Restoration Farm Story

I have been asked by a FaceBook friend to share how Kat and I got to owning a farm. I believe I have shared either pieces of the story or the story but I will post the journey today.

In 2004 I began taking the Vineyard Leadership Institute (VLI) courses. After two years of hard work I graduated and God placed on my heart a dream. As I pursued that dream nothing happened and with every move toward it doors shut and no new ones opened. Finally (maybe the thing I should have done first), I asked God to show me what He wanted me to do with my training and to show it to me through my wife, Kat.

At this time I began teaching Bruce Wilkinson's book, "The Dream Giver" with people who wanted to explore their dream.  One weekend as we were traveling to Fort Collins, CO to attend a "Naturally, Supernatural" conference we were listening to the tapes and I asked Kat what her dream was. I was fully expecting God to confirm the dream I had through her. As she began to speak I could not believe what she was saying. It had nothing at all to do with what I felt God wanted me to do, in fact it was way far away from what I thought. So I kind of put it on the shelf and forgot about it.

About three years ago Kat and I met with a couple of friends and used the book to explore their dream. In the process of helping them with their dream we caught it. We got on fire to purchase some land build a chemical free farm.  Part of our dream was to provide a place for fallen or wounded pastors and missionaries. That part of the dream really was part of the dream I had at the end of VLI.

We began to make plans on how we would fund the farm and what we would grow and raise. We attended classes and read all types of books by people who had already achieved what we planned to do. We shared our dream with others and either got encouragement or discouragement. Those who encouraged us we kept talking to and those who told us we either did not have enough experience or knowledge we quit hanging with.

As we put together our plan we began doing a land search. Our focus was within a 60 mile radius of Kansas City, MO. We had 3 reasons for this: 1) our daughter and grandkids lived in that area, 2) we attended the Overland Park Vineyard and 3) we felt that was the market for our products. With each search we found property that inched us a little farther out of that area and we could not find any property that looked promising. It was as if God turned off the opportunity to say close to KC.

I was the one doing the web searches and on one search I found a piece of property that looked really good.

I had almost everything we wanted, a modest house, a balance between open and treed acreage and a pond but the location was 130 miles from KC. We decided to take a look and fell in love with it. We placed an offer on the property and it was accepted. We applied for a loan and while waiting for approval our house in Louisburg, KS sold. We knew our loan would be approved because we had excellent credit, no debt and more than enough of a down payment. We were so confident Kat gave notice at work and I transferred to the area.

Then the bank we applied with called and informed us that despite all of the good things we were being denied because we did not live in the area. Funny thing is that property was bought by someone else with cash.

Kat and I went out to eat and discussed what our next move would be. All I say is I felt God led us to the area where that property was and we already had plans to move so why not move. The next weekend we traveled to the area, purchased a small RV trailer and rented a space at an RV camp (Havaspace). We moved just as we planned and exactly 2 months after moving down to the Lake of the Ozarks we moved onto our farm Restoration Farm. There is more to the story but the bottom line is: "When God has moved your blessing to another town it is a good idea to follow it."

Nothing ever goes exactly as planned and we have had to make changes to our dream as we journeyed but one thing we have not done is get discouraged. We believed that God gave us the farm dream so we planned and we moved forward in faith.

Sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of lack or sometimes out of waiting for it to happen we miss the opportunity to achieve our dream. We are thankful that we did not just wait for it to happen or let the lack of experience or  our fears stop us from moving forward.

Kat and I could be doing what we are doing on a farm near KC but our blessings would have been here in the Ozarks.