We're Heading North!

Welcome to our First Blog Post! 

Here's a recap of us and an update on the last decade of our lives!

Kim and I met 26 years ago this month and knew very early in our friendship that we were made for each other.  This was confirmed by the mutual call of God on both of our lives to serve him in a full-time capacity.  We married in August of 1986 and had the privilege of ministering to thousands of teenagers and college students over a 13 year period in Minneapolis, Dayton and Philadelphia. 

In 1999, after I (Rob) had endured a long grueling battle with Lyme's disease, we felt temporarily released from full-time ministry to recuperate, regroup and reconnect with our family in Illinois.  We asked God for a decade to pour into our own four children (Courtney, Caleb, Noah and Easton) and train them up!  During that ten years we owned a home building company and we learned a ton of things in the business world that we could never have learned in ministry.  In the fall of 2008 when the real estate market hit such a decline, our young company could not withstand the rapid decline in new home sales so we were forced to close our doors in the fall of 2009.  It was then that God reminded us that our 10 year request had expired.  We began to ask Him to reveal his plan for the next chapter in the life of our family. 

In February of 2010 we were contacted by our friends Rick and Lori Olson from Wisconsin who for the last five years have had a burning passion to plant a church in Barron County Wisconsin.  They felt God leading them to ask us to pray about leading in this church plant.  After many visits and much prayer, we felt this was God's clear direction as the next step for our family.

Our heart for Barron County is to plant a church that will be a cohesive agent of unity among the churches of Barron County, bringing them together as one force to reach the lost and hurting of this region with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  There are about 44, 000 unchurched people in Barron County.  We have a heart to train up leaders, serve the community, link to the businesses, connect with the 20s and 30s who are falling into the black hole of our culture, bridge the gap between the generations, be relational and compassionate, and unashamed of the gospel.  We have an expectancy that God is ready to move across this nation and He is calling us to Barron County!

We do not regret this last decade as God has taught us so much about the pressures and trials that people are facing as employees, business owners, spouses, teenagers, parents, children caring for elderly parents and so much more.  We trust that God wants to use all that we have experienced so that we are moved with compassion for people when they share the pain and suffering they are experiencing.  Compassion moves the heart of God!  We have also learned that "Mercy triumphs over judgment." (James 2:13).  We want to serve in humility and boldness!!  We love people and are excited about how God wants to use our family in this next chapter of life.

Our boys are feeling called to Barron County as well.  Watch for more specifics about that!  School starts in Wisconsin on September 1.  We have a house to sell in Illinois but are trusting God to provide as we take the leap of faith and head north in the next few weeks.

We will be about 1.5 hours east of Minneapolis, which is where Courtney is going to college at North Central University.  She is currently in One Accord for NCU and leading worship at youth camps this summer.  She is excited about helping out as much as she can with the new church plant!  

We really ask for your prayers!  Pray for favor, direction, anointing, wisdom, provision and whatever else God lays on your heart for us.  If you feel God speaking to your heart to support us financially, please contact us and we can give you more details on that.  You can email us at:  robandkimpierce@live.com

Check back often for updates (which won't be as lengthy as this!!)

We close with this verse:  "It's urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived - I mean right now - when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God, and, hearing, will come alive."  John 5:25 (The Message)

In Urgent Obedience ~  Rob & Kim