launching when we originally thought. We will be staying on with Revolution Five in an increased leadership capacity.
Thank you all for your prayers and belief in us. Obviously, this is a big change. And we would love to have more specific conversations with you if you have any questions! Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us, either by replying to this email or giving me a call at 816-786-7261.
We love you all and are so thankful to have such wonderful people supporting and believing in us.
-The Crafts
