Update: Maybe more than ever, we find ourselves desperate for the Lord to Lead, Provide, Protect. We are stepping into a fresh Faith Journey that may look like great folly in the eyes of many. Yet all too often we make ministry happen through our own efforts, and rarely rely on the Spirit's still small voice. It is not our motive to put the Lord to the Test, rather we are compelled to listen carefully to his instructions, which is often counter-intuitive. In many ways we are the least likely people to press our way into a missional business model. Yet the strategy of the Spirit is often contrary to our strategy, so we are risking it all, surrendering our comforts and what is predictable into the unknown. Our allegiance to Jesus secures our identity, and so the test before us looks like offering up our family, career, eduction, home, and all things Campbell Clan (even our creative ministries from the past) - Our Great Hope is to step into the next chapter, an ongoing story of metamorphisis where our lives reflect an upsidedown/backwards Kingdom - that only makes since through the lens of Jesus and his upsidedown/backwards way of life. That is our bold prayer & petition, and that we do not waver in the midst of the refinement that is continusously happening.
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May the following petition (prayers) be seen as secondary, to an advanced celebration (thanksgiving), trusting that Jesus answer to our petition may not be our wishes. We have found that delighting in what he delights in and aligning our petitions up with his will and way is the primary intent of our petitions... its for this reason we can be thankful in advance - because somehow through our participation of prayer the God of the Universe is realigning the desires of our Heart with the Desires of His heart. It is such a bizzare way of approaching prayer, but an approach that increases our joy and satisfaction IN HIM.
~white board from our prayer closet~
maybe this is TMI but we are desparate for the Spirit's Direction
End of the Year Tax Decisions for Vantage Point (LLC) & SOHI (501c3)
Pivotal Decisions going into the New Year
Desparate for our Partnership with Jesus to gain Vocational Clarity
Prioritizing His Will & Way over ours
Continued Healing & Wholeness Restored,
while Enduring the Refinement of Suffering.
A Posture of Encouragement and Joy set before us,
while exhibiting a sober-confidence In Christ.
Quick to confess our weaknesses, entitlement, and pride
alongside a burgeoning faith, empowered by the Spirit.
There are so many opportunities that tug at our heart strings,
so we are praying that abundant provision allows us to GO.
That we could say Yes ~ when invited to consult, teach, preach,
That it would be His Will that we find security in Him
while taking percieved foolish risks.
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Running our NGO/NPO in Uganda has been a stretch.
(Anxiety of Operating budget of $50k currently sets at about 50%)
(Praise, all the legal paperwork has been finalized, our board is on board)
We would like to personally visit, so we are praying
for miraculous abundant provision - above and beyond what we ask or imagine.
There is a compounded~complex web of responsibilities that currently limits our GOING.
(examples: One Trip ~ Out of Pocket Costs for Phil & Anna $7k,
leaving Amelia or taking her with us, departing our home mid-winter,
vocational unknowns, complex decisions over our personal taxes, deductions etc)
We are more than willing, but we need to honor the current restraints.
So we are praying that Peace will guard our hearts & minds.
We are so grateful for the Prayer Coverage, our Board, and Healthy boundaries,
So... may God grant us the wisdom and obedience to practice Mountain Moving Faith,
while not neglecting other responsibilities.
2024 - INTERCESSION & SUPPORT TEAM
~ Closing out a successful '23 season w/Vantage Point
~ Clarity for the NEXT Shift for Phil & Anna
~ Praise for the Exponential Growth & Abundunt Blessing
~ Managing the crosses we bear, the distractions that entangle us.
~ The setbacks from inside of us and outside of us.
~ Leaning into the Grace that is sufficient for All Things.
~ Welcome Pete to the Fam (Tori's Husband)
~ Blessing over Tori & Pete as they juggle College/Teaching/Work/Worship
~ Anika as she leads dance & continues church planting in TX/CA
~ while growing her Buisnesses @Modernani.com
~ Trey wrapping up his Buisness TS Encompass(llc)
~ while closeing his Non-Profit TMI(501c3) & Moving South
~ Trey & Ani with Busness & Mission in Dallas & San Antonio
~ while prepping a launch team for L.A. in 2024
~ Praise & Prayer over Amelia (Baptized this Summer)
~ antipating her middle & high school days ahead
~ Anna's continued Leadership with SOHI Re-Structuring
~ Savvy Spirit Led Strategies to Cultivate Growth
~ 2024 Prayer & Provisions for Family, Life, Business, Ministry, Growth
& that God would ecourage us to live generosly in a culture of scarcity
2023 - INTERCESSION & SUPPORT TEAM
~ Sisters of Hope Int. - Support Team Formation?
~ SOHI is an 501c3 Non-Profit/ NGO based in East Africa
Praise: This opportunity has been a unique fit & missional outlet for us.
~ Praying for the long-term sustainability & tweaking of SOHI
~ Evaluate Vantage Point - Viable Business?
~ Apply/Interview for Winter Work?
~ Stay or Move South?
~ Extended Family Conundrum?
Summer 2022 - INTERCESSION & SUPPORT TEAM
~ Launching Vantage Point Consulting in the Twin Cities
~ Housing in PR and the Cities
~ Family (spouses) split - Phil in the Cities / Anna in PR
~ Phil - Wedding Officiant, Consulting Business, Transitional Housing
~ Anna - Juggling kids/family/business and having margin to dream
~ Tori taking a new lead role at Camp Lebanon
~ Anika juggling multiple jobs so that she can return to Dallas
~ Trey finishing up his dance comp. & moving to the Cities for work
~ Amelia - oh to be 10 yrs old again
May 2022
So grateful for the margin in the month of May to help a couple of friends launch their businesses. The main business being TBL Coatings - [Epoxy Floors]. I have learned a lot about the administrative part of running these businesses, and in June it will be my turn to go all in with Vantage Point LLC. Tori has found her niche, and was hired onto the full-time staff with Camp Lebanon. We made a quick trip down-n-back to Dallas to help Anika transition into a second year with Zion Dance Project. We are proud of Trey, having completed his High School and College A.A. degree, and Amelia finished up her first year of homeschool and will turn 10 next month. Anna is in the thick of her spring cleaning rush (cabins & clients) while balancing the homestead ~ juggling the kid's schedule & caretaking for some seasoned saints. We invite you to pray over some vehicle purchases for Anna, Trey, and Anika, as well as their transition while Phil is living/working in the cities. We highly covet your intercession for the launching of Vantage Point through the summer months, specializing in Drone coverage, working alongside a number of "Exterior Businesses" as a consultant will be his primary objective. To be completely transparent ~ we are still in rehab from the career discplacement and find ourselves grieving the relational vacuum in our community. Yet, we continue to trust that the Spirit will make much of our Trust in His Guidance, and that leaning on Jesus through this time will help to heal the wounds that remain open... thank you for your intercession. And may God turn our grief to joy, our tears to laughter, our discouragement to faith beyond our unbelief.
April 2022
We are in this odd headspace... leaving behind the routine of life that we have become accustomed to for two decades. I've entered the world of "Business", it is a steep learning curve - one that I feel ill-equiped to find my bearings - but I press in because the Spirit continues to affirm this is the direction that I should be fully invested in for the present. So, I'm studying a lot. I've been traveling to conferences, shadowing businessmen, and trying to find the right questions to ask. All these roads [Orlando, Twin Cities, St. Cloud, Rochester, Dallas, Tulsa...] keep leading to one place, a different paradigm - Business as Mission [BAM]. Taking a number of workshops, and fast-track courses, learning new software. Suprisingly, I was able to jump through all the hoops and start my own business - probably easier than it should have been ~ Vantage Point LLC. Meanwhile, I picked up a couple of side-hustles... Cleaning with Anna's business, Epoxy Flooring, Exterior Roofing to name a few. I'm still in the middle of creating a website/vlog and took a crash course on Unmanned Aircraft Systems [UAS] - which thank you for praying me through that endeavor - I am now a certified/licensed Commercial Drone Pilot. Ok, so I've got a couple of jobs lined up, but we are trying to get some traction on what is ahead of us. A couple of jobs do not equal a sustainable income for the family, as the HoH I'm taking my anxiety and applying Philippians 4:6-7. Please continue to pray over our clan - there is so much unknown about what our immediate future holds - even though we are being stretched we are not without hope. Our anchor holds...
March 2022
It has been harder than we anticipated, though we remain soberly-confident in the Spirit's lead. We are reflecting on the extended compression; spiraling health concerns - Neck Treatments that have failed, Hip Surgery that was botched, Covid-19 mis-management, and the aftermath of Tornado Damage... and now a job displacement? We are reassured that God will not give us any more than we can handle - but how much refinement can a person take? How many of these elements are outside of our own control? How much of this is the ripple-effect of having one foot in a fallen world / systems that are less than God's Kingdom of the Ideal? But we press on in the crucible of God's labyrinth. We are determined with the strength of God's grace to not dip into depression, self-loathing, or allowing a bitter-root to strangle the life out of us. We are battling daily to take thoughts captive, and to not allow anger to take up residency... We are winning the war, but there are battles within that are raging. Recognizing that it's not a matter of defining black & white, right or wrong, good or bad, (tov or ra)... otherwise we are stuck on the crazy cycle - participating over and over again eating from the prohibited tree - so we continue to press on - trusting there is a greater wisdom, greater purpose that is invisible & inaudible - it is a faith like Hebrews 11&12, a justice and righteousness not of our own but transcendent like Philippians 3:8&9.
"...what is more, I consider everthing a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith."
February 2022
The exit from our Home Church, was more abrupt than we anticipated. Many/Most will not understand the compression and threshold that was crossed, which lead to our departure. We are praying and trusting that the clarity with which we (Campbells) understood the Spirit's guidance to leave without delay will one day make sense both to us and our church body. It is with deep grief and woundedness that we are compelled to exit - but only because the Spirit of God permitted us to do so, otherwise we would have stayed and yielded for another extended season. Part of our obedience is to gently challenge the system, culture, and leadership with which we have been attached to for 25 years. It is a painstaking tear to the fabric of our family, but we do not wish to delay our obedience. There are a small number of folks who know enough of the details to press-in to the challenges, and we are leaning not on our own understanding, nor are wishing to be take a posture of defensiveness. It is far from our intent to throw dirt, and dishonor the Bride of Jesus (church), and we are well aware that we have both yielded & challenged our local leadership with a limited perspective. In addition there are many, possibly even the majority that will be blindsided by our departure. We are praying for the fallout, the faithful, and those whom we were called to confront, knowing that we have no control in the outcome - but trusting that ..."God works all things together for the Good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose". We are praying that our own shock and anger will be eased, as we take time to heal-up and walk through the steps of forgiveness and reconciliation. This has been a month of shock, and we are petitioning God for sleep or even just a little rest amidst the chaos. Trusting that he knows the big picture. My family is pretty shaken - God help us...
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Contact INFO
For Prayer & Support
Text/Email/Address
Phil ~ (218) 235-1304
Campbells
18361 County 4
Park Rapids, MN 56470