You read that right folks, the Wicker‘s or relocating to the charming town of St. Joseph, Missouri! Evan has accepted a new job as the Associate Pastor to Wyatt Park Church in the town and we both could not be more excited for what lies ahead. To some, this may seem like a very random decision on our part but it has come after a lot of prayer and seeking guidance from the Lord. Let me start from the beginning.

For the past year Evan and I have both resided in Cedarville, Ohio. This town is very special to both of us. Years ago we both studied at Cedarville University and earned our BA’s there. This is the town where we first met. We both felt that it was our home away from home and we developed precious relationships here. Years later this is the town where we would fall in love. Evan even proposed here, just up the street at the historic Clifton Mill; and now it is where we have shared our first home together. Cedarville will always be a precious place to us. However over the past year of living in town again, we have both felt that it is no longer where God is calling us to be. This was a shock to us both and not what we expected. We began to pray, individually and together, about where God would be leading us. If He wasn’t calling us to Cedarville then where was He calling us? And beyond that, what was He calling us to do in this new place? We had so many questions.

For three years when Evan was living here, he was a youth pastor at a local church that he loved. That was a time he truly had a position that he was passionate about and loved more than he could tell you. After his time with that church he had a few more adventures, some involving ministry. Evan’s passion is serving the Lord by sharing God‘s grace and love with his people. So we began to pray that the Lord to make it clear if he was calling Evan back to the ministry field. This is when the opportunity started to come. Churches were reaching out and we were seeking churches out as well just to see what happened. After many interviews with a lot of great people we met the staff of Wyatt Park Church. Not only did we both feel immediately at ease and a unique bond with them but it was very clear to us that we were all on the same page about the church. All of these things were rare for us from other interviews and interactions we had. We couldn’t wait to continue speaking with the staff more. Every time Evan had an interview or spoke on the phone with them he would just be on fire afterwards. It was so wonderful to see him truly excited about this opportunity. We were so excited about what God seems to be orchestrating in our life.

Two weeks before the wedding we flew out to St. Joseph Missouri for a formal interview. We were there Friday evening until Sunday afternoon and had the best time. While Evan had many meetings and his formal interview, we also had time to explore the town and meet some amazing people in the church. Everything we learned about not only the church but the town excited us. It felt right. It was difficult not to get overly excited at this point but we both felt like the Lord was making it abundantly clear about what our next step in life together was going to be. It seemed like he was leading us to Wyatt Park. However we still had to wait and find out.

We enjoyed every second away on our honeymoon and it was so nice to relax and fully enjoy being husband-and-wife. Evan and I both love to talk about our future so of course we talked a lot about the possibility of Wyatt Park and just how excited we were. We also talked about the fact that if Wyatt Park was not where the Lord was calling us...then what? It would’ve been a major disappointment for sure but we agreed we were going to choose to be joyful in the Lord’s guidance even if it wasn’t what we wanted; knowing full well that is not an easy thing to do for either one of us. Fast forward two weeks when we returned home and we got the email and a phone call we been hoping to get! The church voted almost unanimously have us join them! We were so excited we couldn’t contain ourselves! We knew where God was calling us! It felt right! We had no doubts! This really was where he wanted us to be. We were so grateful that he answered our prayers!

Then came the hard part, telling our friends and family that we were moving 10+ hours away. I personally have never lived so far away from my family and this will be a new change for me. My family has been nothing less than loving and supportive in this new chapter for us. Our friends have been surprised about the relocation but so excited about what we will be doing there. Words cannot express how much it means to us that we had the love and support from our loved ones. Things have worked out that we will get to spend Thanksgiving with family and then we will be heading out on our new adventure!

So now comes the question that I’ve been getting since we told people...

“What about your photography business?”

That’s the beautiful thing about photography, I can do it anywhere! I never made an official announcement but I moved to photography full-time back in August. It was a move I’ve been dying to make forever and it finally worked out to leave my day job and focus only on my passion. To be honest I’m very excited about starting all over in a new environment. While I love the Columbus and Dayton area and the clients I have here I am excited to make a new name for myself in a brand new city! I may focus more time of my business in different areas of photography. Of course I would still love to do weddings and still plan to, but I would also love to spend a lot of time focusing on senior photography. It is a passion of mine to work with young adults and I already have so many ideas for investing in seniors for my business. I would also love to try my hand at newborn photography. That is such a beautiful process but it takes time that I did not have prior to becoming full-time. I’m so excited to focus my attention on my passion and see how the Lord will provide! Of course I would still love to work with my Ohio clients if I’m in town and will make it clear if I will be in town for an extended amount of time in the future to work with my clients again if they are available.

I never thought that I would live in this part of the country and if I’m honest I never expected to be this excited about it if I were moving there. But being married to Evan and having a life we have together, it makes me happy to be absolutely anywhere with him. We are both sad to leave family and friends, I may have even cried over in a little bit. Evan has been nothing but loving and supportive and completely understands my sadness of leaving our loved ones. He knows that I fully support him and he’s call to ministry. He’s clearly called to do it and it’s one of the things I love about him; that he wants to serve the Lord full time. While he has had to leave loved ones many many times he is nothing but understanding of the fact that I have never. He has actually felt a little guilty about “tearing me away from my clients and of the familiar.” But I have assured him that he is not tearing me away from anything. We are team and we made this decision together.

If you have any questions about Lauren Melanne photography please feel free to reach out! If you have any connections in the St. Joseph/Kansas City area please feel free to share!

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.

2 Corinthians 2:14