Moments. Markers. Milestones.
Every single day contains multitudes—opportunities, invitations, and simple encounters with the living God. Moments like grabbing lunch with a coworker, kicking a soccer ball with your 9-year-old in the alley, or pumping gas without your phone in hand. These small, ordinary moments sustain us in the daily grind.
Sometimes, those moments mature into markers along the path of life. The ordinary becomes something more. Lunch becomes a breakthrough conversation. A routine practice becomes a life-giving exchange between father and son. Even mundane chores can become unexpected encounters with the presence of God. These are the markers that shape our weeks, months, and years.
And then—usually only in hindsight—some of those markers are revealed to be milestones, the kind that guide us through decades.
Today we are standing at one of them: Five years of living out our calling as missionaries in the city of Denver, Colorado.
Five years ago, we left one home and arrived in another. It wasn’t just a transition; it was its own milestone. When I look back, it’s funny how years one, two, and three felt like we had already been here “so long.” We were changing, growing, clarifying what we were called to do. I thought for sure God was about to answer every dream we had—quickly. Now, five years in, I realize we’re just getting started.
As we celebrate this milestone, I want to share an update on where we are and what your prayers and support have made possible. We could not be on this journey without you.
REST
When we first arrived, we rested—partly because COVID forced it, and partly because God knew we needed it. That season was a divine reset button. Residency for 18 months, moving into the neighborhood, settling into new rhythms of home church. All spaces contributing to rest.
Rest can feel disruptive, even painful, because it allows our hurts, doubts, and questions to finally catch up to us. That’s what happened to us… for the better part of these five years.
But without that rest, we would not still be here. I am convinced of it. We might be “successful” in ministry on the outside, yet hollow inside—empty of the kindness God wanted to form in us. The work God has been doing in me has been deep and slow, and it’s now becoming a healthy rhythm that keeps us close to our friend Jesus.
CLARITY
Over these years, God has also brought clarity: we are missionaries to our neighborhood, our kids’ school, and every sphere of our lives.
We are a family on mission. Not family and mission—two separate categories—but a family whose mission is intertwined with daily life.
On the playground after school, at the rec center in the evenings, at Halloween parties like the one last Friday—we show up as ambassadors of Jesus. Sent ones. Bearers of His light and life. This isn’t unique to us as the Van Waardhuizens; this is the calling of every follower of Jesus. We’re simply trying to live with clarity that this is our primary mission field. We do this through sharing Jesus in our testimony, deconstructing secondhand experiences of Christianity, small Bible studies, watching movies in our backyard, while always pointing to Jesus day after day.
From this clarity, we are praying for something simple and ancient: home churches—spiritual families.
Spaces where believers and not-yet-believers gather weekly for stripped-down worship, Scripture, prayer, and meals.
Right now, we have one home church. Our prayer is that God will raise up spiritual mothers and fathers who will plant more—expressions of church birthed by the Spirit and grounded in everyday life.
OPPORTUNITY
Your support has also created real opportunities.
God has made it clear that our long-term calling is covocational ministry.
Covocational workers pursue a primary career not as a stepping stone to full-time ministry, but as part of their ministry itself. The marketplace becomes their parish.
Ally has lived this out through her work as a tattoo artist—running a business, mentoring a young woman, and creating a space where clients encounter the compassion of Jesus in the form of meaningful conversation and presence.
My covocational path has so far been in the coffee world—as a barista, roaster, and warehouse worker (and a brief moment of almost being on reality television, but that’s for another time). But beginning in 2026, I’ll be stepping into a new venture after a year of discernment: I’m going back to school to become a barber.
This brings me tremendous joy, but more than that, we believe it’s a beautiful intersection of vocation and ministry—perfect for the way God has wired me as an evangelist, a highly extroverted / social person, and a neighborhood pastor. Your support has given us the space to hear God clearly and step into this next season with faith. This move is not instead of, but tethered with being a pastor, and missionary of our King Jesus.
Five years is not a small thing—but it’s also only the beginning. Some dreams remain unfulfilled, others have already come to life, and all of them have led us to this moment where we can build an altar of praise to our faithful God.
Five years in Denver means that one-third of my life with Jesus (15 years as of last month) has been spent on these streets. This city has shaped me. This calling has formed our family. And you—through your prayers, encouragement, and generosity—are woven deeply into our story.
This isn’t a blip.
This is the story God is writing.
And we’re grateful to be a part of it with you.
--Michael, Ally, Aksel, Flora, and Frances
