Dark Stairwells in France

This morning I watched the 40 Days in the Word Day 24 Devotional with Tommy Hilliker from Saddleback Church.  I immediately resonated with the story he opened with about getting stuck in the basement of a building with the lights out - in total darkness.

If you know me well you know that I'm mildly claustrophobic.  OK, maybe a little more than mildly; if it less than 9 floors I'll take the stairs.  I had a similar situation as Tommy this past Summer when our family was visiting friends in Paris, France.  Our friends lived on the top floor (16th) of a high rise apartment.  We were leaving to do some sightseeing and the elevator was too small for all of us to ride down, so naturally I volunteered to take the stairs.

My friend Joel told me to be careful because the light in the stairwell was out two floors down.  It turns out that the lights were out for six floors.  It was a tight spiral stairwell with NO windows and NO light - pitch black.  Thankfully I had my phone with me and was able to use the flash from the camera to see my way down.

I think Tommy's and my stories are great analogies for what it's like when we are seeking spiritual direction in our lives.  Many times in my life I've been in a place where I knew God was leading me in a new direction in some way but I had no idea what that meant or what it would look like.  The two years between when I was serving as an associate pastor and when I became a lead pastor was one of those times - like an old Polarid picture slowly developing.

I find myself in that place again - knowing that God is on the verge of doing something new, or bigger, or more challenging in or through me but not knowing the details.  It's like walking down a small spiral staircase with just the light of a phone for guidance.

I have a list of things that I do during during these times.  Here's one that been especially helpful.  I listen to people who have been there and allow their wisdom to fuel me as I wait on God to give more details.  In the day of blogs, Twitter and Facebook this is especially easy to do.

Here's a few words of wisdom that I've held onto over the last few weeks.  If you find yourself in the dark with little, or no light I hope these words help you to.

"Barriers are blessings. God said 'no' to Paul for Asia so He could say 'yes' to Macedonia and Europe and the west. God turns everything to Good." - Jimmie Davidson

"God has given you what you need to fulfill what is in your heart. Follow Him, go after what ignites your passion, and change the world!" - Tim Schraeder

"What would you pursue today if you weren't afraid to fail?  If you were given permission to make it happen?  Might be time to go do that." - Brad Lomenick

"If your dream doesn't scare you to death you haven't really come to life."  Mark Batterson

Changing The World One Child At A Time

Our church has what we call "strategic partnerships."  We have strategic ministry partners and we have strategic church partners.

A strategic ministry partner is a partnership with a ministry outside the church that we support on particular issues as homelessness, poverty, orphan care and vulnerable children initiatives.

Our strategic church partnerships are with churches that have a similar vision and similar missional and theological DNA as our church.  Since we value the local church and we believe the local church should be the "hero" in their community, these partnerships are pastor to pastor and congregation to congregation.

In Nairobi, Kenya we have both.  We have a strategic ministry partnership with a ministry called The Royal Diadem Centre for Excellence.  It's a ministry of our strategic church partner Nairobi Gospel Centre International.  We are currently working together to meet the needs of vulnerable children in community near the church.  We are partnering together to change the world one child at a time.

My friend and ministry partner, Enock Matte is the project manager for our vulnerable children's initiative in Nairobi.  He recently put together this video that explains our vision and strategy in Nairobi.  If you want to support this project or find out more about it go to our non-profits website and click donate.

Mission Trips, Shoeboxes and My Son

I love mission trips.  I think every follower of Christ should go on at least one mission trip.  They are unique windows to our world that have the power to change our heart for the Kingdom of God.  I've been a part of so many mission trips that I've lost count.  But everyone of them have shaped my worldview, enlarged my heart for other people and have given me a better perspective on what I have and how God wants me to use what He's entrusted to me.

I love shoeboxes.  Not the kind with shoes in them, the kind with toys, school supplies and candy in them.  The ones that have Operation Christmas Child written all over them.  I've seen OCC, a ministry of Samaritan's Purse, do amazing things in our church through the years and in people's lives.  It's also doing incredible things around the world as it points people to Christ.

And I love my son.  Since the first time I laid eyes on him and held him we've had an incredible bond.  We are similar in our personalities, likes and dislikes and we share the same struggle of not being able to focus when we need to (ie. ADD.)

So it's no wonder that a week spent with MY SON on a MISSION TRIP handing out Operation Christmas Child SHOEBOXES would rank as one of the best experiences of my life.  Simply put it was an incredible experience and I'm so thankful that he and I were able to share it together.

A Quick Report From Our DR Team

Greetings from Santo Domingo-

Happy Valentine's Day!  We swam in the waterfall on Sunday afternoon

and yesterday Collin and I rode on the back of the flatbed through

town.  It was more fun than the van.  We completed two distributions

so far.  One was very orderly and one was in a community park and was

chaos.  We almost packed it in and left because the parents were being

so aggressive.  God intervened as did our threats to leave and we

ended up doing a conga line distribution model.  Get a box and go

home.  Not the best situation.  Thankfully, it was the second of the

day and not the first.

Last night we counted out the antibiotics into doses and labeled them

for the doctor.  It was interesting and tedious.  Not the most

sanitary situation either even though we tried.  Our hands were clean

but who know about those used pill bottles...we were filling.

We are looking forward to the pig roast on Friday and of course more

shoe boxes.  Collin and Addisan are going to the school today to help

Claudia with vision testing and then they will help teach english.

See you next week.

Jaimie