Update From Our Newest Church Plant
Over the last year, God has been leading and guiding a beloved couple from our Restored Uptown community into a big change. Scott and Asheigh Strohman have been a part of Restored from the early days. They met and fell in love with Jesus within this church. They have a beautiful story, both individually and as a couple, of experiencing Jesus’ love in a life-changing way over the last ten years. They have deep relationships with many, they have led Gospel Communities and used their gifts to serve the church in many ways. A few months ago, after a season of waiting, they decided to move their family back to their hometown of Rancho Cucamonga.
We asked them to answer some questions to share in more detail what influenced this decision and where God is leading them in the coming months.
What caused you to start considering and praying about moving back to Rancho?
The catalyst of us even considering moving back to our hometown was simply selling our home in City Heights, San Diego. We were both in agreement that it was time to sell and move to a different neighborhood. Our plan was to move further east in San Diego, where many of the Restored Uptown families were beginning to settle. The church was in a state of transition from an urban community in the heart of North Park to growing families spread out more geographically. As we began to look at homes in San Diego and pray about which neighborhood God was leading us to, we both felt unsettled. We can’t explain fully why.
We have always had close family ties in Rancho and visited often for holidays and other special occasions, but with both of our careers rooted in San Diego and more importantly our church family whom we cherished, moving to Rancho never seemed practical or desirable. But something was different for us during this transition. The idea of moving back home floated in and out of our conversations, but didn’t become a real option until we started praying about it. We began to feel drawn back home and we spent much of the 2021 Restored Family of Churches Retreat bringing this idea to God individually and together. Leaving the retreat we each felt more open to the idea of moving to Rancho and Scott began to feel an overwhelming desire to carry home what we’ve learned and experienced with Jesus in our Restored family. We decided to start bringing the leaders and other godly, mature followers of Jesus into our decision making process. They listened to us wrestle through the losses and potential gains of a major life change like this and asked questions that helped us discern where God was leading our family.
What helped you process and ultimately make this decision?
Prayer together and individually brought us the most clarity and peace about the decision. But another helpful part of our decision making process was bringing other people we trusted into the conversation and asking for their wisdom and perspective. First and foremost, we had some important conversations with our Restored church family, who knew us well and ask hard questions and prayer with us. We also processed with our local eldership team. In addition, we also both had godly mentors outside of our local context; Ash spoke with Meryl Wienand and Scott was meeting with a spiritual director also connected to our church. Surprisingly, most of our biological family whom we would be moving closer to tried to stay neutral and never put pressure on us to move. I think they all knew just how special what we had in San Diego was and feared we would regret a move back.
What are you hoping to see God do through your family in this new (old) place?
We hope God will use our family to share the hope and love we’ve found in relationship with Jesus; to share the gospel. We hope that we can also carry home what we’ve learned specifically at Restored Uptown; a way of following Jesus that’s integrated into every aspect of life, not reserved for Sunday services. We have experienced life changing relationships within the church, so we hope to model the reality and beauty that the church is meant to operate like a family, not a business or club you visit or participate in occasionally. We hope to carry the strengths of our Restored Uptown community, gospel centrality, and intimate, authentic fellowship. Our plan as of now is to open our home and begin as a house church. Mostly, we just want to be aware of what God is already doing in this new/old place and available to step into whatever piece of the tapestry of redemption He has for us.
What are you excited about? Nervous about?
We are excited about seeing the life changing impact of people coming to know and love Jesus. We are excited for our children to see our lives continue to be oriented around loving Jesus and people; for them to participate in this new adventure. We are excited about living near our families and getting to know our old town with a new perspective. We are excited to re-engage with old friends. We are nervous about leaving our close knit spiritual community. We are nervous about letting our fears or feelings of inadequacy prevent us from stepping into what God has for us here.
How can we as the family of churches be praying for you?
After her own journey of prayer and seeking counsel, our dear friend and ministry partner, Bianca Micu, is planning to move to Rancho early this fall to help us. Would you pray that God would knit our hearts together, break our hearts for the lost in this community and give us direction and confidence for next steps as we plant? We are also beginning a church planting incubator through Tim Keller’s Redeemer City to City Collective and would appreciate prayers for us to be strengthened and refined through that cohort. Pray for our love for Jesus to continue to grow greater than the love of anything or anyone else in our path.
Are there any other opportunities for people to partner with you in this?
Yes! If God lays it on your heart to move to the burbs in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountain range, we welcome your help! We are already noticing God drawing people to Himself and have had some incredible spiritual conversations with old friends in the community. Our practical needs will become clearer as we start meeting intentionally, but we know we will eventually need help with leading worship, childcare, etc… For now we need prayer and words of encouragement. It’s helped us tremendously to remember we are still a part of our Restored family, even though our proximity has changed. Visits from our Restored family have been so life giving, so we welcome more of those!