"Something Clever and Eye-Catching"

Yep, that's right. That's my title. Get over it. :)

This past week I was fortunate enough and blessed enough to spend some time in Sublette, KS at Sublette Christian Church leading worship at their spring revival. Good times. Good times. I went into this particular event quite unsure of what to expect. I mean, it's southwest Kansas....can God even exist in southwest Kansas? My answer to that incredibly ridiculous question? Most definitely!

Kurt Mortensen from Cherokee Hills Christian Church in OK City, OK was the speaker and wow did he ever speak! That man took what most of us know as everyday Christian life and spun it on its head. He challenged all of us to get out and live dangerous lives. The lives of Jesus and his disciples were anything but safe and mundane! If you look through the book of Acts alone, you will see how over and over again God was challenging people to think outside the box and step outside of what they had always done and thought to do to step out and speak the gospel on his behalf.

I was reading through part of Acts last night and was struck at the prayers of these disciples. Acts 4:24-30 is a prayer that the followers prayed right after Peter and John were released from custody and reprimanded for speaking in the name of Jesus. These men & women knew that they were being threatened and knew that death might be a very strong possibility for them if they continued in their current plan. However, they did not pray for a hedge of protection. They did not pray for the people who were plotting against them to have a change of heart. Instead they prayed these words. "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness."

Dude. That is stinkin' awesome! Seriously! I mean just think about it. Put yourself in their time and their lives and their moment. "Lord...enable us to speak with great boldness!" That is just amazing! I try to read the Bible as though it were really happening to me, and I just have a hard time imagining that I wouldn't have been praying for protection and open doors (away from the Jews that were plotting to KILL me!) and hedges of protection! But these guys were legit!

So what does it mean to truly be a follower of Jesus? What does that really look like? Man, I am not even sure I know anymore! The more I read through the gospels and the book of Acts, I am reminded and convicted that I need to be bold. I need to be willing to die. I need to be willing to get up and walk across the boardwalk at my apartment and meet the family next door. I need to be willing to step out and LOVE the people that I come in contact with. What does it mean to you?

To love like Jesus....

Ok, so I was reading John 13 in my devo time last night and was struck by something that I have read about a bajillion times (and yes, math majors, that is a real number). John 13:34-35 says, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

What does it mean to love like Jesus?

I have been reading through and thinking through 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, which says, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

And I know that loving like Jesus should look a lot like this. But I fear sometimes that we get too caught up in the gushy love. The love that forgives everything and is gracious. The love that sweeps everything under the rug and pretends like it didn't happen. But that does not sound like love to me. According to 1 Corinthians 13, love rejoices in the truth. There is a lot of meaning in that phrase if it means what I think it means. Speaking the truth in love is not always easy. Truth is not always easy and gushy and lovey-dovey. Sometimes it is painful and hard. But does that make it any less love?

I would like to know what you think. What does it mean to love like Jesus? What does it mean for Jesus to say that they will know we are his followers by how we love one another? Do we do this? Do we as followers of Christ look like Jesus when we "love" one another?

What is faith?

Ryan was asked to preach at SouthWoods Christian Church in Overland Park because their preacher was away for the weekend. For his sermon he decided to preach on Hebrews 11 and tackle the idea that we as followers of Christ must overcome our beliefs and live by faith. He did a great job! :) He is a man who enjoys adding in the flavor of the times and therefore, he made sure to put some video in the sermon. He interviewed a man by the name of Chuck who leads a ministry in KCK called Urban Scholastic Center who left a good paying job in a great part of the area to go back to his hometown and start a ministry helping teens and families become more than they ever dreamed of. This ministry is amazing, and if you have the opportunity, you should definitely check it out. He also chatted with the preacher of the church about his initial faith leap to plant SouthWoods 20 years ago. Ryan also asked me to share my testimony of moving to Olathe a month ago and the struggles that have come with that move. I wanted to share with you what I said on camera. Here is a link to the video itself for those of you who are more visual learners! :)

I moved to Olathe, Kansas mid-way through this past January to help plant 33 Church with Ryan and Sara Nelson. I left my friends, family and a pretty good job to pursue something I had never done with someone who had never done it, in a city neither one of us had ever lived to help people neither one of us had ever met. Yet somehow, it just felt right.

The funny thing about feelings is that they come and go. There have been moments during the six months between making that decision to move and actually moving where I felt really good about what I was doing. And there were other moments it did not feel so good. But I believed I had made the right decision, and I believed the people that I loved that said I made the right decision.

So I moved. I moved, and I felt......sad. I felt lonely. I felt confused. I had expected to feel excited and pumped up and rejuvenated, and instead I felt sad. I remember crying into my pillow night after night. I remember throwing my hands up in the air and falling back on my bed and between sobs asking God, "Why? Why me? Why now? Why here? Why like this?" And no matter how many times I did this, he just kept saying, "Just wait. You'll see. Just trust me."

Trust. What a funny word. A good friend of mine has been throwing this word at me for the past few months, and you know how you hear something in one ear and totally shut it out in the other ear? Well, apparently that is what I had been doing. So when I happened across Romans 15:13 which says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit," my first thought was, that is what I want! I want joy! I want peace! I want to feel hope! So I called up my good friend and read that to her. And the first words out of her mouth were, "See! It's all about trust!" I stopped and re-read the passage. She was right. In my desperation to feel joy and peace and hope--to feel the way I wanted to feel--I had missed the main thing. I had missed trust.

This season is not the easiest season in my life. It won't be the hardest, but it is definitely not the easiest. I know that there will still be times that I cry into my pillow because I miss people or I miss things. I have chosen to take a step out in faith, and I know that God is faithful. All I have to do is trust.

Awareness & Vision

So today Ryan and I went to this Church Planting meeting somewhere in Kansas City(ish). There were two sessions today. The first one was about Stratgey....well, kinda. The second one was about GTD, aka Getting Things Done, which is a systematic way to organize and prioritize. I would like to focus on the first session today for this blog. Not because the second one wasn't good, it's just that....well, let's just say the first one was more applicable to me at this point in my life.

This guy named Kevin Something (not really his last name; we'll pretend that I am protecting the innocent) talked about strategy. Actually he didn't really talk about strategy. I have no idea what he was supposed to talk about, but he talked about awareness, vision, strategy, courage.

What I really loved about what he said is that planting a church is SOOOOO not all about your children's program, youth program or small groups. It is SOOOOO not about strategy. Before you can plant a church, you have to be aware and have a vision. You might be asking yourself....um, why is this important to me? My response? Cause this should be how everyone walks into any kind of ministry anywhere, regardless of if you are planting a church or not.

Being aware is about seeing your community and the area in which you are ministering through God's eyes. It is all about seeing the community for what it is and seeing things the way they are. Too often people walk into a community full of ideas of what they are going to change and do with an existing church or with their new church plant, and they never stop to figure out who these people are or what their needs are.

After you have figured out what the needs are in the community, your job is to figure out what direction you think the community needs to go. This is called vision. It is not strategy, mind you! It is not figuring out what method to use to make sure that all the young people in your community show up on Sundays. It's not about what day of the week to do your small groups or how many people should come to those small groups before you duplicate. It's about seeing the future in a sense. Vision is about seeing where you and your community need to go.

Awareness comes from spending time in your community and talking to people. It comes from opening your eyes and looking through God's glasses to see what is happening. Your vision comes from realizing what is going on in your community and dreaming about where you think it should be. Only after these two things have been worked through can you even begin to strategize.

I know that this sounds like, "Duh!" But to me, this was huge. I just quit my full-time job, left my family and closest friends, moved to Olathe, and am looking for a part-time job to help pay the bills, and I am not sure that I have any idea what this community needs or where it needs to go. Now, granted, I trust Ryan to figure this out and know where it needs to go (eventually), but it really put within me a desire to get to know this community. I am not sure what this means, but I know that it will take some work and take some time.

Awareness. Vision. Hmmm. Something to think about.

Update #1 From Olathe

Well, I have arrived....no, not like that, sillies. I have arrived in Olathe, Kansas, home of the...of the....of the.....yeah, I got nothin'! Anywho, I have arrived. Got it yet?

Moving right along (no pun intended, really!), I got all moved into my new apartment, but I am still not quite settled in. Ryan has offered to build me a pantry (from scratch!), but until that has been completed, I cannot unpack my kitchen much more than it already is. Oh well. I got my desk sorta figured out today, which took way less time than I thought it would and made me realize I should've done that on, like, Monday instead of dreading it all week and doing it begrudgingly today. Oh well. Live and learn (and then get Luvs, right Laurie?).

Anyway, so here is the update since I have been gone from good ol' Iowa. Patty and I brought an Explorer load of stuff down to Olathe on Monday, Jan 18, and then tried to head back to Iowa on Wed.....unfortunately, (wahoo!) there was an ice storm in the middle of Iowa which prevented us from returning as planned. Gee, what a bummer. :) So we came back on Thurs instead. We got a few house things done while we were here, but mostly, we just had a good time hanging out one last time before I moved. It was grand!

My folks and I (and my good brother) came down on that following Fri with a trailer load of.....most of my stuff. Unfortunately, we miscalculated a bit and didn't quite get everything. However, that turned out to be a God-thing, because now I get to the Patty and the kids this weekend and my parents again in another couple of weeks. You'd think I had planned it! :D

Sara and I have been doing some shopping to get my house well-equipped with all of the necessities. When my family and I got here last Fri, there was some food things magically in my fridge and on my counter. Some amazing food fairy left it there for me. The Nelson's have been a huge blessing to me as I get settled in, and I am very grateful for them and their friendship. I look forward to working with them more as time goes on.

So, I think that about wraps up my first week in Olathe....wow, has it already been that long? Crazy! Well, I look forward to another week of trying to get around this silly city and trying to figure out what to do about a job. Your prayers are greatly appreciated!

Ok, so, I will try to do better about not waiting a whole week, so that these updates can be more detailed. But I promise you, my week was not really all that exciting! Just unpacking boxes and trying not to cry every other minute! :) Thank you to all of you who have been praying and who have been such a huge support to me over the past few weeks/months. You know who you are, and I appreciate you so much! :)

I Think I Can.....

So, it would appear that I am moving to Kansas to help plant a church. And for those of you who are reading this or hearing about this for the first time, let me fill you in. I am moving to Kansas to help plant a church. There. Feel filled in? You should!

I have known this time would be coming for almost six months, yet now that the time has arrived, I find myself wishing that it was a little further away. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of planting a new church and am very excited to be a part of something like this from the very beginning, but I also have to admit that I am really gonna miss this place! I love my friends and my church family. I love the youth that God has blessed me with, and the staff that I have had the utmost privilege of working with.

Therefore, I know that God has something huge planned for me. I know that this move will prove to be one of the best and most amazing decisions and adventures that I have ever been on. I trust in the promise of God that says that all things will work out for the good for those who love the Lord. I believe with all my heart that God has great plans for 33 Church, and I, for one, cannot wait to see what happens with all of this.

Do you remember the story from back in the day about the little engine that could? That's what I feel like. I feel like I have been heading up this really long and hard hill that has one of the steepest grades I have ever encountered, all the while I have been trying to remind myself, "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can." My friends have surrounded me with love and encouragement saying, "We know you can. We know you can. We know you can." I know that as December comes to a close and January begins, there will be times of tears and times of hugs and having to say goodbyes and see you laters. There will be moments of remembering all of the good times I've had here and probably some of the not-so-good times, too. And through it all, I cling to the promise that I will finally crest that hill (mountain?), and as I begin my descent into this new adventure, I will call out with new resolve, "I knew I could! I knew I could! I knew I could!"

Before/After

So, our church just got done going through a series on "Just Walk Across the Room" by Bill Hybels. We spent four weeks working the four sections of the book. Because I am putting together the worship services for our church, I borrowed the book to get a feel for what each week's sermon was going to be about, and I'm glad I did. It has been a long time since a book has not only challenged me to move beyond my current state but has also encouraged me that where I am is ok, as long as I continue to move.

One of the sections is all about stories. Hearing someone else's story. Sharing your story. Sharing God's story. In the book, Hybels challenges his readers to write down their before/after in 100 words or less. His reason? We spend too much time talking to people about things that don't really convey God's message and God's actions in our lives. Instead, we spend time on the minute details that don't really matter to anyone else but us. I decided to take this challenge, as I am aware that I can be rather long winded when telling a story. :)

Below are two examples of my before/after in 100 words or less. I am posting this, not only for my benefit (accountability), but also for my Unchained students at NHCC. We have given them this same challenge, and apparently, they don't think they can say what needs to be said in such a small amount of words. But they can! And they will! (Below my two examples are some examples of from the book. Take a look Unchained and then take the challenge!)

"I used to live a life based on my own wants and desires. I wanted friends, and I was willing to do just about anything to make people like me, all the while claiming that I was a Christian. Finally, there was a moment when God said , “My way or no way”—no more hypocrisy or two-faced lies. I had a decision to make…follow Him or me. Since I made the decision to follow Him, I have had the desire to help others see that it is not about people liking me, it is about people loving Him." --Jess

"I love Jesus. I love Him with all of who I am. Not just because the bible tells me I need to, but because I have seen the pattern of what it looks like to have Him in my life, and it far surpasses the life I used to live. Before, I was not ultimately happy. I was always trying too hard to get people to like me. Now instead, of trying to get people to like me, I am focused on trying to get people to love the person of Jesus." --Jess

"For years, I felt empty. I had a hole that I needed to fill, so I searched for things that could fill that hole: a new house, children, new friends, clothes, a new job...My emptiness would be filled for a short time, but never found the 'it' that kept the hole filled. One day I heard a message about having a relationship with Jesus. Once I understood, I accepted, and grew in my realationship with him, my emptiness was filled--for good. Today, I am no longer seaching for things to fill my life."

"My life was filled with shame and fear. I was all tied up inside and isolated. Loneliness led me to a place of hopelessness. But then I met Jesus. Now I am free from my self-inflicted prison of fear and shame. I am forgiven and loved! I am peaceful about who I am and who God is making me to be. The void inside is now filled with joy--joy in knowing that I am a precious child of God."

"I was angry and depressed all my life, thinking that the world revolved around me, and I wasn't getting my due. I was cynical and isolated. After finding Christ, though, I felt an amazing love and acceptance for the first time. I began to be liked for who I was by the people around me, and my whole life changed. I came to know the joy of relating authentically with people--opening up with honesty and truthfulness about my life."