Competent In Real Life Ministry

by | Oct 6, 2016 | Uncategorized

Hey Friends! In celebrating the upcoming release of All Things New: A Study On 2 Corinthians (November 1), I thought I’d write a short devotional on a verse that meant a lot to me while writing this study. Especially as it relates to how I often feel about my competency in ministry.

“It is not that we are competent in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our competence is from God. He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant…” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6)

We’re All Called To Ministry As Believers

This verse has come to my mind many times in the past year in various settings. And before you think I’m talking about being competent in ministry settings, like teaching the Bible in front of people or writing a Bible study, I’m talking more often about the daily settings that all of us encounter and are called to be “ministers” in. I’m talking about being competent in the middle of a difficult conversation you know you need to have but are dreading. Competency in relating to a family member you’re at a loss to reach. Competency in explaining your faith to a friend with authenticity and clarity when those conversations have often felt forced or packaged. I’m talking about being competent in leading your home or business because you desire to bring God His much do glory.

I could go on because these past few days in particular I feel I’ve blundered and bumbled my way forward. I’m realizing just how incompetent I am apart from the Holy Spirit, and this is not flimsy Christian talk—this is just the truth. I find myself praying these silent prayers to the Lord, “Please make me competent for _________, because I know this is beyond me.”

In Christ, We’re More Competent Than We’ve Ever Imagined

In my earlier years I’d hoped a passage like 2 Cor 3:5-6 meant that God would make me competent as a great singer or writer, competent in business, all-around put together. Oh, but He promises so much more here. He will make us competent as ministers. And being a minister does not mean being a professional church person. It means how we daily interact with those around us: blessing, encouraging, offering wisdom, extending forgiveness, bringing healing, interceding in prayer, sharing our faith, strengthening the weak, raising the kids God’s entrusted to us. You know, being a minister in real life.

Goodness, I could go on about how this ministry is a new covenant ministry, but that might be better explored in the study, or for its own devotional on another day. In the meantime, be encouraged that in your inadequacies and fears, the complex situations that cause you to feel overwhelmed—He has made you competent.

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My Moldova Adventure

My Moldova Adventure

by | Jul 12, 2016 | Justice and Mercy International, Missions, Moldova

Hello friends!

I hope you’re enjoying summer as much as I am. I’m loving the slower and more relaxed pace. I’m realizing I’ve needed it. For this July edition of our newsletter, I thought I’d tell you about a trip to Moldova I just took with Justice and Mercy International. Some of you who are familiar with me know I work with JMI in the Amazon (I wrote a little book about it called Wherever The River Runs), but I’ve also made three trips to Moldova with JMI. In case you’re wondering, Moldova is a small country that sits between Romania and Ukraine, roughly the size of Maryland. I only mention this geographical tidbit because before I had friends who regularly went there, I’m pretty sure I’d never heard of it.

I was a very small part of helping put on vacation bible school in a village that managed to turn out 150 of the cutest clamoring kids nipping at your heels for crayons and more plăcintăs (a Moldovan pastry), chirping in Romanian and occasionally a phrase or two in Russian. Yes, chaos is the word you’re rummaging for.

So, why VBS in Moldova, you ask?

Gosh, I’m so glad you brought this up.

Moldova has a grossly high percentage of girls who are sex trafficked out of the country, a high suicide rate for boys, and an enormously alarming orphan population. To combat this terrifying reality, JMI helps orphans and vulnerable children through its child sponsorship program. Many of these children we’re able to identify through our yearly camps. One of my greatest privileges of the year is sharing the Gospel with these children through Scripture and through all the ways a game, a skit, and a plastic cup of orange Fanta says “I love you.” But summer camps are just the beginning.

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When these children turn 16, whether in or out of the orphanages, many have nowhere to go. And if they do have a place to go, the scenario is usually horrifying. I’ve heard these kids’ stories firsthand and they’re too gruesome for me to write about here. But here’s the hope. Here’s why I love VBS in Moldova. Because JMI has two homes—one for girls called Grace House and one for boys called Boys to Leaders—that house 15 teenagers respectively for anywhere from two to three years. This isn’t just about shelter, this is about a home. These girls and boys are welcomed into a family where they learn life skills, flourish in school, receive counseling, go to church, get discipled, and learn about the love of Jesus through His Word. The transformation of these kids is nothing short of miraculous. As my friend Steve likes to say, I’d put these kids up against any kids in the world.

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Now, for the moment of my trip that impacted me the most. The little girl on the right in the picture above was in my bible study group. Her name is Nastea (I changed her name). My friend Brittany and I asked her the question, if she could go anywhere in the world where would she go? Without hesitation she said, “Moscow”.

“Why Moscow”?  I asked.

“Because that’s where my mom lives.”

Nastea hadn’t seen her mother in almost a year and she doesn’t know who her father is. This would be a pretty bleak story except for the girl on the left. Her name is Alla (you can watch her story here). Alla grew up in an orphanage. She intimately knows Nastea’s plight, her void, her aching loneliness. Alla also spent several weeks at vacation bible school during the summer, which is how JMI connected with her. When she was just sixteen and being thrust out of the orphanage, JMI reached out to her and she entered the Grace House. And all of life changed. She met Christ, received love, and is blooming like the cutest red headed bud you ever saw. For the past three years she’s been serving with us at the very camps she grew up in.

When Nastea told Alla and me how much she missed her mom, how she didn’t know when she was coming back, and how all the others kids have moms and dads, I turned to Alla and whispered, “this one is yours”.

I don’t know exactly what Alla said to Nastea because it was all in Romanian. But when I took two steps back to snap this picture, I realized I understood everything I needed to know. This is how the good news of the Gospel spreads. When Jesus rescues our life and we go and tell about it, and someone like Alla hears the news, she then in turn finds another little one on whose shoulders she places both her hands, and in a language I can’t begin to speak to a child whose story I can’t begin to understand, she says, “God loves you.”

And that’s why I do VBS in Moldova.

For more information about Justice and Mercy International, you can visit www.justiceandmercy.org.

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In the Word In 2016, One Day At A Time

In the Word In 2016, One Day At A Time

by | Jan 6, 2016 | Encouragement

In The Word In 2016, One Day At A Time

Morning Meditation, January 2016

Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

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It’s that first week of January. That week I equally anticipate and dread. The parties and late nights and tins of assorted cookies are so last year, and I’m a little sad about that because I particularly savored the lazy days in pajama pants and the Trader Joe’s holiday section of festive chocolates. Gatherings and punctuations in routine were welcome solaces at the end of a year’s busyness. I relished them late into the night because all was calm, truly quiet, and after short nights of rest when I could have kept sleeping I forced my languid self out of the covers because I didn’t want to miss all that quiet. I mean there was the mall and commotion and parties and such, but the deadlines and general tugs had abated. Maybe you too were like me, nursing those last few weeks in December like the fleeting hours of sunlight in August.

Then the New Year came and a flip got switched. I was ready for a clean slate, a little discipline back in the mix, and a good carrot wouldn’t hurt anyone. And as much as I love a Christmas tree with its lights and sentimental ornaments—when it’s over it’s over. What made me feel all tingly inside a month ago had now become a scraggly fire hazard I’ve been known to single-handedly heave onto the top of my car, tie up and careen to the Christmas tree graveyard out of sheer desperation for it to be out of my house. This is not something you can wait for another person to come help you do. It. Has. To. Go. Then I start vacuuming pine needles. All the decorations get packed and stored in the abyss of my underground basement until next year. The trapdoor slams, and 2016…. here we go. That’s the exterior part anyhow.

What’s going on inside me is a different kind of packing up and putting away and looking ahead. I think a lot about the previous year. All the ground covered, or perhaps lost. Maybe just maintaining was a feat. I journal. I thank God for His faithfulness and consider based on last year where He might be leading in this one. I take a few more walks than normal and pray and ponder, asking the Lord to reveal Himself in greater measure. What should I put my hand to? Is there a new skill to learn or an old one at which to get better? Who is the Lord putting on my heart to encourage, pour into, disciple, or take a mission trip to visit? What do I need to repent of, besides way overdoing it in the Trader Joe’s holiday aisle? Really. What desperately needs sanctification? What parts of my heart have been hurt, calloused over to which I need Him to tend? I process all of this a bit more than the other eleven months in the year, and I’m guessing you do too.

And after all that I usually remember that what will ultimately be accomplished in 2016 will happen one helping at a time, one decision at a time, one hour earlier up in the morning, one prayer meeting, one seed, one meal made, one yes or no…. at a time.

And one page at a time.

Every moment we’re immersed in the Word is a moment with eternal ramifications. All those moments add up, which is why it’s vital to make time for them each day. To have a plan and to guard that plan. I find that having a study I’m working through is helpful because it offers a daily beginning and end, an author as a guide, and all along the way points toward Christ through the Scriptures. If a bible study isn’t what works for you, I would take a book of the bible you want to study and pore over it in a month or two’s time, but set a daily plan. Journal what you’re learning and what God’s revealing. Have on hand a solid commentary as a supplement. Here’s a link to some of LifeWay’s offerings as a starting place.

At the top of 2016 may we allow The Word to give us understanding of God’s character so we can know who He is and how He acts. May it speak to our longings and passions and instruct us how to let them inspire but not rule us. At its feet may we gain wisdom for complex situations and understanding that peels back layers of prejudice, deceit and selfishness. As it says in Hebrews The Word is able to divide between soul and spirit, so sharp it can cut through sinful sinews, or separate good from bad or good from best.

For His Word is a true mirror, refiner’s fire, healing balm, sure rudder, sheltering hull, lamp, light, hope, help, plumb line, comfort.

May we let it do its work one day at a time.

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Immanuel, God With Us

Immanuel, God With Us

by | Dec 15, 2015 | Encouragement, Holidays

Merry Christmas Friends,

I hope you all are having a meaningful Advent season. I’ve always felt that the holidays magnify whatever state we’re already in. If we’re in love, the season strings lights around our romances; If we’re lonely or hurting, those same lights seem to cast a glaring beam on our ache. And if we’re somewhere in the bell curve of general humanity, we probably have both excitement and longing that are simultaneously being magnified. It is perhaps for this reason that no other name means more to me at Christmas than the name Immanuel, God with us.

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This is where I’ve been sitting in the mornings and evenings, contemplating and communing with this God With Us. My tree looked more charming in the lot than it did when I finally steadied it upright next to my fireplace, which isn’t working right now by the way. My chimney is leaking among other problems like it being almost ninety years-old. But the tree and the leaking chimney with the stockings hanging from the mantle will do, because they remind me of Jesus having come.

Consider the significance of having come.

God did not wave a wand or sweep His right arm across the sky or condemn from afar when He could have. Instead, He sent His Son to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). I sat by this tree last night and this morning, recounting not just my sins but my sinfulness. (David, the Psalmist, the King on whose throne Jesus would eventually reign, claimed in Psalm 51 that he was sinful since birth.) I’m not talking about berating myself at Christmastime, rather I’m just a little more aware of what’s wrong with me, or what’s not right with me, and how much I need a Savior.

I’m aware that in this life we can be as excited and crackling with happiness as cranberries on a skillet, and in the very same day we can wound with our words, jealousy can tackle us from behind and we can be faint with longing. In either state we need a Savior. And so Jesus came. God with us. Not God far away, not God from a distance, not God as one of many. But Immanuel.

My prayer for you and me this Christmas is that we would relish His nearness. Our sins have been forgiven, joyful all ye nations rise. He mends the brokenhearted, O come let us adore Him. He brings His blessings into our broken relationships, far as the curse is found. He frees those in bondage, chains shall He break. Joy to the world, the Lord has come.

I am grateful for each one of you and look forward to seeing many of you on the road in 2016.

Merry Christmas,
Kelly

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A Monday Memo

A Monday Memo

by | Oct 26, 2015 | Encouragement

Dear Blog Readers –

We wanted to pass along the message that Kelly is out this week ministering (and resting) with dear friends overseas.  She thought you might enjoy this photo from a young adult gathering she had the privilege of being part of in Milan on Sunday night.

Got to share in Milan, Italy tonight with this young adult crowd. The church was started by two dear friends 35 years ago. The last time I was here I was with my mom who had taken me on my first mission trip. I was 14. Tonight I'm celebrating God's faithfulness.

Got to share in Milan, Italy tonight with this young adult crowd. The church was started by two dear friends 35 years ago. The last time I was here I was with my mom who had taken me on my first mission trip. I was 14. Tonight I’m celebrating God’s faithfulness.

Also, if you are missing your Monday Morning Meditation today (as we are), we would encourage you to visit the Morning Meditation archives and read back through the incredible installments published over the past few months.  Click HERE to read them all.

May you encounter the Lord in a mighty way today.

Blessings,

“Team Kelly”

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