Hello Friends,
Yes, I know, it's been WAY too long! I haven't written at all about CPE this summer... Maybe I'll have to copy a letter I sent to some friends that tells about it because it was definitely life-changing.
I'm sitting here in the library and I was doing a bunch of reading for a paper I have to write on C.S. Lewis and something I read must have triggered a thought because before I knew it I wasn't reading at all and I was thinking about how much I've changed and grown since we came here.
In particular I was thinking about worship. You know back home in Colorado I was really spoiled. We had (and still have) a wonderful contemporary service, awesome preaching, very comfortable (should've been my first clue). When we moved here we weren't given a lot of choices as far as worship style went. Sure, we attended Eastminster Pres. for a bit, and they're truthfully the only church I have seen pull off a blended service WELL...but then I had field education at the two churches, and chapel, and there really wasn't a choice to attend the style of worship that I had been accustomed to. This brought about a lot of thought, some frustration, and ultimately transformation.
There are A LOT of Presbyterian churches in Pittsburgh. When they say there's a church on every corner, they're really not joking! There are lots of churches, and the majority of them are quite small - under 100 members. So the only one's you'll find with any kind of contemporary worship are the new church developments. So these last couple of years have been an exercise in "finding God in tradition."
This has been a stretch for me, I must admit. After so many years of fighting and persevering to get our contemporary worship service at home, and get it to a high quality, it was really hard to be "stuck" going to only traditional services. Even our chapel services last year all seemed to go traditional or, the one that was supposed to be contemporary was more "contemplative."
I found that over the last year or so I've really had to focus on God a lot more in worship (I know, right? What a concept!) I had become really dependent, I think, on my emotions getting me to a place of worship. The music, of course, played a big part in that, but also I think the casual nature, even the language of "contemporary" helped me. So this last year was an exercise in finding God in the liturgy, finding God in the hymns, and finding God in the structure, the language, and tradition.
I have to say that this was done reluctantly and sometimes without much joy or praise...but over time, I began to see God, to hear Him, and to experience His presence in ways that I can't really put my finger on - but ways that were different. Maybe it was just a matter of using more intellect than emotion. Maybe it was more balanced between the two. Maybe it's because I was simply being intentional about things... I don't know. But I've found a new appreciation.
I think it might have to do with history. As people would lead chapel and read prayers or liturgies that were written hundreds, yes hundredS of years ago, there was something awe-some about saying something that believers before us had read and believed throughout the ages.
I have a new appreciation for the traditions that have come before us. It doesn't mean that I prefer to have it all in worship every Sunday...but I can see myself incorporating a prayer, a confession, or a hymn in one of my contemporary services someday. I hope, too, that'll I'll be able to communicate, to relate - especially to young people (I keep thinking of my niece Sammy as I write this), the history, the richness, the perseverance of the saints throughout the years adequately. The Christian faith as we know it didn't just appear. The Holy Spirit has moved in people through the ages and we have wonderful writings and songs and art and story to remember their point in history when God moved and made an impact. I think it's important...and I'm surprised. I'm changed...and I'm glad.
The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
~Sally
The Family - Summer, 2023
Love these people!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
My Adventure in Brazil!
Dear Friends & Family,
There's so much to tell about this trip that it's hard to know where to start! First of all, thank you so much for your love, for your support - financial and otherwise - and your continued encouragement on this seminary journey! It just seems to be getting better and better, and God keeps honing in more and more on where and how He'd like me to minister. It's exciting.
Our group of seven hooked up with our leader, Jose' Pezini of the PC(USA) Outreach Foundation, when we arrived in Rio De Janeiro. "Pezini" as he is called, is from Brazil and travels a lot all over the world helping to train leaders on church planting and connect churches, people, and resources with each other - so of course, I loved him immediately!
We stayed at a church, which happens to be a house (lived in by a church-planting pastor and his family) which is also used as their church. This pastor and one of his parishioners drove us all over Rio the four days we were there, visiting various churches and church-planting pastors - listening to their stories and hearing how they are working together to start churches there and reach out to the upper class people in Rio. This church was an IPI church (Igreja Presbiteriana Independente).
The first church we visited was the IPB (Igreja Presbiteriana de Brasil - i.e., Presby Church of Brazil) of Gavea - (this denomination is similar to maybe the Presby Church of America or the Evang. Presby Church - evangelical and conservative-no women pastors). It is a fairly affluent church in a suburb of Brazil and their main mission focus is helping to start new churches. They currently have 2 new churches in Rio and 9 just outside of Rio, 2 in Spain and 1 in Africa that they have helped start. All of the churches they start also commit to put 30% of their budgets (once they're self-sufficient) towards new church planting as well.
These churches all start with a pastor meeting new people and starting a small group. As the small group grows they eventually start holding worship services at a rented facility. The focus is always on introducing people to Christ.
This is somewhat similar to how churches are begun in the U.S. within the PC(USA) except usually the Presbytery initiates the new church development. In Brazil (like many in the U.S.) the Presbytery is fairly ineffective. So this church in Gavea decided to get things going on their own - and things have just gone crazy. (Also, they don't have paid Presbytery folks, the Presbytery is totally made up of pastors in the area.)
We were able to go to the beach in Rio one afternoon - simply gorgeous - and went to many a Brazilian BBQ - which is basically a huge buffet w/ many side dishes and then waiters come around to the table with various cuts of meat to offer you (filet mignon, top sirloin, chicken, chicken hearts, lamb, etc..) and they cut it on to your plate, as much as you want. Needless to say, we ate a lot of meat while we were there! (I wasn't as excited about most of the side dishes.) Oh - also went on the first day and saw Christ the Redeemer - the big statue of Christ on top of the mountain overlooking the city. Simply amazing.) Rio is a gorgeous city.
Four days after we arrived in Rio we boarded a plane to Manaus (via Brasilia). Manaus is about 1200 miles northwest of Rio on the Amazon River (which is HUGE, by the way).
In Manaus we stayed at a hotel just a few blocks from the Igreja Presbuteriano de Manaus. This church has a 105-year history and, as the pastor says, for many years it was asleep. But it has woken up in the last 30-40 years. An American missionary named Frank Arnold came and partnered with the pastor around 20 or 30 years ago and together they reached out to various villages up and down the Amazon. Over the years the ministry has grown, more has been learned, and the church continues to grow. Their main focus are home cell groups. The current pastor, 16 years ago, took a trip to Korea and saw how the Korean church was exploding through the cell-group system. He brought it back to Brazil and tried to start it in his church. (Here it is SIXTEEN YEARS later, and they still have to keep the vision in front of the people and encourage them not to go back to the "old structure"). Amazing! We humans are so stubborn.
Basically, the cell group system is a small group which meets weekly. They are centered around four "E's" which they take 20 minutes for each "E." First is "Encounter" - ice breakers, getting to know each other, catching up, etc.. Next is "Exalt" - time spent singing and praying, praising God together. Next is "Edification" - they have their bulletin from church which has a summary of the sermon on the front and discussion questions inside. They end with "Evangelism" - they talk about friends or neighbors who they are reaching out to and building relationships with and hope to one day invite to the group. The names of these people are put on a list and everyone prays for them. So much of this is similar to U.S. small groups - EXCEPT that vital last item - Evangelism. These folks are very intentional about meeting people - neighbors, people they work with, people they see regularly, and building relationships with them in order to introduce them to Jesus. They also may use that end time to plan some sort of outreach event - maybe a BBQ to invite friends to, plan outreach at Carnaval, etc..
This church has grown to 3000 people in Manaus (many of which have become new churches - they all couldn't stay at the Manaus mother church), and 6000 more up and down the Amazon.
The other huge thing they do is equip people to become leaders. As folks come to small groups they share the leadership. When the group grows close to 20 people they divide and new leaders go with the new group. People are also trained to be coordinators who touch base monthly with a number of the group leaders, and district coordinators who keep in touch with the coordinators. Monthly meetings are held for the various leaders where they are equipped as well as encouraged, stories of God's work are told, etc. (We attended one of these.) As folks continue to be equipped as leaders some end up being called into full-time ministry, and the church is in the process of creating a seminary. Those who attend seminary continue leading their groups - and many already have a church that they created out of 4-5 cell groups who had multiplied. They are very good at making sure people aren't left out on their own in leadership. Yearly they pay for all the leaders EVERYWHERE to come to Manaus for a week of training and touching base. They've definitely got things down to an art, which is awesome.
The priority is relationships. Eighty percent of the church members are involved in cell groups (so yes, they still have that smaller group of folks who don't get it and bitch about it!). I guess that's inevitable no matter where in the world you live! Go figure!
Anyway - we had an opportunity to go on a short boat trip on the Amazon. Actually it was on the Rio Negro (Black River) and the Solomon River (aka Amazon). These two rivers come together at Manaus and it's interesting because the Rio Negro is black in color and very warm due to a number of things in the water. The Solomon River is more hot chocolate colored. When the two rivers come together they don't mix -- until about 100 km down the river! You can put your hand in the water in one side and feel warm in the blackness and then coolness in the light brown. There's a definitive line between the two. (I hope to add pictures soon). We visited folks who live on houseboats on the edge of the river and even saw the floating one-room schoolhouse where the kids attend school. We fished (in an enclosure) for those HUGE Amazonian fish that are as big as a man - and they actually grabbed on to our lines and jumped out of the water. They're amazing! Just like on the River Monsters show! Ha!
Well, that's the highlights! I'm really pumped because I decided to do this trip for credit, so now I (and a couple of my cohorts) are doing an independent study on church planting! Woo hoo! So far I've read one book and have two more to go. I have to pace myself because I want to devour these books and ignore my other classes - probably not a good decision!
As I read more and more I get more and more excited about what God is calling me to.... I also have become even MORE aware of the need for a strong team of prayer warriors to begin even now praying for guidance, wisdom, and discernment as to what God would have me do when I graduate and where He would have me go.
So if you are interested in making a serious commitment for the next 15-18 months to be a prayer warrior for me, please let me know. I am very serious about getting a committed group of people together to pray for God to prepare the people I will minister to, prepare Kim and I for what is ahead, and for Him to directly lead us to where He wants us to minister.
I hope you realize how much I love you and how much I truly depend on you to carry me through this! I seriously could not have made it this far without all of the love and support from you all and others who have prayed for us, encouraged us, listened to us gripe and cry and laugh and scoff... Thank you.
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 1:3-8
May God bless you as you have blessed me!
Sally
(Go to the top of this page and click on "Brazil Trip" to see some pictures - I still need to download a bunch, but there are a few there!)
There's so much to tell about this trip that it's hard to know where to start! First of all, thank you so much for your love, for your support - financial and otherwise - and your continued encouragement on this seminary journey! It just seems to be getting better and better, and God keeps honing in more and more on where and how He'd like me to minister. It's exciting.
Our group of seven hooked up with our leader, Jose' Pezini of the PC(USA) Outreach Foundation, when we arrived in Rio De Janeiro. "Pezini" as he is called, is from Brazil and travels a lot all over the world helping to train leaders on church planting and connect churches, people, and resources with each other - so of course, I loved him immediately!
We stayed at a church, which happens to be a house (lived in by a church-planting pastor and his family) which is also used as their church. This pastor and one of his parishioners drove us all over Rio the four days we were there, visiting various churches and church-planting pastors - listening to their stories and hearing how they are working together to start churches there and reach out to the upper class people in Rio. This church was an IPI church (Igreja Presbiteriana Independente).
The first church we visited was the IPB (Igreja Presbiteriana de Brasil - i.e., Presby Church of Brazil) of Gavea - (this denomination is similar to maybe the Presby Church of America or the Evang. Presby Church - evangelical and conservative-no women pastors). It is a fairly affluent church in a suburb of Brazil and their main mission focus is helping to start new churches. They currently have 2 new churches in Rio and 9 just outside of Rio, 2 in Spain and 1 in Africa that they have helped start. All of the churches they start also commit to put 30% of their budgets (once they're self-sufficient) towards new church planting as well.
These churches all start with a pastor meeting new people and starting a small group. As the small group grows they eventually start holding worship services at a rented facility. The focus is always on introducing people to Christ.
This is somewhat similar to how churches are begun in the U.S. within the PC(USA) except usually the Presbytery initiates the new church development. In Brazil (like many in the U.S.) the Presbytery is fairly ineffective. So this church in Gavea decided to get things going on their own - and things have just gone crazy. (Also, they don't have paid Presbytery folks, the Presbytery is totally made up of pastors in the area.)
We were able to go to the beach in Rio one afternoon - simply gorgeous - and went to many a Brazilian BBQ - which is basically a huge buffet w/ many side dishes and then waiters come around to the table with various cuts of meat to offer you (filet mignon, top sirloin, chicken, chicken hearts, lamb, etc..) and they cut it on to your plate, as much as you want. Needless to say, we ate a lot of meat while we were there! (I wasn't as excited about most of the side dishes.) Oh - also went on the first day and saw Christ the Redeemer - the big statue of Christ on top of the mountain overlooking the city. Simply amazing.) Rio is a gorgeous city.
Four days after we arrived in Rio we boarded a plane to Manaus (via Brasilia). Manaus is about 1200 miles northwest of Rio on the Amazon River (which is HUGE, by the way).
In Manaus we stayed at a hotel just a few blocks from the Igreja Presbuteriano de Manaus. This church has a 105-year history and, as the pastor says, for many years it was asleep. But it has woken up in the last 30-40 years. An American missionary named Frank Arnold came and partnered with the pastor around 20 or 30 years ago and together they reached out to various villages up and down the Amazon. Over the years the ministry has grown, more has been learned, and the church continues to grow. Their main focus are home cell groups. The current pastor, 16 years ago, took a trip to Korea and saw how the Korean church was exploding through the cell-group system. He brought it back to Brazil and tried to start it in his church. (Here it is SIXTEEN YEARS later, and they still have to keep the vision in front of the people and encourage them not to go back to the "old structure"). Amazing! We humans are so stubborn.
Basically, the cell group system is a small group which meets weekly. They are centered around four "E's" which they take 20 minutes for each "E." First is "Encounter" - ice breakers, getting to know each other, catching up, etc.. Next is "Exalt" - time spent singing and praying, praising God together. Next is "Edification" - they have their bulletin from church which has a summary of the sermon on the front and discussion questions inside. They end with "Evangelism" - they talk about friends or neighbors who they are reaching out to and building relationships with and hope to one day invite to the group. The names of these people are put on a list and everyone prays for them. So much of this is similar to U.S. small groups - EXCEPT that vital last item - Evangelism. These folks are very intentional about meeting people - neighbors, people they work with, people they see regularly, and building relationships with them in order to introduce them to Jesus. They also may use that end time to plan some sort of outreach event - maybe a BBQ to invite friends to, plan outreach at Carnaval, etc..
This church has grown to 3000 people in Manaus (many of which have become new churches - they all couldn't stay at the Manaus mother church), and 6000 more up and down the Amazon.
The other huge thing they do is equip people to become leaders. As folks come to small groups they share the leadership. When the group grows close to 20 people they divide and new leaders go with the new group. People are also trained to be coordinators who touch base monthly with a number of the group leaders, and district coordinators who keep in touch with the coordinators. Monthly meetings are held for the various leaders where they are equipped as well as encouraged, stories of God's work are told, etc. (We attended one of these.) As folks continue to be equipped as leaders some end up being called into full-time ministry, and the church is in the process of creating a seminary. Those who attend seminary continue leading their groups - and many already have a church that they created out of 4-5 cell groups who had multiplied. They are very good at making sure people aren't left out on their own in leadership. Yearly they pay for all the leaders EVERYWHERE to come to Manaus for a week of training and touching base. They've definitely got things down to an art, which is awesome.
The priority is relationships. Eighty percent of the church members are involved in cell groups (so yes, they still have that smaller group of folks who don't get it and bitch about it!). I guess that's inevitable no matter where in the world you live! Go figure!
Anyway - we had an opportunity to go on a short boat trip on the Amazon. Actually it was on the Rio Negro (Black River) and the Solomon River (aka Amazon). These two rivers come together at Manaus and it's interesting because the Rio Negro is black in color and very warm due to a number of things in the water. The Solomon River is more hot chocolate colored. When the two rivers come together they don't mix -- until about 100 km down the river! You can put your hand in the water in one side and feel warm in the blackness and then coolness in the light brown. There's a definitive line between the two. (I hope to add pictures soon). We visited folks who live on houseboats on the edge of the river and even saw the floating one-room schoolhouse where the kids attend school. We fished (in an enclosure) for those HUGE Amazonian fish that are as big as a man - and they actually grabbed on to our lines and jumped out of the water. They're amazing! Just like on the River Monsters show! Ha!
Well, that's the highlights! I'm really pumped because I decided to do this trip for credit, so now I (and a couple of my cohorts) are doing an independent study on church planting! Woo hoo! So far I've read one book and have two more to go. I have to pace myself because I want to devour these books and ignore my other classes - probably not a good decision!
As I read more and more I get more and more excited about what God is calling me to.... I also have become even MORE aware of the need for a strong team of prayer warriors to begin even now praying for guidance, wisdom, and discernment as to what God would have me do when I graduate and where He would have me go.
So if you are interested in making a serious commitment for the next 15-18 months to be a prayer warrior for me, please let me know. I am very serious about getting a committed group of people together to pray for God to prepare the people I will minister to, prepare Kim and I for what is ahead, and for Him to directly lead us to where He wants us to minister.
I hope you realize how much I love you and how much I truly depend on you to carry me through this! I seriously could not have made it this far without all of the love and support from you all and others who have prayed for us, encouraged us, listened to us gripe and cry and laugh and scoff... Thank you.
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 1:3-8
May God bless you as you have blessed me!
Sally
(Go to the top of this page and click on "Brazil Trip" to see some pictures - I still need to download a bunch, but there are a few there!)
Friday, January 21, 2011
January, 2011 Update
Dear Friends & Family, Jan. 21, 2011
I hope this finds you well and celebrating a new year where God can continue to show us all how truly awesome he is!
My seminary journey continues! Currently I am taking Pastoral Care, Christology (the study of Christ, his incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension and their meaning for us), Systems Theory (pastoral counseling help), and Theology of Worship. I love them all! I am finally done with all my languages (praise God!), and had Ethics and Homiletics (preaching) last fall. I am officially halfway done!!!
This year has been a real challenge for us since I didn’t qualify for any financial aid and so we have had to get some big loans for both school and living (which I keep telling God, was not in our plans). Kim’s hours at Apple have finally increased to almost full-time so that has helped, and I work ten hours a week between my two field ed. churches - which does pay a small stipend.
God is teaching us about his provision in ways we never would have imagined! Amazingly, he always comes through - whether it’s something that we worked at or something that is purely grace - like the large check we received last fall from an anonymous angel in Grand Junction. It is very humbling, and yet builds our faith like none other. GOD IS AT WORK IN OUR MIDST! I hope you see it as much as we have - and if you haven’t, I pray this encourages you! He is here, always, and at work in our lives. A lesson, I believe, we constantly need to be reminded of...
I wasn’t planning on going on a mission trip this year because of our very tight finances, but then a trip came up that I felt I couldn’t pass up. The seminary is taking a group of students to Brazil to learn about and encourage those planting churches there. Since I am very interested in church planting and new church development I felt God really calling me to go on this trip. He seems to keep directing me to people and situations that teach me even more about church planting, so I try to keep following his lead!
The total cost of the trip is $2500. World Mission Initiative, the school organization which organizes the trip, has given me $500, and a wonderful couple, the Shortridge’s, have given me (and many others - as they do each year) a scholarship of $1000. So I’m more than halfway there!
God has been working in me and many students here at PTS. There are quite a few of us feeling called to new church development, and the seminary is even talking about starting an “NCD track” next year since there are so many interested students - which is very exciting! The Pittsburgh Presbytery is also very proactive with NCD, and there are around half a dozen new church plants in Pittsburgh alone. God’s showing me more and more why PTS was the right place to come!
Having come from such a vibrant church in Grand Junction, it’s been almost shocking to see how many Presbyterian (and other mainline) churches are dying. There IS literally a church on every other corner here. Huge, 100-year-old monuments with tiny congregations barely able to keep the building going let alone do any kind of ministry. Many of these churches simply end up fading away, but some - like my urban field ed. church - are slowly coming back to life as they reach out into the community showing the love of Christ in tangible ways. (There is a part of me that is drawn to church redevelopment as well - helping some of these dying churches come back to life!)
I am writing to see if you can help in supporting me become better equipped for what God is calling me to. So many of you pray for me, and I (we) can’t thank you enough, as your prayers have truly carried us through this sometimes difficult journey.
If you are willing and able, I would be so grateful if you could help financially support this trip to Brazil (which I take from Feb. 25th to March 8th). Whether or not you can help financially, I would love to have your prayer support as I see what God has to show me in Brazil and beyond!
Thank you, again, for your love and prayers throughout this seminary journey. I know for certain that it has been only through God’s strength that we have made it thus far!
May God bless you and open your eyes and your heart to the great love he has for you, and the wondrous mystery of his work in all of our lives!
Serving Together (though miles apart)!
~Sally
P.S. If you can help support this adventure financially you can make checks out to either me or Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and I will take the money to the school. (When made out to the seminary, you will receive a receipt for tax deduction purposes.) Leave a comment or email me for our mailing address so I don't have to put it out here in cyberspace!
P.P.S. If you would, two more prayer requests. First, pray for our sweet Sarah, her husband Rob, and their Rilo. They are separated and our family is simply grieving. Certainly we pray for reconciliation, but more than that we pray that through this Rob will come to know the Lord and Sarah will draw even nearer to Jesus.
Second, please just keep our future in your prayers. I trust that God will have the perfect church, in the perfect place, at the perfect time prepared for us. My prayer is that even now he is preparing that place, and he will guide and direct us when that time comes. (I am guessing that I won’t start with doing a church plant right out of seminary, but who knows! We hope to be wherever Rilo is so we can be a bigger part of his life.)
I hope this finds you well and celebrating a new year where God can continue to show us all how truly awesome he is!
My seminary journey continues! Currently I am taking Pastoral Care, Christology (the study of Christ, his incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension and their meaning for us), Systems Theory (pastoral counseling help), and Theology of Worship. I love them all! I am finally done with all my languages (praise God!), and had Ethics and Homiletics (preaching) last fall. I am officially halfway done!!!
This year has been a real challenge for us since I didn’t qualify for any financial aid and so we have had to get some big loans for both school and living (which I keep telling God, was not in our plans). Kim’s hours at Apple have finally increased to almost full-time so that has helped, and I work ten hours a week between my two field ed. churches - which does pay a small stipend.
God is teaching us about his provision in ways we never would have imagined! Amazingly, he always comes through - whether it’s something that we worked at or something that is purely grace - like the large check we received last fall from an anonymous angel in Grand Junction. It is very humbling, and yet builds our faith like none other. GOD IS AT WORK IN OUR MIDST! I hope you see it as much as we have - and if you haven’t, I pray this encourages you! He is here, always, and at work in our lives. A lesson, I believe, we constantly need to be reminded of...
I wasn’t planning on going on a mission trip this year because of our very tight finances, but then a trip came up that I felt I couldn’t pass up. The seminary is taking a group of students to Brazil to learn about and encourage those planting churches there. Since I am very interested in church planting and new church development I felt God really calling me to go on this trip. He seems to keep directing me to people and situations that teach me even more about church planting, so I try to keep following his lead!
The total cost of the trip is $2500. World Mission Initiative, the school organization which organizes the trip, has given me $500, and a wonderful couple, the Shortridge’s, have given me (and many others - as they do each year) a scholarship of $1000. So I’m more than halfway there!
God has been working in me and many students here at PTS. There are quite a few of us feeling called to new church development, and the seminary is even talking about starting an “NCD track” next year since there are so many interested students - which is very exciting! The Pittsburgh Presbytery is also very proactive with NCD, and there are around half a dozen new church plants in Pittsburgh alone. God’s showing me more and more why PTS was the right place to come!
Having come from such a vibrant church in Grand Junction, it’s been almost shocking to see how many Presbyterian (and other mainline) churches are dying. There IS literally a church on every other corner here. Huge, 100-year-old monuments with tiny congregations barely able to keep the building going let alone do any kind of ministry. Many of these churches simply end up fading away, but some - like my urban field ed. church - are slowly coming back to life as they reach out into the community showing the love of Christ in tangible ways. (There is a part of me that is drawn to church redevelopment as well - helping some of these dying churches come back to life!)
I am writing to see if you can help in supporting me become better equipped for what God is calling me to. So many of you pray for me, and I (we) can’t thank you enough, as your prayers have truly carried us through this sometimes difficult journey.
If you are willing and able, I would be so grateful if you could help financially support this trip to Brazil (which I take from Feb. 25th to March 8th). Whether or not you can help financially, I would love to have your prayer support as I see what God has to show me in Brazil and beyond!
Thank you, again, for your love and prayers throughout this seminary journey. I know for certain that it has been only through God’s strength that we have made it thus far!
May God bless you and open your eyes and your heart to the great love he has for you, and the wondrous mystery of his work in all of our lives!
Serving Together (though miles apart)!
~Sally
P.S. If you can help support this adventure financially you can make checks out to either me or Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and I will take the money to the school. (When made out to the seminary, you will receive a receipt for tax deduction purposes.) Leave a comment or email me for our mailing address so I don't have to put it out here in cyberspace!
P.P.S. If you would, two more prayer requests. First, pray for our sweet Sarah, her husband Rob, and their Rilo. They are separated and our family is simply grieving. Certainly we pray for reconciliation, but more than that we pray that through this Rob will come to know the Lord and Sarah will draw even nearer to Jesus.
Second, please just keep our future in your prayers. I trust that God will have the perfect church, in the perfect place, at the perfect time prepared for us. My prayer is that even now he is preparing that place, and he will guide and direct us when that time comes. (I am guessing that I won’t start with doing a church plant right out of seminary, but who knows! We hope to be wherever Rilo is so we can be a bigger part of his life.)
Friday, September 3, 2010
Starting Year Two of Seminary!
The last few weeks have been a blurr! I finished the first two terms of Greek last Friday and I'm getting ready for Term 1 of the 2010-2011 school year to start next week. I'll be taking Greek Exegesis, Homiletics, Ethics, something like Theology in the Parish Context, and Reflections on Ministry (a small group time to talk about our Field Ed. experiences). I'm also working at my two Field Ed. churches - Mt Pleasant Presby, a small suburban church that I'm at three Sundays per month and 2nd United Presby which I work at during the week doing a Kid's Club on Thursday evenings, a worship time before the Food Pantry distribution, and one Sunday per month.
My sister Lee flew in Tuesday evening and we've been having a great time hanging out and spending time with seminary friends.
Wednesday evening we had a few friends over and ended up having an awesome conversation over some beers sitting out on the patio. We were sharing what were the highlights and lowlights of our first year at seminary. It was a very touching time as many of us shared the struggles we had and the sweet friendships that evolved from sharing our pain and doing life together. The repeated theme among everyone was how God brought people into our lives who encouraged us, challenged us, prayed for us, and even suffered with us. It was such a testimony of God's goodness and faithfulness.
I still tear up when I think of how God has worked in my life and Kim's life this last year. The ways that He allowed us to struggle and wallow in our own self-pity, then the clear messages that He brought to us through: a sermon by Craig Barnes at Shadyside Presby on Palm Sunday, the book Encountering God by Andrew Purves, the book When God Interrupts by Craig Barnes, and through classes taught by Rob Gagnon and Andrew Purves, along with many conversations with friends and family.
He has brought Kim and I to a place in our relationship that we never would have gone to without having gone through the struggle we did this last year. We share our own stuff with each other more than we ever did before. We now pray together and read God's word daily together...things that we talked about doing, but never did before. God has become so much more present in our daily lives, and I wouldn't change that for anything. It's very odd. Odd because so many times in our lives we really don't even know what we're missing - in our own lives, in relationships - until something happens that takes us to that different place, and then we think, "My God, how have I missed this my entire life? How did I not know that things could be this way?" Crazy. Faith is crazy. Life is crazy. But I thank God that I'm not doing it alone. I know He is with me, and He has surrounded me with so many people who help me and encourage me, who pray for me, and call me on the carpet on things. I am so thankful and humbled by His love for me, and all of His people.
I am also thankful for how God brought Jon and Kristen in our lives and now into our home, living together in community. We're just at the beginning of this journey, but we already see that God is growing us all through our interactions and conversations. I pray that as we continue this small, intentional community God will open our eyes and move our hearts to say and do things that we might not have done before. I pray He will take us to places that grow each of us and draw us all closer to Him, both individually and as a family in one household. Please join us in that prayer!
I have struggled with my eyesight the last year. I only started wearing glasses - for distance - a year and a half ago. Then in December I had to get bi-focals. But in the last six months my eyesight has really deteriorated. My periphery vision is horrible, I have blind spots both to the right and the left, and my night vision has gotten so bad that I can no longer drive at night! That's not right for someone 47 years old! My eye doc couldn't find anything wrong with my eyes, so next Wednesday I'm going to a neurological ophthalmologist. I'm a little concerned. I'm praying that it's nothing serious and that whatever is wrong can be fixed, but please pray with me that all is ok and it CAN be fixed.
I'm helping with the new student orientation this week, and tonight I'll be at the Activities Fair staffing a table for small groups. It is our prayer that both current and new students will take an active part in growing in their faith by being a part of a small group. We want people to leave seminary not just with a good academic foundation, but also with a strong personal faith. We want to create new pastors who have been real and transparent with fellow believers, open to accountability, and ready to be authentic Christ-followers with their congregations. Please keep this goal in your prayers as well. We're starting on this journey, and I hope by the time I leave here there will be more things in place to help seminarians and their spouses grow in their own faith and be able to equip and lead their congregations with strength and integrity.
Well, I'm gonna go play with Lee while she's here! Thanks be to God for all He has done!
Blessings!
~Sally
My sister Lee flew in Tuesday evening and we've been having a great time hanging out and spending time with seminary friends.
Wednesday evening we had a few friends over and ended up having an awesome conversation over some beers sitting out on the patio. We were sharing what were the highlights and lowlights of our first year at seminary. It was a very touching time as many of us shared the struggles we had and the sweet friendships that evolved from sharing our pain and doing life together. The repeated theme among everyone was how God brought people into our lives who encouraged us, challenged us, prayed for us, and even suffered with us. It was such a testimony of God's goodness and faithfulness.
I still tear up when I think of how God has worked in my life and Kim's life this last year. The ways that He allowed us to struggle and wallow in our own self-pity, then the clear messages that He brought to us through: a sermon by Craig Barnes at Shadyside Presby on Palm Sunday, the book Encountering God by Andrew Purves, the book When God Interrupts by Craig Barnes, and through classes taught by Rob Gagnon and Andrew Purves, along with many conversations with friends and family.
He has brought Kim and I to a place in our relationship that we never would have gone to without having gone through the struggle we did this last year. We share our own stuff with each other more than we ever did before. We now pray together and read God's word daily together...things that we talked about doing, but never did before. God has become so much more present in our daily lives, and I wouldn't change that for anything. It's very odd. Odd because so many times in our lives we really don't even know what we're missing - in our own lives, in relationships - until something happens that takes us to that different place, and then we think, "My God, how have I missed this my entire life? How did I not know that things could be this way?" Crazy. Faith is crazy. Life is crazy. But I thank God that I'm not doing it alone. I know He is with me, and He has surrounded me with so many people who help me and encourage me, who pray for me, and call me on the carpet on things. I am so thankful and humbled by His love for me, and all of His people.
I am also thankful for how God brought Jon and Kristen in our lives and now into our home, living together in community. We're just at the beginning of this journey, but we already see that God is growing us all through our interactions and conversations. I pray that as we continue this small, intentional community God will open our eyes and move our hearts to say and do things that we might not have done before. I pray He will take us to places that grow each of us and draw us all closer to Him, both individually and as a family in one household. Please join us in that prayer!
I have struggled with my eyesight the last year. I only started wearing glasses - for distance - a year and a half ago. Then in December I had to get bi-focals. But in the last six months my eyesight has really deteriorated. My periphery vision is horrible, I have blind spots both to the right and the left, and my night vision has gotten so bad that I can no longer drive at night! That's not right for someone 47 years old! My eye doc couldn't find anything wrong with my eyes, so next Wednesday I'm going to a neurological ophthalmologist. I'm a little concerned. I'm praying that it's nothing serious and that whatever is wrong can be fixed, but please pray with me that all is ok and it CAN be fixed.
I'm helping with the new student orientation this week, and tonight I'll be at the Activities Fair staffing a table for small groups. It is our prayer that both current and new students will take an active part in growing in their faith by being a part of a small group. We want people to leave seminary not just with a good academic foundation, but also with a strong personal faith. We want to create new pastors who have been real and transparent with fellow believers, open to accountability, and ready to be authentic Christ-followers with their congregations. Please keep this goal in your prayers as well. We're starting on this journey, and I hope by the time I leave here there will be more things in place to help seminarians and their spouses grow in their own faith and be able to equip and lead their congregations with strength and integrity.
Well, I'm gonna go play with Lee while she's here! Thanks be to God for all He has done!
Blessings!
~Sally
Monday, August 9, 2010
Sunday's Sermon - August 8, 2010
I thought I'd share the sermon I gave at Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Church last Sunday... Then I'll share how ironic it is...
A Prayer For Favor (Read Neh. 1:1-11)
The story today in Nehemiah has us hearing Nehemiah’s prayer to God. The Israelites are in exile. Most of them had not been faithful to God in their living and worshipping and so God had not kept them from harm (which seems to be an on-going theme in the Old Testament).
Nehemiah sees a fellow believer who has just come from Judah and he asks him about the remnant, those few people who had stayed faithful to God’s commands, and is told that they’re in pretty bad shape. It disturbs Nehemiah a lot. The state of his people, where he came from, his family is not good, and it lays heavy on his heart. So Nehemiah goes to God in prayer.
As he prays Nehemiah reminds God, and himself, of what he knows about God - that He is great and awesome, that He keeps His covenant, His promises of love with those who love Him and obey His commandments...And then he asks God to listen to his prayer.
This is a great way to start your own prayers. I remember being at a youth retreat a number of years ago. The teenagers had been presented with the Gospel and were spending some time outside alone with God, so the leadership stayed inside to pray...and we started praying by acknowledging naming the many names and what we knew of the character of God. YHWH, I am, Redeemer, God who forgives, unconditional lover, God of grace (getting what we don’t deserve), Holy One, and God of mercy (not getting what we do deserve), and so on. It was an awesome time of really recognizing and acknowledging who God is.
Back in our story, Nehemiah then confesses the sins not only of the people of Israel, but of himself and his own family as well. He acknowledges they have all fallen well short of God’s desires and commands.
He restates God’s promise to Moses - that God will scatter those people who were unfaithful, but will gather up those who return to Him and obey Him. And then again, Nehemiah asks God to hear his prayer.
Then he asks for something specifically. In his prayer, Nehemiah asks for success today and God’s favor in the king’s presence. In The Message translation he says, “make me successful today so that I get what I want from the king (vs.11b).”
Now at first glance one might look at that and think, gee Nehemiah, you’re being awfully bold and prideful! Asking that he gets what he wants from the king, asking for favor! We need to take note here though, that he’s not asking for a favor, but asking for favor. What’s the difference here?
To ask for “a favor” is to ask someone for something specific, to ask someone to do something for you. But that’s not what Nehemiah is asking for here. He’s asking for “favor.” He’s asking for the king to agree with him, to be in support of him, to find praise in him. So what does Nehemiah have in mind? Well to find that out we have to go on to chapter two.
We have to also take note before we move on that Nehemiah mentions at the end of chapter one that he is the cup-bearer to the king. Just like in the book of Esther, a servant of the king can’t just approach the king and ask for something...to do so could bring death. A servant of the king has to wait for the king to speak to them first, and sometimes even wait for the king to ask them something before they are actually allowed to speak directly to the him.
So chapter two begins by telling us that it’s been four months since Nehemiah first prayed for favor from God, and he is doing his job serving the king. I’m going to read verses 1-6 of chapter 2 from The Message translation:
“At the hour for serving wine I brought it in and gave it to the king. I had never been hangdog in his presence before (which is an interesting word used to mean long-faced or sad-looking), so he asked me, ‘Why the long face? You’re not sick are you? Or are you depressed?’
That made me all the more agitated. I said, ‘Long live the king! And why shouldn’t I be depressed when the city, the city where all my family is buried, is in ruins and the city gates have been reduced to cinders?’
The king then asked me, ‘So what do you want?’
Praying under my breath to the God-of-Heaven, I said, ‘If it please the king, and if the king thinks well of me, send me to Judah, to the city where my family is buried, so that I can rebuild it.’
The king, with the queen sitting alongside him, said, ‘How long will your work take and when would you expect to return?’
I gave him a time, and the king gave his approval to send me.”
So Nehemiah had to wait four months until he finally had the opportunity to even talk to the king, but when the time came he found favor and was first, allowed to speak freely, and second, granted his request to go and help his people in Judah. (If you read the rest of the book you find that Nehemiah was a great leader and rebuilt the entire wall around the city.) Because of the favor God had granted Nehemiah, he was able to do great things for God and God’s people.
Can you think of others who were given God’s favor? As mentioned earlier, Esther is a great example. She was a young Jewish woman who was put in the king’s “harem” in the palace of King Xerxes because of her beauty. Because of her position and, again, finding favor with her king, she ended up being the pivotal person to intervene for her people and save them from being destroyed.
How about today? Are there examples of people who have been granted God’s favor today? I think Jimmy Carter is a great example. Although some would say that as president he wasn’t highly effective, many would say that his greatest work, helping to bring peace to numerous areas of the world, has been done since his presidency. But it was was due to the the influence he gained and relationships he made as president that helped make him so effective in his work after his presidency.
Finally, some of you may be familiar with Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California, a huge mega-church that Pastor Warren started from very humble beginnings. He wrote The Purpose-Driven Life, a great book. Warren, by both equipping lay people to grow and act on their faith, as well as by staying faithful to God in his own life, has not only grown a big church, but has become very influential, not only in Christian circles but in governing and political circles as well - both in the U.S. and around the world.
Rick Warren is known for many things, but the two things that stick out to me are his reverse tithing, and what he says about influence.
When Warren and his wife Kay started Saddleback Church they tithed ten percent of their income. Each year they increased their giving by one percent. They didn’t change their lifestyle as his income increased, they gave more. So now they give away ninety percent of their income, and live on ten. That speaks very loudly to me about how seriously Warren takes his faith.
When it comes to influence, Rick Warren recounts his thoughts and conversation with God,
“What do you want me to do with the influence?"--which was a trickier thing. All of a sudden I start to get invitations. I spoke at Harvard and Cambridge and Oxford... All of a sudden I’m going up on Capitol Hill and talking to guys. Producers in Hollywood are asking me to come up and discuss the book with eight or nine major studio producers.
This wasn’t my plan. My plan was just to pastor Saddleback and train pastors. So I’m going, "God, what am I supposed to do with all of this new influence that you are giving me?" I’m reading through the scriptures trying to find an answer, and I find Psalm 72, which is Solomon’s prayer for more influence.
When you read this prayer it really sounds quite selfish. Solomon is the wisest and wealthiest and most powerful man in the world, because he is the head of the United Kingdom of Israel when it is at the apex of its power. He prays, "God, I want you to make me more influential. I want you to bless me and give me more power. I want you to make me famous. I want you to spread the fame of my name to many nations."
It sounds selfish until you understand he says, "So that the king may support the widow and orphan, care for the poor, defend the defenseless, lift up the fallen, release the captive, help the foreigner, the immigrant."
God said to me, "The purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence." That changed my life. I had to repent.”
Over time Warren learned more about the poor, the widows and the orphans, especially in Africa in the midst of the AIDS epidemic. As God continued to open his eyes and break his heart Warren became more and more convicted that he needed to take action. Out of all that came a mixture of what he was already doing - building church leaders and active Christians, along with addressing the issues of AIDS victims in Africa. The P.E.A.C.E. program was created. It stands for:
P - Plan a church, or partner with a church if there is one (it always begins
w/ the church - in, through, and to a church)
E - Equip servant leaders
A - Assist the poor
C - Care for the sick
E - Educate the next generation
Hundreds of churches across the country have adopted this model to help build the Church in Africa so that will be the vehicle to minister to these people and help combat the AIDS epidemic and the trail of brokenness that it leaves. And an extra bonus is that it also builds up the American Church because people feel more connected to their faith. That in partnering with God and His people across the world, they are actually making a difference.
There are two things that I hope you will take from this message today. The first is that, like Nehemiah, God brings things into our lives that break our hearts, that get under our skin, that bother us and won’t let us go - (like the suffering of the people of Israel did to Nehemiah). And He doesn’t want us to inoculate ourselves to the pain it causes us, but to expose ourselves even more to it. He wants us to see the pain of the world as He does.
I know that probably really dates me, but how many of you remember the old Popeye cartoons? Remember when Bluto, the big brute, would get a hold of Olive Oil, Popeye’s girlfriend? Bluto would mess with Popeye to the point where he would say, “That’s all I can stands.....(say it with me!) I can’t stands no more!” Well, that’s the place that God wants to take us to. He wants us to feel it deep enough that we have that “Popeye moment” and we cry out, “that’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!”
Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Church calls that phenomenon a “holy discontent.” It’s that feeling we have when we finally get to the point of saying or thinking, someone should DO something - and God takes us to those places because that someone is you!
So become more aware of that thing or things that give you a holy discontent. It may be something to do with the homeless, it may be adult literacy, maybe it’s the lack of help for families with special needs children. For someone else it may be the AIDS epidemic or the rights of women in third world countries, or even mentoring local teenagers. God has a plan and a purpose for each one of us. Tune in and pay attention! God may have been trying to get your attention for a while! And you never know, someone else may have been praying to God about the very issue or problem on your heart - and YOU are to be the answer to that person’s prayer.
The second thing I’d like you to take away from this is to take note of where God has placed you. It may just be that He has already put you in a position of influence to do something. Or it may be that, like the Nehemiah story He has just started to put something on your heart and you need to take some time praying about it before He will put you or bring you together with someone who can bring some power, finances, or influence to the situation.
I want to share with you a story about a man, Mike Berry, from my church back in Colorado. You see, in our new member classes, we showed a video that Bill Hybels made talking about holy discontent and those Popeye moments to encourage our people to be listening for God and what He has planned for them to do in ministry - whether it’s within or outside the walls of the church.
Well, a few years earlier Mike had been walking his daughter to school one morning when a young girl ran in to the school unkempt and crying. He asked her what the matter was and she told him that she had slept in the car with her mom and hadn’t eaten since lunch the day before. The vision of that young hungry girl stayed with Mike over the years and really bothered him, but he felt helpless and didn’t really think that he could do anything.
After watching the video in the new members class, Mike finally felt convicted enough to take action, to do something, and he realized that, having his own financial planning business for over twenty years, he was actually in a position where he had surplus time and money to devote to this.
So Mike and his family started Kid’s Aid. They began at his daughter’s elementary school and invited families to take part in a backpack program. Mike’s family, along with some church volunteers, would get food at the local Food Bank along with supplements they bought at Sam’s Club, and fill around 20 backpacks with ready-made or easy to prepare food for kids to take home every Friday. The kids would return the backpacks the following week where they’d refill them and do it all over again throughout the school year.
I just received the newsletter from our church on Friday with an update. Kid’s Aid is currently serving 1, 260 students in 17 schools. They have come to realize that to meet the need of the entire district they will need to prepare 2,000 backpacks every week, and that is their goal. The program now has other churches involved, and has become its own non-profit in order to take advantage of grants and other opportunities offered to non-profit organizations. And all this because Mike decided to listen to that holy discontent and follow God’s lead in doing something about it. I’m not saying that every movement God makes ends up in some huge project like this, but we just never know where He will lead us if we allow ourselves to be led.
So what has God placed on your heart? Have you inoculated yourself to it? Pushed it aside and tried to not let it bother you? Maybe you need to expose yourself to it a bit more. Maybe you need to spend some serious time with God and see where He leads you. Maybe, like Nehemiah or Mike, He’s got something big in mind for you. Or maybe He’s put a need of someone close-by on your heart and wants you to make a difference for that one person or that family.
Whatever it is, LISTEN. Whatever is it, PRAY. And then wait and watch for God’s favor. Let’s pray.
Now the irony of this sermon is that someone at our home church in Grand Junction apparently had a stirring in their own heart. Apparently it was so strong that they acted on it. They took a BIG check to the church and asked if the church would send us a check (so they could remain anonymous). We received it on Saturday (thinking it was our regular support from the church's Mission Team, sent to me by mistake instead of directly to the seminary). Our pastor told us it was from someone in the church who wished to remain anonymous. I wonder if they know they answered many a prayer! We plan on writing a note that the pastor can give to them to let them know! God is SO good...more than we can ask or imagine.
Blessings to you,
~Sally
A Prayer For Favor (Read Neh. 1:1-11)
The story today in Nehemiah has us hearing Nehemiah’s prayer to God. The Israelites are in exile. Most of them had not been faithful to God in their living and worshipping and so God had not kept them from harm (which seems to be an on-going theme in the Old Testament).
Nehemiah sees a fellow believer who has just come from Judah and he asks him about the remnant, those few people who had stayed faithful to God’s commands, and is told that they’re in pretty bad shape. It disturbs Nehemiah a lot. The state of his people, where he came from, his family is not good, and it lays heavy on his heart. So Nehemiah goes to God in prayer.
As he prays Nehemiah reminds God, and himself, of what he knows about God - that He is great and awesome, that He keeps His covenant, His promises of love with those who love Him and obey His commandments...And then he asks God to listen to his prayer.
This is a great way to start your own prayers. I remember being at a youth retreat a number of years ago. The teenagers had been presented with the Gospel and were spending some time outside alone with God, so the leadership stayed inside to pray...and we started praying by acknowledging naming the many names and what we knew of the character of God. YHWH, I am, Redeemer, God who forgives, unconditional lover, God of grace (getting what we don’t deserve), Holy One, and God of mercy (not getting what we do deserve), and so on. It was an awesome time of really recognizing and acknowledging who God is.
Back in our story, Nehemiah then confesses the sins not only of the people of Israel, but of himself and his own family as well. He acknowledges they have all fallen well short of God’s desires and commands.
He restates God’s promise to Moses - that God will scatter those people who were unfaithful, but will gather up those who return to Him and obey Him. And then again, Nehemiah asks God to hear his prayer.
Then he asks for something specifically. In his prayer, Nehemiah asks for success today and God’s favor in the king’s presence. In The Message translation he says, “make me successful today so that I get what I want from the king (vs.11b).”
Now at first glance one might look at that and think, gee Nehemiah, you’re being awfully bold and prideful! Asking that he gets what he wants from the king, asking for favor! We need to take note here though, that he’s not asking for a favor, but asking for favor. What’s the difference here?
To ask for “a favor” is to ask someone for something specific, to ask someone to do something for you. But that’s not what Nehemiah is asking for here. He’s asking for “favor.” He’s asking for the king to agree with him, to be in support of him, to find praise in him. So what does Nehemiah have in mind? Well to find that out we have to go on to chapter two.
We have to also take note before we move on that Nehemiah mentions at the end of chapter one that he is the cup-bearer to the king. Just like in the book of Esther, a servant of the king can’t just approach the king and ask for something...to do so could bring death. A servant of the king has to wait for the king to speak to them first, and sometimes even wait for the king to ask them something before they are actually allowed to speak directly to the him.
So chapter two begins by telling us that it’s been four months since Nehemiah first prayed for favor from God, and he is doing his job serving the king. I’m going to read verses 1-6 of chapter 2 from The Message translation:
“At the hour for serving wine I brought it in and gave it to the king. I had never been hangdog in his presence before (which is an interesting word used to mean long-faced or sad-looking), so he asked me, ‘Why the long face? You’re not sick are you? Or are you depressed?’
That made me all the more agitated. I said, ‘Long live the king! And why shouldn’t I be depressed when the city, the city where all my family is buried, is in ruins and the city gates have been reduced to cinders?’
The king then asked me, ‘So what do you want?’
Praying under my breath to the God-of-Heaven, I said, ‘If it please the king, and if the king thinks well of me, send me to Judah, to the city where my family is buried, so that I can rebuild it.’
The king, with the queen sitting alongside him, said, ‘How long will your work take and when would you expect to return?’
I gave him a time, and the king gave his approval to send me.”
So Nehemiah had to wait four months until he finally had the opportunity to even talk to the king, but when the time came he found favor and was first, allowed to speak freely, and second, granted his request to go and help his people in Judah. (If you read the rest of the book you find that Nehemiah was a great leader and rebuilt the entire wall around the city.) Because of the favor God had granted Nehemiah, he was able to do great things for God and God’s people.
Can you think of others who were given God’s favor? As mentioned earlier, Esther is a great example. She was a young Jewish woman who was put in the king’s “harem” in the palace of King Xerxes because of her beauty. Because of her position and, again, finding favor with her king, she ended up being the pivotal person to intervene for her people and save them from being destroyed.
How about today? Are there examples of people who have been granted God’s favor today? I think Jimmy Carter is a great example. Although some would say that as president he wasn’t highly effective, many would say that his greatest work, helping to bring peace to numerous areas of the world, has been done since his presidency. But it was was due to the the influence he gained and relationships he made as president that helped make him so effective in his work after his presidency.
Finally, some of you may be familiar with Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California, a huge mega-church that Pastor Warren started from very humble beginnings. He wrote The Purpose-Driven Life, a great book. Warren, by both equipping lay people to grow and act on their faith, as well as by staying faithful to God in his own life, has not only grown a big church, but has become very influential, not only in Christian circles but in governing and political circles as well - both in the U.S. and around the world.
Rick Warren is known for many things, but the two things that stick out to me are his reverse tithing, and what he says about influence.
When Warren and his wife Kay started Saddleback Church they tithed ten percent of their income. Each year they increased their giving by one percent. They didn’t change their lifestyle as his income increased, they gave more. So now they give away ninety percent of their income, and live on ten. That speaks very loudly to me about how seriously Warren takes his faith.
When it comes to influence, Rick Warren recounts his thoughts and conversation with God,
“What do you want me to do with the influence?"--which was a trickier thing. All of a sudden I start to get invitations. I spoke at Harvard and Cambridge and Oxford... All of a sudden I’m going up on Capitol Hill and talking to guys. Producers in Hollywood are asking me to come up and discuss the book with eight or nine major studio producers.
This wasn’t my plan. My plan was just to pastor Saddleback and train pastors. So I’m going, "God, what am I supposed to do with all of this new influence that you are giving me?" I’m reading through the scriptures trying to find an answer, and I find Psalm 72, which is Solomon’s prayer for more influence.
When you read this prayer it really sounds quite selfish. Solomon is the wisest and wealthiest and most powerful man in the world, because he is the head of the United Kingdom of Israel when it is at the apex of its power. He prays, "God, I want you to make me more influential. I want you to bless me and give me more power. I want you to make me famous. I want you to spread the fame of my name to many nations."
It sounds selfish until you understand he says, "So that the king may support the widow and orphan, care for the poor, defend the defenseless, lift up the fallen, release the captive, help the foreigner, the immigrant."
God said to me, "The purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence." That changed my life. I had to repent.”
Over time Warren learned more about the poor, the widows and the orphans, especially in Africa in the midst of the AIDS epidemic. As God continued to open his eyes and break his heart Warren became more and more convicted that he needed to take action. Out of all that came a mixture of what he was already doing - building church leaders and active Christians, along with addressing the issues of AIDS victims in Africa. The P.E.A.C.E. program was created. It stands for:
P - Plan a church, or partner with a church if there is one (it always begins
w/ the church - in, through, and to a church)
E - Equip servant leaders
A - Assist the poor
C - Care for the sick
E - Educate the next generation
Hundreds of churches across the country have adopted this model to help build the Church in Africa so that will be the vehicle to minister to these people and help combat the AIDS epidemic and the trail of brokenness that it leaves. And an extra bonus is that it also builds up the American Church because people feel more connected to their faith. That in partnering with God and His people across the world, they are actually making a difference.
There are two things that I hope you will take from this message today. The first is that, like Nehemiah, God brings things into our lives that break our hearts, that get under our skin, that bother us and won’t let us go - (like the suffering of the people of Israel did to Nehemiah). And He doesn’t want us to inoculate ourselves to the pain it causes us, but to expose ourselves even more to it. He wants us to see the pain of the world as He does.
I know that probably really dates me, but how many of you remember the old Popeye cartoons? Remember when Bluto, the big brute, would get a hold of Olive Oil, Popeye’s girlfriend? Bluto would mess with Popeye to the point where he would say, “That’s all I can stands.....(say it with me!) I can’t stands no more!” Well, that’s the place that God wants to take us to. He wants us to feel it deep enough that we have that “Popeye moment” and we cry out, “that’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more!”
Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Church calls that phenomenon a “holy discontent.” It’s that feeling we have when we finally get to the point of saying or thinking, someone should DO something - and God takes us to those places because that someone is you!
So become more aware of that thing or things that give you a holy discontent. It may be something to do with the homeless, it may be adult literacy, maybe it’s the lack of help for families with special needs children. For someone else it may be the AIDS epidemic or the rights of women in third world countries, or even mentoring local teenagers. God has a plan and a purpose for each one of us. Tune in and pay attention! God may have been trying to get your attention for a while! And you never know, someone else may have been praying to God about the very issue or problem on your heart - and YOU are to be the answer to that person’s prayer.
The second thing I’d like you to take away from this is to take note of where God has placed you. It may just be that He has already put you in a position of influence to do something. Or it may be that, like the Nehemiah story He has just started to put something on your heart and you need to take some time praying about it before He will put you or bring you together with someone who can bring some power, finances, or influence to the situation.
I want to share with you a story about a man, Mike Berry, from my church back in Colorado. You see, in our new member classes, we showed a video that Bill Hybels made talking about holy discontent and those Popeye moments to encourage our people to be listening for God and what He has planned for them to do in ministry - whether it’s within or outside the walls of the church.
Well, a few years earlier Mike had been walking his daughter to school one morning when a young girl ran in to the school unkempt and crying. He asked her what the matter was and she told him that she had slept in the car with her mom and hadn’t eaten since lunch the day before. The vision of that young hungry girl stayed with Mike over the years and really bothered him, but he felt helpless and didn’t really think that he could do anything.
After watching the video in the new members class, Mike finally felt convicted enough to take action, to do something, and he realized that, having his own financial planning business for over twenty years, he was actually in a position where he had surplus time and money to devote to this.
So Mike and his family started Kid’s Aid. They began at his daughter’s elementary school and invited families to take part in a backpack program. Mike’s family, along with some church volunteers, would get food at the local Food Bank along with supplements they bought at Sam’s Club, and fill around 20 backpacks with ready-made or easy to prepare food for kids to take home every Friday. The kids would return the backpacks the following week where they’d refill them and do it all over again throughout the school year.
I just received the newsletter from our church on Friday with an update. Kid’s Aid is currently serving 1, 260 students in 17 schools. They have come to realize that to meet the need of the entire district they will need to prepare 2,000 backpacks every week, and that is their goal. The program now has other churches involved, and has become its own non-profit in order to take advantage of grants and other opportunities offered to non-profit organizations. And all this because Mike decided to listen to that holy discontent and follow God’s lead in doing something about it. I’m not saying that every movement God makes ends up in some huge project like this, but we just never know where He will lead us if we allow ourselves to be led.
So what has God placed on your heart? Have you inoculated yourself to it? Pushed it aside and tried to not let it bother you? Maybe you need to expose yourself to it a bit more. Maybe you need to spend some serious time with God and see where He leads you. Maybe, like Nehemiah or Mike, He’s got something big in mind for you. Or maybe He’s put a need of someone close-by on your heart and wants you to make a difference for that one person or that family.
Whatever it is, LISTEN. Whatever is it, PRAY. And then wait and watch for God’s favor. Let’s pray.
Now the irony of this sermon is that someone at our home church in Grand Junction apparently had a stirring in their own heart. Apparently it was so strong that they acted on it. They took a BIG check to the church and asked if the church would send us a check (so they could remain anonymous). We received it on Saturday (thinking it was our regular support from the church's Mission Team, sent to me by mistake instead of directly to the seminary). Our pastor told us it was from someone in the church who wished to remain anonymous. I wonder if they know they answered many a prayer! We plan on writing a note that the pastor can give to them to let them know! God is SO good...more than we can ask or imagine.
Blessings to you,
~Sally
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Vacation is over...
We returned from Grand Junction almost a week ago and we're still basking in the glow of the absolutely awesome time we had with our many friends and our entire family. It was a sweet reunion with family, and we had hours and hours of time together preparing for the wedding and reception and then celebrating together the whole day of the wedding.
We arrived in GJ and I was whisked off to the bridal shower where we spent a few hours with girlfriends we haven't seen in ages. Sarah and Rilo stayed with us in our hotel so we had nice BIG doses of the both of them!
We went out to lunch with Tom Hansen, our pastor, and had a few hours together updating Tom on our year and he updating us on what's going on in the church. Hopefully we encouraged him as much as he encouraged us!
We had many an evening hanging out at Ellen's house laughing and eating. A bachelorette party for Sammy took us to Ellen's, downtown to the Rockslide for dinner, Main Street making ridiculous poses with all the "Art on the Corner" statues, and back to Ellen's for presents, some drinks, and then picture-taking with the sisters and nieces (see photo on right). I love my sisters SO much and we just hung out together as much as we could whether it was coffee on Ellen's front porch at 7am, hanging out at the pool at our hotel, or decorating at Ellen's for the reception. It was AWESOME to get such a big dose together!
Friday evening all the girls in the wedding plus Lee and I, my mom, and another friend all went to Glenwood Springs and stayed at the Hotel Colorado together. In the morning we had ten women getting ready for a wedding in two rooms with one bathroom! Amazingly, we pulled it off!
The wedding itself was simply amazing. As you can see by the family pictures I've posted, the backdrop was majestic. I don't think there was a bad picture taken. It almost felt unreal it was so beautiful. Sammy and Chris gave their vows, washed each other's feet, exchanged rings, and were pronounced husband and wife! The bridal party went to lunch in Aspen and the rest of us high-tailed it back to Palisade to finish up the final preparations for the reception.
The reception was like a reunion. So many people from church, Chris' family and friends from FL and all over, and we had friends from Denver and even Iowa! (Yay, Mary!) We partied late into the night with speeches, food, dancing, and drink. It's a day none of us will soon forget!
Sunday I was blessed to preach all three services at First Pres, and many of the wedding guests came as well (including the bride & groom!). It was great to see folks and share how God has grown us and drawn us nearer to Him this last year - and how He wants to do that with each one of us!
Everyone seemed to leave all at once - my folks, Alex and Bobby w/ Sarah & Rob on Sunday; and Lee & Charlie, Sammy & Chris on Monday. We were able to spend more time with Sean and Megan after that and then we left on Wednesday. (And we actually hooked up w/ Lee and Charlie at the airport in Denver for a short reunion!) What a whirlwind ten days!
We came home to Jon and Kristen leaving early the next morning for CT to be with Jon's family over the 4th, so we had a quiet house for a few days.
This weekend we went to the Pittsburgh Regatta where we walked the beautiful river trail on the North Shore of the Allegheny River and watched dragon boats race (a drummer at the front, 9 people on each side paddling, and a person on the rudder on the back) as well as small "tunnel boats" - enclosed, small speed boats race around bouys on the river. The weather was perfect - 85 and low humidity!
Saturday evening we went to dinner in Cranberry Township w/ a group from Mt. Pleasant Presby - one of my field ed churches, and met a woman whose sister lives in Palisade! ...And the world gets smaller once again!
Sunday we went to Mt. Pleasant Presby where I assisted in worship, and then went back to the North Shore that evening to watch a huge fireworks display.
Monday was a brunch and parade at my friend Tai's mother's house in Zelienople (about an hour north of us), then home to melt in the hot, very humid weather!
Jon and Kristen returned around dinner time and we had a great time sharing about our vacations and reconnecting.
Jon's in Hebrew now and I'm in Greek - today was our first day - and so we jump back in to academic life. My prof is awesome, so I am hopeful that all will go well (I was very nervous this morning!).
So that's our update. The dog days of summer are definitely upon us - thank God for AC in the house! We are blessed beyond measure, and so thankful for the time we had with our family and a family to come HOME to here in Pittsburgh.
~Sally
We arrived in GJ and I was whisked off to the bridal shower where we spent a few hours with girlfriends we haven't seen in ages. Sarah and Rilo stayed with us in our hotel so we had nice BIG doses of the both of them!
We went out to lunch with Tom Hansen, our pastor, and had a few hours together updating Tom on our year and he updating us on what's going on in the church. Hopefully we encouraged him as much as he encouraged us!
We had many an evening hanging out at Ellen's house laughing and eating. A bachelorette party for Sammy took us to Ellen's, downtown to the Rockslide for dinner, Main Street making ridiculous poses with all the "Art on the Corner" statues, and back to Ellen's for presents, some drinks, and then picture-taking with the sisters and nieces (see photo on right). I love my sisters SO much and we just hung out together as much as we could whether it was coffee on Ellen's front porch at 7am, hanging out at the pool at our hotel, or decorating at Ellen's for the reception. It was AWESOME to get such a big dose together!
Friday evening all the girls in the wedding plus Lee and I, my mom, and another friend all went to Glenwood Springs and stayed at the Hotel Colorado together. In the morning we had ten women getting ready for a wedding in two rooms with one bathroom! Amazingly, we pulled it off!
The wedding itself was simply amazing. As you can see by the family pictures I've posted, the backdrop was majestic. I don't think there was a bad picture taken. It almost felt unreal it was so beautiful. Sammy and Chris gave their vows, washed each other's feet, exchanged rings, and were pronounced husband and wife! The bridal party went to lunch in Aspen and the rest of us high-tailed it back to Palisade to finish up the final preparations for the reception.
The reception was like a reunion. So many people from church, Chris' family and friends from FL and all over, and we had friends from Denver and even Iowa! (Yay, Mary!) We partied late into the night with speeches, food, dancing, and drink. It's a day none of us will soon forget!
Sunday I was blessed to preach all three services at First Pres, and many of the wedding guests came as well (including the bride & groom!). It was great to see folks and share how God has grown us and drawn us nearer to Him this last year - and how He wants to do that with each one of us!
Everyone seemed to leave all at once - my folks, Alex and Bobby w/ Sarah & Rob on Sunday; and Lee & Charlie, Sammy & Chris on Monday. We were able to spend more time with Sean and Megan after that and then we left on Wednesday. (And we actually hooked up w/ Lee and Charlie at the airport in Denver for a short reunion!) What a whirlwind ten days!
We came home to Jon and Kristen leaving early the next morning for CT to be with Jon's family over the 4th, so we had a quiet house for a few days.
This weekend we went to the Pittsburgh Regatta where we walked the beautiful river trail on the North Shore of the Allegheny River and watched dragon boats race (a drummer at the front, 9 people on each side paddling, and a person on the rudder on the back) as well as small "tunnel boats" - enclosed, small speed boats race around bouys on the river. The weather was perfect - 85 and low humidity!
Saturday evening we went to dinner in Cranberry Township w/ a group from Mt. Pleasant Presby - one of my field ed churches, and met a woman whose sister lives in Palisade! ...And the world gets smaller once again!
Sunday we went to Mt. Pleasant Presby where I assisted in worship, and then went back to the North Shore that evening to watch a huge fireworks display.
Monday was a brunch and parade at my friend Tai's mother's house in Zelienople (about an hour north of us), then home to melt in the hot, very humid weather!
Jon and Kristen returned around dinner time and we had a great time sharing about our vacations and reconnecting.
Jon's in Hebrew now and I'm in Greek - today was our first day - and so we jump back in to academic life. My prof is awesome, so I am hopeful that all will go well (I was very nervous this morning!).
So that's our update. The dog days of summer are definitely upon us - thank God for AC in the house! We are blessed beyond measure, and so thankful for the time we had with our family and a family to come HOME to here in Pittsburgh.
~Sally
Friday, June 18, 2010
Summertime....
I'm halfway through my summer break already (my month, that is). Kathy and I had a wonderful trip to Hilton Head, SC where we sat on the beach for a week straight, got totally sunburned, and I read an 1100-page Tom Clancy novel....heaven!
I've worked at WMI this week for 15 hours of work study, and now it's time to start packing so we can fly to Grand Junction on Sunday! Woo hoo!!!
As I was working on my sermon today that I'm giving at First Pres. Grand Junction on the 27th, I was reminded of how God has truly carried us through this last year. Gosh it was hard....and the hardest for Kim. He has really struggled this whole year, first trying to find work and then just trying to figure out what he's supposed to be doing. He's finally figured out that he's supposed to be doing school too! So he's starting a CCAC (Community College of Allegheny County) in the fall where he'll complete a pharmacy technician Associates degree in the next 18-24 months. He's so excited and it's good to see him motivated and excited about what's ahead for him. After being the provider for so many years he feels like he has a lot of catching up to do, and this will be the start of it.
Jon and Kristen have been with us for two weeks now and we LOVE having them with us. They both are so considerate and really a joy to have around - and their dog Porter adds fun to the mix too (he and Charlie have a great time playing together).
We are counting the hours til we leave and we'll be reunited with our entire family in GJ!!! Sarah, Rilo and my mom are driving from Denver tomorrow; Lee, Charlie, Sammy & Chris are already there; and the rest of the family comes in later next week! What a celebration -- oh yeah, and Sammy & Chris's wedding will be fun too!
I've met with my two Field Ed. pastors and I will start 7/4 at Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian and work during the week at Second United Presbyterian. I'm really excited about both churches and will help with worship, youth and family events, children's ministry, and outreach. I'll be the pulpit supply for Mt. Pleasant for the first three weeks in August - I'm excited to preach as well as get paid for it!
I start Greek on 7/6 for all of July and August. I'll have a week off at the end of August, and then school starts back up after Labor Day.
Our biggest prayers right now are for finances. We think that we'll be able to get enough student loans to support us (and hopefully I'll get some scholarships/grants from places I've applied), but our loans don't get dispersed until Sept. for Kim and OCT. for me! We have enough savings for July's bills, so we're praying that God will provide in a BIG way. I'm sure He will direct us, but at this point I don't know what that's going to be...
God is so good and He continues to grow me and mold me daily. I pray the same is for you. God bless you for your prayers.
~Sally
I've worked at WMI this week for 15 hours of work study, and now it's time to start packing so we can fly to Grand Junction on Sunday! Woo hoo!!!
As I was working on my sermon today that I'm giving at First Pres. Grand Junction on the 27th, I was reminded of how God has truly carried us through this last year. Gosh it was hard....and the hardest for Kim. He has really struggled this whole year, first trying to find work and then just trying to figure out what he's supposed to be doing. He's finally figured out that he's supposed to be doing school too! So he's starting a CCAC (Community College of Allegheny County) in the fall where he'll complete a pharmacy technician Associates degree in the next 18-24 months. He's so excited and it's good to see him motivated and excited about what's ahead for him. After being the provider for so many years he feels like he has a lot of catching up to do, and this will be the start of it.
Jon and Kristen have been with us for two weeks now and we LOVE having them with us. They both are so considerate and really a joy to have around - and their dog Porter adds fun to the mix too (he and Charlie have a great time playing together).
We are counting the hours til we leave and we'll be reunited with our entire family in GJ!!! Sarah, Rilo and my mom are driving from Denver tomorrow; Lee, Charlie, Sammy & Chris are already there; and the rest of the family comes in later next week! What a celebration -- oh yeah, and Sammy & Chris's wedding will be fun too!
I've met with my two Field Ed. pastors and I will start 7/4 at Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian and work during the week at Second United Presbyterian. I'm really excited about both churches and will help with worship, youth and family events, children's ministry, and outreach. I'll be the pulpit supply for Mt. Pleasant for the first three weeks in August - I'm excited to preach as well as get paid for it!
I start Greek on 7/6 for all of July and August. I'll have a week off at the end of August, and then school starts back up after Labor Day.
Our biggest prayers right now are for finances. We think that we'll be able to get enough student loans to support us (and hopefully I'll get some scholarships/grants from places I've applied), but our loans don't get dispersed until Sept. for Kim and OCT. for me! We have enough savings for July's bills, so we're praying that God will provide in a BIG way. I'm sure He will direct us, but at this point I don't know what that's going to be...
God is so good and He continues to grow me and mold me daily. I pray the same is for you. God bless you for your prayers.
~Sally
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