BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Marriage, Tim had learned, wasn’t as easy as he had assumed it would be. That had been a learning curve. Running to work, cleaning stalls, submitting to his leader no matter what—with a smile on his face—those 5-mile runs were when he wondered, step after step and mile after mile, What am I doing here? He didn’t know the answer. Months passed, and one of his friends from the Anaheim Superkid Academy, Anna Byrd, helped Tim get a job at a car dealership. Stephanie got a job at a grocery store. But in terms of ministry, it appeared that they’d gone backward. Still, they forged ahead, being diligent to the season. The Choice The following year, in 2012, Tim unlocked the door to their apartment and found Stephanie on the floor, sobbing. “What’s wrong?” he asked, running to her. She lifted her tear-stained face. “I miss our families,” she said. Tim sank to the floor beside his wife and pulled her into his arms. “I miss them too.” They wept together. “Can’t we just go home?” she asked. There it was: the million-dollar question. What was stopping them? In all the time since he’d moved to Texas no doors had opened for him in ministry. They could just pack up and go back home. Call it a good try, a learning experience, and move on. After all, he’d done everything he knew to obey God and stay diligent, even when doors of opportunity slammed in his face. Tim thought back to the early days of Superkid Academy, when the Lord told him to clean bathrooms. Afterward, he’d been promoted. He remembered falling into pride and Commander Dana asking him to step down while he dealt with it. He remembered the Lord telling him that Sonic was his sign, and led him to a job as a carhop—a very humbling experience. And he remembered the Lord leading him to volunteer to clean the stalls, to submit to authority, to stop complaining and to be diligent in that season. He’d done all of that, and more. Couldn’t he just go home? Tim pondered 1 Peter 5:5-6: “In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time” ("New International Version"). Without a doubt, their due time had not arrived, Tim reasoned. The season they were in was one of being humbled. One thing he knew for sure was that being humbled was a prerequisite to being promoted. Pulling Stephanie close, he called her by her nickname and said: “Nanie, I think we’re supposed to stay here.” She dried her tears and agreed. The Call “I was a volunteer leading the children’s worship at our North Richland Hills extension campus, figuring I might as well not be there, when Commander Dana called and asked me to meet him for coffee,” Tim recalls. “I drove to Starbucks, wondering what I’d done wrong. As I pulled into the parking lot I heard these words, 'Your life is about to change right now.' I didn’t have any idea what that meant. I went inside expecting Commander Dana to tell me I’d messed up some way.” After getting their coffees and settling down at a table, Dana said, “Tim, we have a position that opened up in our department. I think you’re the guy for the job.” “Really?” Tim asked, stunned. “Yes, you’ve been so diligent even though it’s been hard for you.” “What’s the position?” “Associate Pastor of Kids’ Worship.” “Wait, what? An associate pastor?” “Tim, you’ve been pastoring kids for years but God has made it public now. When this position came up, we knew you were the person.” It had been one month since he and Stephanie almost packed up and headed back to California. “I went to work as a kids’ pastor, and soon after we bought a house,” Tim says. “Two years later, the Lord impressed us that we were going to move. I was offered a position at our Frisco campus, where I’m currently serving as their Students’ Worship Pastor.” All the while, Tim never forgot his spiritual roots. He never disconnected from the ministry that brought him to this place in life: volunteering each year with Superkid Academy during the Believers’ Convention. “This is my 20th year to volunteer at Superkid Academy,” Tim says. “I am who I am today, because of everything KCM sowed into me as a child. Superkid Academy gave me years of ministry, doing worship and teaching segments. More than anything, it gave me a heart for ministry.” Looking back over his journey, Tim realizes that how someone handles the humbling experiences determines their promotion in God’s kingdom. “Joseph was sold into slavery and thrown into prison,” Tim said. “David and his men hid in caves before he ruled as king. For many of the patriarchs their seasons of humility lasted for many years.” Today, Tim and Stephanie, who also works in the kids’ department at Gateway, are enjoying being parents to their first child, 1-year-old Zion Ezra. “We love the season that we’re in!” Tim says. “But we keep our Sonic visors in the closet to remind us to stay humble before God.” V * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Tim never forgot his spiritual roots. He never disconnected from the ministry that brought him to this place in life. Join Tim, partner with KCM today! KCM.ORG/PARTNERNOW 1-800-600-7395 (U.S. only) *************************************** 14 : BVOV

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