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
Raindrops in the Ocean 