Our story is far from normal. We met in Indianapolis, Indiana. We held good jobs and made lots and lots of money. We owned restaurants, racing teams, promoted a regional racing organization, executive producers of a cable TV show, owned rental properties, vacationed in exotic places and bought expensive "toys". In 1997 all of that changed and we self destructed. We suffered devastating business failures and losses. We went from very wealthy to very poor.
Then something amazing began to happen...people were praying for us. We started attending church. It wasn't until 2001 that our lives began to really take a direction.
The 9/11 disaster in New York happened. Bob was a volunteer fireman and ended up serving at Ground Zero as a rescuer/recovery team member.
It was a very traumatic time. We began to attend the Monroe City First Church of God (MCCHOG). Men there stepped in and began actively pursuing relationships with Bob. They took him to a Promise Keepers event, where he had a mountain top experience. Ezekiel 36:25-27 became his verse.
Bob wrote his first book "Ashes to Ashes:9/11" and began to be recognized as a leader of men. Speaking requests came and he traveled to schools and churches and became an ambassador for Promise Keepers. Hurrican Katrina arrived and Bob led countless people to serve in the Gulf coast region in the recovery effort. After being baptized and surrendering his life to God, he began to feel God's pull in such a strong and convincing manner that he realized that he was being called to be a pastor. He became involved at MCCHOG as a lay leader and then served as the youth pastor. After serving as youth pastor, he transitioned to Outreach/Missions pastor. His missions include Pine Rdige Indian reservation in South Dakota, Nashville,TN flood recovery, Prospere, Haiti earthquake recovery, Buras, LA, Gulfport, MS, Biloxi, MS and many local projects.
In 2008 he began the official ordination process and completed that in December of 2010. (official ceremony was Oct 2011 )
In September 2010, we were spending a quiet Sunday afternoon walking around the grounds of a 100 year old red brick, unoccupied church. The conversation turned to buying it, then to living in it, then to making it into a mission house where we would house teams of people who wanted to serve God and make the world a better place. In a matter of 48 hours we had a plan. We contacted the owners and had a face-to-face. Saying we would like to buy the old church but we have no money. In fact whatever we offer you, we will have to find every penny. The amount we want to offer is probably an insult but we were thinking $12,000. The owner smiled and said "I told my wife if you offered us $12,000 we would accept. So we signed the papers and began to try and raise $11,999.00. In the final week before the proposal was to expire, an anonymous person sent us the full amount. We were blessed! Then the really crazy things began to happen.
We decided to change how we lived. Instead of pursuing the American dream, we began to sell off or give away all unnecessary "stuff".
We began to live in a deliberate Dave Ramsey sort of life style. Our three kids began to catch the excitement of surrendering to God.
We used what little money we had to buy supplies for the new mission house, pay off any bills and focused on God.
A few days after buying the building, we were overwhelmed. We needed 2 x 4 boards to build walls and much more. Bob tells this story; "I began to talk openly to God about my fears and worries. It was after one of these talks that a friend pulled into my driveway with a truckload of 2 x 4s. He said "I was on my way to go fishing but something told me to go buy you some 2 x 4s, ..do you need them?" I smiled and said yes! We unloaded them and after measuring the walls out for the sleeping rooms , it looked like we needed about fifty 2 x 4s. When I asked him how many he had bought? "50 "He said. Days later I gave up the day at 1:30 and headed home from remodeling. I was out of materials. I needed 2 x 6s. This time I pulled into the driveway and my cell phone rang. It was a neighbore who had found some unused 2 x 6s in storage and offered them to me if we needed them. God is amazing. As the first weeks went by, people began showing up to help build walls and tear out the old materials. The issue of drywall came up and it was obvious we didn't have the money. Someone called and said "I would like to buy all the drywall and insulation and drywall screws and drywall mud for the entire project. The drywall was brought in the following Monday. there's no God like Jehovah (He provides)
During the process the wires were inspected and they were found to be too old for use. It was devastating. I drove to a spot on a lonely highway and pulled onto the edge of the filed. I cried. I cried some more. I spoke outloud to God and simply said " I don't know what to do..I can't handle this on my own". And then something amazing happened. My cell phone rang. It was a pastor buddy in a nearby town calling to tell me that he and his college group wanted to come work on the building and his side job was an electrician assistant. The electrician wanted to donated all the wires and supplies and redo the church for free. I wept face down on the steering wheel. Each day there was new development, people coming to help, to drop off supplies, food, money. Someone donated an entire water system for the old well to have filtered and softened water. Amazing things were happening. A new bath tub was donated, dishes, bedding, silverware, glasses, showers, doors, lots of labor from many people.
We are beginning to recognize the awesome experience you can have when you quit living your life in pursuit of the empty American dream. we recently were guest at the Passion 2011 conference and had the opportunity to hear David Platt speak about living life as the Gospel compells us to. His book "Radical" is hard to stop reading. Here is just a piece of it...What if I were the potential disciple being told to drop my nets? What if you were the man whom Jesus told to not even say good-bye to his family? What if we were told to hate our families and give up everything we had in order to follow Jesus? This is where we come face to face with a dangerous reality. We do have to give up everything we have to follow Jesus. We do have to love him in a way that makes our closest relationships in this world look like hate. And it's entirely possible that he will tell us to sell everything we have and give it to the poor. But we don't want to believe it. We are afraid of what it might mean for our lives. So we rationalize those passages away. "Jesus wouldn't really tell us not to bury our father or say good-bye to our family. Jesus didn't literally mean to sell all we have and give it to the poor. What Jesus really meant was... And this is where we need to pause. Because we are starting to redifne Christianity. We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with. A nice, middle-class American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn't mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have...."
-end quote from Radical.
It's not always easy for us as a family to live in complete surrender. But we are gaining on it. We know that we are called to do this. We could have done it in our existing home but there wasn't room to add for the mission team sleeping rooms. And we have been a slave to the mortgage long enough. We put our house up for sale.So now as we are reaching the home stretch on having The Three Nails Project ready for family and visitors, we are getting very excited.
A place where people can come hang out, refuel, rest up and serve God. We don't care if they are inked up, pierced up, messed up, broken, addicted, lost, hurting or any of the other things that may have kept them from serving on a mission team and ultimately finding God's grace.. The bottom line is we are all flawed. We can't work our way into heaven. The only way is through Jesus and it's his Grace. we can't earn it, buy it, compell it..we were simply given the gift as His children. Therefore we are grateful and we want to share this gift with everyone we meet. So for now, this is the mission of the Morrison family. To simply serve God in complete surrender, to live out the Great Commission and seek His will in our lives, to bring God glory.
Some suggested reading for you..The Bible...Radical by David Platt..Holy Discontent by Bill Hybels..Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne...Revolutionary Generosity by Kirk Nowery...Crazy Love by Francis Chan...Don't waste your life..by John Piper
Then something amazing began to happen...people were praying for us. We started attending church. It wasn't until 2001 that our lives began to really take a direction.
The 9/11 disaster in New York happened. Bob was a volunteer fireman and ended up serving at Ground Zero as a rescuer/recovery team member.
It was a very traumatic time. We began to attend the Monroe City First Church of God (MCCHOG). Men there stepped in and began actively pursuing relationships with Bob. They took him to a Promise Keepers event, where he had a mountain top experience. Ezekiel 36:25-27 became his verse.
Bob wrote his first book "Ashes to Ashes:9/11" and began to be recognized as a leader of men. Speaking requests came and he traveled to schools and churches and became an ambassador for Promise Keepers. Hurrican Katrina arrived and Bob led countless people to serve in the Gulf coast region in the recovery effort. After being baptized and surrendering his life to God, he began to feel God's pull in such a strong and convincing manner that he realized that he was being called to be a pastor. He became involved at MCCHOG as a lay leader and then served as the youth pastor. After serving as youth pastor, he transitioned to Outreach/Missions pastor. His missions include Pine Rdige Indian reservation in South Dakota, Nashville,TN flood recovery, Prospere, Haiti earthquake recovery, Buras, LA, Gulfport, MS, Biloxi, MS and many local projects.
In 2008 he began the official ordination process and completed that in December of 2010. (official ceremony was Oct 2011 )
In September 2010, we were spending a quiet Sunday afternoon walking around the grounds of a 100 year old red brick, unoccupied church. The conversation turned to buying it, then to living in it, then to making it into a mission house where we would house teams of people who wanted to serve God and make the world a better place. In a matter of 48 hours we had a plan. We contacted the owners and had a face-to-face. Saying we would like to buy the old church but we have no money. In fact whatever we offer you, we will have to find every penny. The amount we want to offer is probably an insult but we were thinking $12,000. The owner smiled and said "I told my wife if you offered us $12,000 we would accept. So we signed the papers and began to try and raise $11,999.00. In the final week before the proposal was to expire, an anonymous person sent us the full amount. We were blessed! Then the really crazy things began to happen.
We decided to change how we lived. Instead of pursuing the American dream, we began to sell off or give away all unnecessary "stuff".
We began to live in a deliberate Dave Ramsey sort of life style. Our three kids began to catch the excitement of surrendering to God.
We used what little money we had to buy supplies for the new mission house, pay off any bills and focused on God.
A few days after buying the building, we were overwhelmed. We needed 2 x 4 boards to build walls and much more. Bob tells this story; "I began to talk openly to God about my fears and worries. It was after one of these talks that a friend pulled into my driveway with a truckload of 2 x 4s. He said "I was on my way to go fishing but something told me to go buy you some 2 x 4s, ..do you need them?" I smiled and said yes! We unloaded them and after measuring the walls out for the sleeping rooms , it looked like we needed about fifty 2 x 4s. When I asked him how many he had bought? "50 "He said. Days later I gave up the day at 1:30 and headed home from remodeling. I was out of materials. I needed 2 x 6s. This time I pulled into the driveway and my cell phone rang. It was a neighbore who had found some unused 2 x 6s in storage and offered them to me if we needed them. God is amazing. As the first weeks went by, people began showing up to help build walls and tear out the old materials. The issue of drywall came up and it was obvious we didn't have the money. Someone called and said "I would like to buy all the drywall and insulation and drywall screws and drywall mud for the entire project. The drywall was brought in the following Monday. there's no God like Jehovah (He provides)
During the process the wires were inspected and they were found to be too old for use. It was devastating. I drove to a spot on a lonely highway and pulled onto the edge of the filed. I cried. I cried some more. I spoke outloud to God and simply said " I don't know what to do..I can't handle this on my own". And then something amazing happened. My cell phone rang. It was a pastor buddy in a nearby town calling to tell me that he and his college group wanted to come work on the building and his side job was an electrician assistant. The electrician wanted to donated all the wires and supplies and redo the church for free. I wept face down on the steering wheel. Each day there was new development, people coming to help, to drop off supplies, food, money. Someone donated an entire water system for the old well to have filtered and softened water. Amazing things were happening. A new bath tub was donated, dishes, bedding, silverware, glasses, showers, doors, lots of labor from many people.
We are beginning to recognize the awesome experience you can have when you quit living your life in pursuit of the empty American dream. we recently were guest at the Passion 2011 conference and had the opportunity to hear David Platt speak about living life as the Gospel compells us to. His book "Radical" is hard to stop reading. Here is just a piece of it...What if I were the potential disciple being told to drop my nets? What if you were the man whom Jesus told to not even say good-bye to his family? What if we were told to hate our families and give up everything we had in order to follow Jesus? This is where we come face to face with a dangerous reality. We do have to give up everything we have to follow Jesus. We do have to love him in a way that makes our closest relationships in this world look like hate. And it's entirely possible that he will tell us to sell everything we have and give it to the poor. But we don't want to believe it. We are afraid of what it might mean for our lives. So we rationalize those passages away. "Jesus wouldn't really tell us not to bury our father or say good-bye to our family. Jesus didn't literally mean to sell all we have and give it to the poor. What Jesus really meant was... And this is where we need to pause. Because we are starting to redifne Christianity. We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with. A nice, middle-class American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn't mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have...."
-end quote from Radical.
It's not always easy for us as a family to live in complete surrender. But we are gaining on it. We know that we are called to do this. We could have done it in our existing home but there wasn't room to add for the mission team sleeping rooms. And we have been a slave to the mortgage long enough. We put our house up for sale.So now as we are reaching the home stretch on having The Three Nails Project ready for family and visitors, we are getting very excited.
A place where people can come hang out, refuel, rest up and serve God. We don't care if they are inked up, pierced up, messed up, broken, addicted, lost, hurting or any of the other things that may have kept them from serving on a mission team and ultimately finding God's grace.. The bottom line is we are all flawed. We can't work our way into heaven. The only way is through Jesus and it's his Grace. we can't earn it, buy it, compell it..we were simply given the gift as His children. Therefore we are grateful and we want to share this gift with everyone we meet. So for now, this is the mission of the Morrison family. To simply serve God in complete surrender, to live out the Great Commission and seek His will in our lives, to bring God glory.
Some suggested reading for you..The Bible...Radical by David Platt..Holy Discontent by Bill Hybels..Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne...Revolutionary Generosity by Kirk Nowery...Crazy Love by Francis Chan...Don't waste your life..by John Piper