After 8 Years in New Zealand, My Family Is Moving
Dear Friends and Family,
Over the last few weeks I’ve wrestled with how to write this letter knowing that it was almost time to do so. As I sit down to write it, I’m filled with an array of emotion from heaviness to happiness, mourning and joy. I trust you’ll understand why.
Eight years ago this month I landed in New Zealand for the first time. I was 18 years old. The previous summer (2003), the Holy Spirit interrupted my life and everything changed. Still addicted to chemicals and alcohol, I arrived in Aotearoa as a six month old believer with a budding love for Jesus and a sincere yearning to go anywhere and do anything for the kindest Man I’d ever met. Later that year I left the country convinced my season here was complete. I was wrong. I returned and haven’t left since.
It was in New Zealand that I grew up. It was here that I was reared in grace. It was here that my identity was established and my calling defined. It’s been the greenhouse in which my roots in God were nourished. I met my wife here. We gave birth to two sons here. And we became a family within a family here. Though I was born and raised in Florida, without hesitation I consider New Zealand my home. How could I not? I’ve spent almost the entirety of my adult life here. It has become my “Eden.”
In 2006 we began daily prayer meetings with a core team of singers and musicians who adore Jesus. Those meetings have never stopped, four to eight hours a day, Monday through Friday. It is the center of our community’s gravity from which hundreds of young adults have forged a history in God. And it has been an Antioch from which many have been commissioned into the nations.
We love our community. And we were planning on remaining a part of it for many years to come. But a trip to the grocery store in late July disrupted those plans.
At the time, we were in a wrestling match with New Zealand immigration in hopes of becoming Permanent Residents (something we don’t technically qualify for). With the help of a local attorney, we were attempting to end the succession of visa applications by securing a status that would allow us to remain in NZ as long as we desired. Weary from the legal procedures and red tape, I was pouring my heart out to the Lord while driving to the store. I asked Him to speak to me about the future so as to settle my anxious heart. Unexpectedly, the Lord spoke very clearly. He said, “The door to Permanent Residency will open to you, but I am asking you to let go of New Zealand and embrace the Middle East.” The words “Middle East” exploded within me and I knew that He was asking us to lay our lives down to declare and demonstrate the excellencies of Christ in the Islamic world.
This was the most disruptive season of my life. I was not prepared to process it, tell anyone about it, or embrace it. So I kept it to myself and tried to forget it. Through August, September, and October I pretended it didn’t happen and went about life as usual. But by the last week of October I knew I needed to talk to Anna. On the Monday night I told her, “My love, I think the Lord is asking us to relocate to the Middle East.” We discussed it, we prayed, and we cried. And we concluded that since the Lord said that the door for Residency would open, maybe we will go ahead with the paperwork and make the move when the boys are older. It wasn’t long before we realized that this was not to be. I met with our attorney a few weeks later. He told me that we never had to leave New Zealand again if we didn’t want to and that “the door to Residency has opened.” It was surreal. We both knew that it was a door that we weren’t meant to walk through.
On December 8th I sat down with my brother, leader, mentor, and comrade to discuss what the Lord had been speaking to us about. With tears and a quivering lip I told the story to Aaron Walsh. His response was precious. With no hestitation whatsoever, he acknowledged the Lord’s hand in what was happening, released us, blessed us, and encouraged us to put together a team from our community to join us. Considering the nature of my directoral role at the missions base, his support and encouragement of our departure was a defining moment for us.
That week we approached a number of families and individuals and asked them to consider joining us. The majority of them said “yes.” For that we are overjoyed and deeply honored.
So, in early October of 2012, we will be moving with a team of 15-20 to a nation in the Middle East where we will begin pioneering a new work. For security purposes I can’t disclose the details of where or what (not here and now at least). We will make some of these details public in the coming weeks and months.
As a result of the nature of the assignment the Lord has given us, the way in which I communicate through blogging and social networking will be changing later this year. For example, the web address to this site has changed and my last name will be dropped from published works and public resources.
Our projected departure date from New Zealand is May 1st. Then in mid-May I will be travelling to a few nations in the Middle East for 2-3 weeks with some of the guys on our team in preparation for October. As for our plans between June and October, we’ll be posting updates as things unfold. We’re now in the process of drafting an itinerary, planning our summer in the US, liquidating our assets in New Zealand, and praying about an intimidating amount of money for plane tickets.
When I think of the last 8 years in New Zealand I can’t help crying. It has been the privilege of a lifetime. If it were up to us, we would never have written this present juncture into our story. We were very happy with the way it was unfolding. But alas, we are not the masters of our fate. Our lives are in the hands of the One who bought us with His blood. He is our Master. And we love Him dearly.
“To live is Christ, to die is gain.”
Dalton and Anna
Tauranga, New Zealand
14 February, 2012
New Zealand will never be the same because of your faithfulness to your calling. The seed that has been planted is germinated and about to blast out of the soil! This is only the beginning!
Bless you my friend and brother.
Nathan Buchanan
sorry to hear this, you have greatly blessed me beyond measure… I prayer all runs smoothly for you… blessings Paula
Dalton & Anna:
I’ll be praying for you and your family as God has His hand at work in your lives and the lives of others.
In HIS grace, mercy AND love
So excited for this new adventure for your family! Your love for Him is evident and your obedience is inspiring. Will be praying for your family! Knowing His heart for the nations and specifically Islamic nations will draw you all to an even deeper intimacy with Him, a journey of discovering how truly beautiful and deep and glorious is the love of Christ. And nothing could be better then that
Surreal is the right word for it. You have always inspired me that you are growing and living what you preach. I think this is an amazing opportunity for you to “spill your blood out in the nations of the world” For His glory
Nathan Sinclair
God bless you richly, my friend.
“To those who have been given much, much will be required.”
“You have been faithful over little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master.”
“Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
You are the point of a spear in the hand of the Lord. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.
Awesome. I commit to praying for you and your team! Keep me posted. Heroes of the faith, practicing what you preach. Lots of love!
So glad you come closer
God bless!
[...] As you may know, later this year we will be moving to the Middle East to pioneer a work among the unreached of the Islamic world. We will be joined in the first wave by 20 or so of the most precious people I’ve ever met [read the full story here]. [...]