Update: Coddington Tribe

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Some of you may not know Wes Coddington. He was a staff member at New Song Church in Oceanside and a church planter in San Diego. He recently accepted a assignment with the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board on Boise Idaho. After recently moving to Idaho, Wes was diagnosed with cancer. Please pray for the Coddington’s. If you read the article you will instantly know what an authentic call to ministry looks like. We love Wes and his family.

BIG News Part ONE

We have been inundated with requests from people we love and adore to come and visit. We just cannot accept the invitations. If Karen and I each picked the five most important people in our lives outside of family (and of course if you’re reading this you are one of those five) and said they are the only ones that can visit, that would still be 10 different visitations. We cannot maintain any kind of stable life for Kasey with all that traffic. We also would not be able to visit Dakota and Kadin on weekends. We also would have a very difficult time deciding who can and cannot come. So as difficult as it is to do this, we are not going to be scheduling time for individual visits. Please allow me (wes©) to explain further.

With my supposed limited time, here are our family priorities:
1. Jesus – We are working hard to follow Him closely during this time.
2. The Coddington Tribe – We want to optimize our time together.
3. NAMB – My full-time job is still my calling and I will serve them till I can’t.
4. Resonate Church – One of the big reasons God called us to Boise is to help start a Resonate Church with Young Professionals. We still hear that call.

These are the most important things we are pursing as a family, especially wes©. One of my closest friends in the whole world is Paul Shumski. He once told me during another dark time, “Don’t doubt in the darkness what God has revealed in the light.” God led us to Boise for this chapter in our lives and we will not abandon the call. He knew I had cancer when He called.

Here is what I am not pursuing:
Experiences – I have no desire to “visit one last beautiful place” or go on some adventure that I’ve always wanted. I have Heaven waiting for me, what can this world possibly offer compared to that?
Thanks – Many want to come share what an influence we have been on them. We really appreciate that, but we have all eternity to talk about what God did through each other. What we don’t have in eternity is the ability to invite others along to meet Jesus. While we would welcome a card or video of thanks, our hearts’ desire is to see that appreciation put into action by making followers of Jesus..

We love and adore you all, but we will use whatever time we have left as a complete Coddington Tribe to move the Kingdom of God forward. Is there any pursuit that can really outlast that?

BIG News Part TWO

I (wes©) have for over a decade wanted to do a disciple-making retreat where I could help facilitate the learning of what real, biblical following of Jesus means. In America especially, the church has lost her way. Too many churches are teaching people to believe in Jesus but not to follow Him. If those who claim to believe in Jesus would actually do what He said, the world would be a different place. We don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we do feel we have given it a good try and the Lord has blessed us with some successes. I had so many men and women invest in me when I was young and I am a different person because of their efforts and modeling. I have sought to give that back, but have always wanted to do more with the idea. I may be running out of time. So…

BIG News Part THREE

The Coddington Tribe has prayed and are all on board to invite you to the First (maybe annual) Coddington Tribe Disciple-Making Experience (DMX).

We figure that according to typical timelines, my strongest vacation time will be this US Thanksgiving. The longer I am on chemo and the more the cancer spreads, the weaker I will get. The Tribe wants to use our supposed best vacation week and give it to Kingdom work. We are hoping over Christmas we can get a week away with just the five of us, we will see.

Please join us anytime over the Thanksgiving Break (Monday thru Saturday) for Tribal DMX. We will be crafting worship, prayer and disciple-making sessions. Anyone who wants to come is welcome, whether you are a follower of Jesus or not. We will find joy in stories and sharing what God has done. We will get more details and will have a registration as well. It costs nothing except what you spend on your travel, lodging and food. Most people were offering to stay somewhere else when they visit anyway so we aren’t doing it that different for people financially. We will get more details as we progress and will put them on this page as they grow. The page is on the top of each page for easy access. We are kind of building the bridge as we walk on it – trusting God is doing His thing. Check back often to see the details as they come.

Here’s some of what we hope will happen:

  • People will come and be in awe of who God is and what He’s done
  • Many will find it like a reunion of people they haven’t seen in a while as well as an opportunity to put a face with someone you’ve only heard of by name.
  • People will walk away feeling like they know better how to follow Jesus
  • Lots of fun and laughter