Reflecting on Dathouse Trip

In the room where Hannah and I stayed this week, there was a strip of chalkboard paint where people had left messages. Some girls who had stayed there previously had left their names. Someone had written in big bubble letters, "JESUS ES BUENO!" We wrote our names and the following lines from a blessing we have prayed every day this week out of Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, "May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you; may He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors." I can't tell you how much those lines have resonated with our experience this past week of living in an intentional, missional community.



Here's a summary of the "activities" of our week:

• Hanging out with/loving on some amazing kids from the neighborhood (involving a lot of Skipbo!)
• Debriefing with people from the dathouse and Tearing Down the Walls (a homeless ministry) teams to better understand the kind of ministry they do.
• Sitting in on a dathouse team meeting.
• Working on the remodel of a house which will be sold at cost, interest free, to a family we met from the neighborhood. The money they pay will then be used to repeat the process for another family.
• Cleaning bathrooms... like, intensely cleaning bathrooms, and washing dishes. Dathouse welcomes lots of people all the time, and cleaning can be a really overwhelming task.
• Spending time with some local youth groups.
• Vineyard Volleyball. A local Vineyard church opens their gym on Wed. nights for volleyball. It was great--and I have a black and blue nose to prove it! I got smashed in the glasses by a spiked ball.
• Laundry love. We took a grill, hot dogs, chips, drinks, games, and LOTS of quarters. We then did people's laundry for them, fed them lunch, and just loved on them in the name of Jesus.
• Playing curb ball--the coolest game I've learned in a long time. :)
  
• Dumpster diving. That's right. We dove in dumpsters for food and other useful items. This was an eye-opening experience. Everyone should do it.
  

The value of this trip was in way more than what we "did." Hannah and I discussed our greatest "take-away" lessons on the way to the airport. Here they are.

1. A life lived radically for Jesus is satisfying! From the outside, the "sacrifices" of this ministry team might seem hard. And in some ways, they are--but their lives are so satisfying and filled with joy! They are living with kingdom values and kingdom sight.
2. We can experience Jesus in a way we may never have before when we experience Him in close community with both brothers/sisters and with our neighbors.

I feel like this blog isn't enough to cover our experience here, but if I keep writing, no one will read it because it's so long!!! :) CLICK HERE to see all the pictures from the trip.

More About Dathouse

This week has been incredible. I've had experiences everyone should have in their lifetime. I am in awe of how God teaches us through so many different avenues. I really want to spill it all right now, but I think I may wait until I can upload pictures. Thanks for the prayers. We've seen God at work.

dathouse

Hannah and I have been at dathouse for about two whole days now. We are being challenged to learn what Christ-centered and redemptive community looks like, along with being challenged in practical life skills. :) Today we put up 2X4's for a new wall in an attic and tore out an old support wall. This ministry is incredible. A local church has donated the money to buy a house that will then be remodeled by dathouse community and other volunteers and sold without interest to a family from the community. With the payments the family will make, another house can be purchased, and the process will start again.

It is incredible to be living and serving alongside a community of believers whose faith in Jesus and love for people is just contagious. Keep us in your prayers--that we will know how to both learn and serve!

34% and Climbing! Travels Begin Tomorrow

Today we hit 34% Faith Promise! That means I am only 1% away from the goal I had set for July and over a third of the way to my ultimate goal! However, my mom told me the other day that she has been praying for 50% by the end of July! I think God is using her to stretch my faith!! :) I am now shooting for 40%. Let's see what happens! I am just so encouraged by the way God has been providing in the last month! To those of you who have joined the financial teams and prayer teams in these last few weeks--THANK YOU! I pray God will show you just how important your partnership is to His work!

Tomorrow begins a crazy schedule of traveling for about a month. Please keep lifting me up in prayer. I will be speaking at the Indiana South Wesleyan Family Camp Missions Service tomorrow night at Orleans, Indiana. Please come if you can! Then Sunday morning, I am speaking at North Vernon Wesleyan before heading to Indianapolis for a week of urban mission work. Please pray for me and Hannah, the student I am taking to Indianapolis, that we will be an encouragement to those who live their lives for the sake of those in their community. Pray we will go as learners and be willing to do anything that might be a blessing to ministers and those to whom they are ministering.

I will then fly out of Indianapolis on Saturday for California for the next wave of camp ministry and speaking at Redwood Christian Camp. Pray that God will lead me as I continue to prepare the messages. Pray for the Holy Spirit's anointing as I speak for two youth services back-to-back each day. Also, please pray that my time in California will open doors for more people to join the team. I will be spending an additional week focusing on trying to build relationships.

What an adventure this is! God is so good, and I am glad to be walking this journey with Him. There have been moments along the way that felt dark--but I am currently walking in a newly found light of hope, motivation, and encouragement! I attribute that totally to people who are praying--thank you for praying!!!!

32%!!!!

PRAISE THE LORD! Today we officially hit 32%!!! Thank you so much to those of you who have joined the team this week! Only one more percent, and I will be one third of the way there! Also, that means only 6 people at $50 a month, and my goal for July will be reached!!! If you've been waiting to turn in a Faith Promise, how about this week??? You can click on the link on the right sidebar of the screen under "Claim Your Piece" to sign up online today!

Teen Camp and Beyond!

Above: Autumn, a beautiful young lady on my unit in the dorm who made a new commitment of her life to Jesus.

Above: Several of the girls from my unit after cooling off in the slip 'n slide.

Above: Several students playing in the mud after several trips down the slip 'n slide.

Above: My favorite slip 'n slide pic of Jacob walking away from the chaos.

Above: The two students I took to camp--Elijah (with an abnormal hair-do and drawn-on mustache) and Stef in the tabernacle.

Camp was a phenomenal (though exhausting) experience! We had a record-breaking number of campers for the last several years, and many students gave their lives to Christ. The services were powerful! We were blessed by the worship and drama teams from a partnering church in Ohio. Our speaker, Josh LeRoy, spoke boldly to us from the Word each night. I really enjoyed building relationships with the students, university ministry teams from IWU and SWU, and the staff. It was a week of major sleep-deprivation for Jesus, and I wouldn't take any of it back--although I was a bit annoyed the last night when several students kept me up til 4 in the morning by trying to sneak out to ring the camp bell. :)

I came home to a house that had been, literally, turned upside down by the kids at The Grounds. They had swapped the sets of cushions for both of my couches, moved decor around, and even left me notes on the ceiling. I LOVE YOUTH MINISTRY! I pretty much slept for a solid day and a half, off and on, after returning from camp. Last night, I spoke at Forest Hills Wesleyan Church in Evansville. It was great to be so close to home, reconnect with some old friends, and even see kids from camp! I was warmly received by the church and thoroughly enjoyed sharing with them. To top it all off, one of the girls from camp was there, and after my presentation, she accepted the call to ministry! I was able to pray with her, one of her youth leaders, and her youth pastor around an altar in a men's locker room. It was pretty comical--the church had already put their normal church furniture away for VBS this week, and we wanted to pray together at the altar, which we found in the men's locker room.

In the aftermath of this past week of pouring out, God has brought several New Zealand contacts my way. More people have joined the financial team while I was gone! God is so good!!!! A post should be coming SOON stating that we have officially broken the 30% mark!

Teen Camp!

I head out for teen camp with two awesome high school grads at 6:30 in the morning! Please pray for safe traveling and life-changing encounters with Jesus and other believers. Pray for my energy level to stay high so I can pour out with all I've got. Pray for the rest of the camp leadership who have the organizational burdens of the camp to bear. Thanks for your faithfulness to lift us up!

A New Perspective and Picking Up Speed!

Since Missionary Training Institute, I feel like I have gained a new perspective on God's mission in the world, my call to go to New Zealand, and the support team building process. In light of that new perspective, I decided it was also time for a new look. :) I hope you enjoy browsing the new blog, A Kiwi Slice of Life. (In case you didn't know, kiwi fruit, while not originally from NZ, grows in there, and the people of New Zealand are called Kiwis because of the kiwi bird found there). Be sure to check out some new features, including a vision statement for ministry in New Zealand, a schedule of upcoming events, the option to follow the blog by email (just type your email address and click the button), and a DIRECT LINK to sign up to be a prayer or financial partner!

People are getting on board financially! Tonight I had an awesome dinner meeting with some friends from college who are going to join the faith promise team! Also, my home church made a decision this week to significantly "up" their support and a couple in the church joined the faith promise team as well! To top it off, some of my personal heroes in the faith have made some significant donations lately... This train is picking up speed! It's so exciting to feel the momentum building! 28% may not look like much on the surface, but I feel like I could throw a party for every percentage! I am confident that the momentum I am sensing will begin to show up numerically soon--and you could be part of that if you aren't already!

Encouragement is coming from all different directions! I was so uplifted this week from a conversation with Jessica Lord, a GP missionary who is approaching full funding to head for New Zealand. Also, I was overwhelmed by a new initiative in my home base church in Mississippi to commit to fast and pray for me/support raising on every Tuesday. God is just so good.

Life will be busy over the next couple months! Please check out the schedule on the sidebar, but I am so excited about all the opportunities coming my way! Every weekend for the rest of the month, I will be speaking somewhere about New Zealand. This coming Monday, I head out "dark and early" in the morning with a couple students to teen camp! I love camp... After one week back home, I will be off to datHouse (please check out this awesome ministry! datHouse website ) in Indianapolis for a week with one of my girls from Mississippi. We will be doing life with Derek and Laura, two of the most incredible Jesus followers I've ever known, and learning more about what it means to live like Jesus (aka, missionally). I will then leave from Indianapolis for California for two weeks! Please pray that God will use this time on the West Coast to open doors for extensive team building. I will be the junior high and senior high youth speaker at Redwood Christian Family Camp for a week in Santa Cruz along with sharing about New Zealand with the family camp. The second week, I will be visiting family and trying to connect with churches in the Sacramento area. Prayer team, I need you guys on this one! The schedule keeps going, but this blog post should not. :)

Home Life and July Prayer Goals

It is crazy to be home for a little while after the conclusion of MTI! On the way home, I stopped to see some dear friends and important people on my prayer and financial support teams. Our visits were SUCH a blessing. This Sunday I was at my home church for a change (and even got to hang out with friends from church til late Sunday night), and Monday I celebrated the 4th of July with my family. Tuesday I was super excited to be with my students at The Grounds for the first time in a month. We were in Romans 12--only my favorite chapter in the whole book. :) Some new ones have joined the group while I've been away, which is always exciting. :) After youth group, a bunch of us went to see the Green Lantern together. It wasn't too bad of a movie, although the "bad guys" were a bit too evil for me. :( A few of the students hung around late to talk about stuff that matters until like 2 o'clock in the morning. I love youth ministry. :)

Today, I started my daily routines that haven't been so daily lately of meeting a friend for prayer to start the day and walking with some friends in the afternoon to get some exercise. I also booked my flights and rental car for my upcoming trip to California to speak at Redwood Family Camp. These past couple days, I've also been able to have skype/phone dates with friends from around the world, including Denmark and New Zealand. Tomorrow will be a full day of working on team correspondence and building support connections.

This weekend, I am meeting with some potential supporters on Friday night, have a church work day on Saturday, and am speaking at a church on Sunday. Monday morning I leave with some students for I.S.D.Y.C. (Indiana South District Youth Camp)--which I actually believe is called Spiritual Impact now instead. I'm excited to be back on the Orleans campgrounds and share this special place with the next generation.

Please be in prayer that God will bring new people onto the team over these next few days! My prayer is to reach 35% by the end of July--it might be an optimistic goal, but let's shoot for it together with the Lord's help! Also, please pray for Spiritual Impact, that God will work powerfully in the lives of students in Southern Indiana.