Grace and peace to all of you who made the trip to IF:Lead. In part, I'm writing to you to sort out my own thoughts about the events of the past few days, but also I want to offer a larger perspective, and provide a context for what our trip might mean for our churches. I hope what I say here will be helpful to you as you reflect and dream about your own next steps. And then I want to move us all forward. I don't have enough words to describe the privilege it was to share this time with you and to attend IF:Lead. The desire for deep and tender relationships with other women has long been a strong thread woven through my life and I cherish meaningful time spent with all of you. This fan girl's heart was content and happy to be in the same room and learn from Tasha Morrison, Ann Voskamp, and Jill Briscoe. And Jennie. Of course. But never, ever will I forget the sheer joy of recognizing Priscilla Shirer walking onstage and realizing that she had something important to share with us. And as I've flipped back through my notes, it's Priscilla's teaching about the loaves and fishes being the gift to the multitude and the multitude being the gift to the disciples that stands out to me. How using what was readily available and offering it to Jesus ultimately filled everyone's need so that everyone left full and satisfied. It's exactly that upside-down, inside-out, topsy-turvy, kind of gospel thinking that I love and that God is using to transform my perceptions of my world. I'm no longer praying to take the multitude away or take me out of the picture, but I'm thanking God for the multitude of miracles He's using in my life. I believe that's what I came to Dallas to find. It is not lost on me that twelve of us made this trip and that we represent a multitude of different gifts and areas of service to the church. Not all of you feel called to women's ministry, but I truly hope that you will continue leading with us, dreaming with us, and gathering your women with us. I believe I see a shift into a Cross Points Women's Ministry 2.0 where we no longer just host events, but actually embrace and disciple women from CPC and beyond. And you are just the women that God is using to do that in oh so many ways. I am praying that every woman we connect with feels seen, loved, and accepted in our midst and that barriers of age, ethnicity, and economics be torn down. My vision for us is that we love each other well. We're going to take the lead in supporting and maintaining community with our sisters in other churches, and in other ministries. That means that all of us are available to each other as you begin those next steps that you're dreaming about. We'll pray, laugh, and cry with you. We'll do the hard things, trust and obey. We will share resources, gifts and talents and I pray that we look more and more like the early church--loving fellowship, breaking bread, and sharing prayers. Never forget that you were commissioned as you knelt in our midst, prayed for by both your sisters around you and by Jennie Allen. I know God will be faithful to speak to you in the coming days and months and years about your dreams and His plans for you. As you prayerfully go over your notes, I want you to know that I'm also praying for you by name. I'm asking for these things: --May you recognize the tools in your hands. --May you love God's Word and people well. --May you continue to dream. --May you see beyond the natural and hear the things unspoken. --May the path before your feet be straightened. --May you acknowledge the Lord's presence and calling in your lives with wonder. When Jennie signed my Nothing to Prove book after the tour, she shared a word that things would be different in our church for generations because of that night. I believe that the 12 of us traveling to IF:Lead was the beginning of fulfillment of that prophecy. I am so excited to walk with all of you as God works through us for His purposes in the days to come. It is my highest honor to do so. I am available to each of you for support at any time and I really hope to share coffee or tea with you often in the months ahead to chase those dreams. Between now and November 1, when we plan to meet again, would you please take just a few minutes and write down as best you can, the dreams that God is giving you going forward? And would you concentrate on one and figure out what your next step toward it will be? That is what I hope we will share and pray for when we meet next. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. I Timothy 1: 6, 7 In peace, with love, Jan
1 Comment
|
AuthorLoving words written to increase hope. Archives
May 2020
Categories |