I remember very vividly the promise from Cory Hardesty of ARC at the wrap-up meeting of 3.0, that we would receive the phone call of whether we had been approved or not within 48 hours. Coming off such a wonderful experience, we left feeling like we were floating on a cloud. We went from total bag of nerves on our travel down to Atlanta to feeling like we could conquer the world. Who knew that 48 hours could take so long? The first day following 3.0 kept Brian glued to his phone, but we were not alarmed that we did not hear anything the first day. Although, I am not sure that we got a great deal of sleep that night.

But then came the second business day…

There are times when having Zdrojowy for a last name acts in your favor — this was not one of those times. I remember so vividly Facebook messaging and texting many of our church-planting friends back and forth who were waiting on their phone call as well. We were encouraging each other and, of course, playing out our insecurities over and over in our heads.

My number one advice to anyone who might follow this process in the future: fast from Facebook during those 48 hours. Slowly the results were coming in. We saw church plant pastors posting that they had gotten their yes! Our friends had gotten their phone calls, and yet 3:00 came, then 4:00, then 5:00…

The mind plays tricks on you when you are waiting… was the delay because of our name or because he was saving all of the NO’s for last? Did I say the wrong thing; did I not do this or that well enough; is this part about our situation a deal killer?

And then the call comes. I remember Brian pacing the yard back and forth, back and forth for what was equivalent to three minutes, which felt like an eternity for the person on the other side of the phone. Then the smile starts coming and Brian immediately starts fist pumping; you would have thought his favorite team had just won the Super Bowl.

When Brian got off the phone, we had a dance party on the front lawn. Brian said that it was a unanimous decision by the Assessment Team to do whatever possible to partner with us. Brian’s parents were still in town, and I immediately called my parents in Alabama. Their responses to our announcement was exactly the same – well, I already knew that!

What a roller-coaster journey from that ARC roundtable two years prior. We had been approved by ARC. This was real. We were going to do this, and we have so many people who believe in us.

Jacqueline