the beginning of something good

The Vision Course has begun. It started off this past friday evening with a lovely orientation weekend that included a a dinner and bonfire at Wild Goose Farm, continued with story-telling about the history of the boiler room and our personal stories as they intersect with it, and incorporated other shared meals, the happy disruptions of small children, and many cups of coffee.

Unlike any college course -- and perhaps unlike many other year-long discipleship intensives -- our VC orientation didn't lead with syllabi or curriculum overview. Instead, our VC facilitator, Jordan led us into a series of story-telling, starting with Jenn and Tony, moving onto the Colliers, then Casey, then himself and Charis. one by one we told our VC students our stories of how God had so worked and moved in our lives as to bring us, finally, to this place: Here and now at the SBR, fall 2013.  

 "Relationships matter most in the Kingdom; people matter more than information."

-- Jordan Cooper on why we started off orientation weekend by telling our stories rather than on jumping straight into the curriculum.  

In telling the stories, we get to be reminded of just how faithful He is, how perfect His leadership, how complete the story He is authoring. we get to be encouraged to know that just as He has been/done this thing for another person, so He can be/do for us. we get to remember that that story is not, in fact, about us at all, though we've been given special parts in it. Story-telling invites us to gratitude, to worship.  

As for the syllabi, it did not disappoint when at last it was presented! :) The reading schedule for Phase 1 will be so very rich with heart-shifting, identity-forming stuff. The weekly schedule is simple and part-time, but each element chosen with prayerful intentionality, in order to give each student ample opportunity to practice spiritual disciplines, seek God's face in prayer, experience community living, offer hospitality, serve the neighborhood, explore their own hearts, and be mentored. 

I -- the author of this blog entry who had nothing to do with the actual planning of the syllabi or the schedule -- want to brag up Jordan and Tim and Tony, who have been working so prayerfully and so faithfully to develop this beautiful intensive for the students. 

And in this coming week, I'm looking forward to hearing more stories as Laura and Michelle will be telling their own to US in return. 

Our anticipation for what God will do this year is high. 

As many of my brothers in 24-7 Prayer would say, "C'mon!"

::brooke:: 

prayer studio: a season of citywide prayer

evidences of God's love (a Love Feast story)

tonight at Love Feast, Tim invited everyone to share little stories about how they experience God loving them.

neighbor-friends around the table whose lives look to me to be so hard, so undesirable, still had things to share, moments where they've seen evidences of His love for them.

• i'm thankful He woke me up this morning.
• i'm thankful i'm out of the hospital, alive and walking!
• i'm glad i had a good day at school today.
• my son is going to be 14 in two months; he's as tall as i am!
• i'm thankful for my friend Tony (who is present in the room); i wouldn't be here without him.
• my baby cousin H (whom we've been praying for) was released from the hospital on the 22nd of August!
• M and T had a baby girl yesterday morning; her name is Sophie.

i was so humbled to hear these joyful testimonies as folks popped up one-by-one around the room with hardly a pause between, to speak about how Papa loves them.

and then we sang,

"He loves us,

oh how He loves us,

oh how He loves us;

How He loves us...oh!"

i kept my eyes open as i sang it, looking slowly around the room, to see all my neighbor-friends singing along, obviously worshipping. holy spirit shivers.

and i thought, we have come so far! i can't believe i'm witnessing this thing. 

we are never too poor, too low, too addicted, too abused, too dirty to receive the Father's love.

and. gratitude is a potent medicine.

::brooke::  

(this blog entry was originally posted here) 

back at it

our core leadership team, inclusive of spouses and kids, on our retreat weekend.

it's been a good sabbatical month. we've rested. we've remembered that He is God and we are not. we've let dreams incubate and excitement levels rise.  

because after a year of being so very quiet and still, of keeping only the most basic and "easy" aspects of the boiler room ministry going while we spent some time reevaluating and rearranging, we are about to embark on a very eventful new year. 

in just over a week The Vision Course launches. we have three amazing students coming to participate. Laura, Rosanne, and Michelle are the women God has sent to us to love and train and adopt into our hearts. i'm so very excited to witness the story God will write in their lives this year.  

the Coopers are back from their year in Kansas City where they did The Vision Course themselves, and are excited to pioneer it here in Grand Rapids this year. They've moved ino a house just a couple blocks from the Boiler Room. 

Emma and Casey are busy preparing a prayer room that will take place right in the heart of downtown during the famed Art Prize event in September.  

plans for Stockbridge Academy -- a public charter school for the west side -- are trucking along, slowly but surely, as Tony continues to put his expertise from his past life as an educator to work on behalf of this neighborhood and its children.  

Tim has a great team of volunteer mentors lined up for the Bike Shop ministry and is getting lots of administrative, behind-the-scenes pieces in place that will allow better workflow and therefore more time to be available to loving people. 

the boiler room house has been repainted downstairs and new tile will be laid later this week.  

Mission Church (Sunday Gathering) has been camping out on the Judges, inviting the Holy Spirit to help us see and then smash the idols and high places we've been wrongfully cherishing in our lives.  

the Colliers have moved into the house across the alley from the Boiler Room.

the entire Core Team had a retreat weekend this past weekend, making time to reconnect, enjoy one another's company, worship, and dream together.  

Love Feasts resume on Wednesday Sept 4th.  

we're ready.  may we feel Papa's smile and yield to the Good Shepherd's voice each step of the way!

see you around? 

::brooke:: 

the basics: god's love

teaching at a Love Feast

In recent months at the Love Feast we have made a point to dive back into some of the very basics of what it means to be a believer, to follow Jesus in our lives, and know Him as Lord. God's love for us is one of those basics that we could probably spend a lifetime diving into and only scratch the suface. So we spent three weeks reflecting on the parable of the prodigal son, or another title we like to use--the parable of the two sons who didn't know how much their daddy loved them. 

There are three main characters in the story. A younger son throws away his inheritance on a wild binge-season, trying to figure out life and find fulfillment on his own. He returns home after coming to his senses to surprisingly find his father running to embrace him, kiss him, and celebrate his return, when he expected to have to plea for a lowly place in the home. The older son pouts and sulks upon returning from the field to find his father lavishly celebrating his irresponsible brother's return. The father's response is a gentle and stern correction. I imagine him putting an arm around his son's shoulder as he begins, "Look, son..."

Though the story starts with the narrative of the younger son, it seems like the father might be the main character to understand through both of the coming-of-age issues these boys are going through. Through each of these boy's instances of wrongheadedness and missing the point, the father is trying to communicate to both of them that they haven't gotten it yet--that they are rich beyond they're imagination simply because they are with their father. And his love for them is much more than either of them realize.

How often do I live acting like the younger son, with the mindset of an orphan, ignorant of the fact that I have a Daddy, and that He loves me and wants to walk with me, listen to me, and celebrate beautiful moments of life like this with me. How often do I slip into an older-son mentality, living like a slave in my Father's house. I try to earn my keep, secure my own place under His roof, and just default to thinking about the things I can do and not do in order to gain His favor.  

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!"  1 John 3:1

It is an incredible, multifaceted, and beautiful thing Jesus has done for us one the cross--one of those layers being that He has shared His sonship with us. His Daddy is now my Daddy! I've been adopted into the family because "God so loved the world..." I no longer need to live in the false orphan mindset of the younger son or the slave-mindset of the older son. I am simply a son  , and the inheritance I have in the Father is more than I can dream of. 

My exhortation at the Love Feast recently was that during this summer break, each one present would ask the Father to show His love them, however He wanted to communicate that. It's one of those sure-fire prayers, I think. How can He resist a request like that?! 

Please pray for folks in our neighborhood to be expectant of the Father showing His love to them this summer.  

Oh, how I'm surprised at how very rich the simple basics are when I return to them. 

::tim::