This is a guest post from freelance writer Cindy Sawyer, who is also covering the GCA National Church Planting Conference:
There are a lot of reasons for couples to change the date of their wedding. I know of a woman who married early in order to allow her dying aunt to attend the wedding, and during World War II many couples got married sooner rather than later because in that intense atmosphere it seemed imperative that their love be declared publicly while they still had the chance. Let it never be said that the GCA Church Planting Conference is akin to World War II, but one couple did feel it was important enough to change the date of their vows in order to attend as a married couple.
Craig and Kim Sheffield are church planters. Craig has had a heart for planting a church in downtown Denver, Colorado for several years. He even moved downtown simply to live among the people there. Last summer he heard of a pastor named Jason Janns who was working toward starting a church downtown. Craig called him. At the time Janns had eight people on his team, two of whom were single women. When he learned that Sheffield was also single, he immediately began playing matchmaker. Sheffield had little interest in marriage at the time. After all, he was there to advance the Kingdom of God among a population that was broken and hurting and in desperate need of Jesus. None of that silly, distracting marriage stuff for him, no sir! But at lunch one day, shortly after their first phone call, Janns introduced Craig to team member Kim Hahnel. Kim had not been thinking of marriage either, but something about Sheffield changed her mind. Later that very day Kim told Janns, “That’s the man I’m going to marry!”
Craig joined Janns’ team and soon invited the rest of the team over to his house to discuss the church plant. After the meeting, one of Sheffield’s friends pulled him aside and told him, “I think I just met your future wife,” and Craig, full of male acuity and wisdom, responded hesitantly, “So maybe I should ask her out?” It turned out to be one of the best decisions he’d ever made. Not too many months later, Craig asked Kim to marry him.
They initially decided to marry in the Spring, but a funny thing happened… It was Kim’s idea actually. Kim had signed up for GCA’s Church Planting Conference before they’d met and Craig had signed up not long after. Both felt the conference would be invaluable to their future goal of seeing a church born in downtown Denver, but finances were tight, and Kim thought, “Why not get married before the conference? After all, one room is cheaper than two!” Okay, so it wasn’t the War or personal tragedy that prompted the change, but what good church planter doesn’t have to find ways to balance the budget? And although a church planting conference is not exactly the best honeymoon spot, the GCA Conference was being held in Orlando, Florida, Vacation Capital of the World.
The Sheffield’s were married in South Carolina on January 19, and I’m happy to say they did get to enjoy a honeymoon cruise to Grand Cayman before arriving in Orlando for the conference. When I spoke with them they were both glowing. It could have been from all the powerful insights they were gaining from the conference, both Sheffields seemed delighted with what they had learned in just a few short days, but, as good as GCA’s training is, I suspect being newly married may have had a little something to do with it.