FYI This is an update on January and February. That way, we can send out at the end of each month and accurately call it “March Update” (next month) – instead of sending it out 1st of March and it really being an update on February. I confused myself, and didn’t want to confuse anyone else too. General Update That being said, January and February felt like two days, not two months!? January consisted most of coaching volleyball and Pat teaching at church. February entailed having only one car, one big Super Bowl party, and one week in Dallas! Needless to say, we are simultaneously exhausted and excited when we reflect back and then look forward to the next few months! Answered Prayers Before we dive into all that has been going on, I really want to share some of the prayers that God has answered for us over the last two months! By the grace of God, and the kindness and generosity of His children, Pat is fully funded in ministry! We prayed, and asked you to pray that this would happen by March 1, and The Lord has surely done it! THANK YOU SO MUCH! We thank God and for you and your prayers and generosity. This is a HUGE blessing for us as we round out the last few months of Pat’s Residency. Being fully funded allows us to focus more effort on maintaining the relationships with current partners, as well as focus effort on what God has for us post-residency. Speaking of post-residency. In the last update, we had very little direction or available opportunity regarding next steps. Since, Pat has applied for a large number and variety of jobs. Nothing has been finalized yet, but the sheer number of available opportunities and “second round” interviews have been an encouragement and answer to prayer. THANK YOU FOR PRAYING! TCS Volleyball We have had three tournaments in the last month, two of which we won medals! It has been a large time commitment, but also a great experience. It is so great to get to know the girls on our team and see them progress over the weeks. My favorite part is the look they get when they finally master a skill – they are elated and I am so proud. I also hurt so much when they have bad days at practice, or lose a tough match. So much of what I experience with them has been a sweet reminder of the ways Jesus loves me. (And makes me grateful for how patient He is, Amen!?) The program we coach for is called Total City Sports (TCS), which is a non-profit organization that since 2009 has been bringing youth sports at a club (“travel team”) level to kids in Austin, who otherwise might not get the opportunity to play. Our highest priority is to engage and develop young women through the sport of volleyball. 7 out of the 8 athletes on our team alone are receiving financial assistance to play club volleyball this year… which comes to $10,775 in donations that are necessary for these girls to get to play! Part of how TCS raises money for club volleyball scholarships is through a program called Amplify Austin. At 6:00 pm this Thursday (3/2/17), “Amplify Austin Day” officially begins! Amplify Austin Day is a 24 hour period of giving to support local non-profits, and TCS Volleyball is hoping to raise much needed scholarship dollars for our athletes! Feel free to donate here: https://amplifyatx.ilivehereigivehere.org/PatrickandTCS Pat Teaching Pat spent two solid weeks preparing and teaching two different Sunday-School lessons for our high school and middle school age kids, and one class for the volunteers that serve at our church campus. It gave him a new appreciation for the work of pastors to prepare weekly to teach. It was a lot to keep up with! One lesson was discussing the tendency people have to believe false narratives about our identity in Christ; another lesson was about how sin is a heart condition, not an action; the last lesson was about what it means to have a “missional identity.” We trust and pray that the Lord is using all of it for His purposes. Because of your prayers and support, he is able to minister and serve our church, and since the Church is the whole body of believers, we thought sharing the material with you might also encourage you – in seeing what you are supporting through Pat in ministry, but also your personal studies!
0 Comments
Happy New Year! We hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season, and is as excited to start the New Year as we are! Pat and I were able to spend some time reflecting before our holiday travel on this past year, and discussed ways we want to grow individually and in our marriage! It is crazy how fast time flies when you are having fun! Looking back on the year, all the ways our lives twisted and turned and eventually interwove us in marriage, made us humble and thankful for how constant and faithful God is to provide. It’s another year of mystery for us, now as a family, as Pat finishes up his second year of residency at the Austin Stone, we wait with anticipation to see where the Lord will take us to do ministry next. We have made awesome friends and connections in Austin, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions, so we wait in hope. Kalá Christoúgenna (Merry Christmas!) The biggest update from last month is our trip to Greece over Christmas. Our missionary friends gave us notice of “Greek timing” before we left, and they didn’t disappoint! By the time we had arrived in Greece, we had missed the planned benefit concert altogether because they decided to do it a day earlier than originally talked about. Nevertheless, God had plans for our group! We spent the majority of our time volunteering in a refugee center called Faros (meaning lighthouse). Faros is comprised of one unaccompanied minor boy’s center, one supplies center, and one women and children rest center. Each catering to the heavy variety of needs of the people seeking refuge in Athens. These centers gave women the opportunity to shower/bathe their children, rest while being provided childcare, and receive supplies like diapers, food, and medical attention, and gave minor boys shelter and opportunities to take classes while they stayed. We used the donations from G2L Stateside Support Church to purchase edible goods for members of the center. Over 200 bags of food were handed out – many thankful hands and full hearts that day! Late in the week we were able to travel to Mars Hill/Acropolis, and ancient Corinth to see archeological ruins. Some of which included where Paul walked, wrote, and stood trial. We joined a small local Greek church for Christmas service Sunday morning (All in Greek – but kindly translated for us!), and ate Christmas dinner as a team at a nearby Greek restaurant. Overall, it was an unusually pleasant way to spend Jesus’ birthday. Overall As non-traditional as our trip was, Pat and I both left with heavy hearts and lingering headaches. There is so much need, and so many layers of variables and difficulty in addressing those needs – and that’s just for the refugees in Greece. Listening to the young church-planting pastor who founded Faros tell the story about how he originally set out to plant evangelical churches and revive God’s Spirit in Greece, but meanwhile saw a group of people in physical need was eye opening to the reality of the situation. He dove in head-first and established a place for so many hopeless and wandering to find rest and taste a little bit of hope. As Pat and the other men talked with him about how to best continue growing the center – helping to meet the physical need - while also growing the church (within the legal limitations) to meet the spiritual need, I was struck by a very sobering thought. As Christians, we are refugees too… like, since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden. They were kicked out of home, desperate, in need, hopeless and lost. But God...HE made the first sacrifice and clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins. He replaced their clothes, meeting their physical needs and making a way for them to have an eternal hope. He has made the final sacrifice in Jesus for us. He has given us new clothes – robes of righteousness, and made a way for us to have eternal hope and a light to guide our journey home. Wow. Praise God! We have continued discussions in the last week about our trip. It has caused us to ask lots of good, hard questions of each other, ourselves, and the global church. We are so thankful and blessed to have had the opportunity to go and see, and are praying for clarity if this is where God would have us serve next. Everything is an opportunity to consider at this point, so we are trying to be mindful of that and go where the greatest need is. Stories of Hope
In our last update we mentioned how we are still praying and seeking out financial support. God has not only provided a large one-time donation, but also a faithful monthly supporter, AND a unique offer from a friend. We are so thankful for the people God has used to answer prayers!! Our 'unique offer' came from a local friend, Named Aldo, who works as a tech salesmen in Austin and has been supporting Pat in ministry since he started at Austin Stone. Aldo on his own accord had been praying, asking God how he could be more specifically using the gifts God had given him to bless others and bring God more glory. He approached Pat and asked if he could use his gift for working with people (like at his job) as a way to help share about our ministry and gain support. Needless to say, Pat came home beside himself with the news, and we have thanked God so much for this unique gift. Because of Aldo we have had over five people agree to meet with us, so we can share our story and how we feel like God is using us and our support team. There have been a variety of other things happening recently, all of which we have tried to add to our prayer requests, but will write in more detail in the coming month. We plan to spend the third Sunday of each month calling everyone on our team; for conversation and how we can be praying for you! We are so, SO thankful for everyone who prays for us and generously supports us. It is truly a blessing and a testimony to the power of prayer and God's provision! Time flies when you are having fun! We blinked and all of September and October were gone…. and now we are almost in the middle of November! It is a shame this has taken so long to get in writing, but we are excited to share news with you, and document all that God is working out in our lives.
The first and biggest change, is WE ARE OFFICIALLY MARRIED! Which reminds me to tell you, that this is Mrs. Jenna Bell, writing on behalf of our 8-week old family. Infinite thank-yous to everyone who was able to make it to the celebration, it was a blast! Thank you also to everyone who wasn’t able to physically be present, but sent their love through gifts and prayers. We felt surrounded and overwhelmed by the awesomeness of family! The second change will establish a new ‘framework’ for our communication with you; that we will be posting to our “God’s Got Whales” blog, but also will be emailing you via the “Bell Prayer Update” (hopefully monthly). This is basically the culmination of a much more detailed – yet developing – vision we have for our family, and for how we can best steward and serve with the resources we have through this season. We want to focus on creating a more intimate platform for conversation with you; ways we can pray for you, ways you can pray for us, and ways we can both share more intimately, and frequently, what God is doing. Prayer is THE most important and underestimated power God has given us! We want to take a moment to explain in a little more depth these seemingly small changes – where they came from and why we think they will have a much more lasting, mutual impact. Then we will try and ‘walk-the-talk’ alongside you, and just pray desperately God will show up and use us for something bigger than us! Part one (this update) will be an update on “how” and part two (another, separate, update in the very near future) will be an update on “what.” That way this is not a 6-page read! As Pat mentioned in the last update, (Which you can re-read here.) we have started putting our heads together; taking stock of what communication looks like with the people in our lives, and brainstorming what would be most beneficial if we continue to walk forward open-handedly with the notion of laboring overseas in the future. We know that God’s Mission is about Him getting glory from every corner of the earth, which we also know could look like a million things – in any corner of the globe… including Austin! That’s why right now for us, it means Pat continuing his residency at the Austin Stone, and Jenna continuing work in the business sector. (More on that in the second “what” update.) Standing with faith in the tension of those two very different realities – where we are now and where we feel like we are going – Pat & I both agree that fundamentally, regardless of location or area of ministry, one part of the body cannot successfully fulfill its job without participation from the entire body. E.g., if we feel like we are going to be the “feet” that take the Good News of Jesus to other places, these feet won’t get far without eyes, ears, legs, and hands participating and supporting the endeavor! So, as one part of the body in communication with the others, we want to make sure the body is healthy and on the same page about the direction it is going. Our hope is that these “Prayer updates” will:
Overall, we want to make sure that we are practicing what we preach. When we look at the Church of Acts in the bible, there were no ‘”less involved” groups. Each person used his/her talents, brought what they had, everyone and provided for the needs of the others were they could – because they all believed in the mission. We have asked y’all to pray, and are trusting that God will move some to provide. In the meantime, we want to make sure we are also using our gifts and things to pray & provide as well. Supporting the advancement of Truth is not a laze-faire effort. By choosing to support, you are choosing to play a role in the urgent mission of reproducing Gods glory and hastening Him home, and we want to make sure we are doing our part to give you line of sight to all the ways your efforts are being used and multiplied. “Supporting you, supporting us” so when it’s all said and done we will know it is not something any single person could take credit for, but it is our big God who does more than we can dare to ask or imagine. Whoo! I am getting worked up just thinking about it. We are so thankful, and so excited to see what’s in store for ALL of us in the future. We will be sending out the “part two,” that actually talks about what is going on around here, in a couple of days. Then, we will work on reaching out to you individually. If you have any questions or are burning to chat before then, feel free to reach out to us too!! The Lord is so kind. Seriously, take a moment and think about just how many small ways the Lord is kind and loving right now; from as big as saving grace, to as small as giving breath and a heartbeat. ALL of those are held up by Jesus (Colossians 1:17).
Those may be simple examples, but last month I shared a story about pushing a rock, and how I wasn’t sure what the Lord had for me next. In His kindness and mercy he has opened a door. First off, I am marrying my best friend, best critic, best motivator, and the best looking person I know in less than two months!!!!!! PRAISE JESUS! Second, I am happy to announce that I will be staying at the Austin Stone Church for one more year of residency, but in an entirely new role. Starting in August, I will move to being resident for our Church’s “St. John” evening campus. It is our smallest campus and also one of the newest. This specific campus has around 200 partners (members of the church), all of which are made up of young professionals. Since I last wrote an update, I had been wrestling with what the next year would look like. The “rock pushing” story helped posture my heart to recognize the good in what was difficult for me the past year, but I still had to figure out plans for the coming year. After relentless prayer and flopped attempts to explore other options, I began to feel like there was nothing for me. This brief point of helplessness – feeling like I may really have no options – forced me into authentic conversation with God. My bleak landscape of vocational options were in direct conflict with what I confidently felt like The Lord had called me to. At that point, Jesus lifted my eyes and sweetly reminded me of how big God is, and how He delights in taking care of me. This truth makes surrender so liberating. I was able, with supernatural peace, to tie up loose ends of this past year, and begin again walking with Jesus into certain uncertainty; trusting to yet another degree that God’s really, always out for his glory and my good. Following in not-so-coincidental timing, the St. John Campus leadership approached me asking if I’d like to join them. Their members had expressed a desire to be “missionally” trained and better equipped in evangelism. (Something that I had been praying to take part in during my time here – Sneaky Jesus.) Needless to say, with much excitement I agreed to come on board with them. My main goals will be to help the campus pastor meet the needs and ask of the congregation by assisting in training and equipping this campus. Outside of that, I will be exposed to basically every tasks of running the church. I will definitely be developed in some new strengths this year. I will be exposed to preaching seminars, volunteer management, leading corporate prayer, and a variety of other ministry tasks that were more limited this past year because of the scope of my role in Short Term Trips. Now, although I will still have plenty of admin to do, it won’t be the majority of my job (and will be more balanced out by time spent in the other areas mentioned). I am really excited, and I really am praising God for opening this door. I believe wholeheartedly it will help shape the pursuit of God’s calling on my life. On that note, I have been given some really good counsel and want to make sure I do a good job of sharing with each of you what I feel like “life” will look like out past just this next year. First off, I honestly am most excited to be married to Jenna. She’s just incredible, hopefully you all will get a chance to meet her. We are in pre-marital right now and as hard as it is at times, Jesus is so much bigger and my need for him is so much more real. Together, we are praying and asking God to show us what His will for our lives is, with the hope of engaging overseas/international missions in some capacity within the next 5 years. I have some military obligations that make things tricky to go outside Europe and North America at the moment. While I would love to be making disciples in Africa, we are going to go where He leads. I feel that all of the teaching, coaching, and general pastoral care – paired with my army training- will be of great value if we are called in some capacity overseas. Here is where you come in. You guys have been so faithful the past year. Seriously. I hope and pray you feel a valued part of this. YOU ARE. You are the reason I am even here writing this. I will be calling and emailing each of you (unless stated otherwise) to ask if you’d like to be a part of another year of ministry. I am looking to increase my income to $2500/month. Helping my new wife and I begin our (modest) life! Prayer is key. I can do nothing by my power alone. I forget that so many times, and this is no different. I am praying for you, to first feel like you are laboring alongside me as I get trained to lead and train others. I am also praying the Lord would bless you in new ways this year. My soon-to-be wife and I will be praying for you by name, so when I contact you I would love to hear any prayer requests. That is something I want to start doing more often – so hold me accountable! Thank you, each and every one of you for supporting me - in every sense of the word. I am anxiously anticipating what is ahead this year, and excited to hear from each one of you and how we can deepen our partnership in ministry. I am nine months in to my residency with three months left. WOW. Times flies. It has been a crazy nine months, and the next three months are prepped to be just as crazy. As of Friday May 20th, we have two trips successfully sent overseas, with seventeen left to go. Of the nineteen total trips our church is sending, I have planned seven (including the two mentioned above). I have finished nine credits worth of seminary in theology and attended several different training seminars. This has probably been the most productive year in ministry to date.
All that to say, I have no idea what’s next. I just don’t. I have no clue what I will be doing after my residency ends, but I know this: The Lord is just getting started with me. As good as this year has been, I’d be lying if I said it has been all easy- it hasn’t. It has been just as difficult as it has been productive. Jesus really pressed into certain heart issues in me this year. One of them being my need to trust Him - with the future and with being content where I am. Recently I was talking with one of our counselors here at The Stone, and he told me a story: A Man was standing before The Lord and a SUV sized rock. The Lord turned to the man and said, “I want you to push this rock. I will come back tomorrow at noon to check on you.” So the man began to push the rock with all his strength and might. For hours into the night he pushed, until he fell asleep due to exhaustion. He woke up in the morning- realizing he had fallen asleep- and began to push again. Just before noon, the man decides to check his progress. He peers around the rock and sees that he’s gotten nowhere. Discouraged, he stops pushing altogether. The Lord returns at noon and sees the man is not pushing. He says to the man, “Why did you stop pushing?” “I pushed all night and all day and got nowhere. I can’t move it.” The man replied. Then God said, “I know you can’t move it, that wasn’t the point. I wanted you to build up strength for what I have for you next.” It’s a simple story with a simpler truth behind it: God is using all things for His purposes. It was such a fitting story for me because I was feeling as if, in my current role, I was only pushing a rock. But like I said in the beginning of this update, there has been so much growth already. I want to encourage you the way I have been encouraged by this story. 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brother, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that in the Lord your labors in not in vain.” (ESV) I don’t know what I will be doing post August, other than working diligently to see all the world know and love Jesus. I apologize for not updating you all over the last month on what amazing things God is doing here in Austin. It has been two crazy full months. Besides all the deadlines to lock trips down, I’ve been able to attend several trainings and conferences. All while balancing two additional 3-day trainings for the Army.
The Austin Stone is about to launch 19 short-term trips this summer, 8 of which I was in charge of planning and completing the logistics for. It has been a very busy season trying to wrap everything up. Included in my trip planning is a trip I will be going on to the Middle East. Right now it looks like four men will join me as we visit and share in a few of the labor camps located there. I am excited to share more details with you all as the trip gets closer. I am praying for what all God will do on this trip, and will also start fundraising soon. On a personal note, my girlfriend, Jenna ventured back to my hometown of Maryland with me over Easter weekend. The good news is, she didn’t run away screaming after seeing my folks and where I grew up! We visited with my parents, went to my home church on Easter Sunday, and toured a few museums. It was a really good trip, and further affirmed my feelings towards her. There is a lot on my mind, so I apologize for the lack of depth to this update. There are so many nuggets of Truth and Wisdom The Spirit has been walking me through recently that my brain and heart have not fully digested yet. All good things that I am sure will only make me look more like Jesus. Which if we are honest, is the only thing we should want this side of heaven. BUT I will leave you with this: In previous posts I wrote about my struggle with control and trying to plan every detail of my future. One by-product of that struggle has been an inability to be satisfied in the present; my current role, comparing future to where I am now, etc. Then, the other day I read this from 1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV) “Therefore my beloved brother, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” Needless to say it was a moment where I honestly just sat back and looked up and thought, “You win.” There is a common phrase that is repeated around The Stone that says: Jesus died for the worst version of you. One of the biggest areas where I push God away is in my planning for the future. I sing songs like I surrender all, but when push comes to shove, I resist. I try instead to reason and negotiate with the creator of the universe… sitting here in my current role unable to naturally praise God for letting me be a part of sending 250+ people to engage others globally with The Gospel this summer. That passage was a loud reminder for me. No work (labor) of the Lord is done in vain. He is using all of it. So while I dread looking at 50+ Excel spreadsheets every day, and wish I was doing what I want to do, I can rest in the fact that the work I am doing IS for God’s glory and my good. Jesus wants my heart and my obedience. He simply asks for me to seek fulfillment in Him; To remember that He is God, to trust that He has prepared a room for me- the worst version of me – already in Heaven, and to know that no matter how hard I try to force things to go my way, He wins every time. Happy 2016!
I hope the New Year has been good so far. I know I am very excited for this year; I have a feeling it is going to be a great one. I want to again take a moment to thank all of you that have invested in me. God is moving, and I hope you feel what large part you play in what He is doing in and through me. I wouldn’t be here without your help and I want to remind you all that I am doing my best to pray for each of you. As far as work goes, a lot has been happening since I sent my last update. My girlfriend, Jenna, and I have started helping coordinate and facilitate activities for a class called Perspectives on the Christian World Movement. I have also been involved with a ministry recently that has the goal of sharing the gospel with communities around Austin. The Haiti trip that I was responsible for, launched and returned with no major hiccups. Their debrief meeting was very encouraging. I was able to witness college kids start to see the commission of Jesus in a broader sense, which is always exciting. A lot of times as Christians in the Western world, we have a hard time understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ penetrates every socio-economic, racial, national barrier man can conceive. These college kids, in their interaction with third world orphans, were able to see joy found in Jesus is international. Lots of them were exposed to some hard truths about certain western ideals, so being able to help them process what they saw and what God showed them into tangible next steps is also very exciting. Our trip to the Middle East is going to be an awesome experience. I am still recruiting heavily, as the working environment is off-putting to some. God will provide labors. Mathew 9:38 says, “Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. (ESV)”. So I ask you to join me in my prayer for co-laborers. Lastly I wanted to share some personal stuff. I have been anxious about my future. I am half way through my current residency, which (naturally) momentarily gave way to concerns about “what’s next”. This led me into an unproductive time of doubt. Jesus instructs us to not be anxious, (Matthew 6) and Paul reiterates that in some of his letters to the New Testament churches. Through council, prayer, and steps of obedience, The Lord was not only able to renew in me a fresh and steady trust in Him, but has also opened my eyes to His word and some much needed insight. With all of that said, I finally put to paper what drives me into ministry.
I pray that you are all well, and if I can be praying for you in any specific way please reach out to me. I would love to. November has flown by. I honestly forgot about Thanksgiving. So, I want to first wish all of you and your families a happy Thanksgiving. I will be staying in Austin this Thanksgiving, pressing reset on the holiday season this year. I do have some exciting ministry news and then some ministry needs.
I’ve had some people ask about my weekly rhythm now that I am more than two months into my residency. So, I thought it would be interesting if you guys knew what a typical week looked like. On the For the Nations team (FTN) we work Sunday to Thursday from 9:00 am to 4:00-5:00pm depending on the day. I am a spokesperson for the FTN team at our St. Johns (STJAM) campus for the morning services. So most months I talk to people about missions in-between services as well as helping set up the parking lot before services. This month is STJAM’s missions month, so I man a booth to answer any questions people have about STJAM’s trips, prayer nights, Goer Missional Communities, etc. We also do most of our leader trainings and meetings on Sundays, so they can vary in workload. Monday is an office day. We have our Short-term trips team prayer and strategic meeting to catch up on the work being done and each other’s lives. Then we pray for our trips, our teams, and our church. Tuesday is also an office day, however we have a general FTN meeting before lunch to cover missional training, overseas updates, etc. These are my favorite meetings. The guys that the Lord has placed over our department have a lot of experience and listening to them is like drinking from a cool-aid flavored fire hydrant. SO GOOD. Tuesday mornings, before work, there is also a resident huddle. A time where all the residents meet, worship, and one of the church leaders preaches on ministry specific passages. Tuesday nights I join some of our other FTN members to prayer knock and F.I.S.H (going out and sharing the gospel) on the University of Texas campus. Wednesdays are very long. We have our whole staff meetings, which differ each week. Some weeks we just worship for several hours, other we get training. Wednesday night is Men’s and Women’s Development Program (MWDP) a.k.a the seminary class. This is a three-hour intensive lecture and discussion session on systematic theology. I also meet with my accountability partner Wednesday mornings. We confess sin, pray, and encourage each other through the Word. Nothing too exciting happens on Thursday, just a normal office day. I take Sabbath on Fridays, which usually involves spending an extended amount of time in the Word, fellowship, or anything spirit filling. Saturday is a “house” day. In other words: chores. I also joined a local gym sponsored by the church in hopes of meeting non-believers. So far I have only been able to get to know a man named Cole. We attended the same breakout classes and I’m praying for an opening to share the Gospel. In the summer I will be leading a trip to the Middle East. I can’t give too many details for obvious reasons, but know I will be safe. Christ was very bold in his ministry and His commission is even bolder. So joyfully and obediently I will boldly go to where the Lord has opened a door. Now for some not-so-fun business; recently I have had some partners back away from financially supporting me. I thank God for the opportunities they helped provided during the time they partnered with me. BUT, I am forced to restart a small fundraising campaign to trying and recoup the difference. So here is what I am asking of you:
I know that the Lord will provide and I again want to thank you all for the support you have already provided. I wake up each morning humbled by what God is doing through your support in my life and excited to work for the Kingdom. Here is another great song to jam out to. I want to apologize for the delay in getting this blog post out. We are rolling out more than seventeen summer trip applications for all four of our campuses! All in the midst of training and launching our Haiti Trip. We are sending fifteen kids from three different colleges to Neply, Haiti this January. A majority of the work will be at a foster and adoption care agency called myLIFEspeaks. Within all of these trips we have to potential to send close to 400 people to serve the Kingdom globally!
Part of my job is to help these people process what God reveals to them after these trips. We call this "Next Steps". The For the Nations department breaks down the response to the Gospel in three categories: Going, Sending, and Mobilizing. Each one of these isn't that black and white and the range of each can vary, but generally we try and help our partners listen to where the Spirit is provoking them. Personally, I feel provoked into equipping, teaching and mobilizing people to the nations. For others, a response could be advocating and supporting a goer; others might feel the call to the field. No matter where the Lord moves them the Kingdom is being advanced and God is getting all the Glory. He truly is amazing and I'm excited to continue to share this journey with you all. In our seminary training we have finished our first quarter. Right now, the training has been the best part of my job. My affections for Christ are growing more than ever. With that growth however, comes the ever more relevant realizations: I NEED Jesus. Every day. Every minute. Every hour. I struggle with my singleness daily. The struggle, at its core, is my inability to relinquish control of areas of my life to God; specifically my relationship status....or lack there of. I desire a wife; which is Biblical. I am having a hard time pursuing Him singularly and trusting He has a plan for my dating. I have to pursue Godly women, but my pursuit doesn't change my identity. I am an adopted child of God. My relationship status doesn't change my need for Christ or my response to the Gospel. I do a terrible job of trusting Him in this and it has consumed much of my repentance and prayer time. A song that is helping me worship and glorify Him through my struggle is Citizens & Saints "Oh God", "When I feel alone, Oh God you're near. At my lowest, Oh God You're near. Oh God you never leave my side." HERE is the link to the lyrical music video. If I'm honest, I don't have much to report. It has been fifteen days since I started at the Austin Stone Community Church working in the Short-term trip department and I am just now getting started on projects. How come you might ask? There is a lot of care that goes into the residency programs. Above all else, the Stone staff wants to see our affections for Christ grow. Above the work we will do and the places we will go, they desire us to seek Christ daily. One of the pastors told us "you will realize how much you don't love Christ. And thats OK, cause he loves you more than you can ever love him". That was day one. That set the tone for the first week. Between learning the culture and community of the Stone we were pressed to take character exams, and self assessments. All of these things helped expose one realization. I don't know what I am doing here, but I want to be here. I want to work for the advancement of the Kingdom. Im not sure how He is going to use me, but I know I am here because HE paved the way for me. Which, when you look at it like that, all you can do is praise Him. He is so faithful. I am filled with excitement for this new chapter and I am so glad I get to share it with you.
On the job front; I am planning a winter trip to Haiti. I am excited to meet with the leaders and trip members as I roll the opportunity out. I get to help disciple them and grow their affection for Christ and orphans all over the world. More next month for sure. I want to thank you for your prayers and support. -Pat |
2nd Timothy 2:3-4"Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him." Support Page!Ready to financially partner with me? Awesome! Check the Contact Page for the Link
|