My latest ministry update!

The Lord has been doing a lot in my heart and ministry here at Headquarters and I’m excited for you to get to read my lastest ministry update!

Just click on the link below and enjoy!

October 2009 Ministry Update

Life in Transition

As I’ve spent the past 5 years working with many seniors in college and preparing them for life after college, I didn’t realize how much of the things I’ve equipped them with would be things that I would  need to be equipped with myself in this new season of life.   Adjusting to a new place, a new climate, a new job, new friends, new church is,  if I’m honest, a bit more difficult then I originally thought it would be.   I find myself itching to be settled in, to know what I’m doing, to be fully engaged in where I’m at and to be able to deal with the “bigger” things in my life then just the things that come out in the transition.  Though someone said just the other week that often the Lord chooses to show up in more ways in our lives during the season of transition because that is when a lot of our junk is often exposed as the stress level is higher.  The thing that the Lord is continually drawing me back to is His love for me and His desire for my heart to just be His.  He’s not waiting for me to figure it all out, He just wants to be in it with me.

As I’ve slowly stopped trying to just figure everything out and adjust already, there has been a sweetness of the Lord in my life.   I’ve been able to laugh more at my frustrations or spaciness for that matter (is that a word), like walking into a meeting that I thought was the one I was supposed to be in at 10:30 only to find out it had been rescheduled to 11 and causing quite a scene.   It has been neat to watch the Lord slowly show me why He chose me for this particular role at headquarters, helping new staff at headquarters be trained and equipped in ministry skills in a way that isn’t just going through materials but helping them connect these things to the heart.

I’ve seen God increase my heart for the lost to know Him.  I work in a Christian office 9-5 and find myself longing to be around more people who don’t know Jesus.   As I’ve had the chance to meet non-believers through everyday activities as well as through evangelistic events with the new staff my desire to talk about the Greatest Love has only grown stronger.   I love how in the midst of the Lord doing some overhauling in my personal life, He is still pouring out of me in fresh and new ways.   This is a season of change and transition, preparation for the future yes, but also a chance to experience the Lord in some ways I never have before.  I look forward to letting you into more of what the Lord is doing in my personal life and through my life.

Almost settled in…

After driving for two days, I finally arrived at my new home for the next 9 months in Orlando, Florida!  We got in Friday evening and have spent the past few days getting settled in and learning the ropes of Orlando, including braving all the crazy drivers down here.   Some of our adventures have included:

- braving the Target that happens to be the busiest Target in the country this past weekend, and I unfortunately went twice without knowing it was a such a bad weekend to go until later.  That experience definitely increased my stress level!

- enjoying some time meeting and getting to know other staff members who are doing Lake Hart Stint for the year, this included a crazy game called “Curses” which I recommend everyone to get for the sheer sake of how much you will laugh just reading the cards for it!  Look it up and you’ll see what I mean!

- finding a little chocolate store entitled “Wild Woman Chocolate” and spending about a half hour there getting to know the owner, Julie and one of her bakers, Audra and hoping to get a chance to go back and talk with them more about life and prayerfully the Lord!  Pray for them!

- checking out a great church on Sunday.

- Receiving a free Disney Pass for the year that comes with our program… what in the world!?

So, those are a few highlights from the week so far. I have to admit it had a bit of a rough start to it, from the sheer exhaustion of packing up, driving down and then entering into a whole new atmosphere.  And then the reality of moving to a new place sinking in even more, I’ve been a bit drained.  I’m ready for our jobs to begin and to have some more structure to my day!

Tomorrow (Thursday) morning we have a breakfast with all of the Lake Hart Stinters and then on Friday we head out for a weekend of orientation, and head to the office on Monday!  I’m excited to meet some of the new staff women that I’ll be training and developing and getting to grasp my roles a little more firmly.  Keep praying for me as I adjust here!

Moving to Orlando…

Tomorrow, I head up to Oxford where I’ve kept my stuff to take with me to Orlando and begin the journey of moving to Orlando on Thursday with my housemate Julie who will be spending the year with me doing the same program.  I can’t believe how fast the summer has flown by and that after 5 years at Miami I really am moving on!  I think I’m experiencing the whole gammet of emotions right now.   So, I’m sad to leave my family and little nephew, sad to leave what I’ve been a part of at Miami for so long (the staff, students and ministry), nervous at the new opportunities ahead, all mixed in with so much excitement at how the Lord is moving and directing me.   I’m looking forward to spending 9 months in Orlando developing a broader understanding of Crusade, and being personally developed, and of course all that comes with living in Florida.  I’m so grateful that the Lord has this year in mind for me before I head overseas.   I just wrote more information about this program in Orlando (called Lake Hart Stint) in my most recent prayer letter which you can find in pdf format on my “letters” page.

Ways you can be praying for me this week:

- That I would leave family and friends well in the next couple of days

- That the Lord would really meet with me as I drive by myself (caravaning with Julie in her car) Thursday and Friday.

- I would settle and adjust quickly to life in Orlando, and specifically find a church that I can get plugged into quickly and know best how to serve there!

Crazy next couple of weeks…

As I sit here, I’m thinking of all that is ahead in the next few weeks.  I’m finishing up spending much of my summer raising additional financial support.  I’m trusting Him to provide an additional $530 in monthly support to bring me up from a shortfall this past year.  He has been so faithful this summer and I’ve gotten to sit down with some amazing people.  The Lord has reminded me of how sweet it is to have a team of people surrounding me with prayers and investing financially in my ministry.  What a blessing!

So, I’m also thinking of all the packing that looms ahead of me, packing up the past 5 years of my life at Miami and preparing to move to Orlando for a year and then the Pacific Islands.   I have a week to pack before I head to Colorado for our National Staff Conference.  Then back to my parents house for a few weeks, a few trips to continue raising support the beginning of August and then heading to Orlando around Aug. 20th!

In light of all of the upcoming events it’s been easy for me to get overwhelmed at everything to come and have a hard time living in my present reality and thinking of what needs to happen today and not tomorrow.  Would you be praying for me that I would trust the Lord for each day and find my rest in Him!  Pray that the next week and a half I would see the Lord continue to bring in my support needs and that I would pack efficiently!

Thanks so much for your prayers!

Numbers 10-11… we are so similar to the Israelites.

I’ve been reading through the Old Testament and I have to say that while much of it has been incredibly sweet, as I’ve waded through Leviticus and now Numbers it’s been a bit overwhelming at times trying to make sense of the Law and the Lord’s demand for holiness for His people.  One thing that I’ve noticed however is that it’s all to point to the reality of the Lord’s love, His goodness and His grace.  That we would really get just how Holy He is that we would understand more fully the extent of our need for grace.

Today, however I have some thoughts on what I just read in Chapters 10 and 11 of Numbers.  At the end of Chapter 10 we see the Lord beginning to move His people through the wilderness after they have just spent a couple of years in a pretty stationary location it seems just getting adjusted to this new freedom they have just received.  But, almost as quickly as they begin to move, and the promise of the presence of the Lord goes before them, the people begin to complain of their lack of Meat “real food”.  The Lord has provided Manna, but even food raining down from heaven seems is not enough for the people to know that “I am the Lord, Your God”.  There eyes are fixed on their own appetites and desires, their minds have rested on the past to the point where they only see what they are missing, not the freedom they have been given.  It is interesting that with freedom in Christ, freedom from sin, as believers, we can easily come under the illusion that parts of slavery somehow were better, easier.  How easily deceived are we?

And I see the weight that the complaints of the people bear on Moses, and the graciousness of the lord to provide others to bear the burden of the people with him.  yet even as Moses leads it’s as if he just wants the Lord to satisfy the cravings of the people to shut them up.  And the Lord decides to do this!  He promises them excess of the meat they have asked for, to the point that what they want now will become disgusting to them.  I believe He does this that the people would realize, it won’t satisfy!  Even in the Lord’s anger, He desires to draw His people to an awareness that He’s enough.  We can have everything taken away to draw us to that or we can be given an excess to make us realize that it doesn’t satisfy.

I love how Moses question’s the Lord’s ability to provide meat for the over 1 million people who are wandering the wilderness. He gets a bit dramatic asking the Lord how he will gather “all the fish of the sea to feed them”.  And the Lord responds “Is the Lord’s hand shortened?  now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”  Can the Lord not do what He says He can do?   If He could provide such an abundance but perhaps chooses not to, can we not trust in His power, His strength, His ability that His choosing “yes” or “no” is actually our provision… His Best for us because He sees the bigger picture.  He sees what will cause us to run to broken cisterns and what will cause us to run to Him, the only source of true life and joy!

We are just like the Israelites.

America’s freedom has driven us to excess, where we have become a people that contiually fills our voids with “things” that will never satisfy.  We have become a country that refuses to acknowledge the Lord is the author of life, and freedom and everything that we have comes from Him.  I wonder if we as a country will continue to run after excess, be given what we “think” we want, or be driven to our knees. Could this economic crisis actually be a blessing in disguise to draw us back to the only one who has the authority to say “I am the Lord, YOUR God.”?

I pray that my heart would more quickly run to Him, and not things/relationships that prove time and time again to never satisfy in the way that He can and does and longs to.

Turning 30… March 29, 2009

I’ve been thinking about this day for awhile as I’ve watched friends enter this new decade of life and as I’ve thought of the cultural norms for how our society says we “should” look at turning 30. To be honest, where my life is today is not anywhere near where I thought it would be. The biggest expectation being marriage. Not only did I think that by age 30 I’d be married, but I also was under the impression when I was younger that I would most likely have a child or two. My husband would be doing the things that come less naturally for me, keeping track of the finances, our car or cars and leading us in what the next step is for our lives. None of these things are even remotely true. There isn’t even a man in my life to think that the potential of that is coming anytime soon.

Several years ago, however, I was reflecting on what I hoped and prayed I would be like if the things I thought I desired the most weren’t true as I turned 30. I started to think that even if I had what I thought I really wanted at age 30, there would always be something else that I was longing for beyond that: a bigger house, a new car, children who behaved more, more time to myself. So, I distinctly remember at age 23 praying that when I turned whatever that age was where expectations of my life were different than reality, that I would be able to not just be thankful but to embrace and enjoy the years the Lord has given me. To rest in what I have and not what I don’t have.

So, this past year I’ve been preparing my mind and my heart to enter my 30’s in celebration of where God has taken my life. It may be a silly thing, but I didn’t want disappointment and sadness to rule or even take hold this year. That I would live out, at least for this year, what a wise man named Solomon said about wise women: “she laughs at the days to come”.

Last year, when I turned 29, I began to think “As I grow old what will it take to change my way of thinking from fear of aging to excitement?” So, I started to process with the Lord and found myself saying “Lord, one more year you give me is another year to invest my life in people and celebrate that more will know you and trust you through my life… this is what will excite me most to grow old” I asked the Lord then, in celebration of turning 30 that He would give me the privilege of getting to see first hand 30 people place their faith in Jesus, trusting Him for the forgiveness of their sins and entering into a personal relationship with their Creator for the first time. Only the Lord can move someone’s heart to trust Him, I only can show people how so I knew that everytime I saw someone actually trust Him would be His gift to me! And guess what… This year I’ve seen 32 people indicate decisions for Christ! Every single one the Lord reminded me was His gift to me to open their eyes in front of me that I would get to see them go from death to life.

I’ve been reflecting this week on where the Lord has taken me in just 30 years and I am amazed. The other day I tried to think of a list of 30 of the most influential people in my life who have been a part of shaping who I am today… there were over 40! I can’t believe the fullness of life and hope and joy the Lord has given me at such a young age. The opportunity to travel to over 15 different countries, bringing the hope of Christ and investing in people’s lives all over the world. The chance to disciple students at Miami, in the Netherlands, Macedonia, and countless other students from campus’s across America.

As the Lord has fixed my eyes on Him and what He’s done with my life it has been easy to celebrate! I pray that continues as I move up the age bracket, that I would have a spirit of celebration, laughter at the wrinkles, hope at the days to come (whatever those days bring, joy or sorrow). I continue to hope and pray that the desires of my heart for marriage, children come true… But, more than that I think I’m realizing the reality that our lives are “but a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” The more I grasp the reality of that, the more I want my life to be about His dreams for me and not my own, for He created me and knows me better than I know myself… and His plans for my life are far greater than my own.

So, though there are dreams that haven’t been realized at age 30, there are so many greater things God has done in and through my life that I don’t think I would have ever even dared to dream or could have come up with on my own. He has done in my life already “exceedingly, abundantly, beyond what I could ever hope or dream of.” Let the next 30, 40, 50 even 60 years of my life draw me closer to my Savior, the only one who is worth my life, and let more of Christ radiate through my life into the lives of others! “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain!” Phil.1:21

An Overdue Final Entry…

Well, we have all been home for about 3 weeks now and I have to say that adjusting to life back in the States was a bit harder then I thought it would have been. I am still processing the things that I have learned through being in Africa and the ways in which I have changed. The biggest thing that I can say however is that this summer was perhaps the greatest summer experience that I’ve had since being on staff with Crusade. It was amazing to watch our students walk in such faith and willingness to not only go for it in ministry but in their personal lives as well. The Lord hand picked a dream team of students for this trip and I can’t believe how blessed we were. If you come to this site and wonder what should I read.. though perhaps it is the longest… the entry on what the Lord did at Copperbelt University is in my opinion one of my favorite weeks of the whole summer. That and the days that we were in the villages! So… I pray that the Lord would continue to use this blog to give great glory to His name for what He did in Africa this summer!

Our final team pic at the airport after 40 hours of travel… and still looking good!

Prayer Requests!

- Pray for Ashley, one of our students who just found out that her uncle died on Sat.   We’re figuring out what to do and if we can get her home in time for the funeral but we’re not sure if that would be possible.  Pray that that the Lord would sustain and comfort her as she longs to be with her family right now, but that the Lord would use us as her family in the meantime!

- Pray we would finish strong!  We have 5 days left on campus and with what we saw at Copperbelt we’re changing our direction a bit and trying to sift through our contacts and find students who can lead and take over the discipleship groups that we’ve started and be eager to be a part of reaching their campus with the gospel.  Pray that the U.S. students would really finish well, after such an exhausting week it could be easy to just coast through this week but I believe the Lord has great things in store for us this week!

- We head to Livingstone on Sat. to visit Victoria Falls and Debrief, pray that Dan and I as we plan for that would evaluate with the team well and help them take the things they have learned back to their campus’ and lives!

- Pray that we would all say good bye well, the Zambians have truly become our family here and I know it’s going to be so hard to leave!  I’m tearing up just thinking about it!

In ONE week, the Lord uses a team of 26 to launch a movement at Copperbelt University!

After the few days in the village I think that everyone was eager to get back on campus. It was neat because while all of us had longed to be a part of the things we were a part of in the villages, I think we all began to realize that though we can have an impact for a few days, if we reach the next leaders of the country by developing and training these college students… they will be the ones who will have an impact on the poverty in the country for the long term. It was neat to be so excited to get back on campus!

We entitled our week “A Heart of Faith” and challenged each of the staff and students to set evangelism faith goals and a personal faith goal. That we would put ourselves in a position where the Lord had to show up because our goal was too big for us to accomplish on our own. So, going into our first day at CBU (Copperbelt University) the 26 staff and students (including Zambian staff) we’re trusting the Lord to share the gospel with 638 students in one week and see 12 student leaders raised up who would lead the movement!!! We showed up at CBU on Monday and began a habit of spending an hour in prayer each day. We were trusting the Lord that week to raise up a Campus Crusade movement on this campus of 4300 students, where there had never been a crusade movement. We spent the first half of the day getting permission from the dean of students to even be there, praise the Lord they had favor on us and gave us permission and also their blessing! About 17 Oakpointe students and staff joined us that day to do quick spiritual surveys with over 2000 students (in one day!). We were using the surveys to find out who the students were that were interested in knowning God and reaching their campus with the gospel and then we were going to spend the rest of the week following them up. We ended up doing over 2000 surveys and then dividing up the contacts and had them ready to follow up by the time we left campus that day. There was SO much energy among our staff and students and excitement at what the Lord was about to do. One of the questions on the survey was “do you want to help reach your campus with the gospel” We thought that that question would help us find those students who were really on board, but because of the christian culture nearly every student marked that. So, we had to change our filter and determined to look for leaders by asking them to come with us to share their faith.

I met 2 first year women, Lucy and Angela the second day and after going through the gospel and helping them understand that there salvation was secure (they had trusted Christ but were only 50% sure they would go to Heaven) they began to be so excited about being a part of this new movement. I invited them to go sharing and they agreed! The first time we went out, we went to a room with a believer and so I walked all of them through how to understand the role of the Holy Spirit in their lives. I think this was a turning poing for Lucy and Angela though I didn’t know it at the time.

(Left to right… Lucy, me and Angela)

That evening our bus wouldn’t start and so Arudo, turned and said “we have 3 options… the first I’ve already tried (trying to start and re-start the bus) the 2nd is to pray… let’s pray” We all prayed and then Arudo tried to start the bus… and it STARTED!!! The whole bus erupted in excitement and praise and I think that this was the first time many of the students had seen such an immediate powerful answer to prayer… I think the Lord delighted in doing that during our week of faith to know that He was the one that we could trust for big things… and BIG things were happening!

I think that we saw about 10 people trust Christ the first day and we were gearing up for a huge outreach the next night (wednesday night) where we were showing the movie “Facing the Giants..” , doing a drama, sharing some testimoneys and the gospel. That night over 1000 students showed up!!!! And this is on a campus of just 4300! A quarter of the campus came out for this event and it was unbelievable. 62 students indicated a decision for Christ that night!

this is where we had our outreach at night and the entire place was full, as well as along the walkway where i was standing taking this picture!

Everyone was stretching themselves, on campus from 11-7 every day and later the night of the outreach, but our lives were changing as we were watching God do in our lives and hearts what only He could do. We began to figure out who could lead the movement and spending more time with them. On Friday we invited the 10 students we had identified as potential leaders to our celebration dinner, where we were celebrating what the Lord had done that week. 2 of the leaders were Lucy and Angela, I had sat down with them that morning to talk with them about it and see where they were… after asking them “Why do you want to be involved with Crusade?” Lucy responded “This week has changed our lives, I thought that when Jesus died on the cross that because he paid for my sins, I didn’t have to do anything else, but we’ve learned this week that we have to ask for forgiveness continually when we sin, even though He’s already forgiven everything we need to acknowledge it’s wrong . Angela and I both sense a renewed faith this week and Lindsey, when you were talking about our lives on earth being a dot on a line of eternity we both want to live for the line and not the dot (note: when I had shared that with them I didn’t even think they were listening!” I asked “What is the greatest needs on the campus?” THey said “for the students to really know God in a personal way, every one says they are christian but they aren’t and they don’t understand that they can be certain of their eternity!”

Lucy and Angela eagerly agreed to come with us to the celebration and then the next morning we were having an 8am meeting for the leaders to learn how to lead a small group and the foundations of the movement and sign a covenant of what they were agreeing to be a part of. At 9am we invited students who were interested in being a part of crusade to come and here they would find out more about crusade, be introduced to the new leaders and divided into small bible study groups based on their dorms and the students leaders would begin to get to know those they would be leading! By the end of the meeting we had 10 leaders (and we added 1 afterwards… so 11!) and 50 students in small groups! We are in AWE of what the Lord did that week and these words do not even do justice to what we saw happen. To put in perspective, with all that I have experienced in ministry with Crusade, this perhaps was the most incredible and powerful week of my involvement with Crusade and watching the Lord take a campus by storm and grip the hearts of students to go after their campus with the gospel. ONe of the staff women, Musonda shared with us that 4 years earlier in a time with the Lord, God really impressed on her to pray for CBU that the Lord would open up this campus and we’d see laborers raised up here. She wrote in her Journal… CBU for Jesus, sound the battle cry! She had no idea that 4 years later, a team of Americans would come and provide the man power that was need to establish this ministry so that the Zambian staff could coach the leaders from a distance and that her prayer “sound the battle cry” would come to such fruition as we literally came on that campus as an army for Jesus! At the end of the week we had exceeded our faith goal and seen 751 given a chance to respond to Christ with 110 indicating decisions for Christ, a movement led by 11 students leaders and 50 students who were ready to be a part of something bigger then themselves. ONe of the student leaders said, “we’ve watched you trust the Lord for big things this week and now we want to trust the Lord for big things on this campus as you leave!!” Arudo will be coaching 2 of the key student leaders and they will be training the others and all of them will be leading a bible study series we gave them and trained them in called the “essentials for spiritual growth”! I’m sorry if this entry is quite wordy, but i’m trying to type fast as my computer time is limited and so I don’t have time to really edit these stories well! I’m guessing that you’ll be okay with that!

I truly believe that what God did at Copperbelt is going to have an impact on all of AFrica that we will see in the coming years, and to think that the Lord gave the 26 of us the priviledge of being a part of setting the ground work for what He can do on these campus’ brings me to tears!

(Below: training the student leaders in how to lead the small group Bible Study!)

(Below: First Crusade Meeting!)