2 Things.
1. I emailed Mike Breaux, one of the teaching pastors at Willow to try to set up a meeting with him and chat a bit. I want tof ully utilize the power of the willowcreek.org email address. Nothing major, just thought I'd mention it.
2. I am currently writing something on Luke 18:9-14, and would like to hear any input, insight, or stories you may have that that scripture brings to mind.
Good days.
24 September 2007
23 September 2007
Regular Joes.
I like coffee. A lot. And its all because Jenny Rudd had the heart to give me a job at the Loft Coffee House (see links). Well, I used to always say that I believed everyone needed atleast one addiction in their life. I know this sounds ridiculous, and I wasn't necessarily serious, but maybe just an extent. Anyway, I'm one of those coffee addict people. The kind that will sit somewhere forever, read books, check emails, even skip meals on occasion because of the "free refill". I love that.
Well, Elgin doesn't have much in the way of coffee shops. Nor do either of the surrounding areas for that matter. Sure, we have Starbucks, and, even though I am a former employee, I prefer not to frequent them. We also have Carribou Coffee, which is entirely new to me, being that they don't have these in San Antonio. But I have yet to be completely satisfied with these options. Willow Creek has a coffee shop on their campus; I know I know, its crazy, but its also tasty, and I spend a fair amount of time hanging out there. Additionally, I found out that there is a coffee shop, called Regular Joe's, about 1/4 mile away from Willow that is owned by a Willow Creek person, and staffed by a few Willow Creek people. I was pretty excited about this, so Aaron Van Fleet (an intern from Kentucky) and I decided to check it out before church yesterday.
I think I like it. I say I think, because I haven't been able to fully soak in the environment, but I do like what I saw.
So, this is just an fyi for all of my friends and family out there who know about my coffee habits. I just wanted to give you an update and say, "hey, don't worry, I am being taken care of."
But don't worry, the Loft is still my number one.
I like coffee. A lot. And its all because Jenny Rudd had the heart to give me a job at the Loft Coffee House (see links). Well, I used to always say that I believed everyone needed atleast one addiction in their life. I know this sounds ridiculous, and I wasn't necessarily serious, but maybe just an extent. Anyway, I'm one of those coffee addict people. The kind that will sit somewhere forever, read books, check emails, even skip meals on occasion because of the "free refill". I love that.
Well, Elgin doesn't have much in the way of coffee shops. Nor do either of the surrounding areas for that matter. Sure, we have Starbucks, and, even though I am a former employee, I prefer not to frequent them. We also have Carribou Coffee, which is entirely new to me, being that they don't have these in San Antonio. But I have yet to be completely satisfied with these options. Willow Creek has a coffee shop on their campus; I know I know, its crazy, but its also tasty, and I spend a fair amount of time hanging out there. Additionally, I found out that there is a coffee shop, called Regular Joe's, about 1/4 mile away from Willow that is owned by a Willow Creek person, and staffed by a few Willow Creek people. I was pretty excited about this, so Aaron Van Fleet (an intern from Kentucky) and I decided to check it out before church yesterday.
I think I like it. I say I think, because I haven't been able to fully soak in the environment, but I do like what I saw.
So, this is just an fyi for all of my friends and family out there who know about my coffee habits. I just wanted to give you an update and say, "hey, don't worry, I am being taken care of."
But don't worry, the Loft is still my number one.
19 September 2007
I am intrigued by the honesty of some people. They say exactly what is on their heart, and they do not hold back, or put on a front to try to impress people. I read this quote in a book recently and wanted to share it with you all. Maybe you can relate. For some of you it may just sound kind of neat, but you can't relate to it, but to many of us (yes, me included), it may so close to what we feel that we may as well call it our own.
"Now- here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as your hear these words. My secret is that I need God- that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love."
If any of you have any good quotes you would like to share from books you have read recently, or, ever, please post them as a comment. I would love to hear some.
"Now- here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet room as your hear these words. My secret is that I need God- that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love."
If any of you have any good quotes you would like to share from books you have read recently, or, ever, please post them as a comment. I would love to hear some.
News in the Ministry!
I know many of you may be thinking, "the city is cool and all, but where is the news on the ministry front?" Well, I am very sorry for that lack of updates there. The beginning of the ministry season, for me atleast, has been somewhat difficult. Most of my days have been spent in a cubicle on the phone with different parents of the students I am working with trying to find us a house to hold our house group time following the service in. See, after the Student Impact service on Sunday mornings the students go to a house in their particular high school area. The area that I am co-leading is Conant and Lake Park high schools. This year is the first year that these two schools are on their own. In previous years they were teamed up with a few other area high schools, forming a larger house group. (Sorry if this is confusing to peice together). So it is almost as though we are starting from scratch with our house group.
The hardest things for me, ministry wise, is that since my days are spent calling and emailing different parents, I haven't had much time or opportunity to connect with students. Additionally, it has been very difficult trying to cast the vision of our house group over the phone with parents who I have never met and have no relationship with. This past weekend, however, was our best week so far. We had 20 students with our group, which is the most we have had this year, and on Monday we finally found a house to meet in for the remainder of the year. I am very excited about this because now, rather than spending the majority of my time trying to find us a place to meet, I will have time to start devloping a game plan for reaching students who disinterested, or are seeking God but don't know exactly what steps to take.
Sunday after our house groups I had to run to Target with one of our students to pick up a few things for some auction baskets we were putting together, and this provided us with a good amount of 1 on 1 time to just hang out and talk. Do you ever have those conversations that are really great and open, and halfway into it you think, "I don't know how we got on to this subject, but I am so glad we did,"? Well, thats how this one went. Before I knew it he was opening up and teling me about his family, and his journey to move to Chicago from Florida. I am finally being able to connect with a few of the students on a more personal lever, AND we finally have a permanent location to meet in- it seems that things are finally coming together, and I couldn't be happier, or more relieved.
One of the ideas that I have been wrestling with through all of this is the idea of "ministry". I think that many people, myself included, have the idea that the person who is "doing" ministry is the person on the front line: the person giving a message, or the person leading worship, or the person praying for people. However, "ministry" is not just the event that we work towards, but that it is the entire process that makes the "event" possible. (does that make sense?)
Let me take a day or two to sit on this, and think about how I want to, or better yet, should word this. Check back soon if you are looking for more clarity on what I am trying to say, and hopefully it makes at least a bit of sense though.
I am eager, and at the same time scared, to see what all God has in store for me while I am up here. A good amount of our time each week is spent on our own personal development. Some of this is through one on one meetings with mentors, and some of this is through our weekly intern small group meeting. Every intern here says that, without a doubt, being here has been a life changing event for them. Doesn't that sound even a bit scary? "Life-Changing." What does that mean, and what in the world is it going to look like?
I know many of you may be thinking, "the city is cool and all, but where is the news on the ministry front?" Well, I am very sorry for that lack of updates there. The beginning of the ministry season, for me atleast, has been somewhat difficult. Most of my days have been spent in a cubicle on the phone with different parents of the students I am working with trying to find us a house to hold our house group time following the service in. See, after the Student Impact service on Sunday mornings the students go to a house in their particular high school area. The area that I am co-leading is Conant and Lake Park high schools. This year is the first year that these two schools are on their own. In previous years they were teamed up with a few other area high schools, forming a larger house group. (Sorry if this is confusing to peice together). So it is almost as though we are starting from scratch with our house group.
The hardest things for me, ministry wise, is that since my days are spent calling and emailing different parents, I haven't had much time or opportunity to connect with students. Additionally, it has been very difficult trying to cast the vision of our house group over the phone with parents who I have never met and have no relationship with. This past weekend, however, was our best week so far. We had 20 students with our group, which is the most we have had this year, and on Monday we finally found a house to meet in for the remainder of the year. I am very excited about this because now, rather than spending the majority of my time trying to find us a place to meet, I will have time to start devloping a game plan for reaching students who disinterested, or are seeking God but don't know exactly what steps to take.
Sunday after our house groups I had to run to Target with one of our students to pick up a few things for some auction baskets we were putting together, and this provided us with a good amount of 1 on 1 time to just hang out and talk. Do you ever have those conversations that are really great and open, and halfway into it you think, "I don't know how we got on to this subject, but I am so glad we did,"? Well, thats how this one went. Before I knew it he was opening up and teling me about his family, and his journey to move to Chicago from Florida. I am finally being able to connect with a few of the students on a more personal lever, AND we finally have a permanent location to meet in- it seems that things are finally coming together, and I couldn't be happier, or more relieved.
One of the ideas that I have been wrestling with through all of this is the idea of "ministry". I think that many people, myself included, have the idea that the person who is "doing" ministry is the person on the front line: the person giving a message, or the person leading worship, or the person praying for people. However, "ministry" is not just the event that we work towards, but that it is the entire process that makes the "event" possible. (does that make sense?)
Let me take a day or two to sit on this, and think about how I want to, or better yet, should word this. Check back soon if you are looking for more clarity on what I am trying to say, and hopefully it makes at least a bit of sense though.
I am eager, and at the same time scared, to see what all God has in store for me while I am up here. A good amount of our time each week is spent on our own personal development. Some of this is through one on one meetings with mentors, and some of this is through our weekly intern small group meeting. Every intern here says that, without a doubt, being here has been a life changing event for them. Doesn't that sound even a bit scary? "Life-Changing." What does that mean, and what in the world is it going to look like?
13 September 2007
I used to always look at people's blogs and think, "why the heck do they not update more often? it has been a month since their last post!" Well, now I know why, and its because its hard to blog. A little bit atleast. so many great things (and sometimes not-so-great) happen, and its just not easy to put them in words and to publish them on the internet. Luckily though I caught mine before it hit the one-month-since-the-last-update point, and am posting this.
Today is my birthday. the big 2-2. Its weird because its my first birthday away from home. But I did get cards and calls from my family, so that was still good. My sister got me the book Ragamuffin Gospel, and the movie Hotel Rwanda. Both of which I am super excited about. What are people's thoughts on those two pieces (leave comments if you like).
This is only going to be a short post for now. But be aware, a much longer one is coming.
"How long?" You may ask. Well. You will see it and say, "dang, thats a lot to read!" That's how long.
Until then, I leave you with two fun facts:
1. Cincinatti was originally called, "Porkopolis"
2.Todays weather forecast. Sorry, but it's a bit nicer weather here it seems...
San Antonio: Low 71, High 89
Chicago: Low 59, High 78
Good day everyone!
p.s.
Mad props (i.e. special thanks) to Rick and Judy Chalk!
Today is my birthday. the big 2-2. Its weird because its my first birthday away from home. But I did get cards and calls from my family, so that was still good. My sister got me the book Ragamuffin Gospel, and the movie Hotel Rwanda. Both of which I am super excited about. What are people's thoughts on those two pieces (leave comments if you like).
This is only going to be a short post for now. But be aware, a much longer one is coming.
"How long?" You may ask. Well. You will see it and say, "dang, thats a lot to read!" That's how long.
Until then, I leave you with two fun facts:
1. Cincinatti was originally called, "Porkopolis"
2.Todays weather forecast. Sorry, but it's a bit nicer weather here it seems...
San Antonio: Low 71, High 89
Chicago: Low 59, High 78
Good day everyone!
p.s.
Mad props (i.e. special thanks) to Rick and Judy Chalk!
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