Stopped

A couple days later Ellen, Dan and I are the only missionaries, we make our way up the steps and through the glass doors of the UC.

I'd received a word to preach. God wanted us to tell students He's forming a people who love Him here at IUPUI, but today an amplified student with a guitar reigned over the din of the UC lunchroom that sat strangely vacant.

"You could just ask to have his mic," Ellen suggests. I really wished I'd at least asked, but instead we left. We headed across the quad, entering the the hotel food court. Often we'd find individual/small groups of folks, but today we would attempt our first hotel preaching.

Pushing through the doors, we entered the food court. I instantly realized how much louder and larger this room was. Extending back it will hold 3-400 students at a time and with much higher ceilings and lots of concrete, sound echoes off the walls. Long lines had already began bisecting the room snaking between packed tables and structural columns.

Dan, Ellen and I positioned ourselves to the side of the lines so that as many folks as possible could see and hear. "Good afternoon everyone," our welcome echoed down to the end of the long room and returned. All heads stopped and with a motion almost audible, turned to see what was happening.

I had been talking now for about 2 minutes about how love calls us to do some crazy things when out of the hotel this 220 lbs 45 year old man in a suit complete with clear ear bud enters the room. Seeing us he turns and starts heading straight for us. I notice him. Usually when we are asked to stop the person stands off to the side, but those were students and in the UC. He walks right up to me and stops directly in front of me and in a voice lower than even Dan or Ellen could hear he commands me to stop and come with him.

"Just a minute I'm almost done, sir," I reply," SO LOVE CAN MAKE US DO CRAZY THINGS," I shout over his shoulder.
"No. You will stop and come with me. Now." It was final.
"Alright," I tell him and again shouting over his shoulder," GOD BLESS Y'ALL, WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK." I tell the court and head
outside.

He takes our names, tells us we cannot proselytize in there, and was really a nice guy about it. We'd been standing in front of a glass wall and in view of the whole food court. As we're conversing, a student emerges to inform our detainer that she really likes what we do and has heard us a few times. She really doesn't want us to get in any trouble, she tells him.

Dan and I glance at one another, mouths agap. No student has yet defended us, this is really remarkable. But the hotel manager assures her we are in no trouble and will only receive a warning.

Thank You Lord

As I walk through the University lunchroom I pray 'Lord, who do you want me to talk to,' under my breath. A pair of guys at the end of the table closest to the cashier caught my eye. The word this afternoon about the resurrection came to mind, so leading with "have you guys ever heard of the resurrection" we were off.

"OH! I do NOT want to hear about this!" Guy number 1 replies. Number 2 nods.

"Well, alright. I'll leave y'all alone," I assure," but sometimes the Lord wants to tell us stuff even when we don't want to hear it." I pause, asking the Lord for any words.

"YOU NEED TO RESPECT THEM," this 30-something guy begins demands. "STOP FORCING PEOPLE TO BELIEVE WHAT YOU THINK. YOU'RE FORCING YOUR BELIEFS ON PEOPLE," now finished packing he gathers his pack and marches in my direction still yelling.

A little taken aback, I try to explain that I can't force anyone to believe anything and that these two are free to believe what they will. His shouting only escalates, but he soon decides he's repeated himself enough and stomps off. A dissonant silence resumes. Watching from their lunches, students picked up their pizzas again. "Well, God bless y'all," I say to the silent two. I depart.

I sat down with Park next. He's a graduate student from Japan and unfamiliar with the Gospel. Honest and transparent he permits me to sit and share the Good News with him. Meanwhile, the two and my accuser have regrouped, but I try to ignore it as Park asks about what Jesus preached.

"So, Jesus said that the Kingdom of -"
"What's your name?," said the accuser now standing beside us.
"I'm Rus. How about you?" I replied.
"NO. What's your full name?!" he demanded, yanking a paper out of his pocket.
"I'm Russell Lyons. Two s's, two l's. L-y-o-n-s." He scribbles this down and again marches off, my "God Bless" on his heals.

Park and I finish up with little progress and this concludes another day in the UC.

Get a Job...

Thought I'd post a bit on employment here in Indianapolis. Give us today our daily bread, we're taking as relying on the Lord for our day-to-day items. Namely our bread, and beans. We've decided 'tent making' to pay some our expenses is important to our missionary way of life.

Hence Substitute teaching...

However, others are involved in nursing, waitressing tables, sub-contracting, teaching dance and voice lessons, mowing lawns, nannying and I stuffed envelopes for a while.


Mary and Naomi went to St Marys and U of Portland for nursing and took their Boards at the end of the summer. After passing and applying for jobs they now both work for IU Hospital. Naomi in an Oncology Unit and Mary in a Bone Marrow Transplant Unit.

We've all been brainstorming how to make this work with missionary schedules. We want to be free to spend as much time as we'd like doing mission work and so decided to work 10 hrs/week (except the RNs who have full-time jobs). However, we also figured we'd need jobs that pay about $12/hr. Which got us thinking what can we offer.


Ellen is teaching dance and had her first class today. She's working with her former dance teacher from Servant Branch to formulate a lesson plan and working with Indy branch kids. Molly just got a job at a local private school teaching choir classes. Apparently there were only 2 students signed up for the class initially, but when one of the gals in the branch who attends this school realized Molly was teaching rounded up her friends and assembled 15 students to give up lunch time for choir class with Molly. Praise God.

Hannah and I have both been doing substitute teaching, though we now have better paying jobs and are looking at other options. Hannah waitresses at Bistro Chopstix downtown and I sub-contract for Carl Horlander, member of the branch.

I just ended work at a Direct Mailing company, Proto-Type - stuffing envelops and helping to reorganize the warehouse, though I still cut the lawn (which I'll be doing tomorrow morning). It was great, I could get up and get to work at 6AM, by walking across the street and they'd break at 7:30 so I'd still get to eat breakfast back with the household. Here you can see the blue warehouse from my desk. Amazing glimpse into life in the Kingdom.

Ah, and I must finally inform that the beard has been downsized. I could no longer afford to pay it's salary and was forced to let it go.

Mr. Lyons

INDIANAPOLIS - At approximately 8:30AM one Russell Lyons recieved a phone call from Kelly Services requesting his person report to an area middle/high school for a emergency substitute job.

Upon arrival he was handed a list of class times and shown his room. "We told him he'd be the music teacher for the day and that the previous teacher had been let go over weekend with a few others due to budgetary concerns," said the Assistant Principle.

"I was informed there would be no lesson plan for the day and then shown my classroom, which is more commonly known as the bilingual room," Mr. Lyons said. What ensued was 7 hours of the most intense chaos he said he'd ever experienced.

After discovering the instruments in the back room half way through the first class, it wasn't long before fat beats and trumpet blasts could be heard throughout. A hall monitor put down this operation and Mr. Lyons turned to a rhythym-based curriculm featuring clapping circles, pencils on tables/chairs, stomping and beat-boxing.

"I gotta say it was just what ever I could do to keep them from yelling at each other and running out of the room to 'go to the bathroom.'" At one point the 8th grade class was told they'd be realised 5 minutes early if 3 students could recite the subject matter - "Henie ma tovue." They did and he did, for which a swift reprimand was recieved by all.

But the final bell rang and with bone-deep fatigue Mr. Lyons plopped his report in the office, gathered up his belongings and piled into the car to return home by nearly 4PM.

Another day making-tents brings new levels of exhaustion and great piles of joy.

Today

Hey Tom, liked your post. It brought a lot of light. So, here's a snap shot of the Indy life.

Today was a little different. It's Friday, which is usually our day off, but 3 guys Justin, Joe and Zach came down with Walt Seale for the weekend. They got in late last night so we had a late start.

10:00 Do some personal prayer down stairs in common office - all rooms full up

10:30 Coffee happens with household. I just get up and walk across porch to over side.

11:00 Chores: Joe mows side-field (God bless him)

12:00 NoVA guys and I head to IUPUI for tour of hotel, UC, the quad, library, etc. Talk about what it's like to preach right where stand to do it in UC. End up under shade trees in hotel courtyard about how to start a conversation.

1:30 Return early. Abe picks us up, and we get back with enough time for Justin and I to talk a walk. Solid senior, I think God's got some plans. Upon return we figure out the Iliad and Martin Luther before dinner.

2:30 Dinner! Praise God. Women have packed and will leave directly for Women's Retreat, but we all eat Hannah egg salad sandwiches on donated Panera (God be praised) and Loughrin cookies and Ellen's carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Amazing.

3:50 Abe and I - dishes.

4:15 Head to Southside for evening o' mission.

4:30 Hour of mission prayer. I was talking with Holy Spirit about our future and wanted to set higher expectations. We talked about Paul's imprisonments and His directness of communication through visions.

5:30 Zach and I head hit the streets. Meet some new and old folks. Repentance and the book of Acts was a part of conversation today. Zach preached Paul's first vision to a few people (as that's what he got in the hour of mission prayer).

8:00 Missionaries gather from all the corners of the Southside for quick debrief before headed back.

8:45 Night ends with more cookies from the Loughrins - thank you Jesus - and we sit and tell stories from the day. It was really wonderful. John and Justin prayed with a Vet for his girlfriend who's in the hospital. She called a few minutes later just to say she was feeling quite better. WOW. And we end with evening prayer. Abrazos all around.

Tomorrow I'm getting up for 4 miler with Joe at 6:00, we'll all pray at 6:30, then breakfast and painting all day. This will be payment for staying in house on Southside until December. Lord's Day dinner with all guys in Indy branch at Center.

What a life the Lord lives.

The Hippie Grows a Beard

The summer gone, and a new semester ahead calls for a new introduction to Indy 2.0 and quick update on news.

During the summer of 06 I took a Philosophy class on the Southern planes of Minnesota. We lived on a farm, cooked our own food, lived with our classmates. I picked up book binding in some free time there, and have recently been able to restore two books; my own Christian Community Bible and Ruth's Grandmother's Bible which had lost it's cover, the spine and was in the process of shedding pages. All were able to be restored and it looks/feels like a usable book again.


In putting these books back together it struck me how I'd never really cared that much about a book before and how easy it was to just purchase another. But now what was manfactured - probably by massive sewing/glueing/cutting machines is a new creation. Instead of one more uniform product spat from the mouth of factory half way around the world, its someone's. This got me to thinking on clothes, furniture, and food - how we in the People of Praise are a people and how the pots and pans, the books and tables of different culture are wrapped up in who they are, what they're about, and how they live. Some day we might have our own architecture or form or communication. What does the People of Praise style/genre/worldview/lens look like in the normal, the everyday?

This last week we completed our move from 1444 Rembrandt into the Duplex across the street. We had been renting the Rembrandt house for these last 8 or so months and now our contract has come to an end. Looking from front, the guys have right-side, women have the left. Upstairs are private, 1st and basement floors are common. As you walk in to the guys side from our wide-shared porch you have to walk through the office, then our common study to get up the stairs to stuff rooms and sleeping floor-space. Right now the guys kitchen, which is behind the stairway is torn up, awaiting some more work.

The gals got the common living room, dinning room and soon-to-be incredible kitchen. The two sides' floor plans are laid out as mirror images.

And speaking of mirror:

Shalom.









photos by Mary Seale

Weekend

It's the end of the last Sunday night here in Indy this summer. The warmer months are valuable treasures, yet each year I'd often arrive at the end surprised it was over still stuck with a long list of things left undone. However, this summer was different. I think after careful analysis I'm declaring this summer the best yet. I know it's bold, but I'm convinced. Coming out of the IUPUI work, plunging into the Near Southside, preaching, teaching, praying with countless for Holy Spirit, prayer meetings, not to mention the Lord's Days, the volleyball, the beans and rice, tri-tip, 4th of July and all the folks who made up the Indy household. It's offical this summer wins.

Early May, 8 of us descend on Indianapolis - Northside, Broadripple, Eastside, all over. Nathan and Jon get lost looking for a portion of the southside and decide to just get out and start. We'd gotten a word that day to preach whether or not folks listened. A lot of folks didn't care to listen, but that night Nathan and Jon would end up praying with a woman for the Holy Spirit and see God's Kingdom breaking out there in the Near Southside. It's been ballooning ever since.

We'd go all over the neighborhood in the following months; running into folks who'd prayed to God to send someone, a lot of folks who'd heard the gospel, drugs, some wicca, humble folks, a ton of confusion, some door knobs (slammed in our faces), people asking for the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of God breaking out. It was real, and often exhausting but the Lord went before us and continues to call us to run harder each day, and discern on our feet.

Friday we did a prayer meeting with the neighbors after our guerilla dinners. For the last few Fridays we've been assembling dinner at our place (thanks to Cook Brummer) on our free Thursdays and sticking it in the frig. Then we pray for people to eat with and show up with a ready meal. Shortly after Beth Couch, Naomi Caneff and I set up a dinner with John and Krissy, we learned that one of our friend's relatives had been shot some months back and was still recovering. She and her niece decided to repent of the their anger, pray for forgiveness, and begin anew with God. God be praised. John, Krissy and the rest of us devided to eat over there. At 5 the food was dropped off, we had a great meal, shared stories of the Lord, and His work in the neighborhood with about 10 folks crammed into that living room. The light shone in the darkness.

Saturday was the one of the coolest Lord's Days ever. Wanting to eat in Southside at our new rental, we had to think creatively to cover enough food for the neighborhood. Again Cook Nah hatched a food plan. In pairs, we knocked and invited folks to dinner while asking for the food needed to preapare it. It was amazing. People gave us yellow cake mix, Bush beans, noodles/pasta, hamburger and even 6 Salsbury steaks. After only an hour we had more than we could eat, and Hannah with her crack team of sou chefs began Macgyver-ing the feast. The rest returned to inviting, preaching, and teaching. That night's feast brought neighbors, a TONAGE of kids, Missionary and visisting V&B crew together for the first of many Lord's Days to come.

Sunday's prayer meeting capped us off at 45 people. It was huge. Chairs filled, kids on the floor and still more leaning against the walls. Soon though some kids began squirming so an exodus led by Laura Ficker engaged the kids outside while Nick spoke on troubles with the rest inside. It was exactly what the Lord wanted to say. The talk on perservering and doing something turned to prayer as folks asked for God's help and direction in their lives. We prayed against addiction, money problems and one 20-something year old gave his life to the Lord. God be praised. God is gathering His people and writing His WOrd on their hearts.

Pray for this last week, to "leave it all on the field" and the coming semester.

Update

People. With the sun set, missionary work done for another day, I thought I'd blast out a post. Some familiar things happened today. Got up this morning with a little extra snuff from an early down time last night (God be praised), personal prayer yielded a more of discussion with the Lord on how to serve.

I've recently learning a lot that you can't read about, you know, you've got to live in it. The realizations like, 'ah that's what Jesus is talking about.' This morning was about Christ being our food. It came a live as I've been hungry a lot recently. Wow, food that makes you full forever - it just made sense when hunger is a part of the day. Probably much more like Jewish life. The Lord was also sharing with me about if we want the places closest to Jesus, we must serve each other. It really struck me that in fasting, we can get caught up in the hunger and not grow closer to the Lord in the same way we can serve others and end up thinking only of our own service rather than growing in love for those we are caring for. In this He's been talking about how I need to be hungering for more of Him and His body of Christians. Hunger for more of the Lord and His People, for His Kingdom come and His Glory proclaimed and if I want more of these I must serve Him and His Body. Praise God.

Then PT (9:43 on the 1.5 mi), I'm coming for you Allendale Junction - the sword is coming to Indy next. Breakfast o' oats - fantastic as usual. And then work began with work teams. I was heading up the Real Estate Research which continues here in Indy, and dinner happened at 2PM. Then a Spiritual Exercise and off to the Southside for mission work.

Tonight's mission became sorting clutter. Many of us experience a lot of spiritual clutter in folks lives, like someone whose been collecting stuff for years without ever sorting it. So a lot of the work of listening for the Lord is about trying to find the light switch and discern what's actually in the room. Taught 2 folks how to do forgiveness and reconciliation, 1 got down on her knees and prayed the sinners prayer - giving her life to the Lord and deciding to start a new relationship with her creator. God be praised.

Also, face update on the rabbi-action...


Now, it's time to sign out and grab some square footage o' flooring. God Bless y'all.

Shalom

Hey y'all.

My Bday just happened (sweet) and with it a web cam (also sweet). The Bid deuce-deuce was great. Nick and I celebrated our Birthdays the weekend before (June 23rd) and had a cake race. I won, though I did have a few less candles to blow out.

Today we had 2 mens and 2 womens groups over on the Southside. I got to play 'oboe-shinatin-totin' and blob tag with the kids, while their parents were meeting.

Tomorrow is the 4th and the Indy household will be traveling to a state park half way between South Bend and Indy. The one:ten household will be meeting us there for some realization (immediately followed by total volley ball domination).

In other news I've decided to officially begin work on the rabbi beard. More on this later.

Vlogging

Last night marked the first vlog of the summer. Building on last summer's experiments, the Citybuilder vlogs '07 are shaping up to be another summer of increased presence, a look into missionary work and technology that rides the wave of the learning curve.

Last night's broadcast was a combination of talk, interview and Q&A. We highlighted some of the things we've really been 'relearning' as missionaries. Stuff that has new meaning in light of living missionary life, namely Christ as King. And while I don't want to ruin the talk for you who haven't seen it yet, this foundational understanding is necessary for missionary work to make any sense. God created/knows/owns everything/everyone, but in a world that colors authority as a 'necessary evil' God's authority gets glossed over. It isn't just that God has a set of laws and you're good if you just don't break them, GOD has a plan - a specific one. One for each of us. So it isn't just about not doing certain things, but discerning what what He wants to do. And there is a lot in the world He wants changed.

The vlog will be posted on the Citybuilder site sometime later today for free viewing, but check out next Wednesday night the 20th at 8PM Eastern/7PM Central for the next live feed.

Sing

Thought I'd bring some folks up to speed. A little boy has died. He was a 13-year-old student in the class of friend. He was down here at Riley Children's Hospital for GI problems, so we got to visit him. We prayed, talked, drew a little bit, he would write down his responses. Around his room are notes from the missionaries, his Lion King toys and water bottle, a few books and movies. His nurses worked around the clock and his grandmother was always at his bed or down the hall, having fallen a sleep. His teacher was at his side for nearly 2 straight days and we would all sing while we were there.

Please keep his grandmother, and his family and friends in your prayers.

Lived Contrast

It's been a while since my last post, but this is honestly one of my first real breaks since I last posted. Right now I'm sitting in Racklin, in Sean's office on Paul Kane's computer - these last few days have been nuts. I spent last week in MN catching up with folks while Nick/Brian were in Phoenix and Jon celebrated his sisters' graduations. Coming back to Indianapolis I got stuck in South Bend, but have stayed busy researching for Budget Meetings, helping with the move into the Colfax house and reading.

I just finished reading the Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. Shane is part of a stream termed the New Monasticism and lives in a something similar to a hospitality house -think Dorthy Day's Catholic Worker Movement - in North Philidelphia, called the Simple Way community.

The book talks about Shane's desire to know Jesus the guy and where this leads him. It is quite interesting, and Shane is a good writer. Of his stories one really grabed me as we've explored preaching. A few months ago, we heard the Lord ask us to preach. Though we'd heard street preachers before, and the 'turn-or-burn' tactic seemed to do more damage than conviction and converstion. So, we did it differently and since then I've been wondering about how else we might spread the Gospel.

After coming into some money, folks at Simple Way decided to throw a Jubilee Celebration (Lev 25) on Wall Street. They wanted to give the money away and thought they'd have some fun doing it. Jubilee was celebrated every 50 years by the people Israel and during which all slaves had to be liberated, and all mortgaged fields/hosues would return to their owners without payment involved. It was a time for reconcilliation not only among the Israelites but also with God, who was also invited to cancel our debts - Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. It's really quite remarkable.

On the appointed day folks gathered from all around the country, other house communities had been notified and jumped in to help plan and participate. Folks came dressed as business men and women, beggars, tourists and some were - you couldn't tell who was who. Until Sister Margaret and Shane stepped out and in a loud voice, said:

Some of us have worked on Wall Street, and some of us have slept on Wall Street. We are a community of struggle. Some of us are rich people trying to escape our loneliness. Some of us are poor folks trying to escape the cold. Some of us are addicted to drugs and others are addicted to money. We are a broken people who need each other and God, for we have come to recognize the mess that we have created of our world and how deeply we suffer for that mess. Now we are working together to give birth to a new society within the shell of the old. Another world is possible. Another world is necessary. Another world is already here.

And with that Sister Margatet blew the ram's horn to annouce the beginning of the Jubilee Celebration. It had been working for months to set it all up. Using Wall Street as a contrast, folks in the balconies began raining down paper bills, while "the streets turned silver" as everyone invited began pouring out their change. It was contagious. Some folks brought out sidewalk chalk and bubbles, and everyone joined in. This Jubilee Block Party on Wall Street was a lot of fun, gave directly to many folks in need, and provided a contrast. It was a big 'what if' for a lot of people.

Augusto Boal is big on this Street Theater. A contemporary of Paulo Friere in Brazil, Boal worked in Theater as an educational tool where folks could analyze their world. His Street Pieces were sometimes done without anyone knowing it was acting - called Invisible Theater - and was bent on bringing into folks normal routines the opportunities to reflect on the problems of society. On Wall Street it was about the ills of money and what if we really did share, at IUPUI is extreme isolation - what if we waltzed in one afternoon and threw a Lord's Day Celebration right there - invited everyone to join us for lunch, said a modified version of the prayer and ate together. It's not theater in the sense that we're acting - we're just being us in a different place, but it's also preaching in a sense. Ultimately, that's what it's all about. Friendship is an experience and words don't always cut it.

Daily Life:

So, it's been a little while since I've been able to find a chunk of time to post on the blog. Sorry, y'all. But I thought I would give folks a glimpse into our daily life here in Indianapolis.

The madness begins at 5:30AM with personal prayer. The rest of the day has often depended on what words we might have gotten that morning. For example, all the preachings we've done came from words, during these prayer times. We cap these off at about 6:20ish with a 10 minute powow of what we heard God tell us. One powow, or wow pow as one Sean Connelly Word Smith coined, yielded the call to be ask folks that day what changes they needed in their lives, their friends' lives or family's lives. As a result we baptized our first IUPUI student in the Holy Spirit that day.

Our wow pow leads us into the grueling buffeting of the merciless Jon Gapp, who has been appointed to lead us through our morning physical training. Simple push-ups and sit-ups with a mile and a half run each morning gets us ready for the day. This goes from 6:30AM to 7AM.

We then rotate through the bathroom and cooking for breakfast in time to share a meal at 7:45AM with the folks in Allendale (neighborhood in Shreveport, LA). There are Missionaries deployed in Shreveport too. We Skype using two computers and two webcams. It's like a phone call except we can see and talk with each other. This allows us to share a meal even though we're 800 miles apart. Brian Couch or Nathan Barret (both in Allendale) talk about the men they've been praying with or last night's big happenings doing missionary work and we share our successes/hardships in our work in Indy. This usually goes until 8:15 or 8:30AM.

Then morning prayer happens. We sing songs, pray together for healing or if there are Words we've gotten for one another. Words are things that God wants to tell us or others. They come in a variety of ways all the way from a scripture passage that we read to audibly hearing God's voice. Then we sit and plan the day's events. This is held in the sofa room where we've managed to cover more than half the floor space with 4 massive sofas which surround a huge (like 5x5 foot) coffee table. Think conference room, but sweet.

From here we've got time for personal emails and logistics more scripture investigation and prayer for the day. This is also the time when many of the talks we've given are written for that day. And this goes until 10:30AM when we pack up and head for campus. IUPUI is about a half mile from our house. On the way we've been memorizing the Sermon on the Mount by having one person read a verse or two and the others recite it back. This is also when talks for the lunchroom are practiced. We walk and listen, give feedback and listen some more.

We've made a habit of always cutting through the big hotel on campus and emerge a few hundred feet from the University College or UC where we've been preaching. This lies across a busy one way street and an open quad, which has been a great deal nicer since the weather has been in the 70's recently. This is really when it can get tough. When there is a talk we've heard God ask us to give, the last thing I want to do is keep moving forward. But as we walk my two brothers' footsteps calmly keep pace alongside me and I can just focus on staying with them - praise God for brothers. We finally get to the steps and make our way inside where the bustle of lunchtime has just picked up. There will usually be 150 students in there at once, with tons streaming in and out. This is where we split up to talk with folks we've already scheduled meetings with, or stand up and preach, or like most days just sit down at someone's table and start conversations with random folks. This happens until 2 or 3PM when we regroup and head back for home. By this time a lot of the student body has already left for the day so we've found it's more fruitful to get other work done.

On the way back we stop at Wishard Hospital where we've been praying with folks for healing. It is a real joy to meet new folks there and our time seems to grow as we get to know more people. Then we making our way out, it's a quick stop to chat with some friends we've recently made who live under the bridge we cross to get back to our neighborhood to check supplies and fellowship for a while, before getting home. Dinner is at 5 or 6PM sandwiched by more prayer and logistics work, emails and calls.

And as we approach 10PM as it is right now, we cease our work, get ready for bed and hit the sack with a final breath. Soon to get up again ready for tomorrows struggles. Hope this was insightful y'all. God Bless and good night.

Take back what he stole from me

In the Middle East the Israelis have renamed the former site of Israel, Israel. This might sound obvious but it makes a relationship; the people (Israelites) tied to their land (Israel). Note: before 1948 it had not been called Israel for over a thousand years. However, today the Palestinians call the same chunk of land, Forty Eight. In this way, none of the Palestinians can ever forget the land was taken from their relatives. Palestinians are calling to mind the moment when the UN recognized Israel as a legitimate state and simultaneously usurped it from the farmers living there, simply by naming it.

History is important, and if you let others define it you can lose a lot. For example, there are two canon texts (it would be great if someone could remember the titles) detailing the history of Israel. If you want to know anything about that area and its people, you read these. Yet, Jesus gets a line or two in these thousands of pages of history, as if He didn't really have any impact on the fate or history of Israel. Yet the very years themselves, if we remember, are not Common Era (i.e. 2007 CE) but rather 2007 years from Christ's birth (AD). Subsequently, all time before that is referred to as BCE, formerly BC, meaning the whole history of the world was but prelude to Christ's birth. But whatever, not a big deal. Jesus didn't make a blip in the history books.

I'm also thinking along the lines of why didn't I hear about folks like Hudson Taylor, Brother Yun, Jackie Pullenger, John Lake, or the Reductions and the Jesuits, or how the Benedictans probably saved knowledge as we know it from dissolving during the dark ages. All these world-changing stories of missionaries with real sacrificial love are left out while the paternalistic ones and their failed attempts to indoctrinate the 'savages' get all the face time in my (insert grade level here) school history books. Thoughts anyone?

Do Missionaries Save for Retirement?

Retirement is a ways away, but its something that needs preparation deciding soon. As many of us leave college, now would be the time to start an IRA for retirement. However, many of us will not have an income to speak of, meaning no social security and no money for an IRA. What will we do as we age? There is a balance here between relying on the Lord to provide and being good stewards. If we decide not to save the money, our older folks will need to be supported. If not by the government and IRAs then our friends/family and by the People of Praise. Are we willing to do this? What might this look like? Does anyone have any words about this?

"I am not a religious person...

...and I've come to say that neither is Jesus."

Man, I got past the first line but it didn't seem to come any easier. I was up in the lunchroom, surrounded at this point, by folks starring, laughing, some still talking, some listening. So I continued...

Religion is a set of beliefs and actions, usually containing some moral code that governs the conduct of human affairs. It's dead. It's the same 2,000 years ago as it is today, and will be 2,000 years from now.

Followers of Christ are about a relationship with the Creator of the whole universe. We are developing a friendship and unlike a set of ideas or code of conduct, it's new everyday. It's you, a living thing, relating to another living thing and as a result a relationship grows, changes and is new every day.

In the same way that y'all are relating to the folks sitting across the table, so too does Jesus want to relate to us. He's not gone you know. He died and was resurected. He's still here. He didn't go anywhere. And his Spirit is in the room right now. He's sitting at that table, standing right there. The Holy Spirit is here and Kingdom of God is near.

I went on to describe how the world's a mess and what the Kingdom of God looks like. I must say it was rough. While I speaking this big guy stands up and walks over near me. He just stands there starring me down while I kept going. When I finished he approached us as we took a breather.

"Hey, that took real guts what y'all did. God Bless." I didn't quite know what to say, but thanks and we later spoke for a few minutes. Nick got his email. A high schooler who had been in ear shot came up and thanked us, and a campus minister had been in one of the offices and came out to listen. Both appreciated what we said and gave us encouragement. It was a great blessing, while in the midst some folks had laughed, but no one got up and opposed us. Afterwards a few folks had clapped. Others said, "What?! Are they clapping because they liked it or because he's done." It was probably a little of both.

The Lord is moving here at IUPUI, and our conversations are really fruitful. The topic of this talk had been 'I'm not religious' because we had been hearing a whole ton of folks use that. It would kill conversation and often became an excuse. Keep praying for Indy, and for all the folks on the front lines, as God continues to reveal his purpose to us all and calls us on to build His Kingdom.

For the Revolution,
Rus

Cafeteria Preaching

When I think of open-air preaching, or modern-day wandering preachers images of Brother Jed trying to scandalize students into repentance race through my mind. This last week we cafeteria-preached, or rather Nick preached and Jon and I were there, but this is something we all plan on doing more of in the future.

"Hey! Everyone, excuse me. Yes, just a second...What would it look like for the Kingdom of God to break out on campus..." 150 students fell silent, momentarily jarred, "Could it look like folks healing each other, setting each other free of the things that hold us back; depression, loneliness, sickness? Could it look like folks getting together to change society, here at IUPUI, Indy, the world? Could it look like folks having so much fun that at the end of the day no one wants to leave campus?" We continued only for a brief 5 minutes.

This wasn't street preaching or at least not the stuff folks had heard in public-preaching before. Most folks said, "that took guts" and one guy said he was interested and that he knew a lot folks who would be too, we also met with a lot of opposition. Most folks have said that faith is not something people talk about. It makes people uncomfortable to talk about. So, we're proclaiming it into the public world by preaching to crowds, small groups and individuals and starting conversations in small groups or individuals, like "do you think God talks to us today like He did in the days of Israel?" to get a public dialogue started and maintain it.

This will look different than any public-preaching I've ever seen/heard of. We want to not only do crowd preaching, but also sit down at tables and just start conversations, which a lot of folks have been really open to. Then it's not just some guy who clearly has no idea what I'm about, trying to tell me what to do, but "oh, that's Jon. I spoke with him the other day. We talked about what it's like to be at IUPUI and had that thought-provoking conversation about..." Meanwhile, folks start to trust us as they get to know us and see us on campus more and more. And as we've seen, not everyone is going to agree with us but there will be a greater amount of trust, respect and in this, chance to build a people.

Please pray for IUPUI, the students we talk with, that God's Kingdom break out and that His Will be done.

Missionary Work

So, this is Nick John and I, we're missionaries with the People of Praise to the Mississippi River Valley. We live for what God is doing in the Valley, and are working to establish cities up and down the river where real community happens in Christ.

Much of our work consists of talking, spreading the Good News and fellowshipping. Here we take a quick lunch break on the trunk of our dependable little car between that morning's talking and the afternoon talking. We were knocking on doors all that day looking for where and to whom God was calling us in Indianapolis.

This has been a great deal of fun, as a lot of our conversations are just getting to know folks, and preaching the Word. This is honestly like nothing I've ever done. In college I was a political organizer working on a variety of different issues that required a lot of street canvassing, you know the folks with clipboards that try to get you sign a petition or register you to vote. However, it's entirely different, because in that setting everyone becomes a number. You can only spend a few minutes with folks because you need to get a lot of numbers. And while informing folks about their society is good, this also happens in preaching and sharing God's Word plus you are looking to build lasting friendships.

As missionaries with the People of Praise we want build Christ-centered communities. That requires a whole ton of relating, and growing in friendship both with folks and the Lord. Way different than numbers and politicking.

Walking to arborietum

February Vine & Branches

Sean Connelly recently posted this to a missionary forum some of us are using to discuss work in the newly formed Missionary Company of the People of Praise. He has put together an electronic copy so y'all can check it from where ever.

Vine & Branches

How the Lord Spared My Life By: Mary Carolyn Gaffney

I got this in an email the other day and Mary gave me permission to share it with all of you. Mary Gaffney is a member of the Dinkytown women's house at the University of Minnesota.

Letter from Mary Gaffney

The Triangle

Welcome to Indianapolis. This is Monument Circle in the very center of downtown Indy. The city was planned out, rather than additions being made where ever as the city grew. It's laid out in a bicycle wheel pattern with this roundabout in the middle and a north, south, east and west street that radiate from it.

We're currently staying in Fishers, a town to the NE of Indy where a good chunck of the branch lives, with the Porters as mentioned earlier. The Porters of have exceedingly hospitable feeding us, putting us up, and making us a part of their life. We start each morning with the family at the breakfast table, after our PT, with morning prayer before folks are off to work, or school or citybuilding.

Paul Kane, a real estate broker from Northern Virginia branch, has been in town recently helping us get a clearer picture of the housing market. Not a half hour after Paul got off the plane, we were in our target neighborhood doing some scouting when Paul says, "I wonder what their doing with that land," refering to a large patch of cleared land. He whips out his phone and dials a number. Mind you Paul has never been in Indy before, but in about 20 minutes we've got a meeting with one of the brokers who worked on the sale of the cleared lots. It was amazing.

God has been moving here in Indy. We've been rejected and welcomed, in different parts of the city, but in all of it He has been showing us what He is doing. Praise God.

Nongeographical Community

I am now in Indianapolis at the Porter's, a family in the branch down here. They have given us a place to sleep and good food to eat now for the last week. Here we are in the upper room above the garage, which has been converted into a study. The bright light is a lamp and below it is Nick's computer, on it are Brian Couch and Thomas Duddy, who are still in Allendale building down there.

The five of us are working to stay connected and present to one another. We use an internet phone service that charges something like $5 a month, and includes a parallel video feed, so you can see who you are calling. It's really sweet.

We started using this cheap mode of communication during last summer with the Allendale Video Project, which used a similar set up that included a chat program so that we could give talks in Allendale to the high schoolers (known as Action Division) who were down there working on houses and neighborhood fix-it projects across the POP. Each week the folks in Allendale would gather in one house and listen to a talk while folks from across the community would tune in on the internet. You check them out at Citybuilder.org (in the links on the sidebar).

Here we are talking with Brian and Duds about what they've been up to and share a little about what we've see thus far in Indy. It was a really interesting experience doing communication this way over the summer as you never felt like you were far away from folks, even though you were actually across the country. When you can talk to someone face to face, even if its through a screen, it goes along way to building friendship regardless of geographical location.

Some thoughts from the rails

As I finished up work last Friday. I pulled the extension cords into the warehouse, nailed the back door shut, and Duddy locked up the front. Climbing into the box truck that WDMO now owns I needed to let the diesel engine warm up, so I sat there a while as Duds started back towards the house.

As I was sinking into the driver seat of the truck I found myself staring across the road, across the tracks at this piece on a standing boxcar. I quickly remembered TJ and our excursion into the Bunge. 'He would love this,' I thought jumping down from the front of the truck and making my way across the now deserted road.

There were a few pieces up and I meandered down the rail lines snapping a few photos as I went. After taking this last one I turned to return to the now warm truck and was astonished at what I'd mindlessly missed. There behind me, tucked up under the overpass I had wandered beneath was someone's home.

Sermon on the Mount

This is something a lot of friends and I have been thinking about since Paul DeCelles, gave a talk on it at the Missionary Conference.

As I read it more and more I'm more and more convinced that it's a pretty whole picture. Like if Jesus was asked today to give a sermon, he'd say this. It brings up some interesting things I've been thinking about.

Jesus starts out with the Beatitudes which name the new people of God. He uses the phrase "Fortunate are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven" repeating this 9 times. This phrase was common in the Old Testament referring to how fortunate Israel is. Here God through Jesus is naming His new people.

Next He gives them a mission. That they be a light to the world. In the same way that when you turn on a light the whole room is lit so too should God's people light the world. He also mentions salt and what can be done once it loses it' s saltiness, but throw it away. This is a real inflammatory statement as he is reffering to the people of Israel who have abandoned God. And I think this still holds true today, even in Christian circles. God's people are described as things that exist by what they do. Salt has no use unless it is salty and what is a light but that which lights. These things are not just things, but things that DO SOMETHING.

How different is this than much of today's preaching on personal salvation as the end goal. Once you accept Jesus, you're saved. Finale. The end. Hang out a while, while everyone else comes to terms with it, right? Well, here God's people's mission is to shine so that others shine God's glory. Personal salvation is a subplot in God's plan, its the first step, not the end. Christ's mission to the world was not to help people get him (as in accepting Him as a personal savior) but to "bring good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives and new sight to the blind; free the oppressed and announce the year of the Lord's mercy" (Lk4.18-19). Realizing his power to change lives is but the first step. So, this is something that has been striking as I've been reading.

Next Jesus goes on to give God's people a new law, but one that does not abolish the old but works to fulfill it. The law was what had been passed down since Moses, most easily recognizable of these; the Ten Commandments (Ex 20, Deut 5). In this Jesus intensifies the law, saying not only is the act of murder or adultry wrong but being angry and lusting is sinning just the same. Here the law is now not just about actions but about intentions. And this is followed by how to pray and fast in a manner that is more than just the act of praying and fasting. So it is not enough to do what God says but one must also be as God is. "For your part you shall be righteous and perfect in the way your heavenly Father is righteous and perfect" (Matt5.48).

At this point I think of what I learned about perfection and sin growing up in the church. 'We are human beings and we sin. We make mistakes.' But here Christ is saying that we are to be perfect. How can we possibly do this?!

As Jesus goes into not judging, he talks about asking God and His giving. Which to me, makes no sense. What does this have anything to do with living more in God's way and doing His work? However, all 4 gospels have this passage and both Luke and John shed a lot of light on this. Starting in Luke 11.9, the paragraph is almost repeated verbatim. Except in Luke it is not talking about God giving us what we ask for, but that if we ask Him, He will give us His Spirit. And in John 14.13 this is furthered, as Jesus says after him the Helper, the Spirit of truth, will be sent. God will not abandon his children. Here the passage is saying God will come to dwell in you and God will fulfill this New Law. This is clearly evident in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. A book which is almost entirely devoted to the Spirit coming down on the apostles at Pentecost and what happens as a result. After this the apostles are emboldened and heal the sick and the lame, cast out demons, and become Christ to the world. This is huge. Paul talks about being co-crucified with Christ and that is no longer he who lives but Christ who lives in him. For folks who didn't know this is actually what Christianity is supposed to be about, becoming and being friends of the creator of the Universe, and collaborating and doing His work. And this is only possible if He dwells in us through the Holy Spirit, otherwise we can't even observe His law much less accomplish His mission.

So Jesus, gathers a new people, gives them a mission, a new law and teaches them about being in God not just the law, and that if we ask God, He will make us perfect through the sending of His Holy Spirit. I must say I have been greatly saddened to go to church and find so few people having even heard about what His Spirit does.

Lastly, Christ sends us off with a warning and mode of operation. Saying three things. (1) strive to enter through the narrow gate, for wide and broad is the gate and road to destruction. Do it all. As Paul says, run the race intending to win it and as athletes train in order to win, so should we train and strain for God's work. (2) You will know a tree by the fruit it bears. God's people and work does not whither. If the fruit of something is rotten so is the tree, again this brings us back to doing something. If we who claim God on our side are not setting free the captives and undoing the thongs of oppression, there's a good chance we've missed something. This is also an indicator that God's will produces real world change. (3) Not everyone who says Lord! Lord! will get into the Kingdom, but those who hear my words and act will be very wise. Again praise and worship without doing God's Will is like white washed tombs. We might look cleaner but that says little of what's inside.

This may have a bite to it...what do folks think? Thoughts? Ideas? Does this ring true?

Building in Gadgetland

So, this week I've been working at the warehouse that WDMO, nonprofit that funds some of our work, is moving into...as soon as it gets done. Most of this week has been by myself because the flu has taken out a Brian and John, and Thomas is at the functional WDMO helping sell windows, doors and more.

The biggest project this last week was the subflooring. We ripped up the carpet that had been covering much of the front of the warehouse and plan to put new vinyl down but the subfloor under the carpet didn't come up clean; leaving chunks of old vinyl tiling stuck to sections which made it really uneven. So we're putting in new subfloor over the old and this required a lot of cutting and custom fitting 4x8' sheets of plywood. As you can see I didn't do the best job on this piece.

I wasn't sure of the amount of error I could tolerate. Would this be alright as the mistake is in a corner and would not see a lot of traffic? Or is this still an issue and needs resolving? Well, the guys who know Brian or David, manager of WDMO, are both sick (there's a lot of us who've come down with the flu, so your prayers would much appreciated). So, I took a picture with my phone and sent it to the blog here. David was able to get on his computer back at home and make the call from there.

Problem solved. It turns out this is still a problem, but that all I needed to do was cut some scrap to fit the gaps.

The Work Begins

We set out on the road with a few bags to our names, no money but that which had been given to us, and the Lord as our guide. Brian drove most of the way and we switched drivers a few times. Duddy sat shotgun and Gapp and I were in the bak seat. We drove through Indianapolis, Evansville, a portion of Tennesse and Kentucky and finally into Louisiana, headed for Shreveport.

It's the four of us now, we had discerned at the beginning of this last Fall semester that God is calling us to live the life of missionaries on the road, going from town to town "bringing Good News to the poor, proclaiming liberty to the captives and new sight to the blind; to free the oppressed and announce the time of the Lord's favor" (Lk 4.18-19).

This looks like locating and securing 200 new places to move into and live with folks. Begin communities that don't just talk about giving to the poor and feeding the hungry but DO it. But this is bigger than the four of us this involves thousands of folks all over the country, many of whom were at the missionary conference I mentioned earlier. Allendale, a neighborhood in Shreveport, is only our first.

This is 1426, where I'm living in Allendale with Brian, Tom, and John. It looks nice but the houses behind us are literally tipping over. Over 1/3 of the property in Allendale is abandoned. Packs of dogs make off with our stuff at night and folks suffer from terrible poverty, but in spite of this the people and scenery are beautiful. It's really hilly and has poor drainage, which is why all the poor folks live here. The light just does something incredible down here and its usually sunny out. Everyone has front porches and the missionaries down here have been here for nearly 5 years. Everyone is Baptist or Methodist, but few receive much help from the churches (either due to their own poverty or the churches plans to gentrify the neighborhood).

We own 9 lots currently and are about to acquire and 14. Most of the houses are in this 'shotgun' motif; meaning you could fire a shotgun through the house from back to the front with both doors open...why you need to do this is as of yet beyond me. But last summer Action Division, highschool group in the People of Praise, built our 6th house, which is being termed the living room of the neighborhood. We have structured our houses to share facilities, so as to share more life. One house has the main kitchen and dinning room, another the main living room and so on. This one is being built for the whole neighborhood.

Right now I am working for Windows, Doors and More Outlet (WDMO), a non-profit firsts and seconds milling products company that funds our building projects and community projects. A friend David Zimmel but we will be adding another location by the end of January (if we can get the place ready by then). That's been my job along with John and Duddy (Tom). We've been dry-walling, and taping and we still need to finish wiring the place (which is being headed by an electrcian in the Shreveport branch of the POP). Then we'll paint it and start moving windows, doors and more in.

Cubbies

Hey Rob,
I stayed with Brian Couch, friend who lives in South Bend, while I was there. He took the sofa downstairs and gave me his bed. I thought you would get a kick out of this.




Cubbies. Till Harry Carry returns.

Planning the Revolution

This Abe Olson, from Portland, Dudmaster, and Gaptastic working hard on the FAQs post-Missionary Conference in the dinning room of the Old Raclin Mansion (also on Greenlawn property) where POP headquaters is located.

We sent most of Thursday working to create a list and help answer some FAQs for the Mishcon.org forum. At the website the 100 plus participants have been carrying forward a discussion on what now. We've heard God call us to start communities up and down the Mississippi River Valley and it is members of the future Missionary Company who will be "locating and securing" new city sites.

As I've mentioned earlier God has been uniting all things in Him since the beginning (Eph 1.10), which is much more than personal salvation. Personal salvation is only a subplot throughout history and today. We are called to be children of God, co-crucified with Christ (Gal 2.20) and sharing in his mission, which he announced at the beginning of his ministry. "...bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and new sight to the blind; to free the oppressed and announce the year of the Lord's favor" (Lk 4.18-19). It is simply part of living with God that we are saved, but there is still a lot of work beyond this. Praise God.

Ed's Bday

This was Monday night. Ed's 21st isn't until late January, but his family and friends were in town so we decided to do it now. The blur on the left is Rich Preuss, Ed's dad, explaining that there was 'extra spicy' ketchup for all the folks from MN.

I first met Ed on a trip to Allendale last Christmas. We framed doors together at Windows, Doors, & More Outlet, a reuse company that takes 3rds, 2nds, and actually a good chunk of 1sts that contractors don't want.

Most of these are donated which we then sell at 100% profit; similar to Habitat for Humanity. This funds the work in Allendale. Just last semester WDMO paid rent in exchange for the work of the missionaries down there mentioned earlier. This was a huge commitment as WDMO wasn't even one year old. The added cost of rent could have been a big problem, but the Lord provided by making the last 4 months our biggest yet; more than providing for rent and the business' growth.

Then the following summer (last summer) Ed headed the household I lived in. Heading a household means he was incharge, we all had respoinsibilities, but Ed helped us all stay on task. Ed watched the dirt level, made sure things were running on time, and still found enough time to drop a few buckets of ice water on some unsuspecting showerer. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. Paul Kane from Northern Virginia Branch (seen above wearing a blue shirt, crossing his arms at the back) toasted Ed at the party describing how Ed's "balance of hard work and love of fun" really was an amazing gift.

A late breakfast

This is Thomas Duddy (he's from Hawaii branch) in the Behren's kitchen. We're about to head over to Brian Couch's where he and Ed Preuss from South Bend are watching some football. Couch, Duddy, John Gapp, and Joe Gleason all took leaves of absence from school this semester because God has called them and a few others to be missionaries. I had one semester left until graduation so another senior, Abe Olson at the U of Portland, and I went back to school last semester.

Six Days

I've officially been gone 6 days. I've got 2 weeks of clothes, a sleeping bag, and a Bible.

We began on Wednesday night. After a 12 hour car ride from Minneapolis to South Bend, IN. I was in a minivan with Mike Stapp from the Hawaii Branch, Matt Brickweig, Ben Reinhardt and John Bowar from my household in Mpls, Mike Coney also from Mpls but he lives in the 1027 household and we picked up Eric Yost from the Portland Branch at Chicago's O'Hare Airport on the way. It got kind of packed.

Upon arrival, we called up Brian Couch who is enrolled at the U of M in Mpls but has been living in Shreveport, LA for the last semester doing Citybuilding with 3 other guys - John Gapp and Thomas Duddy also enrolled in Mpls, and Joe Gleason enrolled at Notre Dame. He said to park at the Art building which is a small workshop just off the side of the old Studibaker mansion (known now as Greenlawn) the People of Praise (POP) has aquired for offices and running Trinity High School in South Bend. It's dark as we pull into the drive way through the old iron gate. The windows spill yellow light out onto the section of concrete next to the Art building designated for parking.

I've been here before. All last summer I spent 40 hours a week on this property working for Gabriel Property Management under John Gapp. I mainly painted and scraped, but I came to know the mansion and much of the two block estate it sits on in the process.

Everyone was already eating. There were about 25 guys stuffed into that room, and a great din of welcome filled the house, when we shuffled our weary selves into the dinning room. We were all here for the Company Convention, which is held once at Christmas and once in August. The Company is a young men's group within the POP, dedicated to Citybuilding. Man, it was great to see those guys, some I hadn't seen since the last convention.

The Company Convention usually only lasts a day or two. We catch up with everyone who's scattered all over the nation and how our responsibilities have been coming, we share stories and plan, and of course there's the Funeral Games which consists of a grueling competition between the Company junctions (different places where Company members are located). However, this Convention will prove different.

Headquaters of the POP has called Citybuilders from around the country to meet in South Bend for the weekend to discuss Citybuilding. There are 100 people confirmed to show up (for my organizing friends, the rule of halves does not apply in the POP - more than 100 showed up), and that meant a lot of food. So, after we had finished dinner, cleaned up, and updated each other we turned in early for a long day of cooking on Thursday after the early morning Funeral Games.

The Games are always held at 5:30AM, because that is when our day begins in the Company. We are up early most days for phyiscal training, personal prayer, group morning prayer and breakfast. On most days we are done with this, dishes and ready for the day by 8AM. We share this day schedule in the Company, eventhough we're all over the US.

Allendale Junction (in Shreveport, LA) has won many Funeral Games, but this time I think South Bend Junction won (I'll get back to you on that). Then at 8:30AM Trish Brewer from the one:ten household (group of men and women who work at one:ten communications who also live together) in South Bend had created a detailed set of instructions for us to make 5 meals for 100 people. It was impressive.

Cooking took up most of the day. But once we had finished we were assigned host families in the South Bend Branch who we would be staying with during the weekend (we slept on the floor of one of the classrooms in Trinity the night before). I stayed at the Behrens and am here until the end of Monday, with Thomas Duddy, David Zimmel from Allendale, Bart Durand and Dan Ficker from Mpls.

The Conference was Fri thorugh Sun, and most of us stayed for a New Year's party. The focus of the Conference was missionary work and how all God's children are called to be missionaries, whether to Mongolia or their department at work. We sang a lot of songs, ate good food, shared a lot of stories, and the Lord really blessed our time together. I really got two words from the Lord that struck me.

It would be important to note at this time that I love God (not as a topic of discussion or a thing but as a friend and mentor). I know that is not the case for all of you, please do not let that stop you from reading. This is me sharing my life, and I hope you all do the same with me.

The first was from a sharing on Firday, given by Brian Couch. He was talking about the city we are building at Allendale (neighborhood in Shreveport). Allendale is beautiful and desperately poor. There are a lot of people stuck in a place where sin, death and decay are killing not just people but their souls too. We've been living there for 5 years now and continue to grow with the neighborhood. Brian and Nathan Barret also from Allendale have been walking the streets day and night praying with folks, and pulling neighbors together who also love Allendale and are looking for change. Couch said, "The Lord is really showing us he's serious about this." As they've baptized more than a few people in the Holy Spirit the last couple weeks.

Really quickly, the Holy Spirit is not the baptism of forgiveness (or the baptism by water) which is what John the Baptist preached. John said, "After me comes one who is more powerful than I am; I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit" (Mark 1:7-8). The baptism of the Holy Spirit is when God's Spirit comes to reside within you (note: not all everyone baptized in the Holy Spirit is receives forgiveness, not everyone baptized for forgiveness has been baptized in the Holy Spirit). The 12 disciples received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2) which gave them the ability to speak in other nations tongues, great wisdom, ability to heal, and work miracles, prophesy and discernment (1 Cor 12:7-11).

Brian mentioned how when they would walk around it was almost as if they had appointments with folks. They would show up and open their mouths and God's great miracles would change hearts, and bring allies together.

The other really strong word I got this last weekend was during Saturday in a talk that Sean Connelly from one:ten household and editor of Vine & Branches (POP newsletter) gave. He talked about Paul, and how history can hide how difficult his missionary life was. When reading the Bible I've found it's hard to imagine how the disciples could doubt as it's laid out so plainly, but life on the road, especially Paul's life was wrought with danger. Almost every city he went to the folks were out to kill him, at one point they actually catch him and stone him. He would be starving a lot of the time, bruised and beaten on the road to the next city or running from the last after starting underground Christian communities. Paul describes his life as being violently taken from him, when Jesus visits him on the road to Damascus (when he stops killing early Christians and becomes one of them - Acts 9). Sean talked about Paul had been chained behind Jesus chariot and was being dragged from town to town living out God's will. I found this greatly encouraging.

Christ is not only our friend but our king. This is admittedly a difficult collection of roles for us as we Americans really hate kings. The idea of one is difficult to understand and I think this is where the fluffy bunny Chrisitans come from. God is love and this is true. He wants us to be be free, liberated from the confines of sin; also true. How then can we be obedient to a king and be free? This is a very good quesiton, one which I won't spend much time on here but probably later.

I was encouraged as I want to do the will of God. He wants my people/His people liberated from the oppressions of the world, the flesh and the enemy to love Him with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. His Kingdom come to earth will be a place where oppression doesn't exist, where community happens, where no one has too much nor too little. This is what I want. I also know I make a lot of mistakes. I say the wrong things. I still sin. I am hardly the right person to help an all powerful God. Yet he'll still use my work if I ask and the image of Paul being draged behind the charriot was not one of death but one of life and love.

Jesus has a plan and I don't know enough to do it myself, nor am I wise enough to execute it, but if I could chain myself to his charriot - I could do His work. I don't have to know how to convert a crowd of 5,000 as Peter and John did after Pentecost, all I have to do is open my mouth. It is a great reasurance that the Lord will provide.

If you have gotten this far you are indeed a very faithful friend, thank you. I will work in the future to make these posts a little shorter, but so much has happened this week. Please feel free to email me rusjlyons@gmail.com or give me a call 612.709.1245 Otherwise, this is what I've got for now. God bless you and I pray I will see you again soon.