Receiving End

For the first time in forever (to steal a line from a popular movie), we will be on the receiving end of a mission team.  I have gone as part of a team to Nicaragua and Romania, and lead teams to Michigan, New York, Wisconsin and inside of Alabama but I have never been in this role.

I have a deep passion for missions born out of my experience as a teenager and college student.  I am grateful for the leaders who provided opportunities to see the big “C” church and to challenge us to serve and minister in all types of environments.  God has used those people to shape me into what He is using now.

I cannot wait to see what God does here as the mission team hits the ground, interacts with the people of Lowry and shares God’s love.  I am praying that God would move in great ways.  I am excited to be on the receiving end of a mission team and pray that it is not long until I take a team to serve His Church.

Honored and Humbled

Before we moved to Lowry, like WAY before we moved to Lowry, I battled fear that I wouldn’t make friends, wouldn’t be liked, would be shunned because I came to share the Gospel and be a Biblical “neighbor”! I prepared for war and began to pray when I felt these fears, began to use scripture as my sword in this battle. I am truly humbled by what God has already done in answer to my desperate pleas for friendship and opportunities to show His love to my neighbors! I’m so honored that His love in me is drawing people into friendship with me, rather than pushing them away! Jesus is a friend to sinners, a friend to the friendless, a friend who loves at all times! I’ve prayed that He will help me be that kind of friend and will give me love for each neighbor, no matter who they are or what they’ve done! I’m pretty speechless that after 5 short months here, several neighbors trust me to watch their children, have invited me into their homes, call or text me just to chat, and make comments like “You’re the only neighbor who has ever invited me over,” or “You’re the only one we trust with our baby”. The best part is…it’s not me they’re noticing…it’s Christ in me! Without Him and His love, I’m nothing!
Love the song “Let My Life be the Proof” by For King and Country, especially the part where one quotes 1 Corinthians 13:1-3,
“If I can speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy
But don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rust gate
If I speak God’s word with power, revealing all of His mysteries
And making everything as plain as day
And if I have faith to say to a mountain jump and it jumps
But I don’t love, I’m nothing
If I give all I earn to the poor
Or even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr
But I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere
So, no matter what I say, no matter what I believe, no matter what I do
I’m bankrupt without love”! No matter how many times I’ve heard it, it always prompts me to action and reminds me why I’m here in Lowry! Thanks be to God for answering my prayers and for equipping me for His work!

Tension Point

Much is made of the Great Commission, and rightfully so.  It provides the church its marching orders from Jesus.  We are to be making disciples.  Discipleship is a life long process.  In the evangelical church world we tend to focus on conversions, sometimes to the detriment of making disciples.  Making disciples must be our focus.

Lately, God has had me contemplating the Great Commandment.  Part of what God is shaping us to do here in Denver is to love Him with all of our lives, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are not forsaking the Great Commission, but instead taking it to the people who need it most.  We are actively engaged in neighboring and discipleship.  We seek to make much of the God who has created us, loved us, redeemed us and called us.  We desire to show God’s love to others though our lives.

In a place where the institutional church is marginal at best, we desire to be the church present in our neighborhood and city that cares for the people and helps them to see the one true God who loves them.  This means engaging people where they are.  There is tension between living out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.