I thought a song titled "Leap of faith" was appropriate for this situation
I don't know how to put words to this, so it's going to be as direct as it can be:
Today, Pastor Ted announced that he will be departing from WHCC to take on a new and exciting opportunity of church planting in August (...or around August). He is asking members of Meta that if they feel called, to join him in planting this church that is not necessarily connected with WHCC. Many of the details are still not reveal, but that's because they will be revealed at the vision casting sessions on June 2nd and 24th. I could write a whole lot more about this new church that Pastor Ted will be apart of, but that's not the point of this entry.
I wanted to thank Pastor Ted for everything he's done for WHCC and Meta. I've probably thanked him 10000 times in person, but that's b/c i can't thank him enough. To me, WHCC has never not had Ted (haha, sounds funny). I started coming to WHCC the exact week Ted started, so as he was introducing himself to the youth, so was I. Since i've been in college, it's been a dream of mine to have someone from WHCC be intentional about being multiethnic, multi-cultural. But also i wanted it to happen at WHCC and it wouldn't require Ted leaving. But as we know, the Holy Spirit acts according to God's will and not ours. As the weeks have gone by and i've been thinking about this, I'm really glad that this is what it came down to. Ted's new church will be nimble and be better for adapting to the situation than if they were still part of WHCC. Also, since i started college, i've seen many economic groups discriminated against in the church. With the help of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), this can be a pressing issue for the new church. And now i see that i am starting to rant, so before i type down anything else; THANKS TED, FOR THE 8 YEARS OF SERVICE. I PRAY THAT GOD BLESSES YOUR FAMILY AND THOSE THAT ARE WILLING TO GO OUT WITH YOU.
The second half of my spring break was spent with the youth of my
church at an organization called CSM. It's an inner-city organization
that gets people to voluenteer all around Houston. I learned a lot, and
most of it stuck out, I had a great time. It was good to see what God
is doing in Houston. The biggest thing that stuck out was on the last
day.
So we wake up Sunday morning to go to church at St. John's, which if
you don't know, is mostly a black church. This church has a great
diversity among its congregation though. I think they have a big
outreach program to the homeless, because there were a few in the
congregation. I sat next to a homeless man named Fred. As the
collection basket comes around I pass it to Fred and on his envolope in
big writing is his donation of $1.06. Which is $1.06 more than I gave.
And it hit me ... $1.06 was a lot to Fred ... probably all he had for
the day. I felt like it was the woman that gave 2 cents at the temple
all over again. And as I sat there I was trying to make an excuse for
myself for why a homeless man can give all he has and why I wasn't
giving anything. At first, I said to myself that it was because I had
no cash on me. But then they can take card. Then I said it was because
I was rescricted from using my debit card (I spent too much for ...
well, ever since i've had it), but then a voice a hit me and it said
this : "You can never give enough until you match Fred's $1.06"
That hurt. And I realized something: it wasn't just money that i wasn't
giving back to God. I wasn't giving back to God anything in my life. My
time, my talents, my heart, my mind, my troubles, my fears. I basically
lead 2 small groups and currently am in 2 worship team rotations ...
and trust me ... even with all that churching going on in my life ... i
wasn't giving it back to God. I was using it for me. For my own glory.
I was broken at that point. I didn't know what to do, so i just sat
there. And I remebered that i have a few support letters that i had to
respond to. So at this point if you've given me a support letter, i
guess you're happy to hear that huh? Well, i myself do not have a lot
of money, so don't think that my contributions are going to
single-handedly pay for your trip. As I try to learn from this
lesson i hope you guys do too. Can you match Fred's $1.06? Because
there's gonna be a day when we meet God, and He'll point to Fred and
say "I tell you the truth, this poor man put more into the treasury
than you. You gave out of your wealth, but he, he gave out of his
poverty, put in everything - all he had to live on"
So here it is ... Crowder's sure fire new hit. It's called "Oh the
Glory of it all". Now this video is missing the first two lines of the
song and the sound quality gets worse as it progresses, but it's best
thing that youtube has (recorded at Passion '07 by someone that's not
me). You can buy the song on Itunes.
In the last 72 hours, i've probably slept off 60 of them.
It's weird, at the end of every retreat (and i went to 6 before
Urbana in the year 2006) i always wanted the retreat to
last one extra day, but when Urbana ended ... i was ready
to get back into my everyday life. And it wasn't just because
i was tired and had a few letters to write (for my
scholarships to get to Urbana ... which can be a story in it
of itself), but more like ... I had the feeling that I was
finally ready to face life. School had been such a non-issue the past
few years, but now i realized how important it is to God's plan for my
life.
If you don't know, on the last night (new year's eve), I
went back to my hotel and celebrated New year's by myself. As sad as
that story sounds, I think it was good for me. As I waited for my bus
to take me home, all of a sudden I began to think of what was in store
for this year. In a few days I had to decide if I wanted to take a
missions trip in the summer (after all, we just finished a missions
conference), and by this summer, I had to get all my labs done to apply
for nursing school (i will be done with one lab by the start of summer
... which means i need to do 3 labs in the summer) and get a 3.5 GPA in
my labs just so i can qualify. I had to somehow be intentional
towards my mom and my best friends (who are non-christians). I had
to figure out what to do if i didn't get a scholarship this
semester for school. So, I began praying. It feels good to
start a new year off while you're in the middle of a prayer.
The conclusions that God revealed made so much sense to me. I
began to remember all the discussions I had with the different missions
groups, with the different seminary schools, with nurses and nursing
students, all of the seminars, the bible studies, and all the
sermons. And as i got on that bus to go home, God made sense of my
life. And ever since I came home, i have spent most of my
waking hours (however few they have been) excited about life. Excited
about this coming semester, excited that i am in the city that i'm
in, and excited about what God will do through me. I have finally
realized what it means to live not for oneself, but with
intentional purposes for others. I know now what it means "to live
a life worthy of the calling" -Ephesians 4:1
10. Attending three DCB concerts this year alone
9. Aceing all my papers this semester
8. Weddings (attended 2... invited to 3)
7. Retreats (Winter retreat, Rec Week, Both Camps, Leadership conference, Tehuacana, anticipating for Urbana)
6. Joining UHIV worship team
5. Working for WHCC/ being camp Director
4. Fogo for the first time ever
3. Becoming a small group leader
2. Hanging out with random people
1. Being apart of this:
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