The Journey to Re-Generation

This is a brief history of Chuck and Della. It's been such an amazing journey so far..

Even before we were married in 1991, we had a sense of God’s call on our lives. And it became apparent to us that He had something great planned for our lives.

Chuck became the music director at a church in Richfield for an internship that was required for his music degree in college. When that was completed he stayed on for another year. Richfield was the first church position that Chuck held. But it turned out to be more than just a college church job. It was the first place that Della and Chuck, together, found a family. The people of Richfield Baptist Church welcomed us and made us feel a part of the family. We had such an amazing time there, learning how to love the family God had blessed us with.

After a serious head-on collision that we escaped uninjured, we saw God’s protection over our lives and that we had been saved for a purpose. After being married on June 1, 1991, we began to explore what that meant for us in a deeper way.

We moved to Texas for Chuck to go to seminary. The first time we lived in Texas we were there for 8 years. Again, we found a home. This time it was at a church in the North Dallas area called Colony Park. Chuck ended up as the Worship Leader and Youth Pastor. As we look back over our time at Colony Park, we realize that this was training for where we are now and where we are headed. We grew up spiritually at Colony Park and our lives were totally ruined for anything other than God’s best for us: in family, in calling, in life, and in Him. God developed a heart for the Nations in us while we were in Texas. Through our youth group, He also gave us a heart for spiritual kids. God gave us friends, younger and older than us, that continue to walk out this journey with us today. We laughed and cried a lot together as a church and as a family. We were being trained for our future and we didn't even know it. This was more than a job, this was goodness revealed in family.

During this time, Della fell in love with a girl named Carolyn that was the foster child of some of our friends. This prepared her heart for her own kids and spoke about the adoptive children of the future. We watched our first two children, Josiah and Emily, come into the world, changing our lives forever. We will be forever grateful for our family in Texas.

In 1998 we felt that God was telling us to move back to North Carolina. God confirmed this through different ways. We packed everything in a truck and headed off across the country, only to return to Texas 8 months later, this time to Waco. We were a part of a missions training program at Antioch Training School. At the end of a year-long training time, we went with our team on an outreach to Berlin, Germany for 8 weeks. This was our first time to Berlin. On returning from Berlin, Chuck went to work as a manager for Starbucks Coffee. This allowed us to move back to North Carolina and make a living until God revealed the next steps. During this transition time we learned a lot about ourselves as we navigated through so many different opportunities, including helping with new church plants and leading worship in an already established church. It was during this time that we also had to say goodbye to our third child, JohnMark Elisha who was stillborn on January 14, 2003. This was one of the most difficult times of our lives; a time in which we came face to face with what we really believe about God and His goodness and His faithfulness. A time to really understand the depth of the importance of family and the depth of love God has given us to share. But the amazing thing about this time of sorting through our emotions and our grief was the way God kept revealing His love for us over and over. One of the most amazing ways was through a pastor and his wife, Bill and Karen. We decided to try a new church that was close to where we lived. The first Sunday we were there, Bill came up to us and said, “I really believe that God wants me to tell you just how much He loves you, your family.” From that point on we developed such a special relationship with Bill and Karen, and New Beginning Church. Family, again was being established with us.

Later the same year we went back to Germany to help with a summer outreach. It was this trip that we met a couple from England, Nigel and Karen Rivers, and by "accident" saw the house in Berlin that we would some day live in. Over the next two years we developed a friendship with Nigel and Karen, while continuing to grow with our church family in North Carolina. During this time we also spent a lot of time getting to know our own extended families again, celebrating holidays and birthdays with each other. By 2004, God had made it clear that we were to join Nigel and Karen in moving to Berlin. This year taught us a lot about provision and trusting in God’s voice. With no sign of a place to live in Berlin, we decided to put our house on the market and make our way to Berlin. It was in early 2005 that Nigel and Karen called to tell us that God had provided the money to allow us to purchase the house that we knew God had been speaking to us about. Not long after this, we welcomed Micah to the world, celebrating with such joy the gift God gave us in Micah. So in July 2005, with 3 kids (Micah only 4 months old), we moved to Berlin. God really used this time of transition to show us once again how valuable our relationships are, with family and friends.

What we didn't know about Berlin was that it was to be our 7 year boot camp to prep us for Los Angeles. We learned what living in community is really all about, the hard times and the good times. Our vision to raise people up and send them out was solid, but the way that played out was not as we had imagined. We were blessed through supernatural provision with a huge house that we began working to renovate. Meanwhile, trying to learn German and function in a foreign culture with a whole new set of rules taught us flexibility and focused us in on listening to God's voice in a new way. We were spread all over the city for our first 4 years there, involving ourselves in different ministries and building relationships. We did not know why we never could stay involved with just one ministry or group for very long, and we began to question our own commitment. We seemed like an odd fit for a country that valued staying committed to a particular group or church.

In 2007 we experienced the birth of our fifth child, Benjamin. When he was 2 weeks old, he contracted RSV, a virus that is deadly to newborns. After Jesus literally raised him from the dead through Chuck's quick fatherly instincts, Benjamin and Della spent 10 long days in isolation in the hospital. This again showed us the value of the lives of our children.

In 2009 God connected us with the BURN 24-7 ministry. Through this, we were able to extend 24-7 worship and prayer to the city of Berlin. All those years of disjointed ministry were brought together in unity through worship and prayer. And, God began to send us other groups from all over the world to participate. One group in particular called "The World Race" was used by God to show us who we were really being trained to be. In fact, they recognized us as spiritual parents before we even understood that role. God filled our hearts with deep love for these people and we didn't understand why. But, God's love is supernatural and undeniable. He was calling us out into who we are now. He has called us to lead people into an understanding (within family) to their rightful place of leadership. Berlin was the final stage of training for us, and after 7 years, and an established ministry that continues to reach people to this day, we left the city in July 2012. Our plan at the time was to launch a BURN in Dublin, Ireland.

After 6 months of intense travel throughout Europe, meeting with other leaders of Burn 24-7, we headed back to the USA in 2013 for 6 months of rest and to visit with our partners and family. During this time, we heard God speak that we were not to return to Europe permanently and that we were needed here in the United States. God reminded us that our desire to be agents of change in culture, combined with our gifting as spiritual parents, had put us in a unique position to care for other people who would influence and change culture all over the world. After some time, He confirmed to us that Los Angeles was and is the gateway of communication to the world. That is where He wanted us to be, to provide an oasis for those He had already given to us, and to extend that to others He would lead to us. A place where people could come and learn to be a son or daughter. A place where no one would be seeking after them for anything. A place of rest and of knowing Jesus' love. This oasis was not just a place, but our home and our family. God had been showing us through the years the importance and strength of our family. He had been breaking us down and building us up all at the same time.

So, He sent us out from our family and friends in North Carolina. He told us to go to Los Angeles and He would provide a house for us to create this oasis of His love. To train people up and send them out to every area of the world. To care for spiritual orphans and to train others to be spiritual parents. So we came, and we have been here since December 2013, walking out Re-Generation.

That's our story and we are sticking to it...

Written by Chuck & Della, Los Angeles, CA

www.re-generationnow.com