| I think that many of us turned a page in September. We said goodbye, or finished saying goodbye, to an old season and have now embarked on a new one. I certainly feel it's true for me, but I doubt that I'm completely alone in this experience. Just arrived yesterday from 3 weeks in the States and today is a new month already. For me, the changes collectively from my last three weeks to now feel very significant: - Time zone - which has an effect on me physically as well
- Calendar - September to October and, of course, September saw a change in the Jewish Calendar year and and for many the start of a new school year
- Culture - American (Midwest) to European (French)
- Language - English to French
There's a fair amount on my plate at the moment, but I'm taking advantage of the "jet-lag grace" given to me to spend a little time to discern God's vision for this new season right now. I'm not too anxious to simply start picking up plates and spinning them. So if this resonates with anyone else, I encourage you also to take a day and seek God's vision for this new season. What you've prayed for: - The Trip - Fabulous! I really appreciated your prayers. I hit the ground running as I attended a conference at Rachel's church starting the day I arrived. It was the right way for me to start my visit as it put me in a prophetic context straight away. Having grown up in Indianapolis, I run the risk of viewing life there with lenses that are 30-years-old...nice to be reminded that God's vision is always prophetic and full of destiny, no matter what the context. I made special new friends at Rachel's church (http://bolindy.com/), spent good time with current friends and re-connected with long-lost friends. It was good to be staying with family and having the opportunity to feed those relationships. Very valuable time for me. On the home front, Angela and Olivia basically had a party without me! God was very good to them here while I was drinking deeply of all things American. ;-)
- New Foundations - Angela and the team of people learning SOZO have continued faithfully to watch and discuss the training DVDs and should be making a trip in October, either to Germany or England, to take some live training. Not totally sure what the next step is, but the leadership of the church is very much behind the establishment of this ministry among us and Angela is excited about its prospects.
- Host Family - This has been an easy one - Pauline is a very easy guest to have. She will probably be with us more like every other week now.
|
- Church Crossroads - Our church here in France, the Joshua Church (http://eglisejosue.free.fr), has been on a journey of faith as long as we've been here; always looking to find out what God is asking us to do and doing it. It's been very faith-building for us to watch and participate in a community (which is clearly human and flawed) seeking to go after God so consistently. Our path of faith led us into the building we're in now, and has brought us to a significant crossroads:
- Continue to rent our current building "as is" (not finishing an entire floor for rental income and outreach events)
- Return to our old, smaller building (with a smaller rent.)
- Buy our current building with renovation costs rolled into a mortgage.
- Seek another situation entirely.
Every single choice has significant downsides or challenges attached to it, including buying (big down payment with no cash available to speak of). Certainly a larger facility has many new challenges associated with it as well. While the challenge we immediately identify is money, I don't believe that's the challenge the Lord has set before us. No, our fellowship is really being asked by the Lord to step into a whole new dimension of Kingdom establishment and Kingdom living. Half of the battle is knowing what the battle is! The battle is not a financial battle, nor any other particular earthly challenge that lays before us. Rather, the question is, "Do we know who we are and whose we are and will we live like that?" All the things that God has called our fellowship to be and to do for this region are at stake. Personally, I don't think this fellowship could survive unless it was really moving forward in faith. Please pray for our leaders to have revelation and discernment of God's direction and strategies. Pray that our identities as individuals and as a body would be purified, cleansed, healed and strengthened. Pray specifically for the gift of faith (1 Cor 12:9) to be poured out among us.
- Angela's New Season - Angela has watched her own identity be focused and strengthened in the last several months. For her, this is a new season with new activities and focus:
- SOZO inner healing ministry - Pray for a breakthrough in e-mail communication with the English couple who have offered to come to us and invited us to their training. It seems the devil would love to hinder the forward progress in this in blocking the communication!
- Prayer/Worship - Pray for her to know how to commit her time/energy in the next steps of our church establishing a 24/7 prayer and worship altar.
- Relational ministry - Pray for her prophetic voice to speak into the lives of the women that she meets and prays with weekly.
- Teaching English - Pray for wisdom to know if and when to use her recent English-teaching certification.
- David's New Season - As I mentioned, I have a bunch of plates to spin...too many for my tastes. Multi-tasking is not usually my strength. I prefer a single focus and concentrated blocks of time to remain effective and protect family time. That being said, I do have multiple, varied responsibilities in the church and the school. Please pray that I would know where to focus and how to block out my time effectively.
Muchas Gracias, (hey, gotta shake it up now and then!)
David |