Otteson Family Journey: Resilience, Research, and a New Chapter

Hi Family & Friends—I hope this finds you all well and in good spirits!

A little update on happenings with the Ottesons. Over the last several months, we’ve had some remarkable moments of resilience, research, and we now find ourselves in late-stage interviews with several churches, including one “Candidate Weekend” in the capital city of Washington State! See below for a recap of recent family events, an update on my progress on Oxford’s “MTh in Applied Theology,” and a glimpse into where we hope this all might lead.

FAMILY

Sarah, Emmaus, Gloria, and I continue to thrive in Oxford. We’re mostly past the three seismic health events that kept us all on edge. The final stitch in Emmaus' left eyelid—remaining from his big “BPES” surgery in June ’24—is almost fully dissolved. The deafness in one of Sarah’s ears was cured by the generosity of about fifty friends in our community who raised the ≈$8k last February for a surgery that repaired the passage of Sarah’s middle ear. More recently, I had a little “Suspected GI Cancer” surprise from my doctor a few weeks back. After several expedited tests, the results thankfully came back negative. The days building up to the final result was very difficult. We’re still investigating some cases of periodic fatigue. I think I’m juggling Oxford, fundraising, then there’s the job search, and family, and the body of me is saying “REST.”

Now that we’re on this side of the health adventures of our lifetime for now—Lord help us!—We’re enjoying long sunshiney days on “British Summer Time” with sunrise before 5 AM and sunset after 9 PM.

The kids are growing, and growing, and GROWING! At this stage, both Emmaus (3) and Gloria (1) are happy to play together or independently, which has made long afternoons in the backyard ideal for Sarah and me to just to sit back and enjoy a lower-maintenance stage of the kids' development. Emmaus continues to enjoy the guitar and has recently acquired a violin and bow found at a thrift store. Gloria is busy pushing her toy stroller all around the flat, loading it to the brim with all her stuffed animals and any other necessities for any given outing around the house!

Sarah and I continue to grow as married thirty-somethings with young children. I’ve recently discovered that one of the most romantic things I could ever do for Sarah is offer her a solo night out while I feed, bathe, and get the kids off to bed. We both continue to find our perch in the living room promptly after the kids are all tucked in at 8. She’s my best friend, and it’s been such an honor doing all this with her through thick and thin!

ACADEMICS

We’re now in the final six months of our three-year errand in Oxford. As you may recall, I’ve enjoyed good proximity to the theologian N. T. Wright working on proclaiming the Gospel as a concrete event—as opposed to abstract theological formulation—unveiling a clear and compelling future. Additionally, I’ve spent over 60 hours in group settings with the missiologist Ed Stetzer, tracing the roots and methods of previous evangelists and Christian traditions. I even conferred with a group of quantum physicists as we explored the potential nature of Jesus’ resurrection body, and how we might describe the ultimate Christian hope in terms of what we now know about space, time, relativity, and so on. All very fun!

As I strain for the finish, I now turn to the 20,000-word dissertation, which will focus on how the energizing force of the early Church was a purely hope-quickening movement, rather than a dogma-driven religion. As such, the church today is called to reengage with what exactly this hope entails as a physical, lived reality on earth, anticipating heaven forever, and in doing so, allowing everything else (ethics, spiritual formation, etc.) to fall into place naturally and intuitively.

“PASTOR SEARCH”

I’m excited to say my efforts in the ministry hunt have proven very fruitful. I officially started the search around the start of April, and we’re currently in late-stage interviews with four flourishing church communities located in Chicago, IL, Irvine, CA, and Seattle & Olympia, WA. A little over a week ago, we agreed to a formal “Candidate Weekend” with our new friends in the capital city of Washington State. They’re flying us out from May 31st to June 11th, where Sarah, Emmaus, Gloria, and I will attend plenty of meet-and-greets with their ministry teams prior to preaching on June 8, which will precede a formal vote on Monday, June 9.

I’m really drawn to this church for its long history of serving the community, which includes public servants, everyday citizens, immigrants, and service members stationed between two U.S. military installations. I’m also excited about this church’s vision for engaging an increasingly diverse and secular world with the wisdom and love of Jesus. As I’ve spent the bulk of my time in Oxford working out these questions, I’m excited for a team that anticipates a leadership that can equip the church for ministry in a skeptical, post-Christian, secular, pluralizing, and desperate-for-the-news-about-Jesus context.

The sense is that there is a real, beautiful move of the Spirit in this community. They’re a packed-out little church of 471 avg. marked by investments in ministries like Young Life and plenty of global missions giving. Their music swings from jazzy blues to traditional hymns, complemented by a good portion of contemporary charismatic music. I love that we can really hear the church singing through the live feed. A very humble, relational, warm, personality.

They’re excited about my unique preparation, relational style, and my emphasis on fulfilling God’s mission for the Church through life in Jesus, revealing the Father through the Spirit. Most importantly, the pastoral search team has shared a compelling prayer experience with me throughout this candidacy.

CONTINUED PRAYERS APPRECIATED

Prayers appreciated as Sarah and I take our next step in our discernment process and look forward to doing our part in leading the Body of Christ in its next season of shining the light of Jesus in dark places and flourishing the community with God’s Spirit as we all bear witness to the bodily resurrection of Jesus and implications from now to eternity!

THANK YOU!

Another round of cheers and thanks as we’ve rounded the last turn, can see the finish line, and give all in these last few dozen meters of the race!

In His grace,

Elliot, Sarah, Emmaus, and “Glow”