Hello! How is it the end of June already?! Praying God is blessing you with a”summer season” of His light and warmth!

This week, could you please intercede on our behalf for:

• all host dates for our fall vision trip to fall into place by this Friday…we’re hoping to go to 2-3 countries in East Asia to discern God’s place for us in new territory and to experience participation in His ministry there
• a growing interest among our mentors (and support from their churches) to explore how God might use their worship leadership skills beyond their job descriptions
• courage and wisdom as I continue to work on researching and developing a new approach to our international teams…God seems to be moving a little faster than I’m comfortable with in some respects, and I need to let go of wanting to “do it right” when that gets in the way of  being secure in the flow of His Spirit…even if He is a rapid current!
• personally, fearlessness in pursuing intimacy with God…sometimes it feels safer to worship Him from a distance, but I’m starting to wonder if I can really do that and call it “worship in spirit and truth”

So grateful for your spiritual fellowship and support as you pray in our stead…as you do, you are living examples of worship to God (Romans 12.1-2) for me!

Hello! It’s officially summer! And Happy Father’s Day to all of you dads. Hope you had a great day…

This week, can you please cover me in prayer:

• as I process all the information that’s been fed to me over the last two weeks
• as we discern God’s heart for integrating our mentor network a little more with global impact and how that might play out this fall
• as we continue to explore a new approach for international teams
• as we take a few more steps toward a test run for domestic efforts

Thanks! Enjoy your summer!

Hi! Hope your past week was as full of God’s mercy as mine was and you can see more to come! Thanks for praying for us at our staff retreat. We were so blessed with a beautiful environment, great weather, and significant time together. We walked away with some short-term goals that helped clarify our next steps.

This week, could you please pray for me during:

• a three day conference (Monday-Wednesday)  to learn about worship technology…this will be helpful both in my own ministry at my home church and in helping our teams focus and prepare for their ministry trips around the world
• a short update presentation to a gathering of outreach leaders at my church on Saturday morning…and to receive divine inspiration in the days leading up to it so I’ll know how to communicate His heart for me in this ministry within 5-7 minutes
• Thursday-Saturday, to make up for not being able to begin on Mon-Wed to tackle that long list of steps toward our six-month goals
• His peace and power to carry me through a packed week…and discipline to go to bed early and get consistent exercise! I forget sometimes how it’s the basic stuff that makes a way for the spiritual stuff.

Thanks so much! Have a great week!

Hello! It’s a beautiful June day here in So Cal. Hope it’s just as nice wherever you are…

This week (and next) will be pretty “active.” Please pray for:

• our first overnight staff retreat…it was hard to even find one two-day/one-night period to meet, and we finally settled on June 9-10. Pray we will bless one another as we bless God in our service to Him. And we’ll be humble enough to slow down and receive from Him, as well.
• the Lausanne conversation on June 10, 7pm, Saddleback Community Church. I’ll be going (because it’s free! ) to get to know that movement a little more personally, to network, and to fellowship with that community.
• personal growth in how I worship God and how I integrate that into my life, WFI or otherwise…
• a keen spiritual awareness of the movement of God throughout this week. With so much activity, it’s easy to just look at the surface of situations and not dig deeper. Still, I want everything He has for me in all that is happening.

Thanks so much! Hope you have a wonderful week. Let me know how I can be praying for you, too…

Reflections of Praise

After a hectic April, it was totally God’s wisdom to plan for a low-key May. We started the month in New Jersey at the Mentor Network Gathering where Brennan Manning reminded us in many ways that we belong to Abba and are loved by Him as we are, not as we should be. That was a much needed truth that stayed with me throughout the month as I’ve had opportunities to explore some pretty big (read: daunting) possibilities for Global Impact. Especially since we haven’t been able to assemble summer teams this year despite all our efforts, remembering the Father’s faithful love and how He glories in concealing matters¹ has drawn me to ask Him what is on His heart and mind and allow Him to drop some pretty crazy ideas in my head. Since He opened up my schedule by eliminating all logistical aspects of a summer team (which would be pretty crazy right around now), I’ve had significant times to sit still (or go running ) and dream a little with Him. It’s been a challenge to change what I previously defined as “short-term missions,” but I get the sense He is ready to shift things, and I need to be willing to follow Him…no matter how wild He gets.

Please continue praying this month

• for a fearless following after God into new realms, new relationships, new paradigms
• for supernatural organizational skills as I gather reference ideas, next steps, and contact information…I need to be able to retrieve it all after He gives it to me!
• for good communication with our current host partners who wanted a team, but won’t receive one this summer…that we can mutually encourage one another as we wait for God to release us into active ministry together…and thank God for their patience and kind understanding!
• for spiritual protection as we move in a direction that will attract the Enemy’s contempt
• for unshakable assurance and confidence in God as my leader in WFI and in my own personal life

Looking Ahead

At least once, maybe twice, a decade, I start to feel restless. My daily life looks mundane and not very exciting. I wonder what it would be like to live in a big city with all kinds of activity just steps from the front door. Or what it would be like to spend a few months in another country and encounter God through the people and culture there. I’m not sure what brings it on, but the feeling is always the same: I want more. I guess after a month of seeing all that God is doing through others, it’s hard not to compare…

That sounds very unChristian to be unsatisfied. Paul’s claim to be content in all circumstances² has been held before me as a goal in more messages than I can count. What God has been showing me, though, is the distinction between contentment and satisfaction. Contentment is about our attitude; satisfaction is about a standard.

I’m starting to suspect we were built for a much higher standard than we tend to hold, maybe an Edenic one? Thanks to our fallen nature, we’re never going to meet that standard in this lifetime. (Do you feel encouraged?! ) Although we do need to develop an attitude of contentment, we don’t do that by lowering the standard.

That restlessness I feel is uncomfortable — and slightly irritating! — but it reminds me (1) we’re created in the image of God for more than what this world can offer, and (2) complacency doesn’t mean I’ve learned contentment, only that I’ve lowered my standard. Whether it’s pursuing God in my own personal relationship with Him or attempting to point people closer to Jesus through music and the arts, I need to be content without settling for discovering less than His best, even in the smallest details.

I don’t have the secret to that (you’ll have to ask the Apostle Paul). What I appreciate about that uncomfortable balancing act, though, is the way it propels me to discover as much as I can of God. I love puzzle games, but at some point I want to solve it. This is like one huge puzzle game that has infinite levels — because God is infinite! I wish I could say it will be resolved when we see Him face to face, but the more I think about it, the more I am convinced this will be an eternal process. And through it, God will be eternally glorified!

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings. Proverbs 25.2

1. Proverbs 25.2 [↩]
2. Philippians 4.11 [↩]