hayesville – PM

i’ve had a hard time articulating the last portion of our days in hayesville, north carolina. even now, about 3 weeks after returning from our trip, i still struggle to understand what happens when a group of 15 people are placed together by God to contribute to his Kingdom. and it boggles my mind how those perfect strangers can be so open with each other, so vulnerable, so willing to share themselves and learn about each other, about each other’s struggles and faith. i’m amazed at by the times we spent, around a living room, around a dinner table, around a bon fire, in the evenings of our trip.

below is my third and final "story" post on north carolina. i hope these have articulated the trip. it’s been a pleasure sharing stories with people about God’s work in the lives of students over spring break, both here and in person. i hope to share a copy of our trip’s video on the blog sometime this week, so stay tuned. thanks!
seth

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we sat on couches, curled up in sweat pants and hoodies. some made coffee or drank juice. others sipped nalgene water bottles, re-hydrating from the warmth of the day and the hard work. i picked up my guitar and sang a few songs from a loosely bound pack of worship songs, songs we all know from our tuesday night gatherings at the INN. some how, as we begin to enter into our evening time of worship, debrief, and sharing, God meets us, calms us, joins us in our work. we join him in his work. we join each other as one body.

we open our bibles to ephesians. this week, we’ve talked through the whole book, looking at statements about all the has been done "through Christ" and "in Christ". we reflect on the blessing of God, through Christ, that we see each day. we discuss what it means to be members of the body, members of a building, much like the buildings we work on, pieces of a whole community, vital to each other’s survival and accountable to taking care of each other as faithful brothers and sisters. we grow into a better understanding of each other.

a single voice speaks. going around the room, one at a time, over the course of the week, we share our stories. however it comes out, we articulate what our faith looks like, where we’ve come from, who God has placed in our lives that has shaped us. i share about the journey i am on, a journey of deeply rooted faith coming from my parents and family who loved me growing up. i share about hard times in high school, about going to college, about meeting stacy, about being married. i share about the journey i’m still on, a journey filled with hope and doubt, faith and challenge, a continuing journey. we listen to each other. we laugh with each other, we cry and hold each other’s hands when the stories are too hard for words to tell. we are vulnerable and open with one another, trusting in God’s love that binds this group together.

the warmth of the fire is almost too much for me as i stand outside on the final night of our trip. the laughter of the group fills the crisp north carolina air. gathered around the fire, we talk about going home, about how we can continue the conversation over coffee or around similar bon fires indicative of spring quarter. i get amazing music recommendations from an expert, while the rest of the guys stoke the fire a little more than i’d like them to. i chuckle and shake my head at their exuberance. God has brought us together for one last night. the bonds and friendship he is forming may or may not continue to develop, but one thing is for sure: this trip will be remembered. through pictures, journals, blogs, and the stories we will tell, this good work will live on and be a blessing not only to our team and the people we served with, but to many, many others. and so the question of how and why we are brought together fades into the happy understanding that for tonight, we share the warmth of a fire and that tomorrow, we will be called to share the things we’ve learned to bless our world.

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hayesville – Work

it’s sad that i have a hard time remembering when i put on work gloves, knelt down on hard dirt, or used a shovel. but something about the hard, red earth of north carolina brings me right back into the groove. the days of hating to be out pulling weeds or working the earth are over. i don’t whine like i did when i was a kid. i’m excited to get to work.

the wesley meadows job site is beautiful, wrapped with the sparse woods of these foothills, nestled up in a small "cove" (the southern version of a valley or gully). a creek trickles slowly along the bottom of the development, finally flowing again after months of deep drought. the earth is dry but holds promise for the new home owners. they talk of gardens, organic vegetables, sunflowers, and the new beginnings being planted in their lives. we scratch the ground with picks, shovels, hoes, and slowly begin to see why they love this place. it becomes ours as well.

i crouch under the deck of a newly finished home, picking out large rocks from the sandy soil of the upper lots. i banter back and forth with a couple of students. we laugh, talk about movies, and inch closer and closer together, drawn into stronger friendships through our tasks. how God chooses to put us together, who He chooses to build into a team like this, always fascinates me, because of the clear design and intentionality with which we are all chosen to be here. we grow to become a family, a crew of workers who delight in the task at hand and the company in which we complete it.

crowded outside of our minivans, sitting on the warm concrete, we laugh, sing, and devour our sack lunches. someone jumps up and rushes to turn up the radio full blast when they hear a song they love. dancing ensues. smiles grow wider. we’re taking a southern work day – a couple hours of hard morning work, an extended lunch break, basking in the beaming sun, followed by a couple more hours of scraping the ground before the heat becomes too much. it sure beats the snow and rain they’re having back home.

lunch finishes. we wander back to the houses we’ve been landscaping. the home owners meet us at their doorsteps with offers of sweet tea, stories of their lives, and special requests for this or that small project. our group grows beyond the bellingham crowd. we now have a hayesville, north carolina family.

as the day draws to a close, i look across the "cove" to see a team of 14 individuals from so many different places, so many different stories, and i see God’s unity. they push wheel-barrows back and forth in coordinated rhythms. they
sing and dance in youthful excitement as they pick up sticks, drive the
rototiller, and weed flower beds. these are God’s people, working together to build something bigger than just houses. this is community.

something remarkable happened that day.

hayesville – AM

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This post is the first of 3 posts describing our recent trip to Hayesville, NC, for an INN mission trip. I’ve taken a little creative license, as a burgeoning writer, to expand, develop, and combine elements of the days into a memoir-esque narrative. Enjoy.
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the morning air is crisp. there’s a freshness of spring that i breathe in, something is clearly changing in the breeze, something opening up, thawing out, shaking it’s wings clean of winter and becoming new. i look across the hillside of the appalachians and see the misty air rise up through the valleys, across the lakes, over the rolling hills in the distance. north carolina is waking up.

i’m up before the rest of the mission team. i find the coffee grounds in the top shelf above the stove, hidden for safe keeping. i fill the filter, pour the water, press the button, and a little more joy begins to fill the sun soaked room. nothing can wake up a sore body, tired from a previous day’s work, than spring sunshine and a fresh pot of coffee.

something rustles in one of the bedrooms. they’re starting to wake. bleary-eyed, two or three students slowly walk into the kitchen, murmuring something about 6:30 being too early to start breakfast. i smile. we start the bacon, pull the cold cereal out from the cupboard, pour juice. cold-cuts, cheap bread, sticky jars of jam and peanut butter, are set out for lunches. apples and oranges are sliced. i hear alarm clocks, showers, and hair dryers. dirty work pants are dawned. gloves, hats, sunscreen. we’re ready for another day of work.

by 8:00, everyone has rushed out the door, thrown on their cold work boots and shoes, laced up, and walked swiftly to the hinton center offices. we meet bill, clarissa, charles, bill, and darren, who all smile widely at our energetic crew, hopeful of the work we’ll accomplish today. we crack jokes, pretend we have southern accents, and find out what we’ll be doing this day. we shiver a bit with that fresh spring air still being warmed by the new morning sun.

the cars load up. the stereos come on. maps are checked, directions confirmed. we’re off.

Spring Break Mission Trip – Hayesville, NC

I haven’t talked about it a whole lot on my blog, due to the busyness of the quarter, but tomorrow I depart with 14 other INN people to North Carolina for one of our Spring Break Mission Trips!

We’ll be spending a week in Hayesville, NC, working with the Hinton Rural Life Center, helping out with a couple of different housing projects they have going there. The Hinton Center serves families in rural North Carolina by offering affordable housing projects. We will be working on a variety of things during the week, from clearing land, digging ditches, helping put together foundations, and even helping people move into some of their newly finished homes.

I am co-leading the team, with Becca, one of the interns. We are taking 13 students, from freshmen to "super"-seniors. They are a great group and are very excited for the trip. Finals are over and they are all packing this evening to meet at the airport tomorrow morning to depart.

Last year I had the opportunity to "live-blog" from the heart of Vancouver, BC. I have decided to leave my laptop at home this year (a huge decision for me), but I will be taking my trusty moleskin journal and doing my best to write about the experience. Then, when I get back, I’ll post some of those reflections here, so I can share the stories of the trip. We’ll also be taking video of the trip and with any luck, I’ll be able to post some of that here too.

Please pray for our safety this week, as we travel, work hard, and spend time in a new part of the country. Please pray that our team continues to grow close, for the opportunities we all have learn about each other this week, for the chance for God’s work to be done in us as we serve others. Mission trips are often very significant experiences for me and for students, so please remember us this week as you respond to the joy of Easter and the hope of the new Spring.

Thanks for all your support. I look forward to sharing this trip with you all.

Mission Trips – Why go?

Here’s a quick video we put together for the INN last night. Thought it’d be fun to share, as we’re trying to do a little "web promo" with this video, using the INN website, Facebook, and blogs to try a new means of communication.

   

Neighborhood Mission Learning Day

I just returned from Seattle, after spending the day at Seattle First Church of the Nazarene at the Seattle Neighborhood Mission Learning Day conference. Sponsored by Praxis Mission Center, this was a gathering of church leaders and practitioners sharing about how we live out our ministries in missional ways in our communities. The gathering of emerging church leaders included a key note by Brian McLaren, hosting by Mars Hill Grad School’s Dwight Friesen, and other special guests including a panel of Seattle pastors.

The day kicked off with some good words from Brian McLaren about his recent travels through Latin America. He focused on how the communities of faith that he encountered during his trip worked out how to be the kingdom of God in their settings, whether it be through direct service to their towns or through speaking out against injustices caused by the government. It was an emotional time of sharing, as many of the places Brian talked about have impacted the way he viewed our own place within the broader community. As ministers, lay leaders, and other people who serve within the church, we must find ways to impact the culture and world around us as vital members of the community.

Brian went into a discussion about how the Church may be in very desperate need of saving in many places around the world and in our own nation. Maybe we are in a setting where a gospel of prosperity and affluence is being preached, not a gospel of poverty and self-sacrifice. Or maybe our church communities have isolated themselves from the culture abroad, by becoming commuter centers where everyone drives in from miles away and then drives home, not connecting with the community around the church building or with their neighbors in their cul de sac. If the church doesn’t understand the people it is meant to serve and it forgets about it’s vital role within the city community, within the neighborhood, maybe we are the ones worth redeeming? Is the Word really becoming flesh and moving into the neighborhood (John 1:14, the Message)? The idea of Christ’s relationship to our neighborhood’s was the center of the discussion today. Our ministries are not isolated and cannot live as though they were.

The rest of the day was spent listening to some really great Seattle pastors talk about how their communities are taking action to live in the neighborhoods, to impact and become a part of the cultures around them, rather than separate themselves from the culture. I was most intrigued by Karen Ward from Church of the Apostles and their relationship with the arts community of Fremont. Developing out of both Lutheran and Episcopal backgrounds, Church of the Apostles (COTA) has become a key piece of the Fremont community, taking part in parades, celebrating art, and all the while doing church in a mix of very traditional and creative ways.

It was great to hear stories, listen to people’s questions, and watch people get excited about making an impact in their local settings, living out the gospel with renewed sense of purpose for their ministry communities. I have many questions that I will wrestle with, especially as I try to apply what I’ve heard to a college ministry setting. In many ways, our jobs are different than the rest of the ministry world, in that our students move through our community at a rather quick pace, compared with the Nazarene church who has been off of 45th in Seattle for 56 years, probably serving a relatively consistent community. Our relationships must be built faster because they may be shorter lived as students move on. And our community changes from year to year, based on where people are in their academic lives. However, I think we could learn a lot from the discussion I heard today and at least we should always be asking the question of how our community impacts the Bellingham, WWU, Whatcom County people in ways that brings about participation in the kingdom of God.

So, a question to end: What ways is your church or faith community making an impact in your immediate proximity (city block, town)?

Vancouver – Post #7

So, after a week of driving all over the metropolis of Vancouver, crawling through traffic, smelling the city, what do you think might be the best way to wrap up a week on an urban mission trip? How about some Christian Environmentalism? There’s nothing like the smell of fresh wood chips or manure to wake you up out of the city daze.

Friday morning, we woke up bright and early and headed, of all places, straight back to the border, as if we were heading home. But instead, we stopped about 4 blocks too soon at a little 10 acre piece of land in Surrey called A Rocha. A Rocha is an international organization that has a small environmental center just on the other side of the border from Bellingham, where they work on the Campbell River, teach environmental education classes, and model sustainable living. They combine their Christian worldview with sustainable, environmentally-centered living, in one of the most authentic, realistic ministries I’ve experienced. It was pretty much one of the coolest things we experienced during our trip!

Our team met Rick, one of the live-in staff on the property, and he started our day off by teaching us a bit about what A Rocha does all over the world to help share the message of environmental consciousness and it’s relationship to the Christian faith. We talked about what an "environmental footprint" is, how much of an impact we all make on our environment by living the lives we live, and what the Bible says about respecting creation. Drawing influence from the creation story and passages throughout the Bible that clearly praise the beauty of God’s creation, we had a great discussion about why we thought it was important for Christians to take an active role in protecting and taking care of the world. Afterwards, our team broke out into small groups and helped around their grounds, picking up fallen branches, doing some spring cleaning around the common outdoor areas, and helping move chopped firewood.

To wrap up the day and the week, we took the team out for a great dinner at Stepho’s Greek Restaurant on Davie St. in downtown Vancouver. A recommendation from Lance Fisher, this place hit the spot. It was packed, but ever-so worth it. We had awesome gyros, souvlaki, and cheese balls with garlic dip. It was amazing, and very cheap, considering the size of the platters we got. I’ll definitely go back there next time I’m in Vancouver, but it was also incredibly busy, so I’ll have to get there early. The place was packed, but they graciously took a reservation for our large group, so we all fit in and enjoyed ourselves.

One last night in the city. Reaching Friday night was somewhat surreal for me, after a long week of busyness and new experiences. To think we would go home the next day, after spending so much time together as a team over the last week was very bizarre. Looking back still, it’s crazy to think of the things we did with any sort of perspective or context to my normal life, because while the city looks very similar in a lot of ways, we saw a side of it that is very well hidden. We didn’t have much time to sit back and process all that we saw during our time there, so coming home also affords us that luxury and also opens up the emotions that I may have held in while I was in work mode. Now, I have to decide what I will do with what God showed me last week.

Vancouver – Post #6

We spent a lot of time with the Salvation Army last week at their state-of-the-art Belkin House location on Homer St. in downtown Vancouver. On Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings, a smaller portion of our team showed up at about 7:15 to help serve breakfast to their residents and then help prepare lunch for the day.

Each group had the chance to work in their huge industrial kitchen and learn quick cooking tips from their master chef, Leo. Leo had a bit of a rough exterior, but once you got to know him, he warmed up and was pretty fun to work with. I spent Thursday morning with him and the rest of their kitchen staff, mostly helping load and unload the dish washer and run clean dishes around the room to their proper storage spaces. Others helped put together pita sandwiches, potato salad, and prep coffee for the upcoming meal. Let me say, from what I’ve heard about the Pita Pit’s kitchen here in Bellingham, I would have to say we did it much better and much, much cleaner. I’m not the greatest hand in the kitchen, but I really enjoy being told exactly what to do and helping out how I can.

We wrapped up our time with Salvation Army on Thursday by helping them paint some of their dormitories, clean toys in the children’s area, and sort clothes and donated goods in their basement storage area. Thursday was one of the first times we all worked together at a single location, as we had been spread around the city all week with Urban Promise and gone in shifts to Agape thus far. I took leave from each little project around the building and walked around to check in with most of the groups. It was fun to sneak around the big complex and see our group helping out all over. Whether it was painting or sorting through obscure Canadian board games (Snifty Snakes anyone?), our group jumped in head first and was as willing as ever to work hard at whatever the people needed.

We ended the day early with Salvation Army with a great lunch they had prepared as a thank you and then had some free time to walk back to our location before we began the next project for the day. Some people stuck around the church that afternoon, while others wandered about the city. Some slept. And some of us drove out to Horseshoe Bay to move 3.5 tons of bricks. That’s right. 3.5 tons. In about an hour and a half.

Part of the work we had set up for the week had been coordinated through a former INN student, Ryan Valle, who is now a student up a Regent College. A pastor friend and Regent professor he knows, Paddy Ducklow, needed some help moving bricks for a project he’s planning to do this spring. So, we volunteered and drove up to help him Thursday afternoon. In exchange for our help with the bricks, he came back to First Baptist for dinner and spoke to our group while we ate, encouraging us, sharing with us about what it means to be aware of the Holy Spirit’s interaction in our lives and how we can be actively engaging the gifts God gives us. It was hard work and it was very worthwhile to be encouraged late in the week as we began to wrap up our time in Vancouver.

Finally, our last group went to Agape on E. Hastings Thursday night. As I mentioned before, the other groups had been holding back a bit from discussing the experiences they had the previous nights, so once Fred and Sarah’s group returned Thursday night, we had a longer discussion about what we had all seen on the streets and in the lives of the women we had met. While much was said, I think one of the most important things we all learned was simply to remember the women we had met. One of the girls on the trip told a story of walking back towards the church we had started from and meeting a woman sitting on the curb. After talking with her briefly, we began to walk away. Katie turned around to say goodbye to the woman and she responded by simply asking Katie to "remember me." The significance of these words is hard to explain. Our act of going to help on Hastings was significant, but it seems that we are really required to go away, into our own world, and remember the people we met there. We should not forget the faces, the sadness, and even the hope we met on that street. We met our brothers and sisters there. They are not some "other" that we forget. They are us and we must remember them.

I think by this point in the trip, everyone had begun to become a bit overwhelmed with all they had seen in the city. Exhaustion, sleep deprivation seemed to be setting in. And through it, people seemed to be bonding, growing into the friendships they were establishing. I think that’s something that’s still happening this week and will continue in the weeks to come. Through being overwhelmed, I believe God was able to teach us a lot that we will all be starting to discover as we get back into the regular swing of things. I pray we can be open to that.

Vancouver – Post #5

Wednesday morning began bright and early with 6 of us heading of the Salvation Army for their chapel service. As a part of our work with SA this week, we volunteered to lead their weekly service for the residents. Many faith-based shelters offer something like this as a part of their resident agreement or services. I’ve had the opportunity to prepare a service like this for Bellingham’s Light House Mission before. One major difference between the Salvation Army and Light House is that the Salvation Army’s service is strictly voluntary for the residents, while it is a requirement for a bed at the Light House. Ahh, the differences in philosophies between different organizations. We heard a lot about how organizations "ought" to be serving the people of Vancouver, and not surprisingly, there were about as many different opinions and philosophies as there were ministries and service institutions. I guess that’s the nature of it all.

For the service at Salvation Army, I took about 5 students and prepared a devotional and some music for a 1/2 hour service. There were about 10 residents and 6 staff members at the service, so it was small, but intimate in their little chapel at the Salvation Army Belkin House location. We sang an old hymn from their hymnals and then "All Creatures of Our God and King" in the more modern fashion. I told the group about the INN, what we do, and about the students who are involved. Then Jaymee, one of the girls from the trip and one of our small group leaders back home, got up and shared about why she had decided to come to Vancouver and what it meant for her to step out of the tourist world of Burrard and Robson streets and into East Hastings, seeing another world and meeting some of the cities diverse people. She did an awesome job of telling her story and sharing why she was motivated to be serving their community.

I then did a short devotional on Romans 12, the chapter we focused on this week for our team devotional times. I talked about how each person in our community/team brings different strengths and gifts to the group and how we appreciate the fact that our strengths are able to help, while our weaknesses are supported by others. I tried to tie that into the nature of the Salvation Army and the residents of that community. There are many men and women in that shelter who come from a variety of different places. Some are fresh off the streets. Some are just out of jail. Some are in transition. But everyone has a place in that community and God will use each of them to provide for and take care of their community. They are a body, no matter how disjointed they might look because of their variety. And God will use them to make good things happen in each other’s lives, if they will be attentive to that. I hope it was well received, as I don’t get to do a lot of speaking and I don’t always come across as clearly as I’d like. It was fun to be able to share this with them though.

Wednesday, we also wrapped up our time with Urban Promise by helping them around their headquarters with some office tasks (bulk mailings, sign painting, van cleaning) and then our groups headed out to their last after school sessions. I would really like to work with Urban Promise again, after seeing the breadth of their program and seeing how much of an impact they potential have on the development and raising up of a new generation of people.

Finally, Wednesday night, our second group went down to Hastings to serve with the Agape Ministry. Karen led this night and I drove the van to and from. We made a point with my group and Karen’s group to simply debrief the basics about what we had seen with our large group. This way, the surprise or poignancy of the service was not lost for those coming the next time. We then spent a significant time talking about the service with Agape Thursday night, after the third group had the chance to go out and meet the girls of Hastings. There is something about this ministry that simply must be experienced to be understood. Without getting onto the street and meeting our brothers and sisters there, we cannot begin to understand their world and how we are tied to it. So even as I write, I cannot help but simply urge the reader to experience this world before we can fully describe together what God would call us to do about it.

On a more personal note, Wednesday was the day I started feeling a bit sick. I began to get pretty worn down from the late nights and early mornings and my throat began to get pretty scratchy. It’s also the day that I got shot on the streets of Vancouver… that’s right, shot. We were walking out of the Aquatic Center downtown, where the group that was not at Agape had gone swimming and showered off (we didn’t have showers at the church for everyone), when we heard a popping noise and I felt a sharp pain in my left calf. Sure enough, a little round, bloody mark on my leg showed that I had be shot with an Airsoft BB gun. A second shot fired, missing our group, and we quickly walked away to the safety of our vans. We never figured out where they were shot from, but my guess is it was someone having a bit of fun from their deck in one of the nearby apartment complexes. Needless to say, it was kind of freaky, but also kind of humorous. I got shot on the streets of Vancouver. A good story to tell.

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Just a follow-up disclaimer: the BB did not even break through my jeans. It left a small welt where the skin broke from the contact, but the BB itself was nowhere to be found. I’m fine though, so don’t worry.

Thanks for the concern everyone!

Vancouver – Post #4

Tuesday morning began with my previous post, sitting alone in one of the nicer Blenz coffee joints in town, contrasting the picture of the Vancouver business world with the very fresh memories of the night before, where we served candy to the women on the streets of East Hastings.

The rest of the day included a second trip to the Salvation Army by part of our group to serve breakfast and then an afternoon of work with Urban Promise. While the first day with Urban Promise was somewhat difficult for many, the second day seemed to be the exact opposite. I did not have a chance to spend much concentrated time at any of their locations, as Karen and I chauffeured groups about the city. But each day, as I helped pick groups up from Urban Promise headquarters, I could gauge the attitude and feel of the day by the kinds of conversations the students had as they got into the van. The second day was very different than the first. On Monday, students were frustrated, talking about kids throwing their pencils at the wall, not connecting with their new leaders (our students) who would only be there for a couple days, and general frustration with their ability to actually help any of the kids learn. Tuesday, on the other hand, seemed to be drastically different. The kids, who must have realized that these Americans were coming back, started to make connections with our students. I think the students may have been able to step out a little bit more on the second day as well, after sort of figuring out how the organization worked and how they might be able to improvise and have some fun within the structures of the after school programs. The students who piled into my van were excited, energized after spending this second day with the kids.

Tuesday evening, we returned to the church, debriefed a bit, and headed off to another evening of work. I kept telling the group during the trainings before we left that our days would be broken up into thirds – a project in the morning, afternoon, and possibly in the evening, depending on the day. This meant that each dinner time, we were somewhat rushed to finish up, because a third of our group would be off to work again. I think this schedule was taxing for some, especially those who had to get up early on the day after they had been out at night. But everyone took it in stride and for the most part, people reacted to each project with a very willing attitude.

First Baptist Church hosts a Tuesday night shelter in the church, so we had the opportunity to help them set up and prepare meals during the evening. Smaller groups of our students went in shifts to help the staff and manage security throughout the evening. While others were sleeping, a couple of volunteers even pulled 10-1 and 1-4 shifts in the night, helping in whatever way their staff needed. At this point in the trip, we were all tired, so to have students be willing to sacrifice a couple more hours of sleep in order to help out was very encouraging.