Catalyst and transparency

The theme of this week would have to be transparent stories of God's faithfulness.  Friday morning, two of my teammates and I had the gift of hearing Beth and Cat's testimonies.  Beth and Cat serve in Mobilization and are currently going through Crosstraining (the four-week training all new OMS missionaries go through).  There are 14 missionaries going through the training and they started by sharing their testimonies with each other during the first week- they see no need to waste time before going deep.  It was such a privilege to hear some of their life story and pieces that God used to draw them to Himself and make them who they are today.


Friday evening was the beginning of the Catalyst retreat on OMS campus.  This was the first Catalyst event we've ever done, and it was a blessing to be a part of the facilitation team for the event!  I always get excited when we have new people on our campus and have the gift of deep processing time together before the Lord, but one of the special things about this event is it was tailored specifically for Every Community for Christ's church-planting ministry and the potential applicants we are working with right now that are interested in serving through this OMS ministry.  ECC is the church-planting catalyst within OMS :)


Friday night at Catalyst, three missionaries shared testimonies of God's leading and faithfulness in their own lives.  As an activity to introduce this time, the participants were asked to share with a partner about a time they were impacted by another person's testimony.  There was an odd number at one of the tables, so I jumped in with a woman attending.  She knew immediately what she was going to share with me.  Thirty-two years ago, she heard a missionary, who served in Africa, speak at a church.  She described the presentation to me, giving careful attention to describe the pictures of children she saw in that presentation.  "It was something about those faces, that caught me, and I knew God was calling me to missions."  And as she shared with me, tears welled up in her eyes.  What a tender moment that must have been to bring her to tears 32 years later...  There is power when we are willing to share what the Lord has done in our lives.  When we are willing to be transparent for His glory, there is so much room for others to see His faithful character!

Our house church has been talking recently about Joseph's life.  Talk about an impacting story of the Lord being glorified through someone's life!  We read it at the hotel last Wednesday night, and our friends were so enthralled that they kept asking and asking if we could stay a little longer to read a few more chapters of Genesis to see what would happen.  Anyway, obviously there is so much in this story of God's provision and sovereignty, but what stood out to me as I was re-reading it Tuesday, was a little verse in Genesis 41:1.  Joseph had interpreted the cup-bearer's dream and asked the cup-bearer to tell Pharaoh about him.  Then, it says, "Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing in the bank of the Nile River."  Two full years... that's all it says.  No explanation, no description of what may have happened in the two full years to make it purposeful.  Just two full years passed and then Pharaoh had his dreams and Joseph is released from prison.  And yet, Joseph continues to honor the Lord with his words when he is brought to Pharaoh.  No record of bitterness or questioning... what's that?  Not sure if I'm communicating this well at all, but it was so convicting and challenging for me to be reminded that sometimes we won't ever know why God chooses the timing of seasons in our lives.  Sometimes,  He is so gracious to show us later what He has intended, but other times we may never know the reason for the way things are, and yet, we are still called to trust His will.  What a lot of growing I have to do.

Tuesday night, I had some sweet time with two of the young women going through training.  Sarah, who served as an intern last summer and traveled with me to Houghton, is going through training to serve with our church-planting ministry full-time, and Colleen, who I helped coach through her funding, is preparing to leave for Ireland with eXtreme Walk (our 11- to 24-month church-planting internship).  Our time together was not long enough, but it was great to hear a little about their training and how their hearts are doing in it all.  They shared with me about one of the object lessons they had earlier that day: each participant was given 30 pieces of paper that were cut into puzzle pieces.   On each piece they had to write a significant experience that has impacted who they are today, and then pray through those things and put the puzzle together... Honestly, my first thought was, I don't know if I could come up with 30 major things quickly under pressure.  But as we continued talking, the Lord sweetly reminded me that He can think of not only 30, but hundreds in my short life.  He is so purposeful in not only how He knits us together in our mother's womb, but also throughout life.  So thankful that He knows what is best.


Would you please pray over these things as God brings them to mind?


* For trust and security in God's love for us and who He says I am in Him.
* For the participants who will come to OneWeekend, Feb. 10-12
* For upcoming campus visits


Thanks to each of you who were willing to share about your lives transparently this week, to bring the Lord praise.  And thanks to each of you reading, who are doing so in your own communities.

Lovely Catalyst participants :)

Facilitating a session on calling and barriers with Paul, our director of Mobilization.

The Miracle of Mason

Friday, we celebrated Robin and Christian's son, Mason's, first birthday!  As if a sweet baby turning one is not enough to celebrate, it was also a time for us to look back as a spiritual family on one of the biggest ways we've seen God's provision and intervention in this last year.  If you are looking for hope, for trust that God is big enough or in control, or if you just want a little look into a major stone of remembrance for us as a house church, take the time to click the picture below and listen to this podcast!

Praise God!  He is Gracious, Powerful, Sovereign and Compassionate.  He cares for those in need and He knows our hearts.

He knows everything inside and out... and He is good.  Isaiah 40.

110

Tonight, Jesus met with us as we celebrated the 110th anniversary of One Mission Society.  He is so good!   Beth Kinlaw Coppedge spoke, starting by reading excerpts from 2 Corinthians 4-6.  Then, she asked God to come and take over the time, to speak to us "nose-to-nose and face-to-face" and to speak to us and teach us by name and individually instead of in general. She asked Jesus to come not as our guest but as our host, and as she prayed, I could tell... this woman loves Jesus.

Praise God, through her, His Word penetrated my heart, and seemingly the hearts of many others there, and brought me to tears before she was even a quarter of the way through.  My heart had been hungry for this teaching, and as she spoke, sharing about a desire for fresh healing, wisdom and annointing, I found myself yearning for it, too.

OMS is an organization that has a Wesleyan/Holiness background, and so, our speakers have been focusing on holiness and sanctification- some of which I can have a hard time sorting out or resting in... but tonight we digested the fact that Jesus wants all of us and he wants 100 percent-- why?  So that He can dwell in us, and so we don't go reproducing who we are but instead who He is.

What a great time processing with the Lord about sanctification and His transforming power.  His power to transform our hearts, mind, desires and even our belief in the lie that things can never be different.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend shared with me about being encouraged by the fact that we are not to temper or balance truth and emotions by reigning either in, but instead God calls us to be fully invested both in truth and an emotional relationship with Him.  Last night was a great example of that for me.


I don't think I've ever heard a woman speak with such power, while maintaining such a sweet voice and tender spirit.  Beth shared that she was caught up in her own needs and fears when God told her,


"Give those to me and let me make you bigger than your coping mechanisms."


Whoa...  I don't know about you but I think that's good news!


I think the part that stood out most to me about all this was just the call to a love relationship with the Lord and a reminder that He is waiting for me to soak up His presence and spend time with Him in His word, and in the midst of serving him in full-time ministry, it is not a worker that he is looking for but a lover-- Wow, what a pointed reminder!  He cares more about us having the intimacy of the presence of Jesus than us being busy serving.

What a generous blessing tonight was!  I'm so thankful for the encouragement, depth and healing He provided for us tonight through His truth and presence.

I hope some of this translates and encourages you more than seeming like a whirlwind recap.  Thank you for those of you who read along and journey with me.  Thank you so much for those of you who pray as you read.  Please pray over the next two days of our Missionary Reunion/ 110th Anniversary.  May tonight just be the beginning of more deep moments with Him!

Heavy Burdens

I’m home from Africa, and I’m so thankful for the chance to have gone on that trip. I'm thankful to be home, too.  Exciting things have been happening as a result of the trip, and I want to tell you about them, but right now my heart is too distracted by heavy burdens.

There are a lot of tough things going on this week- mostly in the lives of loved ones. It seems like every other conversation I’ve had this week has involved a major need. Not just like a lot of people are having bad days, but major things.  Friends or family in crisis. Last night, one of my good friends lost her mom. Today another close friend is getting an MRI. Friends are struggling through unemployment. One of my family member’s is waiting on medical test results from earlier this week, while other dear friends are processing a tough diagnosis one of their children received a couple of days ago. A family I love feels like they are under spiritual attack—and I don’t doubt it for a second, as I know how much they impact others by showing real love in Jesus' name.  And there are a few more things like this I can think of off the top of my head.

Whether in Africa or the States, there are deep needs.  I just feel so reminded that life is fragile and extra aware of the needs and heartache of those around me.  I don’t like it.  My heart hurts for them, and yet with so many needs at once, God has been reminding me that I’m not the One carrying them, holding them, as much as I may want to be.  It’s been a reminder to me of the need for His strength and His care, because mine is not enough to fill them up.

"'Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,' says the LORD, who has compassion on you."  -Isaiah 54:10

Junior's words in this Haiti missionary's blog encouraged me today.  Hope they encourage you, too!

Getting to Know Mohammed

As I got on the plane to Brussels, I found my seat, stowed my bag and sat down.  I'd pulled out a book, my Bible and journal, figuring I would read a little before sleeping the rest of the seven-hour flight.  If I slept this first long flight and stayed awake on the second, I'd be on schedule when I arrived.  Little did I know I'd spend the next four hours talking to the African man next to me about Islam, Jesus, forgiveness and Christianity.

Mohammed quickly introduced himself after I sat down. He's from Guinea, has worked in Sierra Leone, studied in Germany and Spain, and now lives in the U.S. He was coming from Tennessee, where he now lives with his wife and five children, ranging in age from 12 to 27.

We had briefly shared about our religious backgrounds.  He asked me about the purpose of my trip but I told him I was just visiting friends (to be consistent with my visa).  I closed my eyes so ready to rest and started praying, asking God to just lead me in what to share and asking that if I had been too vague in sharing the purpose of my trip, that he would tell me what to share.

I didn't even have to open my eyes before Mohammed says, "There's this famous atheist writer… do you know of him?" (He was referring to Christopher Hitchens.) "He is very sick with cancer, and he just doesn't believe there is any God.  I can't believe some people believe that there is nothing more than this and that God did not create us.  It's so sad that some people go to hell."

Talk about an opening!!!!

So we spent the next four hours going back and forth, most of the time with me asking him about Islam and genuinely trying to fit the pieces together but being honest when I didn't think it added up.

Eventually, he brought up natural disasters. He suggested I watch National Geographic and then think about how powerful God is and the fact that he will use natural disasters to destroy the people who don't love him.

I told him I believe God is powerful enough to do that but that I don't think he will destroy the earth like that.  "For example," I said. "In the story of Noah, God promised he would never flood the earth again."

"Did you read that in the Bible or did someone just tell you that?" Mohammed asked me.

"It's in the Bible," I said. "I can show you."

And all of a sudden we were reading God's covenant out of Genesis.  Mohammed asked me to read it out loud to him.

Later, Mohammed mentioned a few times that no one could know God, and as he was telling me about the prophet Mohammed in Islam, he said that the prophet Mohammed was the only one who really was with God.

I asked him about Adam or when God revealed himself to Moses.  Mohammed pointed out that God was speaking to Moses when he gave him the 10 commandments, but I told him I was talking about when God let Moses see Him after he passed by and so we looked up the story in the Bible and this time Mohammed read it out loud!!!

This story got me excited to think about how powerful God is and how close Moses got to be to Him, and the great thing about Mohammed was it was completely comfortable to show him my excitement in the Lord.

I told him one of the things I love about God is that He is relational.  He cares about relationship and that He tells us we will seek Him and find Him when we seek Him with our whole heart.  While we can't completely understand Him, He does choose to reveal Himself to us.

Mohammed could not stop himself from saying his god (Allah) is good.   "God is wonderful," he would say over and over.

I told him I bet he'd like Psalm 136 and turned to it and read the first few verses to him.  I told him he made me think of this passage.

The overwhelming thing to me about this man was that he loves who he thinks God is.  And my heart just kept thinking of Paul in Acts 17, sharing, what you worship as something unknown, I know who He is!!!

So many of the things Mohammed believes are true of Allah are true of God.  And yet there was such a void, especially in the area of forgiveness and eternal life and trusting God's character.  Mohammed thinks god can do whatever he wants but that he is not necessarily just or fair.  When I started asking about this, he said he couldn't answer out of fear that he would sin.

I'm sure this post is driving some of you mad, especially those who are well-versed in theology and apologetics.  I know I'm pretty inadequate in this area.  But I do believe this conversation was a blessing from God. And the thing is, the Gospel of Jesus was shared and God's word was spoken and read, and God says His word will not return void!

So I don't know what His purpose was in this meeting, but I'm excited that I had the chance to meet Mohammed that I had the chance to experience that conversation with God.

Mohammed said he was so glad god worked it out so that our paths crossed.  I said I was too and that it was very good to talk to him.

"It was excellent talking with you," he said.