DTS...week one

The new students are here.  It has been an intense week.  The students are amazing individuals.  I am remembering back to my first week of DTS...begging God to hold me together as my life took on new shape, trying to find how I fit in this new world and how my new world fit in me. 

I find myself back in Colossians this week, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him.  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." (1:15-17)

I am reminded that He is big enough to hold all these lovely students together, to hold my heart, to hold this school and all the dreams He has for us.  He is Holy, and we can trust Him. 

Making a Way

Just a quick note to let you know where my life and energies are directed right now.  We are preparing for the arrival of the  students for our discipleship training school, and as a base we are setting aside time for prayer and fasting to get God's heart for our ministry in this area.  I feel like God is preparing to work in the Central Coast in a new way, and we are preparing ourselves to receive Him and His gifts.  Advent seems to be the perfect time to be about this business of making a way for God to move in and through our lives and ministries, making a way for others to know Him. 

My church (www.everydaychurch.org) is doing a series on stewarding the Glory of God.  A couple weeks ago we talked about time management, which is very important to walking in His Glory...making sure the ways in which we spend our time reflect our priorities.  It fit well with the things I was learning in orientation and personally as I prepare to balance a pretty heavy work load.  Since weightiness is the definition of glory, this seems to fit!  (heavy work load=weighty work load)  I just want to be sure my time is spent productively and efficiently.  This week we are talking about glory in suffering. 

On a more personal note, I am finding myself overwhelmed by the abundance of God in the place He has called me.  The road before me is a place where my gifts are needed, welcome, and encouraged.  The people at my work and in my community want to know my heart and cherish me.  The love I feel every time I interact with someone from my church, even someone who doesn't know me at all...it's all overwhelming.  Friday night it moved me to tears.  I have no category for this. 

So that would be my prayer request for this week...that God would expand my heart to be able to receive, accept, and pour out His abundance.

<3
Beth

Finding My Place

Happy Thanksgiving and a Lovely Advent to you!

I am settling in and finding my place in the Central Coast.  As for my part supporting the base, I am serving on four base ministries:

• Hospitality
• Fund Raising and Advertising
• Worship, Intercession, and Spiritual Warfare
• Outreach 

Each community house has Inreach each week, which is like Outreach, except we invite people INto our homes.  Our Inreach is on Wednesday nights and you can read more about it in my previous post.

So far I am serving on one personal ministry, and that would be Discipleship Training School (DTS).  The students arrive on January 10, so we are busy with preparations for them.  We will be here in the Central Coast for January, February, and March...then we will go overseas.  We as leaders will pray about where we are going, then we will give the students an opportunity to pray as a team.  It is a very exciting process, and I am anxious to see what God has in store.  If you pray and get a sense of anything, let me know!  This is one of my favorite things to see...how God speaks to many people in many ways.

My specific jobs in the DTS will be:

• Lead a small group
• Lead one-on-one discipleship times with each person in my small group
• Student Hospitality
• Assist with Speaker Hospitality
• Assist with weekly Debrief time
• KITCHEN!!!

I'm so excited about serving the DTS Kitchen, and I need your help.   Now, I considered a few loaves and fish, but given the month I have to prepare, I thought a few more recipes might help. So what are your favorite recipes to feed a crowd on a budget?

We have 15-20 people to feed, mostly girls.
I am trying to procure a slow cooker or two and maybe a pressure cooker.
We will need a variety of quick 30 minute meals, slow cooker meals (hopefully), casseroles, simple hot lunches and dinners.

Thanks!

Beth

P.S. I can now add 10 people on my blog email list.  If you would like to have the posts emailed to you, please let me know.  <3

Orientation Continues

We have just completed our first week of Discipleship Training School (DTS) orientation.  It was  a good week.  We worshiped and prayed together, discussed the upcoming school requirements, guidelines, and values, and talked about experiences from the past and where the school is headed this year.  Yesterday was our staff bonding day for the DTS staff, and we had a chance to wash each other's feet and share what God has placed on our hearts for each other.  As my fellow staffers spoke to me about how I would minister to the students, my heart overflowed with gratitude and awe...I feel like it is such an honor and wonderful opportunity to build the Kingdom of God in the hearts of the people God is sending to us.  I feel like they are world changers, and the idea that I get to influence them and pour into them all God has given me brings me to tears.

We had our first inreach this week.  A few of our homeless friends from the community and friends from church were able to come, and we are still praying about how to reach the community and our neighborhood as a whole.  We are situated in an interesting place...two houses to our right is a literal fence dividing two socioeconomic classes.  As I have toured the central coast, getting God's heart for the region, I have been getting the sense that we as a missionary base are placed strategically to bridge even the richest and the poorest of the world.  Many times the experiences of the extremely poor are simply inaccessible and unimaginable to the privileged of the earth, which includes the vast majority of the US and Canada.  As an international missionary I have the humbling experience of getting a global view of the world, something I long to share with others, as well as a more complete picture of the Father's love.  Many people say that death is the great equalizer, but I believe Grace is, for we are equal before the throne of grace, and I long for others to experience this freedom.

 So...back to my thoughts on in-reach...we are still praying about how to open our home to bring the community together.  In-reach happens on Wednseday evenings.  Please be praying with us about this important part of our ministry.

I am still settling in, and by that I mean I am still purging five years of boxes of the things that accumulate in a person's life.  I feel it is important to steward the things I have been given by God without clinging to material things I don't need.  For instance, the boxes of books are helpful for our DTS, and I am already rummaging through them to reference for my friends, while art projects and Christmas cards from several years ago may not be needful or helpful.  Some of them help me remember who I am and how loved I am, so I will be sorting through those today.  I have already purged half of what I had, so I feel like I am traveling much lighter now.  This is my act of worship on a Saturday afternoon in November.

Love you all and talk with you soon.  Drop me a line if you think about it.  I'd love to hear from you.

Beth