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RENDEZVOUS

Meet the Vancils

by Kathy Vancil, Oregon City, Oregon

What happens when one retired pastor’s wife in California takes two independent believers from Oregon and Florida, both having resigned themselves to living alone, and suggests that they talk to each other? You get a God-sized plan for marriage and ministry. That’s the short version of how Ted and I met six years ago.

Ted, at the tender age of 49, retired as a school bus mechanic because his arthritis from his old Army days no longer allowed him to turn the big wrenches and do the heavy lifting required of the job he’d worked so many years. He figured he’d live the rest of his life on his family’s farm in Oregon pursuing his passions of hunting, collecting guns, reloading ammunition and learning more about all of them. A dedicated fan of the writings of John Barsness, Ted was proud to count himself as a fellow "gun loony", and rightly so. He didn’t even see the big change coming.

Kathy, a sweet young thing at 40, grew up on a small farm in Indiana and had spent her years studying drama, teaching speech communications, working in law firms and spending her free time acting in community and dinner theatres. Realizing that her life was going in circles with no clear direction, she moved from Indiana to Florida to start over and found herself wandering in the desert time of her life with only the Lord to count on. She had great expectations but no idea of the right turn her life was about to take.

We started getting to know each other in December 1999 and were married November 25, 2000. I moved to Ted’s home in Oregon. After attending a one-week intensive class on Revelation, Ted decided to answer a call from God he’d received as a youth, and he started seminary.

I realized that if I was going to be married to a pastor, I’d better become much better prepared. Both of us recognize that the Lord has called us together to serve Him and help each other. After five years of study, Ted received his Masters of Divinity degree from Western Seminary in April 2006. He is passionate about the Word of God and about presenting the Gospel to all who will hear. I continue my study, especially concentrating on Christian coaching for women in ministry. We are pleased to be accepted into the ranks of missionaries with Rocky Mountain Bible Mission.

The Lord has been preparing both of us throughout our lives to live and serve in a rural church. We’ve both had the desire to come to Montana, and it looks like the Lord is going to give us the desires of our hearts. It’s our prayer that He will place us where we are uniquely suited to serve and glorify Him while shining His Light in the darkness. Of course, if we can also hunt and do some acting along the way, that’s good too!