Yes!

Yesterday's women's Bible study was so encouraging to me. It was on Luke 16:1-15. There were many ingredients to this passage that we touched on and that I wanted to go much deeper on. But I must say, the highlight was watching one of the members 'get it'!

We talked about faithful in little / faithful in much, and taking care of what God has given us. One of the ladies made an application to her own life. She said, "You know, I think if I took better care of this, God would see I can take care of it and he might give me a better one down the road." Yes, yes, yes!!!!!! She connected the dots! It's so rewarding to see the light bulbs go on! Wahoooo!

We're getting ready for the advance. Our toner went out last night so Greg is picking some up before we go to our Bible study on the westside. The food is bought, the binders are put together, the particulars and directions have been emailed and other than one paper I need to print for an ice breaker, I'm done. Greg has some more to do, not sure what, but after we work a few hours tomorrow morning, we'll be off. I hope to post some pictures when we get back. We get to decide on what ministries we'll offer, when our services will be, how they will be configured, when our leadership meetings will be, etc. Can't wait to hear God lead us. I hope to share next week.

Dinner is almost here, so I better be off.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

God is moving! Thank you for praying for our 3 prayer needs: a building, a Worship Director, and a Christian Education Director. We are seeing things happen in all three of these areas. Nothing is in stone yet, so keep praying but they look promising!

We had our third board meeting yesterday. Please pray for John Dupree, one of our board members. He has been ill since returning from a conference and stayed home last Thursday from a Missions Pastor's luncheon he was putting on last week in hopes he would be better to attend our board meeting. Unfortunately, he was too ill to attend. We did finalize our Constitution and By-laws and update the board on everything God has been doing. Our leadership team arrived and met two of the board members and shared their hearts and histories. Then we stopped and had lunch before Roger headed back to Mariposa. We finished with our leadership meeting, with me teaching this time.

I must say God has been growing me in the area of hospitality. I am actually enjoying preparing meals for groups and sharing our home. After the leadership meeting, Greg and I had to go to work for an hour or two and finish up some maintenance. It was a good, eventful, full, joyful, variety-packed day.

Today I made my famous butt-cake for the Superbowl. I blogged about this last year, so I won't bore you with the details. I did a few things differently, and it came out better than it ever has. Yeah!

Today I work at my desk and take Kristen shopping for a formal and shoes before the Superbowl madness starts. I think I also have to do the shopping for the advance. My fridge is pretty full from yesterday, so maybe I'll wait until Tuesday night.

Blessings on this sunny, clear, warm Super Bowl Sunday. Go 9ers! Okay, go Cardinals. (Greg's team, he's a Kurt Warner fan).

Surprise!

Back again already. Made you jump, huh? hee, hee, hee.

We had a great small group meeting last night. As we drove over with one of our leadership team members and she and Greg we chatting, I began to pray silently for the meeting. Greg and I always prayed together on the way over and we've seen some amazing things happen in our meetings. Lately, the conversations in the car have nixed the prayer time, so being the quiet one, I decided to cover it. Last night was no different, the coolest thing that happened was that their youngest son and his fiance showed up for the entire meeting. They've been to 2 of our prayer meetings over the last 8-10 months. We were thrilled to have them there, and boy did they show up for a doozy of a topic!

We finished our series on marriage, ending with . . . romance and sex. It didn't seem to me Greg held anything back, but he said he did a little. We looked at scripture and Greg had each couple do some talking back and forth at times. One of the topics he touched on was about a husband being a spiritual covering for his wife. The funny thing was that 3 of the 4 women knew what a spiritual covering was and could explain it to her husband, and not one husband knew what it was!

A spiritual covering is when a husband prays with and for his wife, puts her needs above his own, leads his family, and is right with God. The wonderful thing about men who do this is the effect it has on their wife. We all shared it made us feel treasured, loved, cared for, protected, and safe. When a woman feels this way, there is trust and mutual understanding. Our roles as husband and wife are more properly aligned. This results in a woman wanting to share in the physical part of the relationship.

Greg also mentioned that if the guys aren't putting her physical needs above his own and spending at least an hour at a time with his wife, they're really missing out. Last night all the women nodded their heads in agreement and the guys either looked down or stared, glazed over, trying to take it all in.

Greg talked about the importance of communication before or during a couple's time together. He talked about the need for repentance from anything in the past that could be a hindrance, as well as other things that can hinder intimacy, like children, stress, worry, illness, etc.

It was a great meeting. Lots of information, things to work on, and even some laughter.

One of the members of our small group that Greg is disipling will be leading the next 2 studies on integrity. We're hoping he'll lead a men's study someday and this is a great way to have him practice. That's all discipleship is, teaching and giving opportunities to grow. If you're a small group leader, are you giving your members opportunities to stretch and grow by leading? This biggest blessing a leader can have is seeing one of their disciples stretch, grow, and begin to lead on their own. God once told Greg not to count the people (who will be in attendance in our church) but to count how many people we release (trusting people to do ministry). Yep, that's what it's all about.

Blessings to you on this cold, frosty, yet sunny and clear Thursday.

The Calm Before the Storm

I haven't written in awhile for two reasons. 1. I've been loaded with stuff to do. 2. I haven't felt I had anything worthwhile to say. I'm here today because of encouragement I received yesterday to keep writing and also because my load has lightened. (I still feel I don't have anything worthwhile to say, but here goes!)

To catch you up a little, we haven't made much progress on the finishing touches of the remodel. Still need to paint, have an air gap installed, buy rugs and things for the walls, and a few furniture items. We thought we might get the entertainment center yesterday, but it was sold and the price we were given to order it was too high. The search continues.

The landscaping hasn't been touched much this month, though we had planned to do spend Saturday mornings in the backyard all of January. Between rain and other priorities, it looks like it will get pushed out a little.

We've got all the paperwork done for the new church except the 501c3 and Franchise Tax Board application to make us 'officially' tax-exempt. This has nothing to do with being a non-profit and receiving tax-deductible donations. A little page is to be filled out for the Secretary of State when we have our board meeting Saturday and choose board positions. We also have to fill out a form with the Department of Justice to do background checks on volunteers.

The Tuesday Bible study is going well. I love seeing everyone work so hard to have all their answers prepared and the great insight and sharing that takes place. I look forward to it.

We're putting together our leadership advance. We've booked a great place in Twain Harte and I can't wait to take everyone there. I've been there before with my Heart to Heart small group in the 90's. It will be a blast. Greg does a great job and covering a great amount of material in the time allotted for our leadership meetings and I'm sure the advance will be the same. We'll be full when we leave.

It's tax time. I've filed all the state and federal payroll tax papers for our business and am putting together info for our taxes, the business, and Mark and Kristen's returns. The good news is I'm organized and my files are pretty much done and my desk is fairly clean.

I've gotten going on QuickBooks for the business and the church. Yeah!

That covers my desk. Work is going well. I only had to work 1 day in the last 7 because of rain. With the nicer weather I'm back to 3 days a week, which my body needs. I've been pruning roses quite a bit and yesterday got stuck so badly it required first aid. I can't imagine what it would have been like without gloves!

I'm looking at other studies to do in the future. Last night I spent some time perusing the ChristianBook catalog and website and found a few books that interested me. When I get them in and read them I'll let you know what I think. They've already shipped and should be here this week.

Like I said, nothing worthwhile, but just an update for now. EQUIP church has 3 prayer requests if you could keep us in mind.

1. A building/place to meet on Sunday mornings on the westside
2. A Worship Leader
3. A Children's Director

Blessings on this sunny, cold Tuesday!

EQUIP Update

It's been a very good and productive week or two in the life of our baby church! A few weeks ago a couple expressed an interest in learning more about what we're doing in planting the church. We met with them and shared our vision and values. They felt they were being called to join our leadership team. I'm thrilled to announce that Dick and Mary Pritchard have joined our leadership team. Dick is retired from teaching and administration in the public school system. Mary is extremely gifted in hugging and has raise their 5 children. They have a number of grandchildren and great grand children as well.

In addition, today we went and applied to be a religious corporation within the state of California. We should get confirmation early next week. Only 2 more forms to go and we're done until we hire employees.

We're putting together a team to canvas the westside to find a building where we can meet.

We are having a Concert of Prayer on Januay 23rd at NLCC at 7:00pm to pray for our city and the westside in particular.

We are working on a list of items we still need in order to launch. More on that as the team finalizes it. If you're interested in a pre-list, email me and I will send it to you to pray over and see how God provides. gshazenberg@sbcglobal.net.

Blessings on this dark, cold, Wednesday evening.

EQUIP Update

Yesterday was our first Women's Bible Study. It merged our leadership team ladies with our westside ladies and it was great. I always pray for laughter and tears at every meeting, knowing how God works our hearts when we are touched by both emotions. God was faithful and we had both.

We're studying Women of God, an IVP (Intervarsity Press) booklet on self-esteem. The first chapter was on Answering God's Call. You might think the author would take us through all the various elements of self-esteem, then end with God's call, but nope! She went straight for the dessert up front. We had ladies who hadn't heard God's call, those who were in the middle of discerning his call, and those who had been called and answered. It was great bringing together such a group of ladies with variety of situations and places in their walk. We studied Mary and how she responded to God when the angel told her she would be giving birth to a savior. May we all respond with such faith and a servant's heart.

A wonderful friend blessed me yesterday with his favorite book to read. It's called A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards. I got through half of it before the women's bible study and will finish it today. I love it! It's very insightful. I showed it to Greg to see if he might read it and use it for future leadership training. He's already read it and loved it too!

Piles of paperwork and taxes await me, but first I think I'll read! Blessings to you on this once again, gray, cold, foggy Wednesday.

EQUIP Update

It's been a productive week or two. I think I already mentioned we got our business license and our federal ID#. We also got our fictitious business statement and opened our checking and savings accounts. We can accept donations, but at this time they won't be tax-deductible. Our fictitious business statement should be running in the Turlock Journal the next four weeks. We have sent our articles of incorporation and by-laws to our board for review a few weeks ago. Once that is agreed upon, we'll apply for non-profit status and to be incorporated. Once we receive the non-profit status, any donations will be tax-deductible. I understand it takes 4-6 months.

Last night Greg and I worked reviewed the content and made the schedule for our leadership advance. I then made the menu, duties, and questionnaire for the advance. Now we just need a place to go! If you know of any free or inexpensive places to go within 1-2 hours of Turlock, please let me know at gshazenberg@sbcglobal.net.

Time to prepare the house for our 6th leadership meeting. Blessings to you on this gray, breezy Saturday.

EQUIP Update

Yesterday marked the first leadership training session for EQUIP. The three hour session had plenty of variety. We caught up on every one's week, (which is a really good way to find out prayer requests!), Greg and I shared our testimonies, we went over our vision and values, how EQUIP got it's name and what it stands for, and had a time for worship and prayer. We also shared a meal together. It was a great time and there was lots of laughter. This team will work well together.

If you read my last blog, I had a bit of a panic about how to share my testimony with new parameters placed on me. I tried all week to find the time to dedicate time to preparing this, but couldn't find it. It was an act of faith that God would have me share what was important. The words flowed freely as I spoke of my journey with God. When I was done, which took maybe 5-10 minutes, one of the team members said, "I salute you" a few times. Another team member said we had a lot in common. I take that as a testimony told "rightly", as it deepened my bond with them. Greg told his after me, it was typed out on 2 or 3 pages and he went into great detail. It lasted about 30 minutes and everyone got a good sense of his journey.

I must say it was a frazzled, stressful day. It started with me taking Kristen shopping for a skirt or dress for her to wear today on a school trip. It was required. We spent 4 hours going around Turlock to find something. It is REALLY hard to find something modest for an 85 pound 16-year old these days! Add to that the dress code rule for her school of the hemline being no more than 3 inches from the floor in the kneeling position. And she's much more strict on herself and following these rules than I am. In the end we found 2 skirts and a pair of shoes and she has tops at home she can wear.

Then it was home to clean house (I worked Friday), shower, and put together a salad. I didn't end up with enough time to make the meal so we ordered in. It worked!

Today we have plenty to do after church. Blessings on this gorgeous fall Sunday!

S-T-R-E-T-C-H

I'm finding myself stretched almost daily. Last night Greg told me that when we start our leadership training Saturday for our new church, I'm to give my testimony. Up until now, he has referred to it as 'tell them everything about where we've been.' Easy enough. The good, the bad, the ugly. I can do that. I was thinking. . . this is information sharing. The purpose is to make sure everyone knows everything about us, so if anything ever comes up, nothing will be a surprise. Last night, however, he put it in a different light. He called it a testimony and said, "If told rightly, it will impact their hearts." He said he was even sharing verses. It felt like this was a much bigger deal than spilling my guts. I had to tell it rightly in order to impact their hearts. Verses! Yikes! And he wants me to go first! I'm feeling very threatened. All of a sudden I feel like it's a competition, and he won the toss. I'm sure it will be fine and I'll come up with something that will work, I just don't like how I got a different spin on it than I got before. At least it wasn't last minute. That was stretch #1.

Stretch #2 came in the form of a Pastoral visit. There has been a part of me that has resisted doing a 'visit'. I never liked the idea. I guess it's because I've had one and didn't appreciate it at all. It was 1986 and I had become a Christian a few months prior. I was still living somewhat of a worldly life, not dressing appropriately for a Christian woman, halter tops and too short shorts. I had visited one of the larger churches in Turlock and filled out a visitor card. One summer Sunday afternoon there was a knock on my door. I didn't have a peep hole and opened it. There stood 2 Christian men and a Christian woman from the church to visit me unannounced. Imagine my discomfort! They pretty much asked if they could come in and so we sat in my living room while they asked me questions and I asked them one question at their prompting. I wondered, "Why is it that when the choir finishes singing on Sunday morning, there is no applause, but when they finish singing on Sunday night, there is applause?" A logical question for someone trying to find out why there was an inconsistency in their worship. They replied, "Well, we feel Sunday morning is a more reverent time and applause is not appropriate then." I felt it was a weak explanation which didn't make sense to me at all, so I didn't attend there much longer. (Not to mention the unannounced and uninvited visit!).

Back to my second stretch. Greg had been wanting to visit two of the couples in our small group for some time. We had tried setting something up to see them for sometime. The men were open to it, the women not so much. (You know how us women are, we have to clean everything, which means extra work, never feel like it's good enough, and stress over it). I didn't want to put them through that.

We've done a few things for these couples the last month or two and have been by their houses because of it. We found out where this one couple lived because he and his 4 kids were at the Bible study one night (his wife was home sick with the flue and an infected root canal procedure) and he got symptoms of the flu while there. He was in no condition to drive home, with the effects coming out both ends. Greg offered to drive him and the kids home to Ceres while I followed in our car. We had to stop at our house to get my license and when I came out, he lost it in the gutter of our driveway. Anyway, that's how we knew how to get to his house. So, we set up a time to see them yesterday morning and went over. We had a great visit for about an hour, prayed for them and a friend who was there and left. I felt a little like we were intruding, but they didn't make us feel that way. I think it's because I'm kind of a private homebody and I assume others are too. Greg says that Pastors of small churches have different expectations on them than Pastors of larger churches, that's why Pastors of larger churches don't normally do home visits. It's good we went. We found out that they need 2 sets of bunk beds, as their kids don't have a place to sleep. IF YOU KNOW OF ANY BUNK BEDS OR 4 TWIN MATTRESSES OR 2 DOUBLE MATTRESSES LET ME KNOW. We'll pick up and deliver.

I continue to be stretched in this new role. Sometimes my flesh wants to fight it because these concepts are new to me, but I'm not going to let it win. There's too much at stake.

Blessings on this foggy/sunny Wednesday!

Early Christmas

After a hard day at work, we went to small group. I was pretty excited because I was able to teach last night. Greg and I had bought a case of hardcover NLT Life Application Bibles to give away to folks on the west side. They day before I went to Target and got gift bags and tissue in bright neon colors to wrap them. While there I thought, 'I don't want the six kids to feel left out that they didn't get anything', so I bought some age appropriate toys to keep them occupied during the teaching. Then Greg and I went to the local Bible store and bought Bible covers and highlighters for them. I put the bibles and highlighters in the cases and wrapped them in tissue and put them in the gift bags. Then I wrapped the boxes of toys.

We arrived, and with Greg's mighty, "Ho, Ho, Ho!" we came inside. The kids were quiet and so expectant wondering what was inside. The oldest boy told me the boxes were for the kids and the bags were for the grown ups. Smart kid! The kids went first and opened the gifts. We explained that they were from the EQUIP church and belonged to the church, as someday they will be used by other kids as well, but for now they could play with them while at Grandma & Grandpa's house. They were great with that. The parents opened their gift bags and were thrilled. The youngest daughter said she had been praying for a Bible cover for over a year. Yeah!

Greg ran interference with the kids so the moms could concentrate on the teaching. It was great. I was exhausted after yesterday, so we got to sleep in a little this morning. Self-employment is a great thing!

Off to work. Blessings on this cloudy, cool day!

New Stuff

I'm finding it impossible to blog on Mondays. I have just enough time to get up way early, throw on work clothes and hit the door at daybreak. I even eat in the truck. So, here's an update on what has gone on in the last 2 days.

Sunday we went to another church to check out what they did. Several people have asked us what we thought about them but until Sunday we couldn't answer because we had never gone. Though what I heard prior was controversial, we found it to be a great experience. We were greeted warmly at the door and handed our bulletins. We were welcomed by a couple we knew and got to catch up a little before service. The associate Pastor came over and introduced himself as well and welcomed us. Then the Pastor came over and called us by name and welcomed us. He said he heard we were planting a church on the west side. We caught up with him a bit and I got to catch up on his brother, who I worked with at Gallo many years ago. The worship was great, the teaching was on track and relevant. As we exited the front door, the Pastor offered to help us plan our church plant and asked that we call him. I filled out a visitor card and the associate Pastor called us that afternoon. All in all it was a great experience and we're glad we went.

Sunday we pretty much did stuff around the house and watched football. Yesterday was a good hard workday and last night I fell asleep on the sofa with Greg at 6:00 for a few minutes while our tile guy grouted what he did on Saturday. He offered to come back tonight and Wednesday night and tile more, but Greg wanted him fresh on Saturday, so he'll be back then to tile the kitchen. Yeah!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow night. Besides teaching, we have gifts to bring. I love bringing gifts! I have lots to work on today and tonight we will probably grind down the rest of the concrete and pull up some carpet to prepare for this weekend. Maybe I'll do some painting today as well. Blessings on this fall Tuesday!

Update

I'm slapping myself for being so sporadic in my blogging and having to try and remember where I left off Tuesday! Wednesday night was our Bible Study on the westside. We had our new youth pastors Josh and Monica over so everyone could get to know them and they had instant rapport. We played a game called Loaded Questions which was great in getting everyone to know each other better. We laughed constantly. I get to teach this week and then next week we'll start a marriage series. Josh and Monica will be caring for and teaching the six little ones so all the adults can focus on the teaching.

Wednesday Greg and I worked the Turlock route and Thursday we were in Modesto. Greg assigned me my first area to be totally responsible for; the rose gardens and planters around the sanctuary of a church in Modesto. Friday I helped him for a couple of hours at our church and got to mow a new area.

Yesterday one of the couples at our small group was having a garage sale to make rent and we saw the opportunity to bless them. We called them Friday night and told them we had appliances and boxes of kitchen stuff they could have if they wanted it to sell. They came over at 7 yesterday and picked it all up. It blessed us to have it gone. Greg rearranged the garage and I can park in it again! They sold enough stuff to make their rent! Yeah!


Our tile guy came at 7:30 and started tiling the new room. He laid 92 20" tiles yesterday and will come back Monday night and grout it. Then he'll be back on the weekend to continue tiling into the living room and kitchen.


The stucco guys also came at 7:30 and started on the back of the house. I went and picked up pizza and soda for everyone at noon and we had fun talking in Spanish and English and finding out about every one's families. The tile guy ha 4 kids! The stucco supervisor came from a family with 10 kids and another stucco guy had 11 kids in his family! Yikes!

Today we're visiting another church. Should be interesting. Better finish getting ready. I hate being late! Blessings on this beautiful 85 degree Lord's day!

EQUIP Announcement

We are happy to announce that Josh and Monica Kemper have joined our Leadership Team. They have a great background working with youth and Monica has taught women's Bible studies. They have a heart for marriage ministry and we look forward to see how God will use their gifts and abilities going forward.

I got most of the extension primered yesterday. A small section of the wall remains as well as the kitchen walls. Greg and Mark worked on the ceiling last night and when the sunlight hits the room I'll see what needs to be finished. Looks like Saturday is paint day after the prayer walk. Also on tap for today is helping Greg get a load of debris to his truck this morning, a trip to Modesto to pick up the bathroom fixture and my replacement left contact (I've been wearing a trial pair with a piece missing in my left eye for a month or more), meeting with the cabinet guy for the dishwasher facing installation and a drawer guide repair that I kind of broke, bill paying, lesson on the big mower, and bed. Whew! Ambitious? Yes. Do-able? I hope so!

Blessings on this cloudy, cool Friday.

My Last Day

Well, I wish I could say I had this really good, insightful blog to post today about transitions or something, but I haven't put much thought into it. As I leave my job of only 3 1/2 years (a record for me, most jobs stints are much longer) I'm surprised by my elated mood. When I left Gallo, I was also very happy, looking forward to working at the church. As I leave the church, I'm also very happy, looking forward to planting a new church and enjoying all that comes with ministry. I look forward to seeing Greg finally enjoy the calling God placed on him so many years ago and absolutely flourish at what God created him for.

Much of my reading in the Bible these days point to a restored Jerusalem. I think of the Westside that way. Though many have turned from God, He is calling them back to an abundant life with Him. I can't wait to see what God will do in individual lives, families, and the entire neighborhood.

I invite you to continue reading my blog and following the gestation period and birth of this new baby church. It's an exciting time, and I pray that through this, God will spark a desire in you to take risks, put all your faith in Him, and go for it!

Blessings on this gorgeous Tuesday.

Split Brain

On September 3rd, Kristen lost her purse. She remembers taking it to Sizzler to celebrate Mark saving our tail in our business. While Greg was working on a big 4 week project, Mark had to do our commercial and residential maintenance routes for those weeks. He did a great job. We wanted to bless him with a meal at one of his favorite restaurants.

Kristen doesn't remember taking it home. She lost about $40 cash, gift cards, and her driver's permit. Sizzler didn't have anyone return the purse, so Friday I took her down to the police department to report it stolen or lost. We talked to a very nice police officer, maybe the Chief. As we were leaving, I had an idea. I had always wanted to talk to a police officer about the types of crimes on the westside. Don't want to go in blindly you know.

I asked questions about the gang names and types, how to identify them, what their habits were for violence, where they were from and where they went. Did the crimes happen mostly at night? What kinds of drugs were most prevalent? For about 10 minutes I grilled him and he gave me lots of information. Halfway through my brain split. One half was talking and listening about the westside, the other half was saying, "Are you nuts? Your 16 year old daughter is standing right here! She's already got a few apprehensions about her safety, why are you exposing her to all the dangers?" My analytical side took over. I reasoned, well, it's a good way to open up this conversation and find out what she's thinking about all this new info!

It turned out very good. She decided she wanted to learn martial arts to help protect herself. We haven't gone any further down that road yet. I let her know of some plans we have for ministry in that area and she was thrilled.

Do you ever start going down one road and some common sense, or conscience, or Holy Spirit or even the enemy shows up and tries to convince you to do a 180 and go in a completely different direction? Do you listen to it? Do you reason with it? Are you usually right or wrong? At 16 I think it was good to not hide the dangers we'll be facing on the westside. I want her to be fully aware. The police officer was kind enough to tell us how to tell the different gang members apart. He also wished us well on what we were doing. We plan to be partnering very closely with the PD.

May both sides of your brain have a blessed Tuesday!

The Heart of EQUIP

The most frequently asked question we get is where will you be? Right now, we don't know. We haven't had the chance to talk to anyone on the westside to see what our options are and God hasn't given us a clear direction on that yet. We're open to whatever may come our way at this time.

God has created a wide variety of churches with unique styles, focuses, and visions to reach a wide variety of individuals. I've already shared our vision, so let's go a little deeper into the heart of EQUIP and talk about our values, the things that are important to us.

1. Called to keep the focus on God
Acts 4: 24, “When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.”

Prayer will be a primary focus, keeping the first things always first. Our posture will be to worship, seek, and wait. Quality time will be made for this priority.

2. Called to make disciples
Mat. 28:19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you . . .”

Teaching disciples to become disciple makers. This process will be intentional and strategic. The goal is to make leaders who will make leaders. Discipleship will happen both in one-on-one relationships and in small groups.

3. Called to be together
Acts 2:42 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

Creating an atmosphere for growth, where people can thrive, and be equipped. A place where all are accepted, know they belong, heal, become equipped, and where they will be sent out. Diversities in the body will be celebrated.

Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Acts 4:32 “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.”

We will teach the body to be focused and committed to the world-wide church.

4. Called to “Health”
Acts 2:42-47 “. . . And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Healthy church multiplication should be a natural, normal happening.
We desire to be a deep church where size is not the goal. By going deep with people and developing intimacy with God and with others in the body, they will want to share the good news with others, discipling them, and those disciples will in turn disciple others and multiplication will occur. With this multiplication, strong leaders will be developed and it is our goal that we will birth our first healthy daughter church, and continue to birth other churches and see these daughter churches birth other churches.

I'll probably start sharing other things and interspersing with EQUIP news as things happen. We covet your prayers for this little bud of a church about to bloom. Blessings on this beautiful Saturday.

EQUIP Continued-Our Advisory Board

I forgot to mention that when we told our daughter about the calling, she had a vision as well. It was of a multi-ethnic church and it was white on the inside too.

We received many confirmations as the months went on. On our prayer walks often two of us would hear the same thing from God. God sometimes would make a promise then it would be confirmed within a few days by another person. It just blew us away.

I would love to share the transformations that have happened from our prayer meetings, but for the sake of privacy, I can't. Suffice to say it's amazing to see people's countenance change, their faces brighten, as they turn from darkness into the light.

As we continued on our journey to figure out how all this would work, our board recommended we put together an advisory board for the new church. We started right away. We prayed about it and God gave us 3 names. They are all at or near the top of their missions agencies.

One of our board members is Bruce Beckhart. He is with Frontiers and he is responsible for Pastoral care. Frontiers is a missions agency with missionaries in every Muslim country. Whenever a pastor in one of these countries needs care of any kind, this man makes a phone call and sends someone right to them.

Another board member is Roger Thompkins. He is the founder and leader of an agency called MCN (Missionaries to Christian Nationals). They are dedicated to establishing indigenous churches among unreached people groups.

John Dupree is on our board as well. He is with The Harvest Group. John works with local churches to help them develop missions. He also coordinates conferences and help to bring Perspectives classes to local churches. If you want a good view of God's heart for the world, take a Perspectives class. It will change the way you think about missions.

The neat thing is that as we asked each one of these men to pray about whether or not they would accept the position of a temporary advisory board member, they all said yes! We had our first meeting in July and our next one will be in October. John lives in Escalon, Roger in Mariposa, and Bruce is Mesa, Arizona. Bruce will be teleconferenced in on the computer for our meetings. Our house is right in between John and Roger. What a blessing these men are to us. John and Roger both have church planing backgrounds, which is also our heart.

Thank you for continuing to read about the journey of our new church. It's wonderful to share good news. Blessings on this sunny Friday.

EQUIP Continued

I was asked this week how I was able to get over my fear of the westside and start going over there. It's true there are some scary things on that part of town. Drug houses, murders, be-headings, gang activity.

The Bible says to live with your wife with understanding. Greg has done a great job of understanding why I do things or react to things the way I do. One of the things he learned about me is that I'm a planner and not very flexible when it comes to changing plans. Once my head is going in one direction, unless I can see the purpose of changing plans, I tend to take a while to change lanes. As he started working with this family, and as he told me things about the westside, I didn't have a desire to start going over there right away. We both knew I would have to change that, meet the family, and be comfortable on that side of town. He didn't push me, he just waited. I prayed and after about 4-6 months, I told him I was ready to go over there to meet the family.

Things are never as bad as you think they're going to be. Once I was over that hump, I felt comfortable on that side of town. Am I watchful? You bet. But I don't let fear keep me from what God has called us to do.

This summer there was a murder on the same street where we have our prayer meetings. We were actually there less than a week after it happened. I've been told it is the roughest street over there. God arranged for the young man's funeral service to be held at our church where I work. I was actually the one who made the decision to have it there, under unusual circumstances. I was home on my day off and the woman in the office who coordinates funerals was working that day to catch up on some things. The family called the office and she answered the phone. She gave them my home number and said I would have to make the decision. (Three things that normally wouldn't have happened.) I decided to let them have it there, not even knowing this was the young man murdered from the westside. God certainly arranged that one.

That's how God and Greg got me used to the westside. One baby step at a time. Blessings on this hot Thursday.

The Journey of EQUIP continues

I began writing about what was happening with this calling in September. I'm going to pull from what I called my Dream Journal, so I don't forget anything.

Shortly after God called us, God started giving Greg sermons. He enrolled in a preaching class at Global Bible Institute in Modesto and received an A in the class. As the other students preached to the class for their final from the perspective that the class was a congregation, Greg chose a different route. He decided to preach to them as future pastors and chose a topic to encourage and teach them. This showed a true pastor's heart to disciple those around him.

About mid-September I had a vision of our future church. I saw a cozy little church with brick or cement block walls painted white, many Hispanics of all ages and people talking with each other after service. The pews were also white. I saw a lady in her 60's, alone, and several young men in their late teens and early twenties, with white tank top undershirts and cargo jeans worn too low. I sensed a lady had started praying that God would send new pastors to her neighborhood. This grew and now there is a group of about 5 praying.

In December we went on our first prayer walk. It is continued here. God spoke to me using 7 pictures regarding the hearts of the people on the westside and how to minister to them.

Greg and I began having staff meetings where we dreamed, talked about what God was speaking to us regarding our call, and made plans. As Greg sought God as to what would be the next step, God told him to start with who he knew. He knew a family on the westside, whom he had been in ministry with 20 years ago. He reconnected with them, thinking he was to minister to his friend, who was now a father and grandfather, but a funny thing happened at that first meeting. His son came out, who was in his early 20's and was in a white supremacy gang and who's job it was to beat people up for not repaying loans, and the young man put his hand on Greg's shoulder and declared he was ready to re-dedicate his life to Christ. Greg led him in a re-dedication prayer, and so began our relationship with this family. A month later, Greg was able to shine a light on the man's drug use and need for help and the parents realized they needed to take a stand for their son. Greg facilitated his enrollment in Teen Challenge and he is currently there, doing well. We've been to Teen Challenge several times to visit him and Greg goes every 2 weeks discipling him in the areas of his greatest struggle.

Tomorrow I'll talk about how Greg and God were able to prepare me to go to the westside, something at this point I was fearful to do. Blessings on this hot, sunny Wednesday.

A Little History

If you didn't read yesterday's blog, please do, then this will make more sense.

In September 2007, God began leading me towards the realization that Greg was shaped for being a senior pastor. I always knew he was a great leader and great discipler, but the pieces all started falling together. Greg had never mentioned that he was called to be a senior pastor 20 years prior. He waited for God to reveal that to me, and when he did, Greg knew that it was time for his calling to finally be fulfilled.

We received many confirmations, like people calling him Pastor Greg all of a sudden. At the dinner table the weekend this was all happening, our daughter said in the middle of a conversation, "Well, you're a pastor . . ." We stopped chewing and looked up at each other, frozen in time. "What? What did I say? What's wrong?", Kristen said. "Oh, nothing." We were floored.

We went for a walk after dinner and I wept the entire time. I couldn't even hardly say two words on the whole mile. I kept thinking, "Me? A pastor's wife? Are you sure? I have no idea how to be a pastor's wife. What is expected of me? What do I do and not do? Are you sure? What an honor. I can't believe it. I knew there was more to my Christian walk. Thank you for calling us. Are you sure?" Over and over these emotions of honor and anxiety ran through my mind. For three weeks, I would just weep suddenly when I thought of the honor of being called. I felt I was having hormonal mood swings like I was pregnant or something. The swings were so evident that a close friend thought someone in my family had cancer. Over the course of those weeks, the reality set in and I approached it in my typical fashion. I looked for books on how to be a pastor's wife.

At the bookstore there weren't any books on the subject. I scanned the books and saw this book with red on it facing me. It was the only book like it. I kept going, looking for something that said wife on it, but my eyes returned to this red and white paperback. Three times I tried to move on, then, I thought, "Maybe God wants me to look at this for some reason." I picked it up and it was a book on planting churches. The thought hadn't crossed my mind before. I thought we would pastor in an existing church. I looked at who endorsed the book, the biography of the author, and bought it thinking, "Well, I know nothing abut this, but maybe it's an option. I could always learn about it and see if God leads us there. Better to be somewhat educated before you get there."

I read the book and everything clicked. I saw God's divine plan for multiplying His kingdom. I drank the book in and at night, I would read to Greg the things I highlighted. He agreed with just about everything. Most of the things I read, Greg had even already told me. One day while reading, I read through a sentence but before I could finish it, my eyes came back to one word. Just like in the bookstore, trying to get past a book, my eyes would return to this one word. The word was equip. It seemed as though God was trying to tell me that was the name of our church. I thought, "That's kind of a unique word for a church." I thought about Greg's and my passion for discipling people and seeing them grow in Christ and it fit. I told Greg and he wasn't too enthusiastic but prayed about it. He asked God, "God, I'm not so sure about this word. You've got to convince me this is what you want us to name the church."

God did reveal His purpose for choosing the name EQUIP. It was an acronym for our vision. It stands for Everyone Qualified, Unified, Ignited in Purpose. We had our calling, we had our name, and we had our vision.

Tomorrow I'll continue to take you on our journey of what has transpired. Blessings on this beautiful Tuesday.