Time to apply

Well, we (me and Jodi) have been getting "formally" trained in ministering in Jesus' name for over a year now, so it's time to put into action what we've been learning in more bold ways. It's a bit scary, but I know it's exactly what God intends and it's pretty exciting to see us starting to step into things that would have scared me much more a year or 2 ago. Now I find that the fear only rises up when I start to think of how I can have control of these things and I realize I can't. Then when I realize that it's God that's calling us to it and He who will work through us (and lots of other people/things) the fear has no place.

So, we've found ourselves naturally a bit more in a leadership place in the internship at MAC. We want to see the first year people grow and God's put desires in us to see the internship as a subsection of the Body of Christ grow to be a more beautiful bride together.

We're also going to be teaching some classes this year. Neither of us have done much teaching, but it's been a good motivation so far to really dig into specific parts of the Bible. We desire deeply for the Holy Spirit to reveal His truth to us so we can bring it to the class. And we expect Him to do just that. I plan to share some of what I've been struggling with and learning through studying Numbers soon.

We also felt God leading and some other people admonishing us to lead a home group. For those of you who don't go to our church, at MAC, we believe home groups are where "church really happens". People are cared for and experience community, we discover God's truth in a personal way - and grow, and we reach out in Jesus' name together. Not that this doesn't happen without home groups, but a lot of people seem to fall through the cracks because of a lack of personal interaction, accountability, etc when they don't get involved in a home group. So, we're planning to lead one. This is probably the scariest of the things God is bringing us into when I look at it from the viewpoint of my own abilities. But I'm pretty darn excited also to let God show me how He can work through my weaknesses, and I'm pretty darn excited just that He would want to use me and Jodi in this way.

So, with this new growing/leading stuff, I'm quite tempted to be overwhelmed. I think in some ways it's a test of whether I'm going to choose to "cling tightly to the Lord" (Josh 23:8). Pray for us. We're going to fail in some ways. Our pastor has been emphasizing a lot lately how failure prepares us to be used by God - cause then we'll stop thinking we might be able to accomplish what He calls us to on our own.

So, we're entering a time of letting God prove to us His faithfulness and His willingness to work through us as Jesus said He would.