At the moment...

I’m back in Grahamstown for a little while, trying to figure out what my next move is. I’ve been meeting up/catching up with people, doing some admin (like finally updating this blog!) and also trying to bring back some of the stuff we learnt at the worship school. We’ve been having worship gatherings as often as we can, and I’ve been chatting about the heart of what we learnt at worship school with everyone I meet! Especially worship team guys and the choir. We are excited about what God is doing, stirring up “new wells” of worship. But I have to get out there again soon, back on the mpd trail! So if you can think of anyone who would be a great contact for me, please do let me know! :o)

Worship School (14-16 April, Johannesburg)

I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that this was probably one of the most life-changing weekends of my existence. The time was facilitated by Suzy Wills Yaraei and her husband Kamran. They both have AMAZING testimonies... he was a Shiite Muslim, before he had a literal, tangible encounter with Jesus :o) They brought with them a worship team led by Jonathan David Helser (you can find out more about them at aplacefortheheart.org) I’m not really sure how to sum it up – I still feel like I’m trying to get my head around it all! It felt like everything was stripped down to basics again, simplified down to the primary colours: red, yellow and blue. And yet, at the same time, everything as exploded into a myriad of colours; even ones I never knew existed before! I don’t know if that makes ANY sense at all...  anyway, here are some of the things that stuck out (although, honestly, the whole weekend stuck out!):

·         Our greatest gift is not our gift, but our heart – we must protect it.

·         Don’t let things like bitterness, quarrelling, jealousy and ESPECIALLY fear clog your wells of worship. Wells are dug with thankful hearts.

·         God has always been singing His song of life, destiny and love over us – worship is us singing that song back to Him. Worship is bowing down low, touching the floor with our foreheads; it is the great returning to what we were created to be, dust – and God is there waiting to kiss us, breathe His life into us.

·         We KNOW our Father’s voice – we must trust the voice of God in us. His voice is never layered with condemnation, disappointment, frustration etc; it is always full of love.

·         If the enemy can’t keep us from burning for God, then he will use the other things we burn for to burn us out.

·         When leading worship, be careful to not be so entranced by the “date” that you forget who you’re on a “date” with.

·         In the place you’re made for greatness, you will be repeatedly attacked. Areas you keep falling in, keep struggling with, are probably actually your strengths. Pick up the sword Goliath is pointing at you, and use it to cut the giant’s head off.

·         Artists and worshippers are sensitive people, “feelers”. Often we walk into a room and pick up the atmosphere/vibe in that room. Ever felt insecurity/fear/depression etc whilst (or before/after) leading worship? Chances are it’s not actually your own emotion, but the emotional temperature of the room. Learn to read the atmosphere, to separate it from your own emotions – and then release the opposite spirit. For example: feeling insecure? Begin to sing songs of God’s perfect love over the congregation.

·         God is the unknown, the mystery. Songs should just be spring-boards, launching us into the in-between times of worship, which is when we really get to explore more of God.

·         Don’t sing songs that aren’t living and breathing in you.

·         “You have to walk through the veil of fear to realise it’s just that... a veil.”

·         God’s PERFECT, overwhelmingly, ridiculously huge and specific love for me sets me free from any insecurities and fears. It releases me to be exactly who I am, exactly who I was created to be... which allows the glory of God (the WHOLE of God, on the inside of me) to be revealed. Wow :o)

Travelling around the country

Zooting around South Africa so much this year has been a TREAT. We really do live in the MOST beautiful country EVER, I believe :o) When I was in Cape Town, raising mpd, I was staying with my mom. On the last weekend of her school holiday, she whisked me off to Paternoster (about 2 hours north of CT). It is EXQUISITE, wow! Like a little Greece in South Africa. But oddly enough, it was when I was driving through the Free State/ North West that I was most struck by the beauty of this country. I mean, I LOVE the mountains, and the green and the trees and rivers... but there’s something about the open, dry expanse of the fields covered in mielies and sunflowers (under HUGE, open blue skies) that holds a raw, wild beauty that nothing else quite compares to. And then driving back into the Eastern Cape (which I wasn’t too sure of, arriving here 7 and a bit years ago), and being struck by how wonderfully beautiful IT is too! It’s the kind of beauty you sometimes have to look close to see – you have to pay attention, and pick out the many colours (that at first glance you wouldn’t see), and the fascinating vegetation and the striking rock formations and the plunging valleys and and and... LOVE this place :o)

Job Description

A few days after Impact camp, I had a meeting with Tendai and Lester (our elders) about my official job description. Here it is in a nutshell:

For all mpd staff:

·         Discipleship: attend a cell, lead an area cell (i.e. a cell for leaders of other cells), lead two other cells on campus.

·         Evangelism: make sure you are reaching out to people with the love of Jesus :o)

·         Meetings: attend Sunday services, be available afterwards for prayer etc. Attend weekly staff meetings, monthly impact meetings. Prayer meetings.

·         Calendar events: attending, planning and leading camps, seminars and other special events where required.

·         Missions: developing a heart for Grahamstown, Every Nation, the nations and the wider Church.

·         Conferences: various national/international conferences.

·         Self-leadership: obvious things like personal daily devotions, reading the bible! Also reading other books, going to seminars etc, outreach into the community, looking after yourself etc.

Specifically for me:

·         Develop the next “me”... if I left, is there someone (or people) who can do what I do, take my place and take it further than I could?

·         Assist Neels (campus pastor) and campus events esp. outreach events (movie evenings, picnics etc)

·         Pastoral Care: Connecting with people, keeping a finger on the pulse, “closing the back door”

·         I have to organise this year’s “Family Festival” (celebration of everything God has done in our church this year) and Carol Service

·         Worship Ministry: Lead a band (and choir) and assist Sean and mentor upcoming leaders

·         Teaching: ENLI (our bible school), seminars and camps

·         Self Development: Attend School Of African Reformation (SOAR), Develop a theology of healing and pastoral care (how people get healed and whole), seek out mentoring opportunities for worship leading

·         Writing and creativity: Set time aside for writing songs and booklets (twice a year)

·         Community Development and Discipleship: Run one choir in community/schools with aim to develop community and reach and disciple people (to be re-evaluated after a year)

So now you know what I’m officially up to :o)

Impact Leadership Camp

After a few difficult weeks of MPD, it was FANTASTIC to be able to come home to Grahamstown for our annual leadership camp. Really wonderful to see everyone, and be so overwhelmed by all the love! It was an outstanding weekend of teachings, focussing mainly on our vision as a church. I found that it was so useful for me – being reminded of what we do and why we do it. It felt like an injection of faith, and an extra push to go out and get on with raising MPD so that I can get back and get down to doing what we do :o)

Our vision is this:

·         Discipling leaders

·         Planting churches

·         Reforming nations

Isn’t that exciting?! What we’re doing on Rhodes campus is literally having an impact on the nations! And on many generations to come! Getting really excited about this again :o) What was also super-exciting about it was realising... THIS IS MY JOB! Whoohoo! Usually on a camp like this, part of me is thinking about he work that needs to be done when I get home – things to write, essays to mark... but this time, about halfway through the camp, I stopped and thought to myself, “Hey, wait a minute! This is my job. I LOVE doing this, and it’s actually my JOB! So cool ;o)

MPD – The reality (!)

So it’s definitely one thing to be at the training for something, and another to actually get on and do it! Ha ha! The reality of raising MPD is rather tough. It involves many cold calls, lots of dealing with outright rejection (which has never been one of my strengths!), and lots of ‘stickability’. Which I don’t always feel that I have. BUT God has been very good already. Without any steady income (except a monthly contribution from His People Ght whilst I’m raising MPD) things have been tiiiiiight, but I haven’t wanted for anything yet. I was even given a brand new laptop! I have always had enough money for petrol (and so far I’ve driven: Grahamstown to Johannesburg, Johannesburg to Potch, Potch to Klerksdorp, Klerksdorp to Durban, Durban to Grahamstown, Grahamstown to Cape Town). I do already have a few partners (and rather generous ones at that! Thank you!).  I also am EXTREMELY grateful for the immense support and encouragement I receive from my Grahamstown family. Love you guys SO much, and am keen to be home asap :o)

Ministry of Partnership – Training

The training was held from the 13 to 17 February (which was the same week as Rhodes University’s orientation week – one of the most crucial weeks in the life of our church. I was VERY sad to miss out on meeting all the first years!) in Johannesburg. I hadn’t done much travelling around Jhb before this week – and I was NOT loving the traffic. I decided, though, that a definite up-side to it is that you get to listen to a WHOLE cd (or more) before you reach your destination. In Grahamstown, you only get through one song. Two if you’re lucky... :o)

I arrived at the training having only very vague ideas of what MPD was, but the week’s input soon dealt with that! The system is so well structured and organised – it works so well – that it surely must be God inspired. I can see that it definitely is a tool that God has given us to get on with what we do. On the first day, we looked at the biblical backing for MPD. Did you know that this was really the way Jesus went about His ministry? He had people partnering with Him :o) Over the next few days, we dealt with the practicals of how to go about making a phone call to set up an MPD interview (what relevant info to include etc), the best way to go about starting of an interview, transitioning into your MPD presentation, and then ending with “The Ask” (the bit that’s the most scary!) – asking the person if they’d like to partner with you. We got to practice our presentations on each other... nervous-making but useful! We also spent a good deal of time talking about how important it is to maintain relationships with your partners. Because this is not fund-raising, but partnership, keeping your partners in the loop as regards what you’re up to is vital. It means that they get to practically see what their money is going towards, and get to realise the full extent of what their partnership is achieving. We spent the last day setting up (helping people who didn’t yet have them) facebook and twitter accounts and blogs. Like this one :o)

I left the training understanding how vital it is that we reach Rhodes campus – and how important the role that MPD plays in that is. Thank you to everyone who contributed to my trip to Jhb and the training – you have sowed seeds into my life (and therefore into the campus) that will definitely reap a harvest in the future.