Today, I sent out an email newsletter to many of our family & friends around the world. That letter can be read below, which shares about a new season that is opening for us.

Dear family & friends –

Normally, when we send out our various newsletter updates, you might notice some kind of associated picture of Belgium in the header above. It’s been our home for nearly 5 and a half years now, spending most of our married life here, having both our beautiful boys born here, and serving in pastoral, ministry & mission roles. What a truly amazing adventure in God we’ve experienced!

Yet, interestingly enough, some of you might have caught a different kind of picture this time: the “Memphis Bridge,” located in downtown Memphis – with the caption: New Season for the Lencke’s. The reason for this is that we are excited to share the news with you that we will soon be moving back to Memphis, USA.

As you can imagine, there has been much prayer, reflection and seeking counsel to come to this decision. It’s one of those very difficult decisions – with our hearts being pulled in 2 different directions. As we looked to see a ministry focus change in 2013 – seeing the pastoring of Cornerstone International Church handed over to a dear friend, while going back into personal studies towards a PhD and looking for opportunities to teach theology once again – we really had desired to continue to make Belgium our home. There are so many things we enjoy about life in Belgium. Ministry opportunities in Belgium abound, no doubt. Our relationships with local Flemish people have continued to grow even now. The local school for our boys has been amazing. And much more! Yet, it was about a month ago now that the Lord began to give more clarity about the next step for us in his good purposes. So we are confident that this is something the Lord is doing, and we are truly excited!

One great thing is that I will again have the opportunity of serving at Visible Music College in Memphis – a modern music ministry college training young people to serve with their musical & technical skills, both in the church and the world. Many of you will know that I was a student at the college from 2001-2003 and then also served on staff from 2006-2008, before moving to Belgium. So I look forward to again serving alongside my good friend, Ken Steorts, in both an administrative and teaching role. With my studies, it’s still my dream to work towards a doctorate. There are a handful of theological seminary options in the Memphis area and, so, I will look to take some part-time, evening classes. It will also be nice to be close to my family again. And my sister is due with her first child in February – so we get to be an uncle and aunt for the first time as well (with Caleb & Joshua being close to their cousin).

At this point, our plan is to arrive back in the U.S. on December 8th, giving us some good time over the holidays before things kick into high gear with the new staff role, settling into a home, etc. No doubt, there are lots of things to finish out in Belgium: from selling many of our European appliances, selling our car & photo studio equipment, packing lots of boxes, looking into shipping some furniture & personal items across the ocean, etc. And, of course, we are working on Cat’s visa, with our interview at the embassy set for October 8th. We are praying for all documentation to be in order and for a speedy processing of the visa.

To each one of you receiving this email, we send it to you because you have played a unique role in our lives over the past years and we only expect that this will continue – whether you are in the US, Belgium, UK, Holland, Germany, Bulgaria, China, Switzerland, South Africa or wherever. Our time in Belgium has been fantastic, literally sharing life with a thousand people from nearly 50 countries! Our Father has truly been gracious to give us this opportunity to serve him in such a unique place as Brussels, walking alongside hundreds that have come into Cornerstone and many more in various life, mission and ministry opportunities. We will truly treasure this time the Lord has given us!

And, so, we continue to prepare for this time of transition, all with great anticipation of seeing what the Lord will continue to do in your lives and ours.

Much love from deep in our hearts,

Scott, Cat, Caleb & Joshua