One Week Left

August 6, 2013

Dear Family,

            This week we talked through what it means and looks like to shepherd your people.  Shepherding is more than helping people with behavior modification; it is more of pointing people back to the Gospel in each of their struggles. In shepherding we want to help people begin to see and realize their worship sin, or put another way, to see that they are worshiping other idols instead of the one true God.

We had a night also where we talked about Biblical man and womanhood, marriage, love, and the like. We started by looking at Genesis one and seeing the roles of Adam and Eve that God originally had set for us, and also talked of the real purpose of marriage to reflect the image of God, what He is like, and His relationship with the Church.   

The ten weeks of this program are quickly coming to a close under my feet, my time here has been amazing and eye opening. Contrary to what everyone is telling me I am flying home to Philadelphia on Monday. I look forward to seeing and talking with you guys. I want to thank you so much for your prayers while I have been out here! I must say I am somewhat nervous, but only for fear that I will not be able to process fully everything we have talked through while here in Tacoma. But I trust the Father that He knows what He is doing! 

Process, and process some more

July 22, 2013

Dear Family,

            Some things I have been thinking through:

The longer I find myself here the more I feel like the excitement of being here is wearing off. I guess kind of like married people say about the first year of marriage, the honeymoon wears off and you start being your real self. I would’t know I am not married, I am just guessing that is what it is sort of like? Anyways, it wears off and I find myself dealing with normal things that I struggle with, but who had hid their faces in the wake of excitement. I become insecure about the dumbest things, I start looking for approval from others again, and I am disobedient to the Father. I find me telling myself and believing lies about who I am and who God is. It is frustrating having excitement about the Gospel and then finding your old selfish sinful self come out and realizing that you really are a mess. But this is exactly where discipleship happens isn’t it? In these moments I realize that I need the Gospel preached to me, I need to hear and remember the real truth about who God is, that He is my Father who is for me and who loves me. I need to hear what He has done in Jesus and the fact that He has finished the work and I can now rest in what Jesus has done. I need to hear that I am a Son of God because of Jesus and I don’t have to work to earn that but now get to freely serve Him because of what He has done! In this moment though I am realizing that I could never walk and believe these truths everyday having them only preached to me once a week or once every two weeks or once a month. No, in all reality I need the Gospel preached to me EVERY DAY, forget that, more like multiple times EVERYDAY. My dang old forgetful heart can’t go even a day with out needing the Good News of what Jesus has done spoken to my heart.

I am continually just blown away by the reality of the Gospel. The fact of who I am, my sinful self, seems to show his ugly face day after day and I am so sick of the selfish person I am. I find the times I recognize how much of a mess I am just seem to make Jesus look better all the more. I feel like I get the Gospel more when I can clearly see who I am, how dirty rotten I am, and how I fail at doing and living rightly. Those are the moments that I go to God and say, “I can’t do it I fail every time.” And those are the times He says, “It is okay, Jesus did it!” Oh how I get chills even writing those words Jesus did it. He has done it. Say it to yourself, Jesus has done it! Oh how it is so hard for me to grasp that fact some days, that by God’s grace He has accepted me and called me His own. Not by what I have done but SOLELY by what Jesus has done. Good news? I think so!

THAT is the Gospel I need preached to myself everyday! 

Oh Washington! Dude you are never coming back.

July 15, 2013

Dear Family,

            This week we processed through things about the Spirit. We ended up in an all out fistfight and five people flew home on Friday… Kidding, totally kidding, but totally possible.

But in all reality it was great! We looked at scripture and how the Gospels describe the Spirit and how they describe what the Spirits role is. I am wrestling with how we leave the Spirit out of things so much, yet how so very key the Spirit is to, well, everything Christian. Every one of you probably has different views, but we can discuss those later! We came to the conclusion that the Spirit is the primary “discipler”, we see in Scripture that He is ultimately the one who “…will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that (Jesus) said to you.” John 14:26 Scripture says that the Spirit reveals the things of God to us. Does that mean if we are empowered by the Spirit we are going to end up like “those weird” Christians? I am by no means saying “those weird” Christians are in the right or are really being lead by the Spirit or whatever. I am simply saying that the Spirit has a HUGE part in the Gospel and in God’s plan of redeeming the world and we cannot miss that.

            I finally hit a point where I just needed to sit by myself and not do anything. There is so much we have been going through and learning it is hard for me to process it so quickly. So I had to just sit with some scripture this week and let the reality of it sink in. Things are moving so quickly I feel like most of this processing will happen once I return home, but for now I work with what I have.

             Throughout our time here we have been reading through a book, “The Mission of God’s People” by Christopher Wright. It is very pithy, “seminaryish”, and textbook like, BUT good nonetheless. He does a very good job of taking a biblical look at what the purpose of God’s people is. He comes to the conclusion that we, the Church, are made to bless the nations, walk in God’s ways, and represent God to the world. TRUST me when I say this is TOTALLY scratching the surface! These conclusions are much deeper and wider and more friggen awesome than I just explained! In reading this book there is one thing that has continually stood out to me, and it is this. If people are going to understand the Gospel they MUST understand the story of the Old Testament! In the book Wright finds all of his conclusions by looking to the Old Testament. Look at the list I wrote up above, does that not sound like things from OT passages? And those things that God wanted His people to be are the same for us, the Church, today. This is because instead of God seeking to set a people apart for Himself through the OT law, He is now looking to set a people apart for Himself through Jesus! His desires are the same; just His means of accomplishing it are different. Therefore, if this is true, than people who are being discipled MUST know the OT story or else we may not be able to make full sense of our purpose as disciples of Jesus!   

I love it, I have talked too much, and I am out of breath.

Peace, Shannon 

If you have a second check this site out, Download the sermon by Justin Westcott, and listen to it. It is good.    http://somatacoma.org/resources/sermons-training/series/current/

Are you coming back?

July 8, 2013

Dear Family,

This past week we spent a day training and talking through what we are calling Gospel Fluency.  We talked through a passage in Ephesians 4 that talks about speaking the Truth in love to each other so that we may build up the Body. We see that the Truth it is talking about is actually Jesus, and so we are to be speaking Jesus to each other. Speaking Jesus to each other? That sounds trippy. What I mean by this is simply preaching the Gospel to each other, proclaiming the Good News, continually reminding each other of what Jesus has accomplished and done, and pointing everything in our lives back to Jesus.  What does that look like? (I will only write a little, but there is heaps I could say) One thing we talked through is how we need to continue evangelizing to each other. We seem to have things set up where we evangelize (tell people about the grace filled good news) to not yet believing people, but once they come to believe we stop evangelizing (telling each other about the grace filled good news) to one another. I don’t know about you but I can relate to this. If we are not continually pointing and preaching the good news to each other than what are we speaking to each other, and what are we pointing each other to for transformation to a life of following Jesus? We cannot grow anyone up in Christ apart from speaking Christ to them.  

            It was a shorter week for me, Thursday I drove an hour to be with some friends because a good friend got married Saturday. This was just an amazing time being with some really close friends of mine. It also was especially sweet just seeing Jesus all over and through the life of my friend and his new bride. It was an amazing weekend for me just praising Jesus for all of that! 

            As far as prayer: If you could pray that the Spirit would help me to process well the things we have been learning. There is so much information we have taken in and I really want to process it well.  

Thanks for all your support and prayers!

Peace,

Shannon

A month, I thought I just saw you yesterday!?!?

July 1, 2013

Dear Family,

            This week I met the most beautiful young women…

Just kidding, ha, sorry, I couldn’t resist! Those of you who think I am going to find a beautiful, young Pacific Northwest woman, and stay out here that was for you!! ;)   

But for real this time!

            This week seemed longer than normal. We had two days this week where we were serving people. Tuesday we help clean out the apartment of a family who is going through some rough waters and needed help with their house. Thursday we were cleaning shrubs and such at a park here in the city. The Church here has been helping clean this park for years now. It had been over grown and was a place where a lot of drugs and homelessness ran rapid, but it is now becoming this beautiful place of restoration, where people can now come and enjoy the outdoors!

              In all honesty we did not have any “class time” this week, we were busy doing other things. And along with being very busy, having a lot of things to do, and being exhausted comes the perfect time for the reality of who we are and where our hearts are at to come out. So while processing things this week we talked about how Mission happens while life is happening, it is not something that only happens one night a week. And if this is true then we are going to see each other’s hearts, and the mess that is in our hearts, and if this is so then we need to learn what it looks like to be able to understand that and speak the Gospel into each other’s lives during everyday life. And personally what does it look like, in every situation, to look to the Spirit to change our hearts to trust the Father more and more.

            Another thing that happened this week, that was a big deal to me, one of the Immerse students left to go home. (Not because of anything bad. Also, he is from Latvia.) As we prayed over Thomas and said our goodbyes I realized that we have only been here for a month but we, as a group, have grow together immensely. I am continually amazed at how the Father has been working in our group and how we have been growing together! Glory to the Father!

            As far as prayer, that we would continue to grow as a group, that the Father would continue to reveal Himself to us and the Truth of the Gospel to us. Also, I think it is also a safe point to start praying about when I come home, that I would be prepared to lead and teach and go wherever when I get back!

As always there is so much more, but I can tell you in person.

Shannon

Wait, isn't Tacoma in Washington state?

June 24, 2013

Dear Family,

            This week has been just as intense as the last. In our class time we have been working through some simple truths of the Gospel. They are compiled into what we call the 4 G’s. God is Great, Glorious, Good, and Gracious. We have been processing these by asking and working through four simple questions: Who is God, What has He done in Jesus, Who am I, and What do I do/How do I live? Going through these questions really reveal the truth of the Gospel. The Spirit has really been speaking these truths to my heart through this process. Also, it leads to a life of living for the LORD that is out of the desire to glorify God, because of knowing who He is and what He has done, rather than out of guilt or out of the need to live a certain way because “that is how Christians live”. There is much more I could say here but am unable to write it all.

            We have also starting helping out with the local Boys and Girls club Monday and Friday afternoons. We are honestly not doing anything super specific, mostly just being with kids and playing with them. I have heard some of the staff say that that alone is a huge help for them and that the kids absolutely love having us there!

            This week was our first week that is scheduled and not as sporadic as the first couple. This has been nice, it is really good to get into a groove of things rather than just flying by our pants! Also, this week we have been getting to know the city more, and people we have been meeting, simply through just being there.

If you are praying for me I ask that you would pray this: Simply that the Father would continue to reveal the truth of the Gospel to my heart, and that I would being to find my identity in who I am because of the Gospel!

There is power in the truth of the Gospel!

Much love,
Shannon

Wait, you're in Tacoma?

Dear Family,

I call you family because both you and I know that is what we are!

This week I begin my third week of Immerse in Tacoma. And in all honesty, I was not planning on writing updates, or rather mostly forgot about such things, but our director encouraged it, and so here we are.  Much has happened since my parting from you. The first week here we read through The Story-Formed Way, which is a tool that overviews the Biblical Narrative. In doing this you learn much about what God is like and what He does. Also, you learn a lot about us, as humanity, and who we are, but more importantly, who/what we were originally meant to be. Much of the first week was also spent getting to know the other residents of Immerse and their stories! Three residents are from Australia, one is from Latvia, and one from Denmark, the rest of us are from the States, there are thirteen of us total.

Week two consisted of learning about the Power and Purpose of the Gospel. How the Gospel has saved us from the penalty of sin, saves us form the power of sin, and will save us from the presence of sin! Also that the purpose of the Gospel is ultimately to redeem a broken creation and bring it back to the original way God created it to be. We also discussed Gospel Identities, which is about understanding who we are because of the Gospel.  This week we also got very familiar with the city (which, by the way, is flipping amazing!) and the downtown region where we will be spending most of our time while here.  

Oh boy, there is SO much more we are doing it is hard for me to capture it all here. This week we will begin to serve at a Boys and Girls Club in Tacoma two days a week. Along with this we have become a big part in serving the kids at the Sunday church Gatherings. 

Lastly thinking of prayer. Pray the LORD would continue to speak the truth to me about my Identity in Him. This is something I have really been trying to grasp this week, that my Identity is set and secure because of what Jesus has done, and that is Good News!

My love to you,

Shannon