Strong, Smart, Celebrated

Photo by Tara Moore/Getty Images

Let me start by saying I'm no crazy feminist. I support equal rights between the sexes and am passionate about women's rights, but it's not something I wish to constantly discuss with anyone and everyone. As a girl and now a woman, I have felt extremely supported in all of my goals and ventures by men and women alike. I've never had any sort of devastating run in with a man who has told me that I cannot and should not be doing something (particularly in ministry) because I am a female. For the most part, as a woman, I have felt strong, smart, celebrated.

When I was a junior in college, I heard Lisa Bevere speak at a conference. I had read a few of her books and was excited to hear her speak, especially because I could relate to being a woman who felt called to ministry. You know what I remember the most about her? I remember her telling a story about how she had two dreams/goals in life. One was to be a mother. The other was to be a writer/speaker in ministry in some regard. So she told this story about how the Lord enabled her to fulfill both dreams simultaneously. Here is what she said: "I remember waking up early in the morning to feed the baby. I would sit on my couch and write with the baby at my breast. And that's how I wrote my first book." What an empowering story! Pretty BA if you ask me. From that moment on, I had a different respect for women, especially women who felt called to careers and to motherhood. Today, I find myself to be one of those women. Lisa Bevere's story was one of the only real stories, shed in a feminist type of light, that had a powerful impact on me. As a woman, it made me feel strong, smart, celebrated.

A few days ago I read about how Getty Images launched their "Lean In Collection" (Think Sheryl Sandberg here).  This particular collection features over 2,500 photos of females in leadership in contemporary work and life. You know how they say pictures are worth a thousand words? I think these pictures really are. They shed a really beautiful light on women in all sorts of different roles. Like Lisa Bevere's story, I've run into another little something that, as a woman, makes me feel strong, smart and celebrated. I couldn't help but share. Check these images out! I've posted some links below.

• You can view the full Lean In Collection here.
• Or check out a Buzzfeed that's been making the rounds with 44 Stock Photos from the collection that hope to change the way we look at women here. 

Food for Thought

As you can imagine, I run into a lot of really great people here at the seminary. Seriously, it's amazing. It's like you throw all the awesome people together in the world and *BAM,* here they are. One of the things that I absolutely love, whether at seminary or not, is hearing peoples' stories. In one of my classes, we have been split up into small groups where we share a ministry and vocational journey together for a semester. The other day, I was talking with my group and we were sharing our journeys of how we ended up at Asbury. One story especially stuck out to me and I knew right then that it was blog material.

The question was asked: if you could do anything in ministry, what would your dream job be? When we got around to one particular person, they said, "I would love to go live by myself in a cabin in the woods and minister to people through writing. I feel like I have been burned by people, burned by the church. I am starting to trust people again, which is how I ended up here, but it took awhile." He then went on to explain how prior to seminary, he had been extremely involved with a church. The leadership of this church, however, hurt more people than it helped. He then noted how he left the church and decided to attend culinary school (I told you people at seminary have good stories!). He excelled in culinary school, enjoyed it a lot and went on to work in a restaurant. He said, "You know, I was so sick of a church that hurt people. I worked with food because I was able to be a part of something that brought people together, slowed them down and had them listen to one another." Can you just imagine a chef, peering out at his restaurant from his kitchen? Watching people truly enjoy one another's company? You know, there is that couple over there in the corner on their first date, getting to know one another, wishing time would slow down. Then, there is that couple in the booth, to your left, who is celebrating their 35th anniversary, remembering all of the times they've had together and celebrating life. After that, in the back room, at the long table, there is that annual company meeting. These folks join together to discuss annual goals and progress and to identify where they are going to go, business wise, this year. Then, you have your normals, going out to eat because it is mom's night off. In all cases, food brings people together, and as a chef, that's something to be really proud of. To me, the mental image is really powerful. My new friend ended his story with this line: "I hope the church can slow down like that." Hmmm. Food for thought. And, I think it's like "Olive Garden" food for thought. Yeah?

Chills

I was at the Village church this morning in Dallas and one of the pastors said something really profound. He said, "We are all called to a ministry of presence." It was not something that was the climax of his talk or sermon. He was actually just making announcements and was talking about helping one of their partner churches in Sudan. Partaking in the "ministry of presence" was something he actually mentioned in passing. It was so natural, so good, and it stopped me in my tracks.

We are called to be present. In all things. How many days do I wish would pass by quicker? Alot. I am doing Project Transformation again this summer and I don't know how many times during training week I wished I would have had a clicker with a fast-forward button. But whoa, people need us to be present. The children I work with every day need all of me to be present -- body, mind, spirit, soul.

I can be in ministry, just by being fully present. Mmm, it gives me chills.

An Ode to the Dads!

Crazy days in the life of church planting, crazy days, my friends! All last week we spent A LOT of time gearing up for Dad Fest, a celebration to honor all the dad's in the Andover/Wichita area. Trista and I ended up printing and canvasing around 1,700 flyers! Crazy! Office This (where we do printing) probably wasn't too excited about all of our flyers. We ran their black ink completely out of stock. Haha. Anyways, we had a lot planned for Dad Fest, including free hot dogs, root beer floats, prizes, and a moon bounce for the kids. We partnered with a local restaurant called Stooges, and planned on using their parking lot and stuff for our event...

Then, Saturday came. And Saturday came with RAIN. Woot, woot for weather. We ended up doing our event under an awning at Stooges and weren't able to use the moon bounce. However, everything else went pretty well, and despite the weather we had an awesome turn out. The launch team kids decided pretty early on that moon bounces were overrated anyway,and just went out and played in the rain. They had a puddle-jumping ministry of their own and most of the kids at Dad Fest ended up going out to play with them anyway. It was so fun to watch them. They were having a blast! Dad Fest wasn't exactly like we planned, but it was great to meet new people, and honor all of the dads in the area!

So, as Father's Day is upon us, and before I close, I wanted to take a minute to honor MY dad. My dad is Russell Leroy Komlofske. He's, hands down, the best dad around. He's an awesome provider, in every way, and is just a really big goof! He also makes the best pancakes and french toast in the whole world. Did I mention that he's an excellent griller? He's also a dreamer...he likes to make things happen, and he always has a positive attitude. What can I say, I just love my dad!

So here's to today, love on those dads!