BIG NEWS

I can't believe I am writing this blog. So much has happened over the past few months and I am incredibly excited and honored to update all of you. How do I say it!? Well, I'll just say it! I've accepted a position at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas as the Director of the service learning organization, Discipleship Southwestern. Give me a minute.

WOWOWOWOWOWOWWOWOWOWOWOWWWWWWW

I still can't believe it. As many of you will remember, Kyle and I were both a part of the Discipleship program when we were students at Southwestern. This ministry shaped my life and my calling in an incredible way. It was there that I met Rev. Ashlee Alley, the current Discipleship Director and Campus Minister. Ashlee identified gifts within me and encouraged me to think about a vocation in ministry. Long story short, I entered Southwestern as an elementary education major and graduated as a religion and philosophy major.

Then, when the job position for Director of Discipleship Southwestern came open, Ashlee was the first to let me know about it.

I tell you all these stories about Ashlee Alley because the Lord has worked through her to get me to where I am today! And, this is not just my story. This is the story of many other students who have been impacted by her and campus ministry at Southwestern.

I am convinced that college is one of the most important times in any student's life. It is most often the place that calling, vocation and character intersect. Students learn who they are, process where they've come from and decide where they want to go in the future, all while they're in college. There's an abundance of things going on in a collegiate student's life. And, often times, the decisions students make in college will affect the trajectory of their lives! It's an important time. To me, there is no better time to invest in students. College students are curious, transparent, waiting to be molded. How incredibly exciting to be a part of that. That's what I get to do, people. It's my dream job. It's the job I've prayed for since I was in college. I'm not kidding, I have journals full of prayers asking God to prepare a place for me at Southwestern to serve in ministry someday. 

So, the good news is: we are moving back to Kansas for my dream job.
The bad news is: we are moving back to Kansas for my dream job.

We are incredibly sad to leave Asbury. I'm not sure if I can communicate our level of sadness. The moment I said yes to the dean on the phone, a part of my heart sank. This is bittersweet. I can't imagine leaving Asbury early. It wasn't in our five year plan and we love it here. I have a theory that it takes at least two years to be fully settled in a place. The first year is all new -- you're experiencing things for the first time and getting into a rhythm of life. The second year, normalcy sets it and by the end of the second year, you feel like you're really "home." Here we are, at the end of our second year in Wilmore and that's how I feel. There is no doubt about it, we are leaving our home. We are leaving people we love and will remember forever. We are leaving a church we LOVE. I will have to finish seminary online. We are leaving the South and all of the features of Southern hospitality that are embedded in our community. We're leaving it! All of it! But, last night, I had a thought: I was glad that I was so sad. It means that this community, this place -- Asbury Theological Seminary, has been incredible to us. We leave it honored that we were able to be here for two short years. And we know that we leave ATS totally changed. Praise God for that!! This has been an amazing place to nurture our marriage and our life over the past two years. So, I keep telling myself, that we will be back, because my unfinished degree requires trips to campus. We will see people again. And you know what, I think heaven must be somewhat like seminary and especially Kalas Village (where we live). I learned to like tea here because it meant getting to know people. I will carry it back with me to all my Kansas folks.

Second to last of all, I must brag on Kyle. Somehow I convinced him to marry me and move everywhere with me, sacrificing career opportunities along the way. He's incredible. I couldn't do this without his support. Really, we couldn't be married and in ministry if he didn't support me like he does. So, pray with me that Kyle finds a PE job as we move back to Kansas. He wants it and I want it for him. He's pretty stoked about returning to Kansas, by the way. I think he's really happy to be going home. He's forever a part of my ministry. I know he will be the first one out there playing ultimate frisbee with my D-ship students one day soon. That's a true blessing. He loves students as much as I do.

Last of all, I must thank all of those who have supported us on this journey. To our families and friends in Kansas, thank you for all the love and support. To our friends here at seminary and Mt. Zion, our church family, who have both been on this journey with us since we found out about the job early this spring -- thank you so much for praying with us and being excited for us. You were some of the first ones we were able to share our news with! We'll always remember your support and your excitement! We know our path will cross with many of yours in the future and we're SO excited about that. The seminary experience is so fleeting -- people are coming and going all the time and things are constantly changing. However, one thing remains and that is Christ. We are one in him and through him. I look forward to spending eternity with all of you and I mean that very seriously.

Ok, I have to stop rambling. I would love to end this exciting announcement with a picture of what my new job will look like. These are from when I was a student in the Discipleship program. I can't wait to create more memories like this.
 

My covenant group, "Imago Dei!"

The entire Discipleship team.

{Words}

We've finally set a date to move to Kentucky. Looks like August 13th will be the big day. This entire summer, I was sure that we would be moving August 20-something. Seminary doesn't even start until September and we didn't really need to be in Kentucky until the end of August anyway. I say all of that to say this: the new moving date really has me worried.

Last night, Kyle and I were sitting on our couch talking about the move. He's so calm. I am so not. What's even worse is that I realize 1,000 times a day that I put us in this situation. For some reason I am starting to consciously realize that there are a lot of unknowns. And.it.freaks.me.out.

So, this is where the story actually gets encouraging and interesting. Yesterday morning, I was reading my Bible and journaling when I also decided to pick up a book called "John Wesley on Prayer." I've been following along with this book on a daily basis for awhile now because I love prayer and I love John Wesley. That's excuse enough. The "JW thought" that I read for the day was titled "Deny self to obey the Lord." Basically it ripped me a part. It talked about how when we are in times of dryness or pain (or worry) we often forget to be fervent in Spirit. I am not going to lie, the seminary process hasn't been easy or enjoyable really for me. And I've realized that I have been praying a lot for Kyle to get a job and for God to "provide" without really even having faith in my own prayers. Much more, my prayers have been selfishly centered around me {and Kyle} by default.

I realized that this was at the root of my problems. My prayer life has felt dry because my prayers are so selfish and faithless. My long prayers have only caused me more agony. With that said, I bring 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 to the table: "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing...give thanks." The best way I can put this is only in John Wesley's own words: "Our Lord has purchased joy, as well as righteousness for us. Thanksgiving is inseparable from true prayer; it is almost essentially connected to it. One who always prays is ever-giving praise, whether it's in ease or pain, both for prosperity and great adversity."

My prayer life needed re-routed. Instead of praying for the perfect job for Kyle or the perfect type of provision for us, I choose, instead, to offer up prayers of thanksgiving for the ways that God has already provided and will provide for us in the future. If the Bible is clear about anything it's that God does indeed take care of us. The only way I can think of to end this rather emotional blog for me is to say "truly" or "Amen," hoping that these words are prayers themselves.

Pray40 and School Start-Up!

Summer is over! I can't believe it! For me, it's time to dive in head first to my junior year at Southwestern. I returned from Dallas on the 6th of August, spent some time in Mulvane with Kyle's fam and then I spent a week in Seattle and Oregon with my Aunt Robin. That was a refreshing and relaxing time and provided me with an opportunity to catch up with my aunt and cousins! After returning from Oregon, I went out to Western KS for a few days and returned to SC last Friday. It's been a crazy last few weeks! I spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Shepherd training for the Discipleship program that I am in. This year, my covenant group has the privilege of leading the entire Discipleship team. We all have different areas that we are in charge of--I will be in charge of "Kingdom Committee." My focus? Youuuuu guessed it, PRAYER! My committee will work to establish prayer on our campus, in our community and we are also heading up some social justice projects. I am really excited about the things that God is going to do this year, both through my covenant group and on our campus as a whole.

Another thing that I wanted to tap in on is a project that I have been involved with for the last few months. My campus minister, Ashlee Alley, and another campus minister from Kansas City, Creighton Alexander have been working on a project called "Pray40" in the United Methodist Church. Basically, they've organized an intentional 40 days of prayer for students going back to school and campus ministries all across the world. The 40 days started on the 23 of August and will end on October 1. Over 120 people have written prayers that have been published for the 40 days. These prayers come out three times a day in a rhythm fasion (morning, noon, evening). This is a great time to come together as believers and share in fellowship through prayer every single day. Imagine the impact this can have! Truly--it's already impacting so many. I want to personally invite you to join in--no matter who you are! Head to www.pray40.com and follow along. You can even subscribe to receive the prayers and updates by e-mail and/or text message. I would ask that sometime soon (like, right now! :)) you would just go check out the website. See what this is all about, and think about the ways that you could get involved.

"The END," as I know it, and I'm glad for it

Well it's almost the end of my sophomore year--I can hardly believe it, actually. It went by incredibly fast! Yesterday Jessica and I started packing up our room, it was a sad day. This has kind of been our first "home" away from home. Having an apartment type thing is just different than a dorm room--so it's bittersweet to leave! But the best thing is....knowing next year I will have a flippin' kitchen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry SC, but I am ready to never step foot in the caf again. Ok, so I will probably set foot in it at one point, but....KITCHEN!! That little blurb just made me feel like Kyle. Anyway, back to where I was, yes we are packing up and realizing how icky this room was before we came in and gave it some love. We took all of our art down and took most of our furniture away, Jessica and I are freakin out without our bookshelves. What nerds we are, I had to buy a 99 Liter tub to put all mine in. Finals are finally finishing up, my last one is today. I am SO ready for summer.

Before we go back, we will go forward. SO, speaking of summer, I am going down to Project Transformation this year. Yes, yes, Kyle did it last year and I guess I just couldn't stand to be away from him. How cheesy. No, but I really am excited to go to PT, I love working with kids and it's an internship that I thought of doing last year! I will spend my summer down in Dallas living and loving God and kids. I decided to tell my friend, Trista, about it in January-ish, so she applied and is coming, too. Now, just for a funny. At PT, they divide about 100 people up into groups of 10 and assign you to a church site to work at all summer. Kyle told me at the beginning that they try to not put you with people who will also be there from your school (AKA I wouldn't ever be assigned to a group with anyone else from SC). So then I kept thinking, "Man, they don't know that Trista and I are BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, they are totally gonna put us together." See, this type of thing just happens to Trista and me. So, yesterday, I got my church and team assignment...and guess who is on it? YUP, Trista Mybestfriend Fenton. Way to cheat the system, eh? I knew she went to K-State for at least one good reason.

Now to flash back--last week I went to Nashville, TN with my campus minister, Ashlee Alley. She is a deacon in the Methodist Church and has teamed up with another campus minister to do a thing called the "40 Days of Prayer." Basically it is just a calling to all UM pastors, churches, campus ministers, students, parents and anyone else that likes to pray, to pray for college students during the first 40 days of the college semester (Aug. 23 - Oct. 1). We went to Nashville in a partnership with the Upper Room Ministry and UM Communications. We had a prayer meeting with about 20 different people from all over the United States, and had 5 on a "prayer faculty." The meeting was intermingled with speakers, worship, prayer and fasting all day on April 30. We heard a lot from God, gained great ideas for the 40 days of prayer from those present, and had an awesome time!

The "Prayer Faculty" included:

- Margaret Therkelson (Amazing, amazing UM woman from Lexington, Kentucky)

- Vance Ross, GBOD (for all of you non-UM people like me, that would the General Board of Discipleship)

-Tom Albin, Upper Room

-Dana Hernandez and David Blackwell, Campus America in Kansas City, 24-7 Prayer International

These speakers were recorded by UM Comm and will be released during the 40 Days of Prayer for campus ministers, pastors, etc. to use to teach people about prayer. I am so excited about what the UMC is doing for their church family and their campus ministries. Prayer is rising among students and adults--it's so exciting. I am so glad I've been able to be apart of so many different prayer efforts this year.

Catch-Up, but no mustard

HoLA!

I know, I know, it's been awhile since I have blogged. Sorry for boring some of you with my inactive blog life at college. In reality, I have a very active life at college, it just sadly, does not involve consistent blogging, does it? Things have been going well lately. I can't believe it's M-A-R-C-H. What!? Spring break is just around the corner and I cannot wait! I have been busy with much this semester so I will do my best to hit the high/low points to keep you all updated.

February was a fun month, there was not much going on except Valentines day. Kyle surprised me with many different things. We made dinner together and had dessert and exchanged gifts. He put a lot of thought into our Valentines day dinner, so I was tickled by that. It was a lot of fun. For V-day, I made him a basket with our old e-mails from the summer printed out. They were a lot of fun to read back over. It was fun to re-read them and print them out to keep. They were full of summer ministry happenings from Andover and Dallas. Then, the next weekend, my wonderful friend, Lauren invited Jessica and me to a KU game (her parents have season tickets). I had never been to a KU game before, and it was really fun to be a part of their traditions and also to attend a game! Hellllllo #1 KU. Also, this last weekend, Kyle and I went up to Manhattan to surprise my wonderful friend, Trista, with a birthday party. It was a "murder mystery" party--I was a fairy godmother and Kyle was Sherlock Holmes. We were rather stylish if I do say so myself. This weekend we are heading back to Manhattan to watch a K-State game with Trista and her boyfriend, Jeremy. It should be fun, I love those two!

Other than that, things are moving along quite nicely. I have started attending a women's bible study on Wednesday nights at the First Assembly of God. It's been great to re-connect there (I went to church there last year). I LOVE those women! I am the youngest one in the group, but it's so much fun. They love me, and I love them :). I love praying with them, talking, and fellowshipping (sp?) with them! Also, last thursday (Feb. 25) was the Collegiate Day of Prayer. We had a wonderful turn-out here at SC. There were over 500 colleges/organizations that participated nation-wide, too. We had four different prayer meetings on Thursday night. We had a main one in the library, then, 3 resident halls/apartments held their own prayer meetings from 10-11 PM. Over all, we had about 30 in attendance. It was awesome. The freshman girls in Cole Hall collected prayers throughout the week and had prayer and worship, the Reid sophomore/jr hall had worship, prayer and then made "We are praying for you signs" for each of the residence halls, and Warren Apartments and the library both had prayer and communal worship.

God update: Well he, of course, has been doing wonderful things! The Collegiate Day of Prayer was one of them, also I have been asking him to show me people who are hurting/lonely lately, and he has put two particular people in my life. I won't name them, for privacy's sake, but I have been pumped by the way I "run in" to these two students. I've had to opportunity to just be-friend them and encourage them when I see them. I am hoping it's blessed them. It sure has me!

That's it for now, I should be heading back to study for yet another mid-term. Ah, the joys of being an undergraduate :)! I'd covet your prayers for sure...

A Glorious Awakening!

It's been awhile since I have posted. I just wanted to jot this down while it was still fresh in my mind. Things have been going amazingly well with the prayer room effort. God has continuously been providing in ways that are unfathomable! This past Sunday we started decorating the prayer room with the supplies we have had donated. Jessica's home church and her Grandma's church have been amazing supports! We are also gearing up for 46 Hours of unbroken prayer this weekend. Unfortunately, because of library policy, we couldn't do our 46 hours of prayer in the library where our new prayer room is going to be, so we decided to rent out another hall on campus called "Wroten." It's a much bigger room with a whiteboard and will still require some decorating, but that's the wonderful and fun part! We are so excited about what God's going to do through this prayer weekend. After the prayer weekend, the prayer room in the library will be open for good during library hours and will be available to all students and staff. Tonight, Jessica and I led prayer group and we decided that we would ask everyone in prayer group to come down and help us "consecrate" the room for about 45 minutes or so. Usually our group runs anywhere from 5 to 7 people. Tonight there were 11 there, including one person who we've been praying specifically for! He's a guy we know on our campus who is on the brink of really committing to Jesus. Jessica started out prayer group with the purple journal I've referred to in earlier posts about the prayer room, and she read some of the prayers from years past. We told them our story and how we felt called by the Lord to do this prayer room thing, then we went down and asked everyone to help us consecrate the room. Currently we have three walls -- the "Welcome Wall" which tells people what the prayer room is about and includes some prayers from the purple prayer journal, the "Word Wall," which is for bible verses and other things the Lord's been speaking to people, and last of all we have the "Wailing Wall," which is a wall dedicated to prayer requests. While we were all off praying, writing, painting and drawing everyone was so dedicated. People were crying and praying over one another and hugging. Students were hanging their prayers and art all over the new walls. Then, at the very end, we all huddled in a circle and put our arms around one another and three students -- Jessica, Derreck, and Mariam led us in corporate prayer. IT WAS AMAZING. The spirit was so alive in the room, people were still crying silent tears and voicing loud "Yes's" in agreement to prayer. Afterwards, we had students stay around to talk to one another while a couple of other students spent time writing and drawing. The whole thing, which started at 9:15 p.m. was officially over at 11:30p.m. God is already doing an amazing work and I cannot wait to see what He does as this weekend approaches, and as this year continues. Thank you for all of your prayers! They mean the world. Jesus is changing students around here, He's giving beauty for ashes and bringing fresh restoration to those who are broken and lost in this mediocre world. It's truly a blessing.

Please keep praying! We'd love for you to pray specifically for our campus, our students, and also a couple of specific guys on campus who are really searching and finding Jesus. Pray for a breakthrough this weekend. A glorious awakening is taking place, of this I AM confident. God's moving. It's not about us, but about Him alone.

Blessings!

Seasons

For those following,

Things have been going well around here. Life, like always, has been quite busy and we've seemed to completely by-pass fall, which I am rather bummed about. 45-50 degree weather shouldn't be allowed yet ;). I am, however, enjoying the beauty of fall--especially here in Winfield and at SC. It seems like God hand paints our campus every fall, and as a girl from Western Kansas where there's no tree in sight, I LOVE it! That's been great. Our campus, over the past week has had somewhat of a hard time. One of our fellow students and his family lost his parents in a tragic car accident last week, another student lost his brother to an illness, another his cousin in a car accident, and I had a friend that lost one of her high school classmates in a car accident.

Looking back, last week was a week of challenges. As things were happening, there would be so many times that I would be in prayer asking God "why!?" Sometimes we just don't understand--sometimes we will never fully understand purpose and tragedy until we see God face-to-face. Through it all, I felt God telling me, very clearly in fact, to hold on to the knowledge that "He is good." Grief is an interesting thing. It's something that is so difficult to see and even more difficult to go through. However, it has such a bonding quality. I've never seen our campus come together more than they have since last week.

Today, chapel was quite the blessing. The student whose parents passed last week was there to sing and help lead with all of his heart in worship--a very touching sight and a testimony of faith to many. Another couple of ours at SC also got engaged at chapel today! It was very sweet. Chapel was packed out with many SC students and staff to come together and celebrate--a very different feel and theme from last week's chapel. Last week, the SC family came to grieve and realize that in life, there is a time for sadness. This week, the SC family came together to celebrate, and realize that in life, there is also a time for joy!

At the end of chapel today, I yet again heard God's voice in my heart whisper "See, I am good...." and He didn't just say that to prove a point and I don't just say that because today was a day of joy. Without last weeks sorrow, this week would have been "joyful" in a very different way. I don't exactly understand the mystery of grief, but I know there are seasons of it and those seasons contribute to the joy factor that follows. SC had a valley last week--the lowest one at that, but our "mountain" was only as high as it was this week because of our sorrow last week. I am not sure if this exactly makes sense, but I sure hope it does. I think it's important to pick up on.

May I pass on the message again, and again, and again....

God is indeed good. He's good.

And may we believe it again, and again, and again

House of Prayer, anyone?

So awhile back at the end of August (I beleive), I posted a blog about how God had really been moving through my heart and my mind to start a prayer room on the SC campus. I had talked with my friend, Jessica about it and she had some of the same feelings over the summer, too. Eventually our Greek language class got cancelled and we needed an extra class to bump our schedules back up to 16 credit hours. On a long shot, we confronted our campus minister, Ashlee Alley and told her what God was doing in our hearts. We then asked her if she wouldn't mind overseeing a 3-hour Independent Study class on prayer. To say the least, God has really been exploding lately! Jessica and I are reading a book for our class called "Deep Unto Deep" by Dana Candler. It's a book about personal prayer. Dana Candler is a prayer leader at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. One of our assignments for our class is to interview prayer leaders. Because of that, Jessica and I decided it would be fun and beneficial to visit IHOP in Kansas City over Fall break in October and I also contacted Dana Candler to see if we could possibly meet with her. She ended up e-mailing me back saying that she would love to meet with us and if she couldn't she said she'd try to find someone else from the International House of Prayer to meet with us! Way cool or what?

Also, another organization called Campus America is headquartered in Kansas City. Campus America is simply an organization that promotes 24/7 prayer and seasons of 24/7 prayer on college campuses. I heard a man named Pete Greig speak at the June Desperation Conference over the summer in Colorado Springs about the 24/7 prayer movement. He is actually one of the founders of Campus America. I figured since they are headquartered in Kansas City, too it might be fun to try to meet with some people from the Campus America team. Just today I got an e-mail back from one of the girls on staff saying she would set up a meeting for us with some of their leaders! How exciting!

Also, today Jessica and I went to talk to Ashlee Alley about some things that had been going on in our "class time." About a week ago, Jessica and I went into the small chapel that is in the library and we found a book of prayers. The book is dated from 2000 up till now. We read the book and ended up taking to to read through the prayers. Many of the prayers ask God that He would show the chapel in the library to people and that people would use it. Also, many of the prayers ask God for a revival and revolution on the SC campus. When we found that book, we just knew that we should try to find out if we could make that small chapel into a prayer room. We asked Ashlee about it today and she was all for it. She told us to ask the library managers about it to see if we could possibly use it. Right after our meeting with Ashlee, we headed over to the SC library to meet with Veronica, the library manager. We told her about what we were wanting to do and she was all for it.

Throughout this whole process we've been asking God to make things smooth...we've been asking God to open up doors and told Him we'd accept challenges to make this prayer room a possibility on our campus. So today, when things went so smoothly...I don't know why we were surprised! We prayed.

I'd ask that all of you would continue to pray for this project and prayer room. Continue to pray for the students on the SC campus. God is doing amazing things through so many people. He is good! Very, very good.

We are shooting to open the prayer room on November 20 with a kick-off of worship, corporate prayer and then a season of continual 48 hour prayer on campus. We are REALLY excited for what God has in store. Keep praying!

Take Off Was Good

Yesterday, at 9:40 AM, Epic Church officially launched! Words cannot express how amazing it is to be sitting here right now writing this blog. I am honestly in awe of Epic's first "harvest." Over the summer, while working for Epic, I would pray continually for launch--launch was always "on the mind." There were times when, in prayer, I would feel so barren and honestly sometimes, I felt like things were never going to reach a harvest point. Launch was almost incomprehensible to me. I soon realized that, with churchplanting, you just never know. You do everything wandering if you're doing stuff right and then you realize that church planting is more a test of trust than anything else.

Yesterday morning while I was in my own little theatre waiting on my children, I was wondering how things were going, it was sooo hard for me not to leave my theatre and go into the big theatre at the Warren where the actual worship service was held. Even at 9:40 I had NO kids. I was really starting to freak-out a little bit. Then, at about 9:42 here come ten kids all at once into the elementary room. Nine boys and one girl. I was suuuuper excited to have ten kids--which was perfect for me. La Shawn, Da Shawn, La Shayla, Mason, Shay, Eli, Jacob, Ethan, Rylan, and Andrew--you're my first kids EVER. We worshipped and danced, then we watched our video curriculum "Kidmo" where we learned about how BIG God is. After that we talked about God and who He is...and then, my favorite part...we prayed together. I had one student volunteer to pray for us, listening to him almost made my cry just sitting there. He thanked God for Epic church and prayed for some other student's prayer requests and then he thanked God for freedom and our soldiers fighting overseas (where this came from, I don't know, I'm guessing home!). We ended our time with a game of Simon says, which actually turned into "Mason says, La Shawn says, Da Shawn says, La Shayla says..."

So, officially, Epic launched out with 180 people total. I'm guessing the rough break down of that is 30 volunteers, about 20 children in the children's ministry, and 130 people at service. What a GREAT day! Not to mention there were about 15 more kids in the actual service that didn't participate in the children's ministry...that's exciting for me!

We ended the day with a Brisket feed at the Smokes house...yummy!! I can't wait to see how God is going to provide in the coming months--even this morning I was looking at a bulletin from the main service that one of my friends brought home and I just couldn't believe it...we are actually a church! It's such a surreal feeling. God is good--I don't say that casually, He really is good. I'd ask that you'd continue to pray for the development of the Epic community God has formulated and still is formulating. For those who have been a part of Epic Church in prayer--thank you, seriously prayer has been the driving force. Now I'm just rambling...but I am SOOO very excited. These are exciting days indeed!

La-La-La-La LAUNCH!!! Prayer.

This Sunday, September 13, 2009 the church plant I work with, Epic, will be launching out for the first time in Andover. Now's the time to assemble, prayer warriors! I want to ask that you'd PRAY, PRAY, PRAY like crazy for launch this Sunday!! I am so excited to see how God is going to work in and through Epic Church and this Sunday is the official start of it all. Would you pray with me!!!!!??

I'll update after Sunday, until then...cheers to prayer!

Things are off...

Summer is practically over and I am back in Winfield at college. I would have to say, it's good to be back at SC. I've been as busy as ever, and thought I better write a blog to catch a few of you up ;). Move in was last Saturday. My wonderful parents drove up to Winfield to help me move in and then they enjoyed a little R & R themselves out at a bed in breakfast owned by a couple of professors here on campus. I think they enjoyed their time in Winfield. I moved in to an apartment type of dorm with Jessica S. my new roommate for the year. She is one of my best friends at college! I am so excited to spend the year with her. We've decorated our room in red, black, and white. We finished as of last night and things look pretty schnazzy. I will have to try to upload some photos later when I have the time.

Classes started last Wednesday. I am currently enrolled in: Old Testament, Introduction to the Church, Discipleship, Critical Issues in Health, and Logic. I was supposed to take Greek, but they couldn't find a teacher for it so it got cancelled at the last minute. However, God has really opened some doors for me in place of Greek. Over the summer, when I was at the Desperation Conference in Colorado Springs, a man named Pete Greig spoke. He is the founder of the 24/7 prayer movement in Britian and around Europe and he also is one of the founders of an organization called CampusAmerica. It just recently started and strives to start prayer movements on college campuses in America. When Greek was cancelled Jessica (my roomie) and I talked with our campus minister and discipleship coordinator about taking an indepedent study on prayer in place of Greek. She was quick to catch our vision and agreed to look over what an independent study on prayer would look like for us. Here are a few of the goals for our independent study:

• We really want to work on starting and eventually start a prayer room on campus, available to students at anytime
• We would like to do a campus-wide 48 hours of prayer event
• We are thinking about participating in a night of Desperation in Winfield (where some leaders from TheFurnace (a prayer house in Colorado Springs) come and lead a night of prayer/worship in our community)
• We are trying to decide books to read for our class...Here are some are thinking about: "Deep Unto Deep" by Dana Candler, "Red Moon Rising" by Pete Greig, "24/7 Prayer Manual" by Pete Greig, "Too Busy Not to Pray" by Bill Hybels, and "Prayer" by Richard Foster
• We want to visit some prayer houses and talk with some prayer leaders! Luckily for us, there is a prayer house in El Dorado! We are also thinking about visiting IHOP (International House of Prayer in Kansas City) or TheFurnace (In Colorado Springs)

All in all, things are going GREAT! I am so excited to see what God has in store for this semester. I am also continuing my work at Epic this semester, working with the children's ministry. Today was another preview service. Things went AWESOME! They're starting to come together. God's a-movin--that's for sure. Although blogs won't be as prominent this semester as they were this summer, I will still try to keep you all posted! Now onto homework...

Moses is My Friend: Thoughts on Prayer Lately

One of the things that I've been studying lately is prayer. If you know me, you know I love prayer--passionate prayer. I never used to be extremely into prayer until about a year or so ago. I had an experience where Jesus just touched me in a way through prayer that I never have forgotten. This past year, my prayer life has accelerated. I've had so many experiences
(just in the past year!!) where God will speak--where God will move. I've seen people healed, I've seen prayers answered, I've had God speak to me, and I've been surprised by God over and over again. I am currently doing my devotion time through the Psalms. The other night I was studying and praying Psalm 90. One of the most interesting things that stuck out to me about Pslam 90 is that it is a prayer of Moses. The first verse states "Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations." That is a verse that totally caught me, and really made me think. Biblical Moses was born (scholars say) between 1300 and 1150 BCE. Zoom all the way back into the book of Exodus and you will soon figure out that Moses is an old guy. Over three thousand years ago Moses was praying the same prayer I prayed--being taken care of by the same guy who's hearing all my church-planting prayers (and my Moses prayer verbatim). What a comfort it is to know that the place where Moses (an EXTREMELY powerful man of God) dwelled is the same place we go to dwell, where we go to hide. Just like our ancestors and those who have gone before us, we all have one common dwelling place. It says from generation to generation comfort is found there.
I've been learning a lot about prayer. One of the things God has been speaking to me lately is that prayer = persistence. You'll find parables about persistence in the Gospels. Luke 11 is a good one. One day I was praying for Andover and Epic and I just started to wonder if God ever got tired of hearing the same thing over and over again, so I asked Him. He gave me this image...I saw a child who really wanted a specific Christmas present. The child kept asking her parents for it everyday, she dreamed of it, she thought of it, she wanted it. She was persistent in her thoughts and her desires. Eventually, because of her persistence and her patient heart, she woke up Christmas morning to her present underneath the tree, her parents smiling in the background. It was then that I realized that God wants us to desire what we ask for, he wants us to be persistent in our asking. He wants us to fight for the good. We are only persistent for things that really mean a lot to us. For me, that has been Epic. It's good, it's true. I want, I desire to see people know Jesus. I trust God sees that obedience and hears that prayer.
To end on a good note, I finished going through Pslam 90, learning a lot and being very encouraged by Moses' note at the very end. His prayer, and a new one of mine is this:

"May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us--yes establish the work of our hands." (Pslam 90:17)

• (Addendum to Moses' Prayer by Molly: "Teach us to be persistent!" Someone, somewhere is putting that into the Bible. Jk of course ;))

Anyway, Good one, Moses. I like.

Oh, How He Loves Us

This morning, I literally woke up singing "Oh, how He loves us." Kind of funny, but I just felt like it was God's way of telling me "Good Morning." Lately I've been reading in the Psalms and I keep noticing how David constantly asks God to pour out his unfailing love, or refers to God's unfailing love. There is something about love that makes me so...giddy, so I did a Wikipedia search.

Wikipedia says:
Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection[1] and attachment. Love is an extremely powerful emotion; it can be irresistible and people are often bound to pursue their love interests.

Scripture says, in 1 John, that God is love. And also, that perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. So many times, when I ask people what their thoughts are about God, I get the consistent thought and answer that God is kind of "scary," or that God is a "party pooper" he's just "sitting around waiting to take all of the fun out of the world." Oh, how this breaks my heart! What we are not understanding is love itself. St. Augustine says that the only one that can truly love is God because human love allows flaws, such as, jealousy, anger, suspicsion, and fear. He says that to love God is to "attain the peace, which is yours." When we truly believe we are loved people and when we truly accept God's love, we are able to grasp love fully. Love is such a divine gift, one that I only believe the Spirit can truly reveal to us. It is when we are safe and secure in that perfect love that we are able to go out and love others powerfully, and all of a sudden God isn't the "party pooper," he's not the guy that is constantly taking "fun" away...He is just, beautiful. There is no fear in Him. God pursues us constantly because we are his love interests. How many of us truly miss that? There will be times during prayer where I will just sit and repeat over and over: "I love you, I love you, I love you. You love me, you love me, you love me." And God will just explode in my heart. Love is power, it's beauty, it's fearless, and God is the epicenter of that. OH, how he loves us.

I want to share the lyrics from "Oh, how he loves us" written by John Mark McMillan. They are so very powerful!

He is jealous for me. Love's like a hurricane, I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me.

Oh, how He loves us so Oh, how He loves us How He loves us so.

So we are His portion and He is our prize, Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes, If grace is an ocean we're all sinking. So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns violently inside of my chest, I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way...

Oh, how He loves us so Oh, how He loves us How He loves us so.

Desperation 2009: Light Up The World

This past weekend, I had the privilege of attending the Desperation Conference at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. This is a conference I attended for the first time last year and fell absolutely in love with. It focuses a lot on passionate prayer and worship. This year, we rounded up a crew of eight and headed back. The theme this year was "Light Up The World." Pretty SWEET conference if I do say so myself, I would recommend it to anyone! The Spirit was moving and so alive, it was absolutely amazing.

Here are some highlights from the trip...

• First and foremost, I have to say I love, love, love this conference so much because of the spiritual preparation that goes into it. New Life's staff is absolutely amazing, they are so open to the Spirit. They put a lot into what they do! They put A LOT into Desperation each year and the conference itself thrives because of it.
• Friday night, during worship, everyone completely let go. It was probably one of the most amazing worship services I've ever been a part of...the sanctuary was going nuts. It was amazing. I honestly never wanted to leave. Tiny taste of Heaven!
• Kari Jobe = Amazing worship leader! She led with Desperation Band friday night and just radiated Jesus. It was so inspiring to watch her lead and worship. Such a beautiful woman of God.
• Saturday, during evening worship with Desperation band, we had a very similar experience to friday. It was worship full of complete surrender. D-Band ended up straying off of their original playlist somewhat and Jared Anderson started leading "I Surrender All." After that song, it was then that Jon Egan, the head worship leader, spoke. He said "You know I really believe what Jared Anderson just did was a form of prophetic worship. There are some people that need to surrender tonight." He started calling out certian situations and certain things people needed to surrender. People were literally just falling on the ground being renewed and accepting Jesus. It was so amazing. The Spirit was so heavy and fresh in the room.
• The Desperation June Conference of 2009 ended up raising $16,000 dollars in an offering that went towards building an orphanage in Uganda.
• Our group of 8 had an hour long prayer meeting Sunday morning before service. It was such a great way to end our conference time together. We were in a prayer huddle, with our arms around each other praying for one another. It was such a powerful time.

Here are also some key quote from the speakers! I love to recap these! Such powerful messages.

• The Following quotes are by David Perkins
• There is a level of joy that no human being can rob you of--fullness of joy is available.
• Joy in Jesus doesn't change or depend on outward circumstances
• When you're sucking joy out of the world, it's ashes
• We will be going back to a culture that mocks. If you're lighting up the world and looking anything like Jesus, they will treat you like they treated him.
• Surely as they laughed at our Savior, they'll laugh at you
• When you come in with a gospel that cuts pride, arrogance, dishonesty, etc. people are gonna be ticked
• There will be uncomfortable moments for the Christ Follower. Jesus was Mr. Awkward.
• Holiness is lonely for most. You start to set a standard and people are bugged by it.
• Don't crucify the guy you're trying to be like. Conversations of mockery are coming. Just saying. You must be ready to face the onset of mockery.
• Blessed are you, in your lifetime, when people laugh, insult and persecute you
• Brady Boyd (Lead Pastor of New Life)
• God doesn't just love, he is love
• You have to know what is true about God or you can't be free, you can't enter into worship
• As humans we fall into three categories: We are either orphans, slaves, or sons
• The church needs moms and dads, but we cannot be moms and dads until we are sons and daughters
• Sonship doesn't change in Jesus' freedom
• God isn't always interested in what we're doing, but rather, who we're becoming
• If who I am is what I do, then I am a slave. Slaves are convinced that they can be demoted at anytime.
• Sons are free to love dad. When we're sons and daughters, we are motivated because we want to please God because He's been a good father. Why would you want to disappoint someone you love? Sons aren't afraid of being replaced.
• Dan Perkins (Internship Director)
• I like the idea of flipping the world upside down
• There is depth in God to be had for those who truly want it
• There's something about others experiencing God that is inspiring
• Depth in God is cultivated, it's relationship
• Relationships diminish when you don't pay attention to them, but when you get to know someone, everything else comes alive
• Sometimes, we "football smile" our way through our relationship with Jesus
• We've heard the phrase "God loves you" so often that it's kind of unbelievable anymore.
• We know the words "God loves you." but we don't understand the reality of them
• Loved people are powerful and dangerous people. Loved people are dangerous to the kingdom of darkness
• Love is passion for someone's highest good
• God lavishes his love on us in ways we don't even realize. We turn blind eyes to blessings a lot of the time.
• It's exciting when you realize that God loves you.
• Brent Parsley (Youth Pastor for New Life Church)
• We're not going to do the things God wants us to do until we're changed. You don't have to have the best ideas you just need to be changed
• Don't argue with the blind that can see and the lame that can walk
• We try so hard and wrestle with God because we want him to love us. He already wants to give us the good things of life. WE are the ones with the issues.
• You don't have to bend God's arm, just let him love you. It starts and ends with his love.
• You don't have to impress God, he's already impressed, he made you.
• Live a life that is self-forgetful and outward looking
• Let your self-sacrifice come out of God's love for you, then pass that onto others
• A self-sacrificed lifestyle is birthed out of love
• The goal of the gospel has never been to get, but to give
• Amy Perkins
• You're heart matters, and someday, it will be rewarded
• Don't become victim to your own circumstances--don't let your circumstances immobolize you
• Jesus often says to us, "You feel dark, but you're lovely to me because you want this."
• When you say "yes" to God, it matters
• Seizing small moments can do wonders for your heart
• Live a disciplined life. Discplined people are world changers.
• Take your heart and set it before God's heart. God will come. He will start to melt and tenderize your heart if you're willing to give it to Him.
• Pete Greig (Started 24/7 Prayer Movement in England and is starting CampusAmerica)
• God's will for us is that we would pray, play, and obey
• Prayer is a lot like sex. Out of intimacy with God can come a miracle and a mess
• You learn to pray by praying
• All good youth work is a work of horomones and Holy Spirit (lol)
• It's easy to have things in life that give us second hand spiritual experiences. Cut the middle man out and get together and talk with God.
• Pray like it all depends on God and play like it all depends on you
• Prayer propels us out to speak for Jesus and be his hands and feet
• Glenn Packiam (Author of Secondhand Jesus)
• We often rely on people to walk our walk for us and we expect people to tell us who God is insteand of figuring it out for ourselves.
• Our view of God often becomes a patch-work of second hand information
• Ask yourself, "Do you know Jesus more this year than you did last?"
• Anytime we trade an active, living relationship with God for something second-hand, death enters in
• For love I will set myself apart to know God
• "BRING IT"
• We can't be lights if we've never been on the journey ourselves
• John McDonald (Youth Pastor from Illinois)
• The more you gaze on the face of Jesus with the eyes of your heart, the more you're able to fully be alive; the more you attract Heaven's attention
• We have power and authority as sons and daughters that can shake the foundations of hell
• If you're going to be filled fully, you must yield to God first
• Replace everything that is of you, with everything that is of God
• Beth Diehl (3rd year DLA intern for New Life)
• God knows our hearts need more
• We often see life through our own eyes. Looking at the world through God's eyes can be a very different experience
• Through God's lens things are exciting. There is joy in life.
• Leeland Mooring (Lead singer of the band Leeland)
• God, you love us and you like us

Work Worth Doing

Psalm 40. Read it. Last night, in the middle of prayer during my devo time, I was completely overwhelmed by the Spirit. I was praying for the community of Andover and I was overcome with a sense of urgency and passion. I was somewhat bothered by a comment that had been made to me earlier that day about having a job in ministry for the summer and how it's not a "real job." It made me really stop and think. Which is where Pslam 40 comes in. Psalm 40 is probably one of my favorite pieces of scripture. It was never one that stuck out to me until last year when I was at a prayer meeting at a conference in Colorado Springs. I was in a room of about 45 people and they were praying, participating in intercession and praying scripture all over the place. There was one specific moment when a woman in the room started reading Pslam 40 and my ears were just drawn to her voice as she read. Every time I read it or quote it now, I can only hear her. She read it and prayed after with such passion. As I was reading last night the Lord just kept speaking "trust" to me. That Psalm is all about trust. It's about being a sinner saved by grace who trusts in someone higher and greater.

You know, there should be so many reasons why planting this church should not work. Kent, Trista and I were in prayer this morning and we all three just kept saying, we don't have enough money, we don't have enough people, we don't have enough this, we don't have enough that, BUT what we do have is Jesus. That's enough. That seals the deal. He is someone that can't ever be taken away. To me, God has been preparing my heart for this summer and this opportunity for a very long time. It's not about money, or resources, or having it all together to me because God has never failed me before. He's always provided. He's a good dad. That makes this as "real" to me as ever.

As I was at the throne of God in prayer last night I just kept asking for God to pour out his love on the people of Andover who don't know Him. I've honestly never been so passionate about anything in my life. This stuff is real. Because of Christ's love, I can freely run to God's throne where I belong everyday, but other people cannot. People are lost. If I may blog bluntly, this world is asleep. It's asleep and the bridegroom is coming. This is the most real job I've ever had. I may not be paid a fortune, but I hope, one day, I get to see people in Heaven who otherwise might not have been there if it wasn't for Epic Church. The work that God is doing around here is real. It's important. Therefore, I trust in the one who has no limits-- my deliverer, and above all, my provider. This is work, to me, that is worth doing.

P.S. Jory said YES to the worship position! Guess what that means beautiful people? We have a worship pastor! WEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Service, burning for Jesus, Date night with Peter!

Another great weekend has come and gone! Yesterday Epic volunteered at the new YMCA in Andover. The Y just recently opened, and their outdoor water park's grand opening was yesterday. We helped grill free hot dogs, hand out free pop, baseball tickets, and sign people up for door prize drawings! It was pretty awesome to get out and serve in the community. We met tons of cool people and had the chance to chat it up with them. I also got a ridiculous sunburn on the back of my leg...burning for Jesus. The things we do...:) just kidding. But really, if you ever get the chance to check out the Andover water park...NIKE (just do it)!!!! It's pretty sweet. I wanted to trade in my epic shirt for a swim suit yesterday and take a ride on the lazy river. So fresh.

Also, last night, Kent and Jenni went out to dinner and a movie with a couple that we met at the Marble Slab one Tuesday night so Trista and I got to have a date night with our favorite 9 month-old stud, Peter Wagner! Great times at the Wagner household. Then, this morning, we headed over to attend church at Gracepoint, a 6 year-old church plant in Wichita. They meet at Northwest High School, and are gearing up and getting ready to head into a permanent facitility sometime in 2010. It was awesome to be a part of their family for a Sunday. The atmosphere was so real. People were themselves. That's what I really appreciated about Gracepoint. My favorite part of the service came when the pastor called for people who needed prayer to stand up. Then, people around them just went and laid hands on those who needed prayer. I loved that. There's such a bond in praying together.

Tonight we have a launch team meeting at the Y, and we are spending the rest of the afternoon relaxing and gearing up for another week.