We’re at it again… Kaelin and I feel called to continue with LDI this year.  This was a HARD decision that has taken a lot of wrestling, prayer and fasting, and tears this summer… but we’re going for it!  Kaelin will be taking care of the baby while I pursue Trek 2 of LDI, the 2nd stage meant for training full-time vocational elders (Pastors).

For those who do not know, LDI is a ministry training school at Hope Community Church in Minneapolis.  It has three pillars: biblical thinking (full-time class), christ-like character (mentoring), and ministry experience.  Kaelin and I did year 1 last year and God did amazing things.  Find out more about LDI here.  Trek 2 focuses on refining skills in preparation for ministry, especially for Church-planting.  Classes include Biblical interpretation, Acts (the book), Preaching, Discipleship, Paul (the apostle), Eldership, Leadership, and Shepherding.

This fits what God called me to last year when we embarked on this crazy journey (the full story here), which is to strive for the Kingdom of God and to be the hands and feet of Christ to our hurting, sin-stricken world.

I set out on this journey with high hopes to take part in “changing the world”.  This last year, God has really shown me how vibrant, Jesus-following, people-loving communities can and do create radical change through faith in Jesus.  By spreading the love of Jesus they transform lives, heal those broken by life, and seek the welfare of their community.  People who enter these communities tend to give generously, serve selflessly, and encourage others to  strive for change.  This type of community is often found in church plants (new start-up churches) that take the Bible and Jesus seriously.  God blesses them for their obedient love and in turn they bless those around them.

For those who know me, you know I love gathering people, I love getting things done, and I love anything entrepreneurial.  So church planting seems right up my alley.  Right now church-planting appears to be in our future (unless God says otherwise).  This means going through two more years of LDI to get a strong foundation of training and experience.  LDI Trek 2 is designed specifically for training a church planter and then helping him start a church.

We cannot do this alone. Seriously.  We need some serious support through prayer, encouragement, and money.  It is incredibly humbling for both of us to not be self-sufficient, but we’ve also been incredibly encouraged by how generous and supportive our friends, family, and even total strangers have been.

Want to get our Support and Prayer letter?  Email me or reply in the comment box below with your address (do not worry, it won’t get posted to the site, it’ll go directly to us instead).

I wrote my senior thesis on business leadership.  For the first few years after college, I read 1-2 books a week, often on leadership.  I’ve stuffed my mind full of popular conceptions of leadership, studies about leadership, and stories about great leaders.

In the last few weeks I’ve been facilitating a study on the book of Nehemiah with a few guys.  We meet on wednesdays and get through just a few verses in the 2.5 hours that we chat.  The book is Nehemiah’s personal journal as he goes from being a slave to the Persian king to rebuilding the desolated city of Jerusalem and becoming its governor.

So far I can say…. WOW.  Talk about an amazing guide of leadership! Its showed me how wrong I have been on so many of my thoughts about leadership.  This short book holds more weight than any other single book I’ve read… and its just a few pages.  This thing is power-packed with directly applicable truth, hidden away as the 16th book in the Bible.

I took a picture of many of my leadership books stacked up against how long Nehemiah is.

Kyle, Paul, me, Dylan

Walking, talking answers to prayer!  These 3 men are just that.  When I was 11, I used to pray SO hard that God would give me siblings.  I lost a brother when I was 4, and I remember the first time I was ever actually mad at God was before Dylan and Kyle were born, angry and wondering if He would ever send them to our family!  Not only did He give me brothers, but stand up dudes that are respectful, loving, funny and hardworking (most of the time).

I also told God that if I were to be married, he had to be a certain man.  I listed all the requirements to my friend Jenny one day on the bus to church.  She reminded me at our wedding the list I had stated nearly 2 years before that day had manifested in the man who was now my awesome husband. 

God is attentive and good.  How He knows everything I need.

Baby carriage fruit basket, cute!

One very excited Grandma-to-be

13 yr old bro helping with the decorating

 With the help of my bros, my mom planned an awesome family baby shower for us!  She worked so hard on the food and got the baby his first bassinet and crib!  Maybe it’s just the hormones, but after everyone left I cried because I was so overwhelmed by the generosity and love of my family and friends! 

Just love Erin and Mel

Hope baby shower.. so fun!

The ladies at Hope (headed up by Jill and Naty) also threw a wonderful shower for me.  I had such a blast.  About 30 women all prayed for me and the baby.  What a blessing it is to be a part of such a connected church family!  These women are a boundless source of advice and support.  God knew I would need this for my new adventure as a mom!

Almost there

Ok, here is the latest preggie pic!  I used to look at the large maternity clothes I had and think, there is no way I’m ever going to need a shirt this big!  I’m getting very excited.. and kinda nervous.  But I have a great labor partner!  I think I’ve been rather emotional the last few days (hormones to start labor kicking in?) and he has just been an absolute sweetheart, calming me down, making me comfortable and has had just the best attitude ever.  Not much longer I can play off my tantrums

We’ve been in our new place for about a month and a half.  Oh man its great.

We kind of live in a strangely different residential pocket near downtown Minneapolis.  As you enter our neighborhood its a stark contrast to the blocks around it.  Our block is a unique mix of college students (North Central University is right there), retired Christians, young families, Muslim families, and a few other city dwellers.  This is all part of the Elliot Park Neighborhood, one of the most diverse areas of Minneapolis.

Its awesome being able to walk pretty much everywhere… church, target, coffee shops, the river, parks.

Nathan and I were making some videos about answered prayer, so I made one about how we got this place.  Here’s the story:

I have to admit, I’m not the most brave evangelist.  When I went to watch Paul preach, and do worship and prayer with Street Level, my plan was to go home and pray for them!  I am much more inclined to pray for people, model a Christ-like lifestyle, or even write about my faith on this blog, or facebook, or wherever.  But talking to people face to face about Christ has been a little scary for me.  Especially to strangers!

So, I got roped in to going out with the group last night, and I’m really glad I did.  The thing that struck me the most was the absolute deceitfulness of sin.  It was like God removed me from the scene and I was watching it like a movie.  To my left I noticed a huge theater sign that advertised a “Bartending Contest” and I was wondering how impressed God was with that.  Every woman that walked past me was dressed to the nine.  Not one of them missing her spiked heels and scandalous cleavage showing top.  Everyone smoked.  My heart burned for the girls who had just spent 3 hours getting ready only to fill their bodies with soot and poison.  Girls were swearing and barreling through crowds as if they could care less about anyone except the lusty dude who might give them some cheap attention.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love to dance!  But as I looked down Hennepin Avenue with all it’s glitz and lights I suddenly realized I used to be this girl.  The very same street I was now praying for people and longing to see Jesus redeem I had several times flaunted myself down.  I chased after the dirty dudes, I got as wasted as the next one.  And in those times, I was just as oblivious to my destructive behavior as all of them.  I almost cried at the marvel that God chose to reach in and grab me out.  I looked down the street to see my God-fearing husband talk to people in clubs about Jesus.  I felt my sweet baby kick me and thanked God for showing me how sick sin really is.  Not only did He redeem me, but He truly did return my rags for jewels.

I had a proud moment last night watching Paul preach to “Street Level Ministries” before we all went out on the street to ask people about their spiritual lives, and of course, to tell them about Jesus.  Paul preached on the book of Nehemiah, quite fittingly, since Nehemiah has a heart to rebuild the spiritual walls in the city.  He was so great!  I couldn’t believe I was sitting there watching my husband preach!  He’s a real catch

For all who didn’t know… we’re pregnant. 

He’s coming in about 3 weeks!  We are so excited!  I’m pretty sure God told me August 15th, so that’s what we’re banking on.  I also am pretty sure he’ll be a boy… but we haven’t had an ultra-sound so we do not know for sure.  Faith is in what is unseen… so we’ll just wait to find out

We’re having the baby at Woodwinds health campus.  Kaelin really liked the idea of having a water birth.  Woodwinds has the nicest and newest water birthing facility in Minnesota.  For many women water birthing releaves a lot of pain during labor.  Although the hospital is kind of far away from downtown Minneapolis (about 25 mins), we really love their facilities – it was designed to be like a hotel.  It is the coolest, most comfortable hospital we’ve ever seen (I think last year they were rating #1 in the nation for mother’s satisfaction with their births).  We also really like their friendliness toward natural birth methods and how they provide free doulas!

Neither of us are really fond giving the baby any drugs.  Kaelin has been off of caffeine and all drugs in an effort to protect the baby from any of that.  No caffeine has been hard on her and she talks about looking forward to coffee.

We’ll be updating the blog with updates.  We may also have the webcam for some long-distance chats while we’re in the hospital.

I spent some time and put together a whole new site for us.  Both of us wanted a place we could regularly update individually… and neither of us wanted to flood our own site.  So now we divided it up so we each have our own area and a shared space.