Our “Thai”venture has Begun

When we committed to moving to Thailand and joining the SCPI team we knew the most difficult aspect of this move would be living so far away from our families. So we said our goodbyes and shed a few tears, knowing no matter how hard it seemed, we were doing what God desires for us. If it wasn’t for this confidence in our call I’m not sure we would have been able to board the plane last Monday morning.

Speaking of planes, our journey to Thailand was long and tiring, but God was very gracious. If you have children then I’m sure you can imagine how terrible 28 hours of plane travel could be with a 1 year old. That being said, it really wasn’t all that bad. Tripp made lots of friends on the plane, including all the flight attendants. They had a lot of fun carrying him up and down the aisles showing him off to everyone on the plane, while Leeza and I benefited from the special attention and very attentive service. (Yay for having a cute and outgoing kid!)

Our first week in Bangkok has been very busy, but we are really enjoying exploring the city and discovering all that the city has to offer. This week we have had 2 major priorities, getting Leeza integrated at her school and finding a place to live. We spent most days this week looking at apartments all around the city. Bangkok is pretty easy to navigate, but we did a lot of walking and it is very hot here. Needless to say, we are exhausted, but it all paid off. We moved into our apartment on Wednesday. It is going to be a great little home for us this next year and is located in a quiet and safe neighborhood that is very close to both Leeza’s school and the area where we will be launching the church plant. I know I say this time and time again, but God’s provision blows me away! He gives us more than we could imagine and we are so grateful for that.

One really cool thing about our apartment is our neighbors. A couple that work with Leeza live right down the hall from us. One of the things we are praising God for this week is all the connections and relationships we are developing with many of the other new teachers at Leeza’s school. We have met some great people from all walks of life and from many parts of the world and we look forward to the opportunities to bless and serve these wonderful people.

Over the next weeks we will continue to get settled in and adjust to life in Bangkok. School will officially start for Leeza and I will begin meeting with the rest of the SCPI team to begin preparing for the launch of the church plant. Thank you for your love, prayers and support. We have been so encouraged by the many texts, emails, and Facebook comments! We serve an awesome God and we are blessed that He has given us this wonderful opportunity.

Here’s how you can continue to pray for us…

1.     We have 2 leads on nannies for Tripp. Both of them would allow for us to share with another family, which would be ideal! Figuring out childcare is our priority for this next week.

2.     The sale of our home is scheduled to be finalized on September 1^st. This is our 3^rd contract though, so we know that nothing is final until those closing papers are signed. Pray that all goes well.

3.     Finally, moving to Thailand has ended up being a bit more expensive than we had originally expected. Therefore, we currently have a need to raise an additional $3500 (around $300 a month) for our first year’s budget. We are doing everything we can to cut our costs, but we would appreciate your prayers in this. Also, please share our blog posts with your friends and family. We want to give as many people as possible the opportunity to invest in what God is doing here in South Asia.

Blessings,

Carl, Leeza, and Tripp

The "pressure cooker"

        Have you ever heard the expression that the mission field is like a pressure cooker? No? Neither had Carl and I till we had a conversation with our brother in law who is the executive director of  www.haitibiblemission.com. He and my sister and their two kids live in Jeremie, Haiti on the mission field and have years of wisdom that we will be utilizing. He told us that a great misconception about missions is that people think it's like church camp, like you are going to be spiritually fed and have this gospel centered experience that's going to grow your faith and walk with Christ. While there is growth while on the missions field, it's not the type of growth one might think. You see, he stated that being a missionary is equivalent to being in a pressure cooker, the faith and truth that you already possess are going to be tested by the stress and circumstances that God allows you to experience, and the result - the true state of your heart and walk. 

    This "pressure cooker" analogy could not be more true for Carl and I in this season.  We are officially 3 days away from moving to literally, the other side of the world. Our original travel date was set for July 21st, however miscommunication and lack of information delayed our date. To make a long story short this process has not been the easiest. Two days ago we were in Tallahassee picking up documents to then drive to Coral Gables to finally process our visas.  By Gods grace we will be on the plane on Monday and in Thailand Tuesday night, and I get to start work early Wednesday morning (that's a whole different story 😉 ). At the end of the day - God is good, He wants us in Thailand , and Carl and I have began the cooking process. Thank you all for your continued love and support, we will continue to update you all as we get to Bangkok. 


Blessings, 

Carl, Leeza and Tripp Belcher 

The Fruit of June

Hello friends! We can hardly believe it, but we are less than 3 weeks away from boarding the plane and embarking on our journey to Bangkok. June has been quite the month… we have much to celebrate, but we have also faced a setback or two as well.

            Leeza and I have been covenant members at Summit Church for over 5 years now. On Sunday, June 14^th we were commissioned and prayed over by our church body as they send us out to engage in giving every man, woman, and child in South Asia access to the gospel. Summit has been such a blessing to our family over the years and we are incredibly grateful that God has allowed us to be a part of this church body for the last 8 years. What a joy it is to know that as we GO, we will always have a home and a church family back in Fort Myers. We also took this opportunity to dedicate our son Tripp. Tripp’s dedication was a time for us to publicly proclaim to God, our church, and our family and friends that we recognize that Tripp is a gift and a blessing from God and that he is ultimately God’s child. Therefore, we dedicate him back to God and commit to do all within our power to raise him up in the loving knowledge of God and to disciple him to the best of our ability. Our greatest hope as Tripp’s parents is that as he grows, his love for God would grow as well.

            We took some time this month to enjoy our family while we  still can. We spent 8 days at my uncle’s lake house in Kentucky. This was a great time of refueling and fellowship. Tripp loves to swim, so he had a blast too! One of the hardest things for us about moving to Thailand is leaving behind our family. Leeza and I have been blessed with wonderful loving and supportive families whom we love and enjoy dearly. We will miss you all so much!!! But we know God is calling us to go.

We told you in our last update that we were set to close on our house on June 23^rd. Unfortunately that deal did not go through. We have sense had another contract on our home, but again, it did not go through. I will not lie. This is a huge burden for us; we really need to sell it. But we are not going to let this slow us down. We are getting on that plane whether it is sold or not and we will trust God and his timing for the sale of our home.

With that in mind, here’s how you can continue to support us in this transitional season…

1.     Would you please pray for us?

a.     Pray that we would get another good offer on our home soon and be able to sell it as soon as possible

b.     Pray for our travels (28 hours with a 1 year old is going to be very difficult)

c.      Pray for us to find an apartment & childcare for Tripp

2.     Would you continue to Share our story and our ministry with SCPI?

3.     Would you consider supporting us financially? With our home not selling as expected we have had some unexpected expenses and need to raise an additional $2000 to help with those. You can give at (www.Reliant.org/carl.belcher)

The Perfect Plan

          Hello all, how are you? Can I just start by giving you a big {HUG} and a Thank you! Carl and I are just blown away by YOU, and how God is using you to encourage and love us well.

For those of you who don’t know, the journey to Thailand only began about 5-6 months ago when Carl was actively pursuing our next step as a family and his calling in ministry. Carl, being the God fearing man that he is, began praying and seeking wisdom for what God would have for us. On a number of different occasions God used different men in Carl’s life to point us towards this opportunity with SCPI in Thailand in order for Carl to pursue his passion for global missions. At this point in life we had just taken on a five year old foster child, I had begun a second job with Florida Virtual School (With hopes of staying home with our kids next year), and we had a 5 month old.—So clearly these suggestions were just meant to amuse us… Very funny God.

    As time passed and with Thailand not being a ‘real’ option for our family, Carl began to pursue other avenues for our family, maybe an associate pastor? Maybe a church plant? Or finish his Masters in Divinity? None of these felt like where God wanted us right now.

Carl and I have stated that as a family we would posture ourselves with a “blank check” mentality. Whatever the cost, if God called, we would go… BUT THAILAND? Really God?-- God slowly broke our hearts for his calling. The Word of God convicted both of us, at different points in time. Would we be the Rich Ruler in Luke not willing to sell everything and go? Had the “blank check” been something we were saying for these years but not willing to act on? God, in only the way he can, slowly brought us both to a posture of surrender. On March 8^th, 2015 we both agreed, no matter the mess it will bring, we are ready to be sent. In God’s perfect grace he turned our reluctant submission into abounding joy. Carl and I could not be more thrilled to have an opportunity to be a part of the great works God is already doing in South Asia. How great is HE? That he would not just call us, but provide for us the mercies of his Godly Joy?

Tripp helping me pack

Now if that were not enough God has continued to amaze us by providing us with every earthly need to be able to go in such a short time. By God’s grace, I already have a contracted position with an international school teaching 6^th grade, we have a contract on our house and are slated to close on June 23^rd, and we have been overwhelmed by the financial support that God has already provided through many of you. Thank you Lord!

God Is Good! And we are thankful. Moving forward in this journey we would continue to ask you for a few things-

1.    Would you continue to Pray for us?

a.    Pray that God would continue to give us grace in the moving process.

b.    Pray that the closing of our house would go seamlessly and we could be free of that burden

c.    Pray for us to find an apartment in Thailand & childcare for Tripp

2.    Would you continue to Share our story and what SCPI is doing in Asia?

3.    Would you consider supporting us financially? (reliant.org/carl.belcher) 

Thank you again for all of your love and support. We will update you again soon on more details of the move.

Blessings,

Carl, Leeza and Tripp Belcher

Family and Friends,

We are excited to announce that in July Leeza and I will moving to Bangkok to be a part of what God is doing through Saturation Church Planting International (SCPI) in South Asia.

Bangkok has 14 million people who desperately need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Bangkok is the world’s #1 tourist destination and has over 1 million expats. But only 0.3% of the 14 million people in Bangkok are Evangelical Christians. Through our partnership with Reliant/GCM we will be serving with SCPI in Bangkok and the surrounding nations including India, Sri Lanka, and China. In Bangkok our ministry focus is to plant a church for the nearly 6 million people in Bangkok who speak English. Our hope in planting this church is to give every man, woman, and child in Bangkok a repeated opportunity to see, hear, and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ, without having to come or go anywhere. We will also be partnering with indigenous pastors all throughout South Asia, envisioning, training, and coaching them to mobilize their churches to saturate their nation with the gospel. In the last 20 years we have helped to facilitate the planting of thousands of churches through these trainings and the relationships.

Reliant/GCM partners with missional churches and gospel-centered non-profits to mobilize support-based missionaries for the Great Commission. God has called us to the nations and to go and serve him in Bangkok and throughout South Asia. But in order for us to do this, we need a team of people who believe in what we’re doing in South Asia to prayerfully and financially support the ministry. SCPI would not exist without the support of these ministry partners.

We are trusting God to provide individuals who will make monthly investments of $100, $50, or $35 in the critical work of reaching South Asia for Christ. We do have a wide range of gifts however, ranging from $25 to $500 per month. A one time special gift can also be made and is very helpful as well. We are currently trying to raise $35,300 per year. We would like to challenge you to give as the Lord leads and know that any gift will be greatly appreciated and will help us get to Bangkok. Gifts can be made at Reliant.org/carl.belcher If you have any questions you can call us at (863)381-9010 or email us at carl@summitlife.com. Thank you for your prayerful consideration in this matter, and God Bless.

Sincerely,

Carl and Leeza Belcher

Belcher Spring Update

Belcher Spring Update

Hello All. And Happy May! Here we are at June 1st  and we thought…. it’s time for an update.  The past month and a half have flown by! We can’t believe that we are just a month out of meeting our new little one. Any guesses for what the gender is? I think girl and Carl thinks (only because of statistics) that it might be a boy. Either way we are going to be thrilled and are just so thankful for God trusting us with one of his blessings.

            April, 2014- wow it’s already over? April ended the 2014 Ignite Spring semester.  (Check Ignite wrap up for more details on the ministry) In April we celebrated Easter, a baby shower in Sebring, a quick trip to Haiti for Carl, and a leadership retreat for me with my Key Club officers.  I personally loved April- Loved the weather-Loved the experiences, just don’t ask me too many details about them because May has been so consuming that I have lost most recollections from April. 

May in the Belcher family has been exciting (Hints why April is already fuzzy)! We are in overdrive (Carl calls it nesting) in preparation for the baby, I am finishing up my school year, and we are completing our foster care certification classes.  May was kick started with a quick fun trip to The Kentucky Derby for Carl’s mom’s (?!) birthday.  Since arriving back to Fort Myers we have been preparing our home (and hearts) for this new little one. And I must interject that Carl has selflessly served me this month in all of my crazy home décor requests.  So far we (He) has completed repainting the kitchen, swapped couches in the library/living room, put the guest room together, hung/rehung multiple wall art and worked in the baby’s room (Can I call him super husband).  I am so thankful for the way he serves me.

Also this month Carl and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary, and we celebrated 9 years together at the end of the month. I can speak for both of us when I say God truly continues to bless our marriage and we love each other more today than yesterday.  In reflecting on these past three years Carl and I are so thankful for the growth that we have had in our ministry. We know that our relationships and life would not be the same without your love and support. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

 

Blessings-

The Belchers

 

March Maddness (Ministry Update)

Hello All... Happy April,

      This has been a great Spring semester, full of growth and experiences. The highlight for me would have to be our Spring break trips to Syracuse, NY and Asheville, NC. We were able to send 22 students on these two trips, 12 to Syracuse and 10 to Asheville, with the purpose being to grow our students in evangelism and missional living. We spent the week going out into these cities and engaging in conversation with people. We wanted to BLESS people in the name of Jesus, PRAY with people in the name of Jesus, and SHARE the Gospel or our testimony with them. Throughout the week we were able to engage with nearly 250 people. And I have to share one story with you!

One of our students named Collin was talking with a young man in his early twenties. The young man proceeded to tell Collin about all the trials in his life, how he had been in prison, been shot 3 times, and about some of the losses he had experienced in life. Collin then asked the young man “How do you find hope in the midst of all the bad things that have happened in your life?” The young man responded by saying, “My hope died when my grandfather died last year. I wouldn’t know hope if hit me in the face.” One tool we were using to share with people was a small paperback Gospel of John, so Collin pulled the booklet out of his back pocket and I kid you not, he gently but very seriously slapped the man in the face with the Gospel of John and said, “It just did!” Collin then opened up the Gospel of John and they began to read the Scriptures together for about 20 minutes. Collin then prayed with the young man and we left.

I don’t know what has happened to that young man since we left Syracuse, but I know this… the Gospel was proclaimed and God was glorified! Collin, and all the other students that went on these trips, came back to FGCU with a new boldness and passion for sharing the good news of the gospel with their peers and professors. I hope hearing that story challenges you to approach life with a similar boldness.

 

  On the home front Ignite has had the opportunity to have a great presence on campus for the last couple of weeks. In the final week of March Ignite met on the  campus of FGCU for our Tuesday night gathering. That night I had the privilege to preach the gospel on "the green" in the center of the school. What an opportunity to read the word of God in a lost place for all to hear!


  We also had the  opportunity to partner with other campus ministries at FGCU to do a 72 hour prayer event. Students were interceding to God on behalf of their peers and professors for 72 consecutive hours. During this time we were able to encounter Gods presence on campus and even got to see a student give her life to Christ.

 Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers. The life change that we are seeing take place in Ignite would not be possible without you.