Preparation for Pentecost

Most of the YWAM Team on the Mountain

We spent 10 days preparing for Pentecost where we traveled up the mountain to meet with God!  Our journey of preparation invovled a lot of different experiences:  three trips to the mountain to worship and to ask God to meet us through his tangible presence on Pentecost Sunday!

Taylor leads us in worship on the Mountain

We blew dried dandelions as we prayed for where we wanted to see God plant seeds of harvest

We also worshipped and prayed in the valley in various ways.  One day, we all went outside to soak in the very rare gift of sun in Seattle in the Spring, listened to a play list of ecclectic music, and journaled our thoughts as we made space for God!  (see my next blog for some of the writings that day)

One of our missio communities, Peace Seekers, also spent time doing tangible exercises with the 3dm Lifeshape:  Mrs.Gren:  Signs of Life!  Each letter stands for the life we need to live a vibrant, spiritual life:  Movement, Respitory, Sensativity to the Spirit, Growth, Reproduction, Excretion, and Nutrition.  (see this lifeshape in greater detail in our resource section of the Missio Lux website)

Writing decrees

We read a daily devotional written by Sarah Lowell....as she helped us to connect the dots from the Old Testament to the New Testament for how Holy Spirit was always present, but now at the Pentecost Feast of Harvests after Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples literally got to fulfill Jesus' Word to them that they would become fishers of men as they reeled in a catch of passionate Jesus followers.

The Sunday before Pentecost found us doing a Contemplative Retreat with Spiritual Director: John Kiemele, founder and president of the Selah Center:  www.selahcenter.org.  John led us through many wonderful Scriptures and exercises that prepared our hearts and minds for our appointment with God on the mountain!

On one of the last days that we were able to spend with the YWAM Outreach Team, we opened up the book of Esther and learned how to write decrees; which both Esther and Malachi were able to write for the King.  As we learn the know the King's heart and mind, we are able to partner with him to decree those areas where he wants to see his kingdom come from heaven to earth.  Jesus taught us to do this in his first prayer that he taught the disciples: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is (already) in heaven!"

As we went around the room, it was obvious that this team was filled with faith that God can do ANYTHING as they decreed salvation for their families and friends, provision for finances, and breakthrough in ministry.

As we went through the 10 days of preparation for Pentecost, one of my main prayers was "Lord, bring the power we need to reach the world around us; both locally and around the globe."

Missio Lux Hosts a 3dm Taster this Week!

This is an exciting week for Missio Lux. We are hosting a Taster for ministry leaders to "experience a taste of 3dm."

We have taken a team of 5 to South Carolina 4 times over the past 20 months to learn from 3dm, and to discover their structure of huddle, missio community and celebration that is helping equip churches and leaders to walk out the two themes of the Bible: Covenant and Kingdom: the Great Commandment and the Great Commission!

It's a gift to be able to invite ministry leaders from this area to discover 3dm too. It's a lot closer to come from Seattle or even Spokane than to take the really LONG journey to South Carolina.

I am looking forward to introducing Steve Cockram to many of my Covenant friends and other ministry leaders from this area. (Steve and his family are in the picture).

I am most looking forward to introducing Peter Sung, the Director of Church Planting for the Covenant and my boss, Kurt Carlson to huddle, as it has made such an impact in our lives in Missio Lux.

One woman that has experienced life transformation through huddle. She came to Missio Lux a broken woman, just moving out of a very painful divorce. However, in the atmosphere of huddle, she has grown by leaps and bounds....able to hear God's voice and pray it for others; her desire and love for the "trunk" (the people of God) is huge and she shows it in tangible ways, and her passion to share what's taking place in her life with her friends and neighbors and just about everyone she meets, is overflowing.

My dream is for this life transformation story to be all of our stories, across all churches, denominational lines, and across the US and the world. As we discover what Jesus is asking us to do, and then do it; it changes us.

The Challenge of Language in a Dispersed Community

Missio Lux has several challenges in being a dispersed community. Language is one of the biggest challenges we face. Not only do we have several languages spoken in our missio communities with our locations in South Korea, Sudan and Kenya, and Holland, but we also have different cultures in the missio communities in Seattle.

One challenge surfaced this week when we sent out our prayer booklet. For some people the language was very familiar, for others, they were just lost.

Language determines worldview, so it is very important. One reason that we have aligned with 3dm is that they have developed Lifeshapes, a language of discipleship. They are shapes, so no matter what language people speak, they shapes grab you and help you hold onto the concept.

Just yesterday I was meeting with a woman who was speaking about abide: which means to rest and rejuvenate! She was making a rocking motion as the lifeshape of Abide and Bear Fruit is a semi circle that rocks back and forth between rest and work, or abide and bear fruit.

Any suggestions on briding the language gap would be greatly appreciated!

Experiences at the Learning Community with 3dm

The hour? 5:30 a.m. Here is our team of 5 ready to board a flight to South Carolina to spend several days with some of our favorite friends: 3dm!

The Learning Community has been an invaluable help to Missio Lux as we develop a structure of discipleship that fits with our mission, vision and values.

The theme for our fourth Learning Community was "Developing Missional Sites." The idea behind this is to have Red Hot Centers where the fire of God is alive and burning! This comes from the 3 p's: Passionate Praise, Prayer and Prophecy: hearing God's communication in our lives and sharing it with others.

The Red Hot Centers can then develop into posts of mission through missional community, while the center structure supports the administrative needs: finances, communication, training and development, governance. This frees the missional posts to be fully focused on living their vision and impacting the world with Jesus' love.

My favorite moment of all 4 Learning Communities was when the whole team of 5 of us came to the same conclusion at once. We were in an envisioning stage when we realized that we already have Red Hot Centers happening in 5 different places: South Korea, Kenya/Sudan, Holland, Colorado and Seattle. We also have all the mechanisms to develop regional missional sites through 3dm: huddle, coaching, missional community and missional outposts!

We determined to start five regional missional outposts in the next 5 years. It was a holy moment as we realized that God has been strategically leading us even when we didn't see the whole picture.

Please pray for us as we seek to develop the solid core infastructure in Seattle as well as expanding our Red Hot Centers here so the flames can move out to start fires of God in many other places around the world.