Thank You Greenwood

There are moments in life when you have to step back and shake your head and say "only God...". Only God could have orchestrated the day that we had yesterday with our friends at Greenwood Community Church. It was amazing.

Guest teaching is always a challenge because I am unknown to the community. But both times I have taught at Greenwood I felt like I was at home. God just speaks at Greenwood and it is amazing to be a part of that.

Dozens of people expressed interest in financially partnering with us (and if you are one of those people, my email address is in my profile on the right side of this page). But beyond the new friendships and relationships, it was so great to see all of the elders and staff members who we have talked to over the last year and a half, who took the time out of their Sunday schedule to come over and encourage us as well.

It is clear to me that besides TNL, Amy and I have no greater friends in a church than Greenwood Community Church.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone at Greenwood for the opportunity to share. It was an enormous blessing and encouragement to be a part of your community. We look forward to seeing what God does through our partnership along the way.

Calling

"All of ministry is calling.  It is either discovering your calling or living into your calling."

~Dave Terpstra to Jared Mackey in India (I was jet-lagged at the time, but it still sounds right on this side of the pond).

Sometimes God calls us specifically.  He wants us to go somewhere specific (like Mozambique) or do something specific (like be a counselor or pastor or teacher or computer programmer).

Sometimes God calls us collectively.  He wants a whole church or home group to pay attention to something.

Sometimes God calls us lovingly.  He wants us to spend more time with Him.

But sometimes God calls us generically.  He simply wants us to respond.  To begin to serve.  To learn to listen.  To discover what is next.

That is how God began to call Amy and me to Africa.  Sure, looking back I can connect the dots.  But at the time, they just looked like dots.  Generic dots.

I'm speaking at Greenwood Community Church on the 16th on the subject of calling, and as I am putting together my story, I am realizing how obvious it seems on the back end that God was calling us to Africa.  But at the time, it was just about sponsoring a kid through Compassion International, joining the One Campaign, and supporting friends who were missionaries.

I guess the lesson I am learning is to follow God's generic calls, not just his specific ones.  You never know where something "generic" might lead...