As told by Pastor London.
“Then touched he their eyes, saying, according to your faith be it unto you.”
Matthew 9:29 KJV
Pastor London and his wife, Nikisha, have been married for 23 years, and they have two teenage children, Anthony, 18, and Selah, 16. As a family, they have been enjoying serving the Lord by traveling around the United States and internationally, training people how to share the gospel in their communities. It has been fulfilling work that the whole family loved. However, this work all came to a halt in 2020 when COVID-19 spread. Work in foreign mission fields stopped, and it became more challenging to work across the United States as well. They were forced to abandon their traveling schedule for a time. Still, they were able to continue the work with their local church, building and strengthening God's people to reach others. They planned to resume travel as soon as possible.
Not long after traveling was halted, Pastor London received a call from a friend who said that their church wanted him to be their next pastor. He quickly declined the suggestion and said that his family enjoyed being in the mission field, so they would wait until travel opportunities opened again. His friend was persistent and asked him to pray about it. Pastor London was hesitant to pray about it because he knew he wasn’t interested and didn’t want the Lord to override his decision. However, he knew praying and asking God about His plans was the right thing to do. So, hesitantly, he prayed.
By the end of the day, God impressed him to submit his name for the pastoral position. London wrestled with the decision to move to a city. Still, he allowed God's Holy Spirit to lead by putting his name forward for consideration. After three months, he received a text about a church that needed a pastor. It didn't sound like the church his friend had mentioned, so he reached out to his friend, who encouraged him that this other church would be a perfect fit.
Putting Their List in God's Hands
Pastor London went for the interview and was offered the job. Before accepting, he brought his family together to make a list of what they wanted from God if they were going to move from Arkansas to San Diego. The list included, but was not limited to: the house must not be in the city, must have a swimming pool, must have fruit trees, and must be F-R-E-E. Now, this seemed an absurdly impossible list for many reasons, one being that San Diego is one of the more expensive places to live in California, but these were their conditions. They prayed over the list and left it in God's hands.
Soon, London got a call from a former student who said her mom had a house in San Diego, about two hours from the church. She suggested that his family take a look at it and added that it was available for them to use free of charge. When they went to take a look at the house, it had everything on their list. It was in a rural area, with fruit trees on the property, a swimming pool, a place to garden, and an electric car charger—and it was all FREE! A place like that in San Diego could be as much as $5,500 a month, and they were getting it for free.
Call to Action
God made Himself explicitly clear when He met all of their requests. Pastor London knew immediately, beyond a doubt, that God had called him to pastor that church. What God orders, He pays for. Put your faith to the test and see what God will do.
