church retreat

I just got back from Immanuel Fellowship's annual church retreat. Every year we go to Snow Mountain Ranch for a weekend. It's so much fun. We stay together in rooms that hold up to six people, eat all our meals together, swim, play kick ball, roller skate, hike, you get the idea. It's a good time to hang out and get to know everyone better.

This year all the times of teaching we had were focused on the Bride. (The room we rented for our gatherings had recently been used for a wedding and the decorations hadn't been taken down yet. How perfect is that?) A few things that stuck out to me were that we really need to identify ourselves with the Bride. Church is not a building, or even an organization, it's us. We can stand back and be disillusioned, criticize her, and be bitter, but we can't escape the fact that she is us and we are her. Also if she is the bride of Christ and Jesus gave Himself up for her then we need to learn to love her as He does. She is the body of Christ. I recently read an article from the book called The Relevant Church which stated that because the church is Christ's Bride and body we cannot really love Him unless we also love His church. However the church is not perfect. We are imperfect people thus the church is imperfect. God is working in His Son's Bride to purify her. We need to be doing the same; helping her rather than putting her down. We need to be helping her purify herself for Jesus. I need to pray for the whole church world wide to become more of what God made her to be, and ask God for more vision to see this.

Saturday night we always have a ministry time. You can come up front and pray, ask for prayer, and pray for others. I had to surrender my desire to have people's approval. That one will be a long time in the works. ; ) I had the privilege of praying for a few of my friends. I also got to translate for an English-speaking couple who were trying to pray for a guy who spoke Spanish. They were having a very hard time communicating with their limited knowledge of each other's languages. It was really cool to be able to help them out.

On the last day of the retreat we usually play a game of kick-ball. However this year it was cold, windy, and snowing on and off. So we played dodge-ball instead. I've got to admit that I like this a lot better. I like the chaos of it. I'm much better at it too. My team won (not because of me) by what seemed like a very little bit. And then it was over. *sigh* Well I'll be back next year, looking forward to it already....

kansas city

The trip to Kansas City was pretty good. A group of eleven of the housechurch leaders from Immanuel Fellowship drove from Summit, very long drive. I don't mind though I like driving with people, even if we don't talk much I can watch my friends sleep. I like the way people look when they sleep, so innocent and peaceful. Some people that's the only time they look innocent and peaceful. :P

All the speakers were very good as well imho. It was cool to hear the experienced church planters talk about the Bride of Christ, vision, the Kingdom of God, and set backs in ministry. I felt like God called me to plant churches (hopefully in other countries eventually) when I was seventeen. At the time I was really shy and didn't have much vision for the church anyway. I was wondering why on earth God chose me. One of the speakers also used to not have any vision for the church, he spoke powerfully on how you really can't love Christ without loving His bride.

I also got to eat lunch with Pete Greig (who wrote the book Red Moon Rising), his wife Sammie, and their very cute little boy Daniel. It was defiantly a high point of the trip to hear how things are going for 24-7 Prayer. They were also just fun to hang out with. Overall a really great trip, can't wait till next year.

earthshake

I just got back from earthshake, it was, once again very good. God's really been deepening my love for the church, His bride, in general so it was very encouraging to go hear other people with a vision for the church talk about it. A lot of them have been church planters for many years both in the U.S. and internationally. I really think this is what God has called me to do with my life: plant churches. However it's pretty late so I will have to post more later.

dating, or not

Today I was talking to a younger friend about dating. Or not dating I guess. (Don't worry I don't think dating is a sin or anything.) I just feel like God doesn't want me to date or be in any kind of a romantic relationship until He tells me who and when.

I made the commitment not to date at 14 and so I've never had a boyfriend. Some people have said that this will leave me unsure of how to relate to guys and unsure of what I want in a husband. Actually, at 20 I think it's done the opposite.

Not dating has kept the pressure off my friendships allowing more depth and trust with both guys and girls. Being able to just be friends with guys worry free has allowed me to see more of who they really are. This would include annoying boy stuff that you (hopefully) would never see on a date. (I guess to be fair I must say that they've seen me be annoying too!) It's allowed me to learn how to deal with the way God designed us to think differently without the added emotion of a romantic relationship. I've been able to ask my closer guy friends questions about how guys think, and if it annoys them when girls do this, and if they generally care about stuff like that. It's good to be able to know if something I said hurt them, or if they honestly didn't really think about it.

My guy friends have done an awesome job being gentlemen. They've taught me to expect a certain level of respect. I've also seen in all of them godly character qualities that I admire. I hope I've done as good a job of being a lady, respecting them, and showing godly character.

So anyway, though there is no one catching my attention as so many people ask me these days now that I'm 20, I don't think I'll be as unprepared as some thought. For now, my heart's only for God.

two weeks

It's been two weeks since my last post. Sorry about that, it's just nearly impossible for me to get on the internet right now. I post every time I'm online. :s

A lot has happened in two weeks. David, a friend from housechurch moved to Florida about a week ago. God really gave him peace about moving back in with his family. I'll miss him though, David is a gentleman and a really great friend. I'll be praying for him as he gets used to his new life in Florida. There's a picture of him on Isaac's blog.

Just before David left for Florida Isaac left for Bei Jing, China. We haven't heard much. That's understandable, I've also been to Bei Jing and found it nearly impossible to a) find the time to attempt communication, and b) actually get any phone card to work from Asia. The internet is the easiest way to tell the people at home that I'm still alive but the lines have been long in my experience. Anyway he's coming back tonight, his plane has already landed I think. I can't wait to hear about the trip.

I should have a good chance to hear about his trip on the way to Kansas City later this week. All the housechurch leaders are going to earthshake, a conference for church leaders. This year they will focus on the New Testament church and Acts. It's an eight hour drive, hopefully I'll get to hear all about Isaac's time in China during the ride.

I'm kinda excited that the conference will be about the early church. This week Immanuel Fellowship started a class studying the book of Acts. I'm really excited about the class because God's been speaking to me a lot about church lately in the prayer room. He's been powerfully deepening my vision for and understanding of His bride over the summer, especially since the beginning of the prayer room. I can't wait to see what God has to speak to me as I study the church's beginning in Acts. Anyway, that was the last two weeks. Sorry I'll try to get to the net more.