I'm home...

I am home. My family is here, my dog is here, and my team of interns are here. Sports camp at my church in Avon, CT begins tomorrow and I am excited. I hope my nephew has a blast and I hope my little cousins come and watch. Were expecting over 100 kids at camp!!

Please be praying for energy, a strong loud voice, for people to feel loved, and for God to move. We will also be doing a camp for inner city kids in Hartford every afternoon!! Giddee up!

Also pray on Weds. at 1:30pm!! That's when my closing is!! Come on Jesus!!

One week in Conn. Then off to Massachusetts. Please be praying!

I also finished the book, A tale of 3 kings. It was really, really good. Thank you John Herrington, for the recommendation.

I feel good. Satan is still trying to mess with my head. Please pray that I can fight him with the truth of scripture, and stay in the now, focusing on what god is now calling me to do each and every day..

Birthday week baby!! Jesus take the wheel!

I am home.

... if we ever leave a legacy, let it be that we loved each other well... I.G.

...some say that I am much to demanding to want a better place than here... J.K.

my summer vacation :)... so far

I've been drinking.. lots of diet coke :); been doing lots of traveling; visiting old friends; hanging with the family; playing bananagrams; watching the yankees win; playing with my nephew and cousins; taking walks against fatness with shiner; laughing a lot; and preparing for camp!! it has been a great summer vacation.. so far!!! but giddee up.. sports camps are here!!!

for the 6th summer in a row, I am blessed to serve as a head coach with uw sports ministry. I will be training churches in virginia, connecticut, and massachusetts (east coast baby!!) on how to use sports as a vehicle to love on and share the gospel. i will be with a team of college students putting on 2 sports camps a day, seeing hundreds of children each week learn new sports skills and hearing more about jesus.. and having lots of fun!!

uw sports ministry is awesome!! god has used this ministry to heal and transform me, as well as 1000's of children over the years! it allows me to use my gifts and combines my love of discipling college students, teaching and coaching children, equipping the church, and connecting people to christ, his people, and his calling on their lives!!

uw sports ministry trains and equips churches in the US and overseas! The hope is to see 1 million people come to christ by 2014!! please check out http://uwsportsministry.org to see where the ministry is serving this summer and how you can pray!

I would like to ask you to pray for my team ! Here's a few suggestions:

• energy
• good weather
• lots of campers!
• holy spirit to do his thing!
• safety traveling
• excited and energetic church volunteers
• that the good news of jesus to be proclaimed boldly and clearly
• that the children will fill loved

i am still raising funds to support the ministry. my goal is to raise $1800 and the deadline has been extended until july 31st!!

if you would like to support me you can do it online!! just go to http://uwsportsministry.org and click on the giving link! then just follow the prompts and put my name in the memo! or you can email me and i'll send you my address to where you can send checks. all donations are tax deductible!

I will blog more in the upcoming weeks and share all that god is doing! thank you for partnering with me in life and ministry! thanks for loving me well!

-heather 'lods'

a sabbaths rest..

so as i sit at the lake watching pti after a nap, it dawns on me how tired i am. I can't remember the last time i napped.. i'm not that guy... a napper.. college students nap! older, more mature adults nap! :). not heather lods!

so either the prescription meds i was put on today for my cough knocked me out, or i was really tired.. or both. :)

i am tired. and so i rested. but i also completed my list of to do's this week and came out to the lake to rest. i came to the lake for a sabbath.

god took a sabbath. and then he commanded us to take a sabbath. yeah its one of the big 10. its that important to god. jesus had no trouble restuing... i on the other hand, have a hard time resting. i, as many of you know, run and run and run and run.. til my feet fall off (shout out to mouse tales baby!) resting.. even though i have tried harder this year then any, is still very hard for heather lods...

but now i'm entering a season of rest. a sabbath season to rest, and then prepare, for a new work. recently the lord told me that my work at hill country ut was completed. i didn't believe him. no way! I hadn't helped them reach the entire campus yet! I hadn't help them connect every student to christ, his community and his calling on their lives to be missionaries yet! i had more hang outs to be had! right lord?? right???

no.

he told me that i had finished my work. he told me that it was time to leave and rest, and that it was ok to leave and rest. 4 years and 11 months after i had moved to austin to partner with some amazing people to plant a church specifically to reach the university of texas, he told me that my '6 days' of work had been completed, and now it was time to rest.

jesus.. really? really? golly... but.. ok. holy spirit on 3...

to rest, to be, to drink lots more diet coke :) to spend more time with my family, to take a sabbath. he has freed me from my work for a sabbaths rest...

this christian life is nutty. following jesus, trusting him, obeying him is nutty... most of the time i suck at it. i am faithful and loyal to people, sports teams, restaurants, walks against fatness, but stumble and bumble at this christ following spiritual faithfulness thing big time.

jesus always has to take the wheel.. he has to completely take over. and that is a good good thing. the best thing..

i want to thank hill country ut for allowing me this amazing opportunity to serve along side of them. it has been such a great joy.. golly so great. i was humbled and amazed at these folks great faith and love toward the students at UT. and they let a sarcastic ny yankees fan from new england in on their fun. they inspired me with their faith and belief that jesus would reach the city, and the campus. i have no doubt that they will! i will miss this community of believers!

i have so many memories...and my heart bursts when i think of students, dodgeballs, spring break trips. entrepreneurs, einsteins hang outs, walks, milkshakes, :) texts, the joy of emails and facebook chats, spidey sense, magical powers, renevate ut, missional communities, and just spending time with hundreds of students every semester, sharing my life and the gospel with them, and seeing jesus transforming their lives right before my eyes...

thank you jesus.

thank you for this season. to be used in your work was a humbling, incredible, joyful time. fanfreakingtastic.. amazing.. life changing..

thank you denny and bridget, for inviting me to come to austin to join the dream of hill country ut. thank you josh and erica for teaching me to worship. thank you sarah and candace for being my voice and knowing my heart. thank you adults for pouring into students and into me. thank you students for answering my emails :), for the hangouts, for not settling for less than all of jesus.

i pray that if i did leave any type of legacy at all, it was that i tried, i really really tried, to love people well... thank you for putting up with my attempt..

Thoughts from the verge....

So I've had a few days to ponder anew, what the verge conference can do.. or has done in my head and heart. I haven't had much time to process, but here are a few things I'm chewing on:

• The 'church' is a collection of Christ-followers who gather on a regular basis to worship, pray, take communion, baptize new (and I emphasize NEW) believers & learn the scriptures... not a building.. so I'm not sure we should even have our own buildings.. it confuses Christ followers. They forget they are the 'church'.
  

• I'm moving to Haiti. Well not really, but the focus on the poor, the orphans, widows and the least of these was moving and convicting. But you don't need to go to Haiti to love and serve these folks. The Western 'church' must do more. I must do more.
  

• The 'church' spends too much time on focusing on Christians. By all means Yes for Sunday worship, teaching and communion. Yes to a small group or accountability. But that's it. You got the Holy Spirit. You got a Bible. Come on- self sustaining faith on 3!! The 'church' should then go out and redeem the culture. Sunday 9am-11am- focus on believers. The rest of the time we are sent out to serve, love, and share Jesus with the world.
  

• The definition of discipleship is not what you think. Over and over the speakers talked about discipleship in the context of people that don't know Jesus. Evangelism. I really thought they were speaking on the wrong topic. Nope. Just seems I had the wrong definition. Life on Life, investing your life and the gospel in someone... that doesn't know Jesus, that's discipleship!

• Missional means many things to many people.. same with missional communties...and this has led to a simple thought becoming a jumbled, mangled, mess that people think is to hard to accomplish. I mean what do you love to do? Find people who don't know Jesus that love to do it too. Hang out! Be intentional! Too complicated? Love God. Love your neighbor (or classmate, roommate, hall mate, workmate, family, friends, etc etc).
  

• Speakers like to wear black.

• Frances Chan is a great communicator. I hope he can move his 'church' missional. I really do.

• Ed Stetzer said it best. "The 'church' has made it acceptable to sit in the pews week and after week and do nothing, and call yourself a Christian." The American or western 'church' has said it's been born again, and knows the Living God, but lives pretty joyless, spiritless life.. Who wants that?
  

• Frances's, can I call him Frances? He said that when he tells his daughter to clean her room, she doesn't go pray about it. She doesn't go get some friends and do a study on it. She doesn't go memorize what he said. She goes and cleans her room! But when Jesus says do something, or don't do something, what does the 'church' do? Convicting as all get out...

• The 'church' should be the most generous folks in the world...and we should laugh the loudest & cry the hardest.

• Spiritual disciplines are needed yes, but can we rename them, or preach a lot of gospel around them? I mean whats cool about spiritual disciplines? That's gonna make someone want to give their life to Jesus? We can't reduce the faith to them.

• You shouldn't have to say missional disciples. Disciples should be missional. A Christ- follower is a missionary. We shouldn't have to beg Christ- followers to be missional.
  

• The biting sarcasm of Jesus is awesome. I knew he was from the Northeast! :)

• Are we for people or against them? Do we point out God's work in them? Can we find a little bit of truth & then just listen.. really listen?? I can list the people the 'church' is not for.. and so can the world.. sad :(

• Ordinary life + gospel intentionality = hanging out with less church people and instead focusing on folks that don't know Him yet

More to come.. A lot more is stirring in my head and heart.. How bout yours? What's going on in your head and heart?

a few thoughts...

So I went blog crazy over Christmas break, and then have been silent since.. My bad.. I had a lot of free time watching the snow fall in Connecticut with my family. But since I've been back in Austin.. Life has been nutty. That's typical in my world of college ministry. Mid Jan. until March it's crazy. Relaunching, motivating, tweaking, encouraging, gathering, connecting, praying, data collecting, spring break training, 35 day journeying, a new pastor acclimating, and then a conference... So I apologize being absent.

In the mean time I've been enjoying my dog and our daily 'walk against fatness' and my roommates- 'The Village", as we call it. I have enjoyed living in community.

However, there is a stirring inside my heart.. Been growing for awhile now.. It may just be excitement over my Uconn Lady Huskies, and the NY Yankees, but I think it's something more.

I'll be back with more thoughts.. Jesus take the wheel...

2009 was a very______________ year :)

2009 was a very freeing, revealing , unbelievable , eventful , love-filled , defining , very blessed/ at times challenging but full of grace and full of growth , surprising/ life changing , surprising , fantabulous , stretching , emotionally straining , slow , interesting , odd , challenging , crazy , adventure-filled , growing/ epiphany , ridiculous , emotional , learning , radical , trial & error , revealing, humbling truths , chaotic , amazing, breathtaking , unique , emotional , eventful , learning , interesting , crazy , humbling, excrcuciatingly great , jazzy , perspectivizing , long , crazy & eye opening , anxious , nonstop , faith invoking , glad its over , unbelievably intense , good & bad , satisfying , encouraging , emotional , blessed, golden , challenging , enlightening , humbling year (not my words.. yours)

Missional Resources- Equipping the saints to be missional christ followers that love people well

To reach our campus's, and our cities, and beyond, we need to learn from each other and train and equip the saints for the work of the kingdom.. Here are resource's I've collected that you may find helpful. The link is to a google doc with the same content! We're trying to develop missional christ followers that love jesus and people well... Holistic missionary training I call it.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AW63Pm_t9djdZGZwYjJmanJfMjVnZjloNXZoaw&hl=en

missional community resources

I also have the syllabus of our entrepreneur (missionary) training program

Books:
Exiles- Michael Frost
Radical Reformission- Marc Driscoll
Connecting- Larry Crabb
Hudson Taylors Spiritual Secret- Taylor
The Present Future- McNeal
The Shaping of Things to Come- Frost
SHAPE- Rees
ReJesus- Frost
Heart of a Servant Leader- Miller
Enduring Community- Habig
Ordering your private world- Macdonald
The Unlikely Disciple- Roose
The Enemy Within- Lundgaard

Articles:
Advancing the Gospel in the 21st Century- Keller
The Three World Views- Glen Smith
The Missional Church- Keller
Creating Community- Lance Ford
Looking Outside- Brother Maynard
Clarifying our Calling- Glen Smith
Evangelism by Networking- Glen Smith
Beginning a Conversation- Ed Stetzer
Being Intentional- Bischof
Holistic Formation- Bischof
How Can I be Missional- Emerging Grace
Gospel Discipling- Smallman
Marks of a Spiritual Leader- Piper
Cultivating a Tender Heart- Macullum
Being Intentional About Passing it on- Bischof
Living on Mission- Coram Deo- Will Walker
Life if David Brainerd- Jeremy Lantz
William Carey: Father of Modern Missions- Royer
The Real Reason for Revival- Dr. Martyn Lloyd- Jones
A Theology of Work- Bob Thune
How to Exegete your culture-
Christ in the City- Keller
Getting Upstream to Transform the City- Keller
A Vision for the City- Villafane
Core Team Health- pdf
Decoding UT- hcbc-ut
Missional Contact Sheets- hcbc-ut
Establishing Missional Communities- hcbc-ut