We have been married just over 2 years. We met in 8th grade and had always been close friends. Three years ago we finally decided to date each other and we fell in love and got married. When we first got married our goals were a little different from your average couple. Buying a house and having kids was the last thing on our minds. We wanted adventure. We wanted to travel. And we wanted to climb rocks. Will and I both love to spend time Rock Climbing. When I was a senior in college my best friend Angela taught me how to climb and I’ve been hooked ever since. Will’s climbing resume has been growing for the past 6 years including guiding at Devil’s Tower for the past 5 summers. So we decided wouldn’t make any major purchases, we would pay everything off and be able to pursue our dreams in a matter of a year and a half. In the meantime we covered a lot of ground (vertically) in the Black Hills and surrounding areas.
Well, whoever said the first year of marriage is the hardest, knew what they were talking about. We definitely had our ups and downs and bumps along the way. We were both trying to please ourselves and lost focus on pleasing each other and glorifying God. We were both brought to very low points in our lives. It seemed like at the very lowest, darkest point, God reached in and brought about a change in our hearts. He gave us a new vision for our lives.
At that point we had been married about a year and a half and we wondered if we could still find the adventure we were looking for, but more than that, we wondered what it was that God wanted for us. About a year ago we had signed up to become members of an organization called Solid Rock Climbers for Christ. We received newsletters about once a month. Will had been in contact with the Area director, Calvin Landrus. We decided to become area contacts. When people came to the Black Hills we would be the person they could contact for route information and lodging and what not. Then Calvin mentioned to Will that perhaps we should pray about being “on the road missionaries”. We would travel to climbing areas all over the country and help the area contacts in their area with outreaches and climbing schools and tell people the good news! I remember Will calling me and telling me about this and I just kept thinking, “There’s no way that can be a real job! You can’t be a rock climber and a missionary.” My mind was telling me, “It’s ok to have fun serving God but you’re not supposed to have the time of your life!” But soon I started to realize what a lie that is. God gave us talents and the desire to use them. Why not use our best for Him? Why wouldn’t He use the things we are best at and enjoy most to further His purposes? One of my favorite authors, John Piper always says, “God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him.” So we prayed about being on the road missionaries for Solid Rock Climbers for Christ and rejoiced that our trip would serve a higher purpose than just our selfish desires. We would be on mission. And how cool is it that God had been preparing our hearts and minds for this for the past two years?
Solid Rock is a national community of Christian climbers who have a great passion to reach climbers for Christ and help them find the adventure that lasts. The purpose of Solid Rock is to encourage, equip and empower climbers to reach climbers for Christ through personal witness and group outreach. Solid Rock began in the late 1980’s under the leadership of Dan Freeman. In November of 1989 Dan was taken home to be with the Lord. Nevertheless, his vision of sharing the life-saving gospel of Christ with the climbing community continues. The organization thrived in the early nineties as the mailing list grew to over a thousand, however in the late nineties the ministry stagnated. In 1999, feeling the will of God to keep the vision of reaching climbers for Christ going, Calvin Landrus stepped in as the volunteer part-time national director. In 2003 he went full time as a faith-supported missionary to the climbing community. And he’s been working hard ever since. Solid Rock envisions hundreds of Area Contact across the U.S. and several Road Contacts being “on the road” missionaries. Solid Rock offers training and resources on outreach programs and how to do the work of an evangelist. They also produce resources such as tracts designed for non-Christian climbers, stickers and logo merchandise, like t-shirts, carabineers and water bottles.
There are over 500,000 climbers in the US and Canada. They can be reached as a specific group of people because of three words: Community, Congregate and Connection. First, climbers are a community. We tend to think and behave along similar patterns. We use the same slang and we love to hang out with each other and talk about climbing. It’s a very close group. In the national magazines, the marriages of climbers and even the births of their babies are announced. Second, across the US there are only a few hundred climbing areas. Each weekend, thousands of climbers congregate in these areas. This allows specific locations to be targeted for effective evangelism. And thirdly, when you are out there climbing, someone has to belay, you, someone has to safely hold the rope. You entrust your life to your partner. This is just the starting point for the deep connection climbers have with each other. We believer this naturally strong bond can be a powerful means for a Christian climber to present unbelieving climbers with God’s hope and purpose for living.
We feel God has called us to reach climbers through Solid rock Climbers for Christ as on the road missionaries. We will be ministering at most of the major climbing areas in the west. We will be reaching out to climbers by distributing free coffee and sports drinks, developing relationships with the climbers we meet and holding outreach Bible discussions in campgrounds. One of the things we’ve learned in marriage is that God has wired us as human beings to need each other. At this point we need you. Please consider being on our support Team. We will need lots of prayer to break through barriers. The vision of reaching climbers for Christ is a tremendously difficult task. Pray that the attitude of “I can do life myself” that most climbers have can be overcome. Also pray that God continues to provide for our needs. We will be on the road for 6 months starting September 1. Please consider being a financial supporter as well. We would not ask for your giving unless we truly believed two things. First, we believe Solid Rock Climbers for Christ is a worthy place of ministry where we can use our gifts, abilities, and passions. Secondly, we believe this is what God is calling us to do for the next season of our lives. Please check out our support page and may God bless you on your adventures!