Keep learning lady!

Posted on Dec 21 2006 | Tagged as: community, learning

This past weekend Marta and I were invited to attend a hooding ceremony and graduation at George Fox Seminary. It was a pleasure to listen in as professors spoke one last time into the lives of their adult students. The students had the opportunity to share with those in the audience who have sacrificed so much to make their education possible. Students also gave praise to their instructors and fellow students who they have shared life with over the past few years. As the graduates walked in front of us I was looking for the face of that special lady we came to support. She was so beautiful! She was clearly beaming with pride and a sense of accomplishment. We were all so proud of her.  Let me tell you a little about this amazing lady.

She is one of seven children. This has its challenges and rewards. She has persevered through life’s pain in the most gracious and classy way possible. This lady is an elegant fighter and has not allowed life’s challenges to keep her down. With every curve she has found a way to seek God’s discernment and discover healing. She is continually growing and I suspect she will do so until her last breath. Her passion is to inspire the development of the inner life; a life that is in tune with and listening to Christ with each breath. This lady is real; there is no room for superficial fluff.

She has inspired me to live a life of purpose; influenced me to develop a healthy marriage relationship, helped me to learn perseverance, compassion, empathy, independence, the importance of service, good communication, and personal hygiene. I am still working on that last one. You may be asking who is this person and how could I get to know her. This amazing women is my Mom.  I am so proud of her!

Well done Master Mom!

Ecclesiastes 1:18 MSG
Much learning earns you much trouble. The more you know, the more you hurt.

Proverbs 1:7 MSG
Start with God—the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.

Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study.  Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life.  ~ Henry L. Doherty

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.  ~Mark Twain

Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.  ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

I don’t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.  ~Abraham Lincoln

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.  ~Henry Ford

Learning is like rowing upstream:  not to advance is to drop back.  ~Chinese Proverb

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.  ~Confucius

Patience is the companion of wisdom.  ~St. Augustine

The years teach much which the days never knew.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.  ~Isaac Asimov

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.  ~George Bernard Shaw

Quotes from “The Quote Garden!”

 

Learning Deeper

Posted on Dec 20 2006 | Tagged as: learning

I must make a confession. When I was in high school learning did not come easily to me. Isn’t it like God to take an area of weakness and give us a passion to serve others in it? Let me continue to confess. Although I love to read and write it requires incredible focus for me to perform well. I will continue to be honest… To this day I have incredible test anxiety. I remember a few years back one of our Bible teachers handed out a test to the staff at an in-service meeting. He was giving us a Biblical knowledge test for fun. As soon as a copy of the test was placed in front of me I froze. In my mind it took me back to high school; to memories of walking into class the day of a test feeling unprepared and doomed to fail. It has taken me years to overcome some of the self doubt that resulted from my less than stellar high school academic career. My attitude toward learning has changed dramatically over the years. I believe that one of the primary contributors to that change is an understanding that learning is so much more than the ability to memorize information and repeat it back on a test (although this is an important part of learning)

I began to find areas of passion that propelled me to deeper levels of learning, late in high school, in college, and even more so in graduate school. As I matured as a student I began to understand what triggers motivated me to learn. I also began to discover that learning was exciting. Through the challenge of learning I began to not just acquire facts, but construct my own thoughts and opinions as I learned. I found learning was not just purely cognitive, but was beginning to influence my spirit, attitude, and my actions. Today I am passionate about the power of learning to transform us, especially when integrated with the heart of God.

If Westside is to strive for continuous improvement in the educational process where should we begin in order to get the greatest benefit for our effort? One of the elements of our recent visioning and strategic planning process is working to answer that question. What appears to be emerging from that work is a focus on our ability to inspire deeper levels of learning. Adding more content that is purely the memorization of facts does not accomplish the desired goal. We seek to develop in students a passion for learning, and the ability to shape well informed attitudes and actions. That does not mean we don’t need to study the facts, but that we must be intentional about training and challenging our students to apply, synthesize, and evaluate life as we learn.

Educational theory categorizes learning into three domains, the cognitive (what we know), the affective (what we feel), and the psychomotor (what we do). Within each of these categories there is a progression of learning steps that communicates with each step more ownership by the learner. For example, in the cognitive domain we begin with the ability to recall information, progressing to understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, and finally evaluation. If we are intentional as a school and in our classrooms and even in our extracurricular experiences to challenge students to move deeper in learning, they will be more prepared for college, and more prepared for life. Students will find that with each level of education (high school, college, post-graduate) higher levels of functioning in thinking, feeling, and doing are expected from them. Assignments change from fill in the blank worksheets to reflective yet documented opinion papers; from tests that require students to recall information to projects that demonstrate the ability to do something meaningful with freshly learned concepts.

In Westside’s mission statement we state a uniqueness of our educational philosophy, which is that we seek to “educate and develop the whole person to the glory for God.” Educating the whole person implies more than just downloading the facts from an instructor’s mind to a student’s mind. We want to inform the mind and inspire life long learning. We want to provide all kinds of challenging experiences that will incorporate the cognitive, but also force the heart to develop. We want to propel young leaders toward action and influence. It is through a posture of listening to Christ that we as a school seek to equip our students toward a life long process of learning – what they know, what they feel, and what they do.

Franciscan Benediction

Posted on Dec 17 2006 | Tagged as: faith

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression and exploitation of people
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them
And turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Amen and amen and amen!

Give Peace and Justice for Christmas

Posted on Dec 03 2006 | Tagged as: faith, justice

 - A presentation for Advent at Newberg Friends Church -

As I look at the first candle we will be lighting for this Advent season I have mixed emotions. At first glance it is not particularly warm and inviting. There are no red or green bows or beautiful accessories attached to this candle, but instead barbed wire.

This year we will be lighting a “Peace and Justice” candle as the Advent candle for the month. Some may ask, “How exactly does this candle help us anticipate the Christmas Season?”

Well, the spirit of Advent is one of expectation, anticipation, and longing for Christ to rescue us from the shackles of sin and evil in this world. Our yearning for deliverance from the evil and injustice of this world was first expressed by Israelite slaves in Egypt as they cried out from their bitter oppression. This cry for hope and deliverance continues today. God hears the cry of the poor and the oppressed and has a plan to bring rescue and relief.

There are approximately 27 million slaves in the world today and 53% of the world population struggles to live on less than $2.00 per day.

Those are some sobering statistics. But they should also inspire us to respond. It takes very little on our part to make a significant impact.  We are part of the six percent of the population that owns 53% of the world’s wealth.

Rich Stearns, the President of World Vision wrote in a recent article that it would take between 40 and 70 billion dollars a year to end extreme poverty by the year 2025.

That seems like a huge number until you realize that Americans spend $450 billion dollars on Christmas. The average family spends between $300 and $1100 per year. Marta and I were challenged by a group of churches in Portland who have a vision to change the way they spend this money. They are challenging their congregations to give gifts this season in a way that will change lives. They have identified some local and global initiatives they would like to support, like linking with a local public school to support the poorest families in Portland with housing, food, and clothing. Globally, they will be partnering with other organization to provide clean water to communities through digging wells, and provide micro loans to support entrepreneurs in the developing world. (Listen to the sermon at Imago Dei about this challenge)

If two-thirds of the people in these five churches participate minimally, then they believe they would generate close to a million dollars to support these initiatives.

In our Church body if every family were to make that same kind of commitment we could generate $130,000.

As I reflect on Christmases of the past I don’t remember many life changing gifts that I received or gave. The most meaningful gifts have been personal and relational, and normally did not cost much money, but were given from the heart.

I challenge you to consider this incarnational approach to giving this Christmas. If you are interested in pursing this further there will be a resource page on the NFC website with links to organizations with gift ideas you can give or request from family members.

I can’t think of a more powerful image of the message of Christmas than to mirror the redemptive gift that has been given to us. God the father rescued us with the gift of His Son Christ Jesus. And through our gift giving we could be used by God to rescue others this Christmas.
 
Yes, there is barbed wire in this world, just like on this candle. Injustice, violence and poverty are a reality for the majority of people in this world, but our God is the Prince of Peace.  Our God is the light, the hope, and the solution, and He is inviting us to join Him in bringing peace and justice to the world he so desperately loves.
 

IDEAS:

World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse- You can purchase an animal for a needy family or provide funds for a share of a well that will provide clean water to an entire community and much more.

Kiva – Lend funds to a specific entrepreneur in the developing world, empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty.

International Justice Mission – Your gift will provide rescue and renewed hope to victims of slavery, sexual exploitation, violence and other forms of oppression. 

Invisible Children – Purchase a bracelet and short DVD that tells the story of a Ugandan child impacted by war and the fear of being abducted into the life of a child soldier. These funds support programs and education for these children in Uganda.

Thank You God for Monkey Bars!

Posted on Nov 08 2006 | Tagged as: community, leadership, learning

Over the past few months I have been writing about three elements of our theme for this school year – an extraordinary community of purpose. At the beginning of each year we develop a theme derived from our core values, mission, or vision.  This theme is more than a slogan. We use our theme as a reminder of the core beliefs that have given direction to our school for over twenty five years.

The first element of an extraordinary community of purpose is our desire to intentionally give space for and invite in the source and center of our community. We are committed to nurturing our community and focusing on drawing near to Christ as our source and center. The second element is to seek authentic relationship or connections within our community.

A few weeks ago we experienced one of the most powerful series of chapels in the history of our school. Irvin Brown shared about the importance of transparency and the transformation that comes in Christ.  He challenged us that what we do in this life echoes into eternity. He invited our students to forgive themselves and others, and to begin to see how risky and life changing it is to have an intentional loving relationship with Jesus Christ.  At the end of chapel, students came forward for prayer. It was a beautiful sight to see students and staff in tears praying together. The residual impact of that chapel continues. We are responding with a regular time of prayer for students at lunch time. Our recent chapels illustrated both our intention to respond to the Holy Spirit in our lives and to provide an opportunity for us to connect in authentic ways with each other. I believe with all my heart that it is through Christ and in the context of relationship that the most powerful learning and growing can occur.

The third element of an extraordinary community of purpose is challenge – we are challenged to dream big dreams. I believe that this generation of young people has unbelievable potential to impact the world. They are up for a challenge. I also believe that dynamic teams are fueled by the courageous pursuit of a purposeful vision.

In a few hours school will be shutting down early. Our community will be heading to a soccer field to support the vision and courage of our girls soccer team. In the same way our Cross Country team has pursued a vision. This past weekend our guys team finished 2nd and girls 3rd in the state. Like the soccer team this vision for excellence was accomplished after months of courageous preparation. Last weekend our performing arts program completed a fantastic performance of You Can’t Take it With You. They have persevered through the difficulties that come with pursuing a challenging task. We have students who have recently been recognized as National Merit Scholars. Years of disciplined endeavor have brought them to a place of intellectual prominence. There are also students for whom school work does not come easily, yet they courageously pursue learning in the face of discouraging results. We have students who have a vision to change the lives of poor and orphaned children at risk of exploitation in Thailand. Since they’ve returned from their trip this summer, they have told the story of these children. The response is a home being built this month that will save nearly thirty more children from exploitation. Our students are looking for a challenge. They want to start movements. They want to impact the world for Christ. It is right that our community inspire and encourage courageous visions such as the ones mentioned above.

Since school has started, my daughter has included an interesting clause in her prayer at dinner time. We get the typical “thank you for the food,” but she ends each prayer with, “thank you God for monkey bars.” She is passionate about monkey bars.  Everyday we get a report on the progress she has made in this pursuit. At the beginning of the school year she was struggling to get across. We celebrated that triumph at the dinner table, but the next day we heard about the next goal to go down and back, and then skipping a bar was the big accomplishment.  A month into school and she could wave to people between bars. She was pretty disappointed when she was out of commission for a few days, a case of blisters, but she was proud when her blisters became calluses. Next she hopes she will be able to “wrap her legs like licorice” while skipping bars and waving.

There are always new challenges to face if we are growing in Christ. I am humbled and blessed that God invites us to partner in His mission.  It is not easy to pursue a Christ-planted vision, but the challenge is worth it. Our community is fueled by the courageous pursuit of a purposeful vision. 

Thank you God for monkey bars.

Connecting – Do you know my hurts?

Posted on Oct 09 2006 | Tagged as: faith, leadership, learning

I placed my hand into the water in front of me to check the temperature. “It feels warm, are you ready?” I looked up to see the grimace of pain as Russell removes his socks. “I have an unusual sized foot, so my shoes rarely fit me.” As I looked at his feet I saw a number of large blisters and asked, “Are you sure you want me to do this?” Russell replied with an honest smile, “You will do a great job.” He placed his feet into the soapy water with pain written all over his face. I noticed that every time I dipped the cloth into the water and gently washed his feet I was causing him pain. I apologized, “I am so sorry this is hurting you.” Russell would reply in a very kind voice, “Andy, you are doing a fine job, thank you for washing my feet.”

Two weeks later I found myself serving again with Bridgetown Ministries (invited by WCHS students). We were under the Burnside Bridge again and I saw Russell from a distance. He was sitting alone eating dinner. I took Marta to meet him and the three of us ate soup and talked together. He told us the story of how he came to live on the streets of Portland.

It all began nearly twenty years ago on his wedding night. Some of his friends brought some heroin to his wedding reception and Russell shot up for the first time. He told us this was the worst decision of his life. Since that time he has cleaned himself up nine times, but always relapsed and ended up alone and homeless on the street. He has three children, the oldest in high school. We listened to Russell discuss encounters with God and a desire to be a part of a church.  But it was one of the last statements he made that revealed to me the condition of his soul, and I have been processing how I should respond since.  He said, “After you’ve gotten up and fallen down again so many times, you just decide to stay down.”  This was one hurting and hopeless man. After our talk Marta washed his feet and we gave him a fresh pair of socks.

In some ways I felt hopeless for Russell. Honestly, I wanted to just walk away and shut his story out of my mind. Part of me wishes I had just kept my distance and never heard his story, because by hearing it, I felt the Holy Spirit asking me to have compassion. On the other hand, there was a connection made over those two brief encounters and Marta and I felt honored to be invited into Russell’s painful story. We feel compelled to seek Russell out in the future when we go downtown with Bridgetown Ministries.

I believe that at the core of significant connecting is a compassionate response to others. I heard Brennan Manning say, “How can we say we love someone, if we don’t know what hurts them.” In our school vision document we have stated that “our teachers love their students.” This week I asked our juniors and seniors to write down the name of the teacher who has had the greatest impact on them and why. As I read the responses, it confirmed my suspicions. In most cases they chose teachers who knew their hurts and demonstrated compassion. When we are willing to jump in and join in the chaos of another’s pain and hurt then we are trusted and invited to teach beyond the curriculum.

Our seniors illustrated the power of compassion and empathy to draw people together at senior retreat this year. On Saturday night of senior retreat we typically spend time listening to each other’s stories and praying for each other’s hurts. At the beginning of the evening there was an elephant in the room. Most of the students realized that a clear divide existed in the class between two groupings of students. At one point a student was bold enough to point out the elephant. The discussion was diverted from listening to the hurts and stories of students to a more pragmatic conversation of how to solve the problem.  The discussion seemed to miss the mark and the outcome was somewhat disappointing.

Then a transition took place and students began to share their stories again. One after another students shared their hurts and found support from their peers. Several times hurting students were invited to stand in the middle of the room while their classmates gathered around them, ministering with surgically precise prayers and encouragement. The things that had been barriers between the two groups were now gone.

I believe that in order for us to be an extraordinary community of purpose we must be centered in Christ and connected with each other. Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbor.   

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it.
Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down.
Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.
Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. 
(Selected passages from the Message – Romans 12: 9-19)

The Source and Center of Community

Posted on Sep 12 2006 | Tagged as: books, faith, leadership, learning

According to Wikipedia an iceberg is a large piece of ice that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. Since the density of pure water ice is ca. 920 kg/m3, and that of sea water ca. 1025 kg/m3, typically, around 90% of the volume of an iceberg is under water, and that portion’s shape can be difficult to surmise from looking at what is visible above the surface.

From what you see on the surface, you’d assume that the part below water is about the same size.  But when you look below the surface you realize that ninety percent of the iceberg is under water and is serving as a ballast – providing stability, depth, and substance to the visible portion.

It is the same way with our lives.  It is the substance of our center, or core, that provides stability and strength to what is visible. For this reason we are committed to nurturing our community and focusing on that which draws us to Christ as our source and center.

What is the ballast in my life that provides meaning, stability and depth to everything I feel, think, and do? Is it a set of rules? Is it me and my own thinking?  Is it other people and their ideas?

Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,
turn your back on the world’s “sure thing,”
ignore what the world worships.

Doing something for You, bringing something to You –
that’s not what You’re after.
Being religious, acting pious –
that’s not what You’re asking for.
You’ve opened my ears so I can listen.

So, I answered, “I’m coming.
I read in your letter what you wrote about me,
And I’m coming to the party
you’re throwing for me..”
That’s when God’s Word entered my life,
 became part of my very being
. (Psalm 40:4, 6-8 MSG)

Colossians three states, “Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ – that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.” 

One way we are working at increasing our ballast both personally and corporately is through prayer.  A deep inner life requires an ongoing conversation with the Savior. Our staff is beginning each day in focused prayer for each other, our students, and the school community. Once a week a group of parents meets in the morning to pray for the future of the school. Moms in Touch has been covering our school in prayer for years. 

PTF is sponsoring prayer evenings where parents can walk the halls and pray for their students, teachers, and the school as a whole. Our student-led core groups will focus attention on prayer. Once a month we will spend time during chapel in corporate prayer. In the spring we are exploring the idea of a staff and parent prayer retreat.  The purpose of the retreat is to pray for the school and develop a deeper partnership between teachers and parents. 

Another way we’re seeking to build ballast is by seeking to discern God’s vision for the future of our school. This month we had a community wide meeting on the 11th to gather input on the vision that has been developed so far. We are excited about how God is moving within our school to improve relationships, teaching and learning, and our ability to equip and encourage young adults to live Christ-centered lives of purpose.  Through the clarification of a shared vision we are confirming that we are a community whose center is Christ.

If we are seeking to be an extraordinary community of purpose then we must be clear about what fuels our community.  The Tuesday before students came back, our faculty and staff spent the day discussing what we see as the center of our community. After some great discussion we agreed that a purposeful community is developed from the inside out, and that above all, we desire that Jesus Christ be the source and center of our learning community.

What would a truly Christ-centered community of depth and purpose look like? 

I imagine that the people involved would be whole-heartedly committed to spending time with Jesus. I imagine they would take in scripture regularly, allowing it to penetrate their hearts and change them. I imagine they would be where the action is, following Jesus to dark and dirty places. Like icebergs, I imagine these folks would have a depth of humility, passion, and courage that is far greater than anything visible from the surface. 

May we be such people.  May we be such a community. 

(Iceberg analogy is from Seeds for the Future, Dale, 2005.)

An Extraordinary Community of Purpose

Posted on Aug 20 2006 | Tagged as: books, leadership, learning

One of Westside’s three core values is “family,” or community.  Why?  Why would an educational institution place such a high value on community?  Some might argue that this is a distraction from a school’s main purpose of educating students, but I believe it is critical to the educational process.  

When students are in an environment where they feel connected, known, wanted, and challenged, they are more motivated to learn. When teachers are in an environment where they are supported, growing, and have the time and opportunity to connect informally with students, parents, and each other, they are more passionate about teaching. Our purpose in seeking to develop a healthy community is to further our mission to educate the whole person.

In his book Seeds for the Future, Robert Dale identifies three elements which, when developed, encourage healthy community. I have found that these elements have been confirmed by scripture as well as my own experience. These elements are overlapping and are clearly dependent on one another in order to function properly. Over the next few months I intend to take a deeper look at each of these elements of a healthy community.

Element 1 – Centering – The depth of community
A purposeful community of depth must seek Christ as its source of strength. It must be intentional about taking time to care for the soul and discern God’s direction. 

Over the past year I have developed a deep friendship with a man who truly lives a life with Christ at the center. He spends two hours a day in prayer and reading God’s word. He says that he is captivated by Christ. This man is truly humble and sacrificial, which is so attractive and counter cultural. His response to spending time with Jesus is a passion to take on Christ’s mission to love others, glorify God and further His kingdom.  He could not be as effective in loving and caring for others if he did not spend so much time with Jesus – growing in the Spirit and discerning God’s will. 

Element 2 – Connecting – The width of community
Recently, while in flight from Los Angeles to Portland, I spent time journaling and seeking God, asking Him to reveal areas of weakness in my life. This is not a pleasant prayer, but I have found that with an honest confession of brokenness comes the opportunity for growth. It became clear to me that I needed to be more intentional about connecting with people.

My personality does not lend itself quickly to small talk, but I enjoy talking about things I consider meaningful. It is not that small talk is bad; I am just bad at it. When I got home I told Marta that I felt I needed to be more intentional in making connections with people. We both agreed that we want our home to be a safe and comfortable place; we want to open our home and ourselves to others. Marta and I want to befriend and love others as Christ does. This requires face time and a willingness to open up one’s heart to others. God is beginning to answer this prayer. Over the summer we have had a steady stream of connecting with students, parents, and staff from WCHS, and others from within our community. It has been a rich summer of connecting.

In the same way we need to provide intentional opportunities for connecting within the school community. This is required to expand the width of community at Westside.

Element 3 – Challenging – The height of community
The last element of an extraordinary community is to have a purposeful vision and the courage to live it out. This includes the development of a personal vision and sense of purpose within God’s kingdom, but also a community-wide vision.  We have often talked about excellence as one of our core values. We already promote an environment that seeks continuous growth and improvement.  What we need to add is a prayerfully planned, all encompassing vision and a detailed plan to realize it. This vision is just fluff unless we have the courage to follow Christ toward the execution of His vision for our community and for ourselves.

Over the past few months our school leadership and staff have begun the development of a vision that will lead us toward a specific strategic plan over the next three years.  This vision describes conceptually how our community would function and support the educational process, how teaching and learning in the classroom and through extracurricular experiences would progress toward more completely fulfilling our mission, how our community would prepare and challenge our students to become people of influence for Christ, and how our school is uniquely positioned to serve the Christian community.

If you were not able to attend our community meeting on the 22nd please consider joining us on September 11th to give your input into this visioning process. We are excited about what God is doing within our school and need your help to take it to the next step.

As we all know, life is lived in community in one form or another. To be able to navigate and contribute to the growth of a healthy community is a powerful learning objective in itself. We have the opportunity to model healthy Christian community to the next generation, which could inspire our students to develop communities of extraordinary purpose and influence throughout their lives. I look forward to the coming year as we connect, ground our souls in Christ, and challenge each other to seek a life of vision and the courage to live it out.    

They get it!

Posted on Aug 19 2006 | Tagged as: faith, faith in action, justice, thailand project

Tuesday night our Thailand team invited all of our supporters in prayer, finances, and encouragement to attend a dessert in their honor. The night was inspired. It was a true community effort that communicated the spirit of the trip, and the vision of what God is doing through this journey. We had over a hundred people show up and you could tell they understood the beauty of this trip. They were moved to tears. One lady came up to me and said, “This was not a presentation, but a worship service.” Praise God!

Then on Thursday night Marta and I met with three couples from our church. We told stories and shared video and it was such a blessing to me. They wanted to hear! At the end of our evening they prayed for us. I think this was a timely prayer.  It was very encouraging to me, but also I could sense the Holy Spirit working. God is on the move. It is such a thrilling adventure to follow Christ (not always easy).

We still have stories to tell! If you have ears to hear?

 

The Journey – Moving Toward the Heart of God

Posted on Aug 08 2006 | Tagged as: faith, faith in action, thailand project

In March of 2005 we began a conversation about transforming the hearts of our WCHS students. Our hope was that we would all begin to have hearts that break for the things that break Christ’s heart.

The result was a trip that turned into a journey… it is ongoing.

We have returned from the trip, but our hearts still ache for our new family in Thailand.

You see, we have fallen in love with the children and staff of Grace Ministries. These are children of extreme poverty, some are orphans, and all were at risk of exploitation. These children are inspiring. They are passionate to become leaders within their country and to change the future for other children.

What happened is they changed us. We came with a lifestyle distracted by entertainment and over indulgence (we still struggle here), now we see Christ much clearer and desire to be captivated by Him. We don’t want to be ordinary, we want to be extraordinary.

While on the trip a vision emerged. We could see very clearly that out of our admiration and love for one another we could develop a partnership that would be mutually beneficial. We would love them like brothers and sisters and tell their story to anyone who would listen. The result of our story telling has been that people feel compelled to respond. Children are getting sponsored and new buildings are being built. More children are being saved.

Grace Ministries is becoming a hub for this kind of work. They will train others to start similar types of work and more children will be saved and groomed into leadership. We will keep telling the story and churches and organizations will be compelled to support these new works.

We also benefit from this relationship. We get to go back and live with them each summer. We get to love them and be loved. We get to learn to put ourselves last.

Join the conversation – Let us tell you our stories – Fall in love

To begin a conversation send us a message. CLICK ME

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