The Journey To Tucson
The McLaughlin family is not originally from Arizona, but they are not new to the area, either. How did that happen? We’d love to share a bit of the journey with you.
Chris and Erica were both born and raised in Southern California. While in art college, Chris felt a call to ministry, so he switched his major (and college!) from character animation to Christian Ministries and Biblical Studies. He and Erica started dating in 1999, and not long after, Chris got a full-time job at a church; he has been in full-time ministry since that day.
Chris and Erica were married in 2003 and had their firstborn daughter, Taylor, two years later. Another ministry job opportunity for Chris opened up in 2007, so the family moved to Vail, Arizona, where they had their second daughter, Sierra. After seven years of life and ministry in Vail, in 2014 the family moved to Greenwood, Indiana, where they lived for twelve years and had their third and fourth children, Caleb and Peyton. During that time, Chris was serving a local church as a Discipleship Pastor and taking seminary classes.
In 2022, Chris resigned from the church where he had been working to co-plant a PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) church in Greenwood. Soon after, he completed classes, earned his Master’s Degree, and was officially ordained into the PCA as a teaching elder/pastor. The initial goal was for Chris to help with the church plant for a few years and then plant another church, presumably in the same area.
When the time came to start deciding where the Lord was leading the McLaughlin family next, multiple opportunities arose. Chris and Erica prayed fervently that the Lord would shut the doors of opportunities that were not for them, and open doors and bring clarity for the ones He was leading them to. Over about a year’s time, that clarity came. Church planting or pastoring opportunities in Indiana, although tempting, had roadblocks or uncertainty attached to them. One opportunity, however, kept knocking down existing roadblocks and paving a clear path. That opportunity was back in Vail, where they had lived years before.
There were certainly roadblocks to planting a church in Vail. An obvious one was that it would require another cross-country move… and this time without taking the whole family. Taylor was now an adult, and her life was in Indianapolis. She would not be moving to Arizona with the rest of the family. Another was that Caleb has neurofibromatosis, a lifelong genetic tumor disorder that requires multiple specialists. He had fantastic specialists only twenty minutes from home in Indy who treated him for nine years, and a move to Arizona would mean that his new specialists would be unknown and two hours from home, in Phoenix. These roadblocks were not insurmountable, but they were emotional.
Over time, the Lord softened the emotional blows and brought peace that He would be sufficient through the difficulty. The Lord showed favor through potential roadblocks in so many other ways.
(Continue reading for these short stories!)
STORIES OF GOD’S FAVOR
Arizona Presbytery:
The Arizona Presbytery (a group of PCA churches in Arizona) desired to plant more churches, including one in the Vail/south east Tucson area. Chris’s experience in the Vail area, heart for the people, and church planting desire made him a fantastic candidate for this calling. They interviewed and tested him, and he was approved to have his eldership transferred to Arizona and to be commissioned as a church planter. There will be some funding assistance, as well as help with church officers (elders, etc.) until the plant is on its feet. The closest PCA church to where Chris will plant (which happens to be Erica’s parents’ church) is happily willing to let Chris and Erica’s family attend, and to send some willing families to be part of the launch team.
Local Churches:
Vail is a growing area with over 43,000 people and only about 15 churches. Of those churches, none are in the denomination Chris is ordained in. While there are residents who desire a PCA church in the area, Chris also wanted to make sure to maintain unity of the church universal (Christ followers everywhere, not just in one denomination). Unfortunately, sometimes the broken/human side of people and pastors can get territorial or worried about competition among churches. Chris spoke to multiple pastors in the area about the possibility of planting in Vail, and he received overwhelming openness and support from them. What a gift of unity and excitement to work together to bring the gospel to the people of South Tucson!
Vail School District:
Being a new baby church plant, there is no established church building to meet in. Most of the schools in the Vail School District have churches who rent them out on the weekends for this reason — many have met in the schools for years. Chris had a school in mind for this new church, but it is a newer schools and in a highly desired location. another church was meeting there, with another “in line” for it. Enter God, paving the road for this plant! The church that was meeting at that school no longer is meeting, and the one that was in line decided to stay where they were. The school district offered the very location we wanted most, which also happens to be close to the McLaughlins’ new home.
Gathering His People:
There are people who live in the Vail area who attend churches farther away than they would prefer for multiple reasons, or who stay at churches where they do not feel at home because they don’t want to travel far. Some of those people have expressed their desire to have a PCA church closer to home, and are excited about the new church starting in 2027. Chris also has a heart for people who are de-churched (people who used to go to church but for various reasons, including church hurt, have stopped attending) and he has plans to reach them and help them understand the gospel and the healing Christ offers. In a way that only God works, since Chris announced he was planning this church, some people from the McLaughlins’ past in Arizona and even California have reached out, interested in the new plant. The Lord is gathering His people for His purposes, and it is beautiful to witness.
Family:
Of course there were not just roadblocks on the path to Tucson, but joys to consider, as well. Erica’s family (mom and dad, and sister and her family) all live in Vail. For the first time in nineteen years, McLaughlin kids could live by some of their extended family and grow up spending lots of time with them. There are friends Chris and Erica left behind twelve years before with whom they were excited to reconnect. There are mountains and some of the best sunsets ever. There is the presence of In-N-Out Burger. The joys of the Lord.
When the Israelites worshipped an idol at the base of Mount Sinai, the Lord was going to send them on to the Promised Land alone. Moses pleaded to the Lord for them saying, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.” Moses had exactly the right response.
Moving across the country was difficult and bittersweet, yet it was simultaneously the easiest decision in the world because it was so clear that the Lord had prepared the way. There is no better place to be than in the will of God.