January Update: Following a call...

 Greetings, family and friends!  

We are so glad you have committed to join us in prayer, encouragement, and possibly financial support as we continue to follow the Lord's call here at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  This month we would like to update you on the process of the move and where we are now that we are getting settled into life here on-campus at SBTS.

On December 7^th, we moved everything out of our house in Anderson into our seminary-housing apartment and a storage unit.  Mel's parents (who brought chili and brownies - yum!) and Greg's sister came to help us move and Greg's parents gladly agreed to watch Sam at their home since there truly would not have been a safe place for him in the apartment during the move - wow, it is quite a task fitting nearly everything from a ranch home into an 875 sq ft seminary apartment (see Springdale)!  Such a task that by 8pm when all family had left, Greg was getting rather discouraged and hopeless at the idea the the truck wasn't really even half emptied and there would likely be no more help.  A young man stopped by and asked him if he needed any help.  This fellow, a high school guy whose father is a SBTS student, was quite the worker and really helped us out a lot - we started thinking this could be possible.  When Greg asked him his name, the young man replied, "Hope".  Thank you, Lord, for sending us hope :).  From that point on, seminary people (also our neighbors) began popping out of the woodwork to come and help us and the truck was finished that night!  Please pray that we would develop close, lasting friendships and accountability partnerships during our time here.

The Spring 2014 semester begins January 17 and Greg has already registered for classes: New Testament 2, History of the Baptists, and Systematic Theology 2.  Mel also registered for a Leadership Skills course through the Seminary Wives Institute and is excited to see how she will learn and grow through that.  Please pray that God would deepen both of our relationships with Him through the courses we take as well as in our daily time with Him.  Also pray that we would take full advantage of the learning opportunities here and have the ability to put that learning into practice.

Greg recently accepted a part-time position as youth minister at First Southern Baptist Church of Floyd’s Knobs.  This church has a tragic past that includes an emotionally dramatic split that left the body at 1/3 what it was only 2 years ago and without most of its church leaders, including a pastor.  The church, however, is not contentious or bitter but rather loving and Spirit-filled in the united purpose to grow stronger together and reach out to their community.   It has been great meeting and getting to know the (nearly all-girl) youth group.  Sam already enjoys playing with a couple of new buddies in the church nursery and the youth girls *adore* him.  There are multiple upcoming events and we are very excited to join this church's faith fellowship and get to work serving the youth as well as the rest of the congregation however we can during this time of transition and growth in the life of the church.  Please pray for growth at FSBC Floyd's Knobs and that the search committee would be appropriately discerning in choosing a new pastor for our church.  There are multiple other areas of need in this church, please pray that we would also be discerning of what God would have us to do to help in these areas.

Two current areas of need for us are jobs and insurance.  Greg's youth ministry position, though a blessing, will pay barely enough to cover our rent.  He does have another couple part-time job offer possibilities as well.  Mel has applied and interviewed for an admissions position at a Christian school in Louisville as well as a number of positions on campus, but has no job offers yet.  Greg continues to do everything he can in order to procure any and all insurances we are currently eligible for, but the process is proving to be lengthy and frustrating and will likely change once both of us have jobs that push us into a different income bracket.  Please pray that God would provide for our financial and insurance needs while we attend seminary.

Also, for those who don't know and didn't see it in our support letter, we are happy to announce that we are expecting again and Mel is due in mid-June, so she is nearing her halfway point in the pregnancy.  We have found a good doctor here in Louisville for prenatal care and delivery at Baptist Hospital East in Louisville - continue to pray for us to get good insurance.  Little Sam is 18 months old and hasn't quite figured out what it means that "Mommy has a baby in her belly" yet, but we can tell he will be a good and very attentive big brother - he is already very interested in babies and stares and points, wide-eyed, whenever he sees one on campus or in the church nursery.  The knowledge of our family growing brings us both great joy and great responsibility - please pray that we would also learn more about how to parent our children Biblically as God would have us to.

Our family is very grateful to have you partnering with us!  We'll send an update next month with progress in our classes, relationships, at our church, etc. and answers to prayer.  Thank you again for following our ministry journey and for your support :)!  If you are interested in financially supporting us, please see the instructions at the end of our support letter.

Blessings,
The Ivey family

Cherished Family and Friends: A Support Letter

Cherished Family and Friends,

            We hope this letter finds you well.  You have received this letter because you have made a profound impact on our family.  We are embarking on a new journey as a family and we would love for you to share in the journey with us.  On December 20^th we moved down to Louisville, Kentucky to attend Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.  We began contemplating this transition back in August and the Lord has been faithful in lining things up for us to go.  We will tell you more about that in a minute but first we would like to explain the journey to accepting the calling to seminary.  

            In the past year, our family has been through many changes, mostly for the good.  The largest of these changes being our beautiful son, Sam, to whom we are still acclimating and apparently will be for the rest of our lives ;).  Life as parents of a small child has definitely made each day an adventure and challenge.  We are so humbled and amazed by the way Sam is growing into a little independent man each day.  Sam is now 18 months old and is running around the house, climbing everything in sight, speaking words, and overflowing with an eternal well of energy.  We are very thankful that for all his energy; he also is great about eating well and going to sleep at night . 

In relation to work and for those of you who don’t know, prior to our move to Louisville, Greg worked at Selah House, which is a Christian in-patient eating disorder treatment facility, where he was the Maintenance Technician and took care of the adult and teen properties for Selah.  To see the beautiful properties he took care of you can go to selahhouse.com/photos.  It was so wonderful for him to be able to work outside in God’s green earth and appreciate the many blessings of working with my hands to maintain a property.  Greg was also able to lead many chapels during my time at Selah, which also contributed to the answering of this call to Seminary, and was blessed to share the gospel with many of my work associates. 

This year Selah opened an adolescent house and after much prayer and discussion, Mel decided to leave her teaching job to become the educator at the teen house.   This change has been both wonderful and challenging.  It was great because Mel became able to come home and spend time with family without bringing home all the planning and grading that seemingly never ended when she was a teacher.  At the same time, this change presented many financial challenges as well as scheduling challenges in the last few months.  In August, Mel was transitioned from a full-time 8-5 position to a part time 5-9pm position.  This scheduling change was both a blessing and a curse.  It was positive because we were able to stop sending Sam to daycare, which gave both of us lots of extra time with Sam, and difficult because the two of us only got to see each other on the weekends and an hour a day during the weekdays.  Losing her fulltime status also presented financial and insurance benefit challenges.

As we prayed about what to do in relation to the scheduling and financial challenges, we felt the Lord burdening us with a calling to leave Anderson and attend seminary at SBTS.  We loved our time in Anderson.  We both had jobs we loved, a church that loved and shepherded us well, and a home that provided a great place to raise our son.  Needless to say we were sad to leave our home and friends but excited at what this new journey meant for our family. 

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Preview Day - October 17, 2012

The two of us had the opportunity to attend SBTS Preview Day in October, where we were able to spend a day and a half on campus.  It really was a wonderful time where God blessed and confirmed our calling to SBTS in both our souls.  Through our time at Preview days the Lord showed me how the many events of my life all tied together to bring me to being able to accept this calling.  We are truly humbled by the grace and sovereignty of God.  Still, this has been an incredible leap of faith for us. 

Greg was accepted to SBTS in August, received a $400 scholarship for the spring semester, we were offered and accepted seminary housing, and at that time we told Selah House that we would be leaving no later than December 20th, with or without jobs in Louisville.  

The living room of our new apartment on-campus
at SBTS in Louisville the night of moving day.

On December 7^th, we moved everything out of our house in Anderson into our seminary-housing apartment and a storage unit.  The Spring 2014 semester begins January 20 and Greg has already registered for classes.  Mel also registered for a course through the Seminary Wives Institute and is excited to see how she will learn and grow through that.  

We are also happy to announce that we are expecting again and Mel is due in mid-June.  We have found a good doctor here in Louisville for prenatal care and delivery at Baptist Hospital East.  The remaining unknowns are jobs and insurance.  Greg recently accepted a part-time position as youth minister at FSBC in Floyd’s Knobs and has a couple of other job possibilities.  Mel has applied and interviewed at different places, including some job opportunities on-campus, but has no job offers yet.  Greg has also done everything he can in order to procure any and all insurances we are currently eligible for, though that will change once both of us have jobs.  Please pray that God would provide for our financial and insurance needs while we attend seminary.

We would love for each of you to continue to walk with us in this journey of faith.  We greatly desire your prayers and words of encouragement or scripture as the Lord lays them on your hearts.  Mel has set up a blog online for you to follow in order to stay in touch with where we are and what is going on in our ministry journey from month to month here at SBTS.  Go to http://walkingtheiveytrail.blogspot.com/ to see photos, read stories, and find prayer/praise requests for our family.

As we take this journey of faith, we also will face many financial challenges.  We believe the Lord has laid on our hearts that this time of seminary is not intended for gaining more student loans to pay once Greg graduates.  At Southern, those who feel led by the Lord are able to give contributions to my school bill, rent, and book costs.  We want to stress that we mainly seek your prayers and encouragement.  We do not want you to feel the need to contribute financially if you are not led to do so by the Lord.  Please spend time in prayer and seek the Lord’s guidance in this.  We would love to partner with each of you in some way and be surrounded by a body of supporting believers.

For those interested in supporting us financially, we would ask that you give directly to the seminary.  We do not need to know that you gave unless you want us to.  SBTS estimates that our seminary costs will be about $2300 per semester (http://www.sbts.edu/current-students/financial-aid/estimated-costs/) and our rent is $795 a month on campus.  We would be glad to discuss our needs further if you would like.  Once again feel free to facebook, email, or mail us in this matter.  Here is the information from the seminary on how to give if the Lord so leads your heart:

"Checks should be made payable to “SBTS” and mailed to:

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Financial Aid

2825 Lexington Rd.

Louisville, KY 40280

Please make sure that the checks include the student's name and student ID number (Greg Ivey, Student ID number 214459) in the memo line.

It is helpful if checks are accompanied with a letter stating how the funds may be used.  For instance, would you be allowed to use the funds for books and housing as well as tuition?” 

Our seminary mailing address -
if it's not written like this, it won't reach us.

Thank you so much for the great contribution each one of you has already made to our family.  You each have had a hand in blessing, ministering, and shaping us into people who are able to accept this calling and walk this walk and for that we are so thankful to you.  We hope you will pray for us during this time and transition and we hope you will partner with us in prayer and participate in keeping up with us through the online blog.

In Christ,

Greg, Mel, and Sam Ivey

Family photo at our new church on December 22, 2012 -
also the day Greg was voted in as youth minister of
First Southern Baptist Church in Floyds Knobs