God had different plans
One year after leaving Malawi
This week, I want to share with everyone an article that I wrote for our local association—the Longs Peak Baptist Association. This article for our associational newsletter tells a little bit about how we went from Malawi to Northern Colorado and what God is doing here. I thought it especially relevant to share here since March 25 marked our one year anniversary of leaving Malawi.
In July 2018, I made what I thought was the final major move of my life when my family of seven, along with our poodle, boarded an airplane to Malawi. I had spent years preparing to give my life away to train pastors and grow healthy churches in one of the least educated and poorest countries in the world. I had a vision to train men with a basic understanding of the Bible and theology, and to be able to preach the Bible in simple ways to their churches, whether they were located in the city near the college campus or under a tree in a remote mountain village.
For six years, I dedicated myself to that vision, and I thought it was my life’s work. I hadn’t pursued a PhD in biblical theology in order to teach at an American seminary. I had done it because I believed that even these men deserved the very best I could give them. I was giving myself to these men so that I could give them and their people God’s word. That was the work of my life, or so I thought.
So many of our stories have a transition point that begins with “But God had different plans.” And that is true of my story as well. I wanted to stay in Malawi the rest of my life, but God had different plans. In March 2024, our family boarded a plane to leave Malawi, and by June 2024, we found ourselves planted in a city that we never expected to live in: Fort Collins, Colorado.
In many ways, Northern Colorado is the exact opposite of Malawi. NoCo is affluent and highly educated. But just like Malawi, it is a place in need of trained pastors and church planters who can preach the true gospel by expositing the Bible. When my friend Zack Thurman, Lead Pastor of Overland Church, invited me to join him as the Associate Pastor of Discipleship and Mission, we were struck by the fact that while the context was highly different from Malawi, the task before me was the same.
At Overland Church, we want to invest in the kingdom, not just in Overland, and that means we want to share with our sister churches the resources and opportunities that God has blessed us with. Two such opportunities launching later this year are our partnership with Gateway Seminary and the Rocky Mountain Theology Conference.
Beginning in August, Overland Church will be the Northern Colorado teaching site of Gateway Seminary. This means that you will be able to equip men and women called to ministry and missions without sending them away from NoCo or having them settle for a less than ideal online program. They will be able to pursue master’s level training while continuing to serve your church and remaining in vital discipleship relationships.
In August, we will have a soft launch of our teaching site by offering one course each semester, but in 2026, we hope to offer even more courses, allowing students to obtain up to 49% of their degree in NoCo while completing the remainder either in Denver at the Rocky Mountain Campus, online, or via remote access to one of Gateway’s other campuses. If you have someone who might be interested in this program, they can find more information at gatewaynoco.com, where they can sign up for updates or connect with me directly.
Beyond formal seminary training, we want to grow an appetite in our congregations for sound theology. That is why we are launching the Rocky Mountain Theology Conference at Overland on November 7-8, 2025. Our keynote speaker this year is Dr. Mitchell Chase, preaching pastor of Kosmosdale Baptist Church in Louisville, associate professor of biblical studies at Southern Seminary, and author of several books on biblical theology.
We hope you will encourage anyone interested in theology, and especially those who are discerning a call to ministry and missions, to join us at the Rocky Mountain Theology Conference and get a taste for deeper biblical and theological study. To find out more or to register, you can visit rockymountaintheology.com.
In conclusion, I want to say to the Longs Peak Baptist Association that it has been a pleasure getting to know many of you and thank you for welcoming our family into our new home in NoCo. I’d love to connect with each of you in a deeper way, especially if you have questions about how the programs at Overland Church could benefit and bless your church.
As we launch Gateway Seminary’s Northern Colorado teaching site this August, we want to equip gospel ministers for the Mountain West in the Mountain West. If you’d like to join us, visit gatewaynoco.com for more information and to sign up for updates.
Josh, you are such a gift to Overland Church and our region. We thank God that he lead your family to Northern Colorado to continue your mission to equip the saints for the work of ministry.