The total trip is about 18 hours to Wilmington.  We are splitting this into 2 days.  The first day we shall travel to Washington DC and explore for a bit.  We then will end our day traveling to Baltimore Maryland to stay with our good friend Torrye Hart.

After an early start the next day we shall drive through Philadelphia and on to New York City.  We will explore for a bit and have a nice lunch before starting the final leg.  Our plan is to finally reach Wilmington around 6:30 saturday night.

That will give us a little time to explore and rest.  Still, the journey is not yet over.  Sunday we shall again board the silver bandit (I just named my car that a few seconds ago) and head to Boston.  We are pretty much planning on seeing the entire east coast on this one road trip.

In Boston we will spend a part of the morning and afternoon before my closest friends depart on their journey south.  All the way home they will be hoping to move to Vermont because it is way better there then where they live.

Then the real journey begins.  I am excited.

The instant I tell someone we are waiting on houses to sell it is apparent what is running through their head;

“oh boy good luck in this economy”

“you are going to be around for a while”

“that sucks”

“no way those houses are going to sell”

There is an expression of, “oh that’s just too bad” on everyones face.

The reality is, it makes sense to think those things.  The economy sucks and houses are just not selling.  Logically we must think that this Vermont team is just out of luck for the moment.  That is just the way it is.

I understand these thoughts but honestly these reactions have been a little frustrating.  All that has been running through my head is the fact that it’s really clear God is sending people to Vermont.  If God wants to send people to Vermont God will send people to Vermont.

Selling a house is not a hard thing for God to do.  I think sometimes instead of having the reactions that make sense and are logical we need to say, “this doesn’t make sense but God can do whatever  he wants, whenever he wants.”

Lets be less logical sometimes and really have faith that God is doing something really big.

All that to say, God has provided and we are moving at the beginning of february.  He is bigger then an economy, and He is bigger then our doubts.

Im freaking out but it’s in the best way possible.

Please read this post by Ben Presten about what happened: Click Here

As a single man I always have my eyes open for available single ladies.  Camp last year was no different.  In the midst of enjoying the weekend with our students I noticed something, someone.  It was this pretty little lass who was helping with camp program.

That week I happened to know some of the other people doing program.  I knew that they were from around where I live, so maybe she was too.

In the skits this someone played an elf so we shall call her “the elf.”

During the weekend I tried to find a moment to chat with the elf. Sadly the weekend came and went and no matter how hard I looked I could never find her.  In this kind of circumstance Chris usually gives up because, what else is there to do?

This is where a simple conversation gave me a little motivation.  Driving home Nate, some students, and I where talking about how he met his wife.  It is a funny story, you should ask him sometime, but the moral was that girls like boldness.

This story inspired me.  Usually in a circumstance where I didn’t talk to a girl, and have no way to communicate with her I leave it alone.  But not this time, I was going to be bold.

So, that week I told my boys (aka Ben, Matt, and Travis) my story and we began to search facebook for this girl that I sort of had a partial name for.  After a while, and a feeling of being a real creeper, we found the elf.  I sent a friend request and that night it was accepted.  Then began the process of deciding what to write.

It had to acknowledge the creepy factor yet still make a good case for the elf to have coffee with me.

After about an hour of writing four sentences I sent the message and waited.  Hearing back would be a milestone in itself but if I did hear back I expected to meet the she elf sometime after the new year.

That night I continued to casually check facebook and very much to my surprise the elf had responded and she was available to meet the next day.  What? So soon? Oh Crap!

The plans were made and the meeting was on.  One of the best parts was that Matt Casey didn’t believe this would ever happen and said if I did meet her he would pay for coffee.  I really had nothing to lose in my elf encounter.

The time came and the meeting happened.  I was nervous and maybe a little awkward but I still thought it went well.  This is where I did a real good job of closing the deal.  We said goodbye inside starbucks and were going our separate ways when I had this conversation with myself…

Chris 1 “well that was fun”

Chris 2 “yea lets do that again”

Chris 1 “lets facebook her and tell her we had a good time”

Chris 2 “NO! Be bold, go up to her and plan something now!”

Chris 1 “Ok, ok boldness!”

I caught up to her before she left and told her I enjoyed our conversation lets do it again.  She agreed and said we will be in touch.

This is where I really failed.  I am used to dating girls that I already have their number.  I have never actually had to ask a girl for her number.  So I didn’t even think to get those elf digets.  I am stupid, I know, sorry.

After I got home I realized my mistake and again facebook’d her saying nice things and that I look forward to our next meeting.

Sadly this is where the story ends very much anticlimactic.  I never heard back from the elf but in the end I got a good story of yet another interesting adventure of Chris Hunt.

Oh yea and free coffee.

Thinking through a lot of what ifs.

*Wilmington

What if I go to Vermont?  What if I don’t go to Vermont?  What if because I am pale and skinny I freeze to death in Vermont?

I run all these scenarios through my head but always come back to the realization that it will be ok.  Scripture constantly tells me so.  Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  All these things being our needs, what we eat, or drink, or what we will wear.

Romans 8:28 “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called to His purpose.”

So, i find myself to be comforted.  Now it is looking for encouragement to go.

Luke 9:23-26 provides that.  ”If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.  For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?”

Going to Vermont means denying myself.  I don’t want to leave my family and friends, I don’t want to leave my comfort here, my life.  I have felt fear through all of this.  Still, I have come to fear something far greater then the fear of leaving.  I am more afraid to stay then to go.  If God is sending me to Vermont, If God wants me in Vermont then I better get my behind to Vermont.  To reject this opportunity and say, “No thanks God, not this time.” Scares the poop out of me.  I have no desire to reject what God has for my life.

When I see clearly God’s leading I am fully encouraged and ready to go.  Free from fear and full of excitement.

Going will be hard and I would like you to partner with me on this journey.  There are only three ways I think this partnership can work.  The first is easy.

1.) Pray for Vermont, Wilmington, Valley Town, the families going, and for me!  Do not underestimate prayer, it is powerful.  Pray for us.  There is nothing more encouraging then knowing that support.

2.) I am going fully relying on God providing.  I do not have a job or a lot of money to tithe me over.  So, if you wish to help provide for the moving process and, hopefully short, jobless season then I will not deny you that opportunity.

If you wish to partner with me in this I would be beyond grateful.  This blog is the only way I will ask for support.  If you wish to help then send any support to 878 Shannon Rd Sw Loganville Ga 30052.  This support will also reserve you a bed if you wish to visit, which all of you will I know.

3.) The third and best way to partner with me is for you to come.  Get off your bums, stop doing whatever you are doing and move to Vermont with me.  You know you want to. Stop denying yourself.

Also the exact moving date is not set yet.  When I know you will know.

It still all seems so surreal and it is all so very sudden.  My world has turned upside down, and while I should be running around freaking out I sit here in complete peace.

It all started a few months ago…

I love where I am.  I am close to my family and my three best friends.  I have moved out of my parents house.  I get to tell people about Jesus and it’s my job.  I make enough to provide for myself and save a bit.  I even have my own bathroom that I don’t have to share!

Still, something has been stirring in me.  A feeling that my time where I am might be over soon, but where to go I didn’t know.  So, I began to pray and ask God to show me what was next.  Things like graduate school close to home, or maybe a job in Greenville at the most.

Then one thursday, a day I don’t even go to the church for work,  I walk into my boss Nate’s Office.   An office which I never go to, we always work somewhere else.  He shuts the door and says, “Now you are in trouble.”  Of course my heart dropped.  That is not a good sentence to hear.

We had talked the previous day on the church roof, like I said we work other places.  We talked about my desire for ministry and where I was in the job now.  Apparently, Nate had been thinking about what I said and where a good fit for me would be.  He gave God an ultimatum thursday morning that he would not bring up Vermont (Ill explain Vermont shortly) unless I walked into his office unprovoked.

Well I walked in and he brought up Vermont.  Immediately my heart sank.  I had thought about Vermont but that is far away, and cold, and my family is not there, neither are my best friends, and I may not have my own bathroom, and did I say its cold.

I left and began to freak out.  I knew this may be what God had begun preparing me for.  I took a long drive to freak out some more and pray.

During that day and the following days I prayed, and read through scripture, and looked for ways out.  Every prayer gave me peace, every scripture I read screamed at me to go, and I found no way out.

No way out of Vermont.

So, what is happening in Vermont?  Over this past year God has laid Wilmington Vermont on Ben and Tiffany Prestons hearts.  (Watch this) They have been preparing over this year to go and plant a church in the least churched state in America.

I have been talking with Ben, learning the vision and hope for the community.  Our first meeting I wished I would be uncomfortable with Ben, or the vision and ideas for Wilmington.  I wasn’t  at all, just more confirmed that God is pointing me somewhere else.

There have been so many things pointing toward this move and nothing saying no.

I prayed for the next thing, this is what I get.  Ask and you will receive, scripture rings true again.

Well my friends, there is so much to tell and I will share in time.

For now be praying for the Prestons, the other families going, and myself.  I am so excited, God has already been moving in amazing ways.  I can’t even imagine what is next.

Oh yea, and ill probably be leaving in January.

I do not care for chicken poop everywhere.

This is what I woke up to every morning until I decided on moving day.

About a week ago I fixed up a shed out back and moved the chickens out of the house.  They seemed to enjoy their little enclosure and I enjoyed a poop free house.

They grow fast.  With growth comes more trouble and more poop.

Everything was going great until one day a chicken decides to squeeze out of a tiny hole.  Since the shed is made of aluminum the edges can be sharp.  The chicken discovered this when he slit his own throat and died.

Dumb Chicken.

Over the next few days I found no dead chickens, but I did find less chickens.  The feast had begun.  I lost three chickens to some wild creature and I thought I lost my last two.

I went out to check on the chickens and I heard numerous large critters running off into the woods.  When I entered the pen I found nothing.  No chickens in sight.  So, I thought they were all dead.  About noon the next day I went to clean up back there and my last two chickens were awaiting my arrival.  I have no idea where they came from or where they were hiding but they had returned.

One is hurt, has a bad cut on its back and is limping.  I don’t have much hope for its survival but the other seems to be doing well.

Since I am a man that does not give up I decided to try again.  I fixed up the shed so no animal can get to my chickens and I bought 6 more.  For $10 bucks it is worth a shot.

So here is to try #2.  Will they survive?

First working in a “little c” church has been so humbling.  I had all these prideful preconceived notions about myself, the church, and myself in the church.  God has taken my neat little tower of Chris and turned it to dust.

While being humbled in the “little c” church God has been showing me what it is really like to be a part of the “big C” Church (His people, His body).

A huge part of the Church is that Jesus calls us to go and make disciples.  I have known this for some time.  I have known that He said go to them, He did not say bring them to the pastor of your church and let him take care of them.  This is our job to go and make Disciples of Jesus.  So I ask you these questions?

Have you?

Do you have disciples?

Have you shown others what it means to follow Jesus?

Do you even know what it means to follow Jesus?

Lets be honest here.  Let us also understand leading a few bible studies, or Sunday school classes does not count.  I have done all of that and for 5 years now I have done ministry and I have ministered to a lot of kids during that time.

All that has been good, its been great but If the standard for disciple making is how Jesus did it then I have not even come close.  This task that Jesus has called us to I have simply overlooked.  I took his standard and brought it down to mine.  I was alright with having a bible study and for me that is what it meant to Disciple someone.  How wrong I was.

Disciplining someone is a process of not only teaching and showing Jesus but truly entering into a persons life.  Entering into their story, their pain, their happiness.  A disciple maker is someone worth following because they follow Jesus.  A disciples goal is to be just like their teacher in every way so that they may understand what it means to follow Jesus.

Now I have started the journey to answer these questions with yes.  I really don’t have a clue what I am doing, but God is so good and is providing the way.  He is showing the way.  Teaching me to enter into another persons story and watch Jesus transform them.

I really want to cuss, scream, something because this is so awesome.

I also want to challenge you.  Look at your life and be honest.  Have you lived life with someone and shown them what it means to be a disciple of Jesus?

If not then get on it.  I want to see a generation of people who know discipleship and desire this beautiful Kingdom of God to spread like a wildfire in a broken world crying out for restoration.

We really are called to greater.  Have you seen it?

Let me just tell you today was a great day.  Woke up in the woods after camping out, played in my first tennis match since middle school and dominated, and I bought some chickens.

Yes, I bought some chickens.  Why?  Well because I do what I want.  Really I like to try new things and this idea has been in my head for a few weeks and it kept coming up.

So today I went for it.  Apparently this chicken raising stuff is easy and cheap!  I got six of the little fellows, actually ladies, for $15 bucks.  If you are good at math, which I am not, that is $2.50 each.

How could I not want to do this.  I raise them inside for about a month, then get them used to there little home outside, and then they are free to roam the yard and lay me lots and lots of eggs.

I like this new adventure.

You may call me Chris  “Chicken Farmer Extraordinaire” Hunt, if you wish but it is not required.

Best day of my life!

So I ask you, what can you tell about me from what is in my room?

So from these pictures how would you describe me?