Kingdom Breakthroughs

Tonight at huddle (our leadership equipping structure) I asked the question, "Where have you seen kingdom break through in your life?"

I am still celebrating the answers.

One woman told the story of being in a store where an older woman was desiring a comfortable pair of shoes but the price of them was way beyond her. The Missio Lux woman walked up to her and handed her $50 for the shoes, and tried to walk away. However, the woman asked her name and told her that her name was Sue. When the Missio Lux woman came back to the store a few weeks later, the clerk checking her out recognized her name, and said that the woman who received the shoes was shaking so hard that she could barely pay for them. Everyone around her cried because of the generosity of an unknown woman! A ripple started.

Another man told of being in a hotel in Colorado Springs and running into a young Hispanic man, his people group passion. It turns out that this young man knew his sister, who has since died, as a child. The man was able to speak into this young man's life about the amazing impact he could make if he stewards his life well. The young man was so touched that he sent the Missio Lux man a hand written, mailed, letter thanking him. A ripple started.

Another woman told of being called to help Young Life start in her son's school. She almost wept as she told of sitting in the school's lobby talking about Jesus with other Jesus followers who are concerned about the youth in their area. A ripple started.

Another woman told of taking a walk with a friend who had a Jewish friend with her. The Jewish friend spent the entire walk asking questions about the Bible....my friend was so happy to share with her God's overflowing love for her. A seed planted.

Another man told of hosting "Soup Night" in their home every Thursday night for their neighbors. Neighbors who have never met are now befriending one another in their home. This idea is so simple and so impactful that another Missio Lux family is now seeking to start Soup Night in their home. Ripples moving outward.

I could write more but you get the idea. All these stories follow our Healing Prayer Worship Service last night where many came, hungry for contemplative worship that makes space for God, and seeking a touch of healing from Jesus. No one wanted to leave last night; we finally closed it up at 10 p.m.

I am pinching myself; how can I be so lucky as to partner with these amazing kingdom minded people who are seeking to follow Jesus in a lifestyle of Kingdom!

The Fourth Person

Jesus has been teaching about his real presence in our lives. Today, he led me to a Scripture where he showed me that he is really present when we walk in those situations that feel like fire!

I heard him whisper "Daniel's friends in the fiery furnace" so I turned to Daniel 3 where I re-read the familiar story from my childhood of his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who infuriated the king by not bowing down to his impressive 90 foot high golden statue. They went against the current culture by saying no to idol worship and it costs them their lives.

Almost.

They were thrown into a fiery furnace tied together and the ones that threw them in died because the fire was so hot.

Amazingly, however, they were walking around unhindered in the fire, but the King was confused by a fourth person joining them in the fire. That person, I am convinced, was Jesus. (How fun that they got to meet him hundreds of years before anyone else!)

But, this is what Jesus showed me. He is present with all of us in the fire.

Literally.

This passage illustrates his promise when he speaks in Hebrews 13: "I will never leave you or forsake you."

I was also reminded of Isaiah 43:2 which says "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you wil not be burned, the flames will not set you ablaze."

I am comforted by this, I hope you will be too.

Parties with a Purpose Keep on Rippling

We are so close to reaching our goal of purchasing and packaging 40,000 meals for Children of the Nations: Sunday afternoon we will reach our goal and we still have parties with a purpose rippling out!

Watch a video and read about the latest party: CLICK HERE

Treasure Hunt

I've been wanting to do a treasure hunt for a long time. What's a treasure hunt?

Glad you asked!

It's an experience of presence evangelism.

The process consists of seeking clues from Jesus and then following the clues to find the person or people that he wants us to be present with, sharing his love and hope.

So, today Laurie and I dropped our weekly "to do list" and decided to do the treasure hunt. We got some clues which directed us to a certain area of our city. We weren't sure who we were going to find, but it was obvious when we got a drink at Starbucks and sat down across from a young man whom Laurie knew must be looking for a job.

We started up a conversation, confirmed that he was indeed looking for a job, and then told him we were on a treasure hunt and that God had directed us there to Pray for him! He was very open, seemed very thankful to receive our prayers, and promised to follow up with us on how his job interview went.

The job interview is tomorrow. He's been to several interviews where he ends up being number 2, not the hire. I have a sense that tomorrow will be a whole different experience.

I could get used to this.

I wonder what my life would look like if this is how my days went every day?
How would the world change if we followed Jesus in a treasure hunt every day?
How could we combine the busy schedule of our lives with daily treasure hunts?

I don't know the answers to these questions, but I can say that I am really enjoying the times we are living in right now. It's fun, outside the box and full of kingdom connection!

Experiencing the Father's Heart, part 3

Jesus lived a life of upside down values.

A rich young ruler came to Jesus asking what he could do to inherit eternal life. In other words, he was coming to Jesus asking how he could follow him. My expectation is that Jesus would be delighted to include him in his band of followers, but that isn’t at all what Jesus did.

Jesus referred this young man to the 10 commandments for what is good: don’t murder, steal, commit adultery, lie, or dishonor your mother and father. The young man was able to say that he followed these rules for his entire life.

Once again, seems like a good guy to get on Jesus’ team. But, Mark 10:21 says that “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”

He loved him too much to not recognize the area that stood between him and Jesus. For this young man, it was money.

Jesus said, “Go and sell everything you have and give it to the poor, because then your treasure will be in heaven, not on earth. Then, come and follow me.”

An challenge in the midst of the invitation.

Come follow me, but don’t let even one thing stand between us.

Do these words challenge you? I struggle to write this reflection because our reality is that we have so much while the world has so little. And yet, it is often hard to part with our funds because we wonder if “we will have enough.”

You may be asking, “How does this interaction give us a picture into the window of the Father’s heart?”

Jesus knew that money was this young man’s bondage because it was above him on the priority scale. The temptation not to trust God to have his best at heart caused him to walk away from Jesus, rather than follow his loving heart of challenge. Money was his idol.

What’s an idol? An idol is anything that takes higher priority than God. An idol is not money for a lot of people; which is why Jesus wasn’t asking everyone around him to give away all their possessions.

What can an idol be? Our position at work. Being popular at school. Having a fit body. Our spouse or our children. Being healthy. It can be anything because it is “where it fits into our priority list” that makes it an idol.

The picture of the Father’s heart that stands out to me in this passage is that Jesus looked at the man and loved him. Those words are music to my ears. The more that I experience the Father’s love, the more my life changes in positive ways.

Take a moment to reflect on your life. If you were the one standing before Jesus, asking him, “How can I live a life that reflects your values?” what would he say back to you?

But, before you hear the answer, reflect on the reality that Jesus loves you. He loves you and wants the best for your life. He is for you and not against you. Romans 8 speaks to this truth:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. What then, shall we say in response? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us everything?” (Rom 8:28, 31-32)

The rich young ruler walked away from Jesus.

He didn’t trust Jesus’ heart to be enough for him. This is everyone’s struggle: trusting the Heart of the Father. But, when we look at Jesus and see that he was willing to “give up his life” for us, we can begin to live out the truth that the Father is for us. He wants the best for us, and he will use Jesus in our life to show us the way to freedom.

Covenant World Relief

I just got a mailing from Covenant World Relief. I can remember so many Thanksgiving Eve Services where my family would take our CWR soup can turned bank to the front of the church to give to those that are suffering around the world.

Turning in our banks was one of the most joyful acts of giving that I have all year long. I would always put spare change in our bank, all the cash found in the laundry (which can add up!) and then our kids would put their punishment money in the bank too! Our oldest daughter Heather got in trouble intentionally at times because she loved to put her money in the bank too! We would always add a generous check to our bank because we realized that the money went directly to those that needed in most in the world.

This year Missio Lux was a recepient of a Covenant World Relief grant. We received money to help fund the Seeds of Hope project in Kenya. Read my previous blog about our Sudanese child, Madit, who is directly benefiting from the bank offering collection each year.

CWR's new mission statement is "Loving, serving, and working together with the poor, the powerless, and the marginalized." I hope we will continue to have a long partnership with CWR because our hearts are aligned with their purpose and call. (www.covchurch.org/cwr)

Our Sudanese Orphan Madit

I got a letter and a report card in the mail today from the child we sponsor for Seeds of Hope. Madit is one of the Sudanese orphans who came from the Kakuma Refugee Camp and now goes to Roots Academy:

Read what he wrote to us:

My name is Madit Deng. I am a Sudenese by nationality. I am thirteen years old. I am in grade 3 in Roots Academy.
I would like to be a doctor.
I would like to thanks Seeds of Hope for changing my life.
If not for them, I could be chasing cattle from morning to evening everyday, and as the will of God I would like to change other people's lives as the way I have been helped by Seeds of HOpe.

I am happy as a lark for my life.

A Ripple

This reflection was written by Anne Clark: she is a woman who is eager to be used by God to build his kingdom: she is one of the "ripples" from Missio Lux!

Bethany Food Collection~ A Reflection

After officially collecting for two weeks now, we are excited to announce that we have collected over 400 items of food/personal hygiene/household cleaning items that have already been disbursed! Praise God.

Julie McIntosh tells the story of a woman who just received a bar of soap collected by Bethany two weeks ago. She had been bathing her 3 children, doing her dishes, and cleaning her laundry with the same dwindling bar of soap. She was unable to buy anymore as food stamps do not cover these types of items. She began to cry when she saw a brand new bar of soap as part of her food collection on Monday. We pray that she was touched by Almighty God as she realizes that He is caring for the smallest details of her life!

"The Lord your God is God of all gods and Lord of all lords. He is the great God, who is strong and wonderful. He does not take sides, and he will not be talked into doing evil. He helps orphans and widows, and he loves foreigners and gives them food and clothes. You also must love foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt." Deuteronomy 10:17-19

A PRAYER FROM LLOYD JOHN OGILVIE (one-time Chaplain, U.S. Senate):

"Almighty God, eight words thunder in our souls: Without you, we can’t; without us, you won’t.
You have chosen to do your work through your people. We have been called to communicate your love by caring for the spiritually and physically poor and hungry of the world.
You press our hearts next to the heartbeat of those caught in the syndrome of poverty and those millions who feel hunger gnaw at them day and night. Help us respond to their cries as individuals and as participants in united efforts to care for those who suffer.
Motivate us by the memory of your generosity to us, but also by the bracing truth that we can’t continue to grow in grace without obeying your command to feed the hungry and care for the poor.
Today, begin a spiritual awakening among believers that sweeps across the world and results in a mighty outpouring of funds to meet the magnitude of the need.

And Lord, begin with me. Amen."

As you choose to donate food this week above and beyond your normal tithes and offerings to the church, expect the Lord to richly bless you. We do not give to be blessed, but yet, what a blessed reward we reap from the heavenlies as we fulfill His work on earth! Both Julie and I pray that these donations become a seed for the truth of Christ to be planted in each individual that receives them. Please join us in silently praying over the food in the bins each time you pass them, as well as praying for salvation and wholeness for the person who will receive them.
May the Lord bless you and keep you in His holy name!
Anne & Julie

Experiencing the Father's Heart: part 2

Have you ever had an experience where you wondered where God was in it?
Jesus is the picture into the heart of our Heavenly Father, so every time Scripture highlights a picture of Jesus demonstrating his Father’s heart, we know that it is meant for us, his followers, too.

I have been moved deeply by this window of our Father’s heart:

Soon afterward Jesus went with his disciples to the village of Nain, and a large crowd followed him. 12 A funeral procession was coming out as he approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. 14 Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” 15 Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Luke 7:11-15
Imagine the scene. Jesus is with his disciples and they see a funeral procession pass them. They could have stopped and prayed for the grieving mother, but Jesus went a step further when he stepped into the situation."

He did it by observing the heart of the mother: her grief, her pain, her loss. To be a widow in Jesus’ day without a son to support her basically turned the mother into a begger. She was literally all alone.

Jesus cares about us being alone. When we are laid off from our jobs, he is present with us. When we learn of a frightening illness, he is there. When we hear news of a distressing family situation, he moves into the scene.

Jesus cared about a woman who was alone. He cared so much that he let his heart overflow with compassion. He didn’t turn away because he was too busy, too important, or too weak. He walked into the funeral procession and touched the coffin. He spoke to the dead son and told him to get up. Immediately the boy sat up and demonstrated his new life by talking!

Can you imagine it?
How would you feel if you were his mother?
Would you be more overwhelmed by getting your son back or by the miracle Jesus performed?

I think if it happened to me, I would be most overwhelmed by the reality that Jesus took the time to step into my world because he cared. His heart overflowed with compassion.

This week, let’s make a decision to look for Jesus in our own situations. Let’s remember that he didn’t step away from pain, he entered into it. He does the same with us.

Take time to look for his presence. When you see it, write it down or tell someone as a way of honoring what he did. Take time to let the words, “his heart overflowed with compassion” wash over you and bring you to a new understanding of the Father’s love for you.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demonsneither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35,37-39

Healing Prayer Training Ripples

I woke up so excited today because tonight we start our three weekend healing prayer training!

As I think back on my life leading up to this point; I realize that God has done many amazing miracles along the way.

Before I even moved to Seattle, I sensed the Lord wanted me to start a healing prayer ministry. This was humorous as I had never experienced a healing prayer ministry and knew next to nothing about what it took to start one, let alone lead it.

But, I didn't forget the call and started to work on it. I assembled three people, very mature in their faith and we started to develop one. After one year, two of the people moved away and one left our church to go to a different one.

So, I thought, "Great God, now what am I going to do?"

Well, a wonderful woman named Carra Lee, kept asking me when we were going to start a healing prayer ministry. I asked her to talk to people and we set two dates one summer to pray. About 12 people came to those and we asked God to move in us to bring this to reality.

Meanwhile, I kept researching curriculum's and my senior pastor kept rejecting them. I ended up meeting a man named Bill Voswig, who has been doing healing prayer training for 40 years in the Lutheran denomination. I asked him to come do our training, but he said no.

He did, however, tell me that he would mentor me to lead the training.

So, I met with him once a month for about 9 months. He taught me how to pray and did a lot of prayer for me. A ripple.

I ended up writing a curriculum. I didn't even read a ton of books, I just started studying the Bible and learning from what Jesus did. Did you know that Jesus tells us in Luke 9:1-2 that "he has given us his power and authority to cast out demons, cure diseases, proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick?"

We are all called to pray for healing as we walk as Jesus' disciples!

We held our first training weekend, a good friend of mine from Denver, Terri Parzybok, (see Living Free Ministries on our missiolux.org website) came to train us on physical healing. I was really pleased that 13 people were registered. But, you know what! By the end of the weekend, 35 people attended.

Wow, we started the very next weekend, with 20 people. I told them my expectations. There would be homework, Scripture memory and they needed to be present weekly so they didn't miss any of the training.

I expected half to bolt. No, more people came the next week.

Now we are four years down the road, part of Missio Lux as a foundational ministry of healing, and understand that part of our call is to equip the saints of God to move in healing too.

I can't wait to see what happens this weekend, as God has been the God of surprises all along the way, and I know he has some big surprises in store for us as we step into this new place of training and equipping!

If you are interested in coming: see www.missiolux.org for healing prayer.

Irena Sendler: One of God's Heroes

I blogged a few months ago about Irena Sendler. she was a very courageous woman who in World War 2, went into the Warsaw Ghetto and helped smuggle children out of it through took boxes, suitcases and sometimes even a coffin. She had a dog in her vehicle that would bark very loud at the soldiers, so they never heard the noise of the children.

Irena saved at least 2,500 children. She was eventually caught and beaten to the point where both her legs and arms were broken. She must have known each time that she crossed the check points the danger that she was under, but the lives of the children were more important to her than her own safety.

She also was smart. She kept the names of the children and families buried in a jar in her backyard so that when the war was over, she reunited as many families as she could. Most parents had been killed, however, so she helped the children get in foster homes or adopted.

Irena Sendler died recently. Heaven celebrated what earth mourns. I am grateful for Irena's story and hope that if I am confronted with a similar situation, I will act with the same courage that she displayed. I often wonder if I will.

How about you?

Experiencing the Father's Heart, part 1

Last night we kicked off our year at the Celebration! We will spend this year exploring the themes of “covenant and kingdom.” Covenant is the relationship with God; kingdom is the work of God through us.

Covenant is basically about relationship. We are defined by the relationships we have in our lives: I am a wife, a mother, a pastor, a neighbor. But, I am also the daughter of a Heavenly Father, one who loves me perfectly: this is my most important relationship, which helps to define my identity.

Jesus is the window to our Father’s heart. He came to show us who God truly is. One of the ways he did this was through telling stories; one of the best known stories is The Prodigal Son.
Why has it been called “The Prodigal Son” all these years? The intent of Jesus’ story is absolutely about the compassion of the Father. He told this story to give us a visual picture of the character of his father.

Here is a version of the story of the Compassionate Father in contemporary context:

THE RUNAWAY
A young girl grows up on a cherry orchard just above Traverse City, Michigan. Her parents, a bit old-fashioned, tend to overreact to her nose ring, the music she listens to, and the length of her skirts. They ground her a few times, and she seethes inside. "I hate you!" she screams at her father when he knocks on the door of her room after an argument, and that night she acts on a plan she has mentally rehearsed scores of times. She runs away.

She has visited Detroit only once before, on a bus trip with her church youth group to watch the Tigers play. Because newspapers in Traverse City report in lurid detail the gangs, drugs, and violence in downtown Detroit, she concludes that is probably the last place her parents will look for her. California, maybe, or Florida, but not Detroit.

Her second day there she meets a man who drives the biggest car she's ever seen. He offers her a ride, buys her lunch, arranges a place for her to stay. He gives her some pills that make her feel better than she's ever felt before. She was right all along, she decides: Her parents were keeping her from all thefun. The good life continues for a month, two months, a year. The man with the big car—she calls him "Boss"--teaches her a few things that men like. Since she's underage, men pay a premium for her. She lives in a penthouse and orders room service whenever she wants.

Occasionally she thinks about the folks back home, but their lives now seem so boring that she can hardly believe she grew up there. She has a brief scare when she sees her picture printed on the back of a milk carton with the headline, "Have you seen this child?" But by now she has blond hair, and with all the makeup and body-piercing jewelry she wears, nobody would mistake her for a child. Besides, most of her friends are runaways, and nobody squeals in Detroit.

After a year, the first sallow signs of illness appear, and it amazes her how fast the boss turns mean. "These days, we can't mess around," he growls, and before she knows it she's out on the street without a penny to her name. She still turns a couple of tricks a night, but they don't pay much, and all the money goes to support her drug habit.

When winter blows in she finds herself sleeping on metal grates outside the big department stores. "Sleeping" is the wrong word—a teenage girl at night in downtown Detroit can never relax her guard. Dark bands circle her eyes. Her cough worsens.

One night, as she lies awake listening for footsteps, all of a sudden everything about her life looks different. She no longer feels like a woman of the world. She feels like a little girl, lost in a cold and frightening city. She begins to whimper. Her pockets are empty and she's hungry. She needs a fix. She pulls her legs tight underneath her and shivers under the newspapers she's piled atop her coat.

Something jolts a synapse of memory and a single image fills her mind: of May in Traverse City, when a million cherry trees bloom at once, with her golden retriever dashing through the rows and rows of blossomy trees in chase of a tennis ball. God, why did I leave? she says to herself, and pain stabs at her heart.

My dog back home eats better than I do now. She's sobbing, and she knows in a flash that more than anything else in the world she wants to go home. Three straight phone calls, three straight connections with the answering machine. She hangs up without leaving a message the first two times, but the third time she says, "Dad, Mom, it's me. I was wondering about maybe coming home. I'm catching a bus up your way, and it'll get there about midnight tomorrow. If you're not there, well, I guess I'll just stay on the bus until it hits Canada."

It takes about seven hours for a bus to make all the stops between Detroit and Traverse City, and during that time she realizes the flaws in her plan. What if her parents are out of town and miss the message? Shouldn't she have waited another day or so until she could talk to them?

Even if they are home, they probably wrote her off as dead long ago. She should have given them some time to overcome the shock. Her thoughts bounce back and forth between those worries and the speech she is preparing for her father. "Dad, I'm sorry. I know I was wrong. It's not your fault, it's all mine. Dad, can you forgive me?" She says the words over and over, her throat tightening even as she rehearses them. She hasn't apologized to anyone in years.

The bus has been driving with lights on since Bay City. Tiny snowflakes hit the road, and the asphalt steams. She's forgotten how dark it gets at night out here. A deer darts across the road and the bus swerves. Every so often, a billboard. A sign posting the mileage to Traverse City. Oh, God.

When the bus finally rolls into the station, its air brakes hissing in protest, the driver announces in a crackly voice over the microphone, "Fifteen minutes, folks. That's all we have here." Fifteen minutes to decide her life. She checks herself in a compact mirror, smooths her hair, and licks the lipstick off her teeth. She looks at the tobacco stains on her fingertips and wonders if her parents will notice. If they're there. She walks into the terminal not knowing what to expect, and not one of the thousand scenes that have played out in her mind prepare her for what she sees.

There, in the concrete-walls-and-plastic-chairs bus terminal in Traverse City, Michigan, stands a group of 40 family members—brothers and sisters and great-aunts and uncles and cousins and a grandmother and great-grandmother to boot.

They are all wearing ridiculous-looking party hats and blowing noisemakers, and taped across the entire wall of the terminal is a computer-generated banner that reads "Welcome home!" Out of the crowd of well-wishers breaks her dad.

She looks through tears and begins the memorized speech, "Dad, I'm sorry. I know … " He interrupts her. "Hush, child. We've got no time for that. No time for apologies. You'll be late for the party. A banquet's waiting for you at home."

And so it is with God's amazing grace. But what's so amazing about it, anyway? Ask people what they must do to get to return to God and most reply, "Be good." Jesus' stories contradict that answer. All we must do is cry, "Help!" God welcomes home anyone who will have him and, in fact, has made the first move already. That's what's so amazing about grace.
Phillip Yancey's book, What's So Amazing about Grace

Where do you need a fresh touch of grace from your Heavenly Father? As we understand that he loves us for who we are, not for what we do or don't do, our relationship with him is set free and we are able to experience the Father's heart for us.

Call, Equip and Send

Our Arbors Family Missio Community is exploring Luke 5-10 as Jesus takes his disciples through a clear process of call, equip and send.

Sunday we divided into 6 groups and each group explored a chapter, discovering whether it's emphasis is call, equip or send. The children were all insightful in their answers, I think that at least child from each group answered.

Anika, who is 1o years old, brought up call, equip and send at her family dinner table last night. She is the one that is planning to give her birthday away and host a Children of the Nations Food Assembly (http://www.cotni.org/).

She had been thinking about how she could follow Jesus in her own life.
She said, "I've been called to hold a food assembly for my birthday. Then, Jesus equipped me by providing the "Give My Birthday Away" website (a divine connection from a man who set it up to give his birthday away for Children of the Nations too!), and then I am sent to go do it."

I didn't need anything else to have a great day than this wonderful story. How can life get much better when families gather and our children take what they are learning and live them out in such practical, but life changing, ways?

Anika, I hope I am invited to your birthday party, as I would love to participate in your helping live out your calling!

Climb for Captives Celebrates with a Concert

Friday night I joined others that came together to celebrate what has taken place with Climb for Captives. We were thoroughly informed and entertained with a combination of interesting talks, bands, and a video of the climb.

What makes 10 men, most in their 20's, decide to dedicate a summit to Mt. Raineer to woman in Thailand that they have never met?

It is God's heart beating in them. They took an area of passion and skill, mountain climbing (I will need to support human trafficking a different way than mountain climbing!) and instead of doing it just for their own adventure and pleasure, they tapped into God's heart, discovering how he wanted to move in them.

This is the Missio Lux vision. We tap into our passions and discover how God wants to use them. Our passions are as varied as creation, but they all come from the same place. It's God working in us to combine pleasure and impact to bring forth a life of meaning.

The climbers didn't just stop with the climb. They continue to commit themselves to make opportunities for the word to get out. This concert was one of those opportunities. They haven't forgotten about the 18 women who will be brought out of sexual slavery into freedom through the funds raised for International Justice Mission.

Visit their website and experience their story. www.climbforcaptives.com

Then take some time to discover your mountain top experience and how God can move in you to bring forth his hope and freedom to the world.