Andrew Kooman: Why did you pack your bags, get on a plane, and head to Kona, Hawaii for your DTS?

Darcie Nolan: It started with a phone call. News that there had been an accident involving a beloved friend in the country he had committed his life to serving. We didn’t know how serious it was at first, but the information was getting worse as it trickled in. It was just three days before I was due to leave and lead a team of college students to Asia.

As my team and I boarded the plane, I had to figure out how to live – logistics and finances and team safety – while wrestling questions and falling apart. It was our contact in this other country that mentioned DTS to me, but I shrugged it off, unable to process it among all the other thoughts.

Half way through the trip, and far from where I wished I could be, I got word that
my friend had been killed in that accident – in a country not far from where I was
standing. His family had spread his ashes there to honor his commitment, and a
memorial service was being planned for when we got home.

At the memorial service some of those closest to him stood up. They invited anyone
who would to leave, in just a few months time, to go and commit a year. They would
be returning, picking up where he left off, and continuing what was started.

My roommate and my best friend were among those who packed their bags for that
year in a far off Asian town. And I wrestled.

For six weeks straight I wrestled the little nugget in my core that was pointing me
to DTS. If I was going anywhere I wanted to honor my friend. I wanted to be part of
the team going back to the land he loved, but I couldn’t shake this tiny inclination.
Either option meant leaving a job that was tailor-made for me, my dream house, my
dog, my community that had brought out the best in me and believed in me . . .

Eventually I stopped wrestling and two months after seeing off the people I wanted
to badly be with, I left on the other side of the fork in the road to DTS.

AK: What was the most significant lesson that you learned during your time in the school?

DN: “IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE THIS WAY!”

Life as we know it is broken. It is not what God intended, we are not living the
dream He had for us. And, somewhere along the lines, we have to admit that and
commit to change it – to attempt to find the dream.

AK: When you look back, how do you place or view your DTS in the context of your life?

DN: Why was it significant? What expectations did it meet or fall short of?
Honestly, DTS feels like a long time ago. It has been less than 5 years, but so
much about it seems foreign and unfamiliar to me now – like a bubble of time
reserved. Specific principles remain and unimaginable stories still highlight
my memories. DTS was a precursor of my return to writing after I had given
it up because others didn’t believe it was a hallowed enough passion. It was a
prerequisite of the school that taught me what I loved was worthy and worth
pursuit. Overtime, DTS led to the countries I long for and the people of my
heart. It was the spearhead. That is far more than I expected out of it.

AK: Did you do any further training or work with YWAM or complete any other post-secondary education?
DN: During outreach I received my TESOL certificate and taught English in Central
Asia for a bit. I completed a School of Intercessory Prayer and the Children at
Risk Workshop following that. I was introduced to the Women and Children’s
Advocacy Centre, then in Switzerland, where I ended up volunteering for six
weeks. From there I went to the School of Field Journalism in Cape Town and
interned in South Africa for six months.
I have recently gone back to university at the University of Colorado at Boulder
for studies in Journalism, International Media and Social Enterprise – a result of
coming face to face with how much I don’t know about communicating with the
world around me.

AK: What do you do now?

DN: I co-founded and co-run Eye See Media. Our goal is to make change more
accessible to everyone and open the door for individuals to find their passion in
affecting today’s critical social justice issues.

AK: What specific vision or purpose do you have in your life? How did you discover it and how do you mean to achieve it?

DN: A friend of mine said she saw me once with one toe on a high cliff, reaching down
into the darkness, grabbing people and tossing them up to safety. Discovery of
what that looks like is a fluid process; action always morphing and changing
with knowledge and experience. Today it means advocating for change, bringing
awareness and attempting to get people on board with simple, daily actions
that become a magnified voice for justice. Sometimes it just means listening.
Sometimes laughing. Sometimes it has meant snot and slobbery tears. However
it looks, I hope to be paying attention.

AK: What do you hope your personal legacy will be?

DN: I would love generations after me for someone to hold my story in their hands
and feel like they could pursue their dreams.

AK: What, at this point in your life, is your view of God?

DN: Not what we expect. Indefinable. Rather Marvelous.

AK: What inspires you?

DN: Potential.
Great Coffee.
Illustrated brainstorming on big white pieces of paper, ideas interconnected and
falling off the sides.
My best friends’ vegan/carob/spelt baking shenanigans.
Airports.
Art.
Ireland.

AK: What most challenges you?

DN: Friends, gladly.
Realism.
Pessimism.
Dairy.
Doubt-laden questions that come from voices of “reason”.
Bureaucracy.

##

As YWAM celebrates its 50th year, Andrew wanted to catch up with people who’ve experienced the global organization’s flagship training program, the Discipleship Training School, and see what life and faith has been like since.

I first met Jim Orred in 2003 while I attended Slingshot, a leadership program for young adults in Kona, Hawaii.  Jim’s wife Judy was leading the school which was a pretty wild adventure of growing in faith and knowledge for many who attended, myself included. Jim was kind enough to pull me aside, ask me some questions about myself and my values, and to encourage me as a young man in my faith and vocation.

As I’ve been reflecting in my weekly feature over the last number weeks on YWAM founder Loren Cunningham’s 5–point Jubilee Covenant I wanted to get perspective from a leader in the mission who’s been around the world and seen much of the organization’s growth over the years.  Jim fits the bill and has keen insight into the realities of leadership and spiritual growth.  I connected with him through email as he gallivanted across the USA, doing what he does so well, connecting and encouraging others.

Andrew Kooman: What was your first impression of YWAM?

Jim Orred: 1st impression of YWAM?  Not well-organized, not easily pigeon-holed theologically, growing rapidly, giving young people assignments with almost no preparation.  The overarching memory of my first summer of service in 1972 (Munich/East Africa) was lots of young people, especially kind of hippies from the Jesus’ movement, mainly American, with some amazing older people being there, whose presence gave huge value.  1,000 youth, and a Corrie Ten Boom, Brother Andrew, etc.  The young and (a few) old together.  My one line definition of YWAM.

AK: How do you think YWAM is perceived by people outside of it today?

JO: I think it is confusing, diverse, seen as a short-term deal for kids to get some experience, not local-church based, often in financial/leadership crisis, the seed-bed of leaders who now serve all over the body of Christ.  I think people can’t get a handle on the leadership structure, or the lack of ‘headquarters’ concepts.

AK: Why did you join the organization?

JO: My parents told me that they wanted me to find a way to do something overseas during the summer-break between my 2nd and 3rd year of Bible School.  I ran into a Swiss YWAMer, and signed up.

AK: Can you describe the when or how your life was resolved to the Great Commission; did you have an “Aha!” moment when who you are and what you do just made sense, or was it a slower unfolding?

JO: As a child reading missionary biographies, meeting missionaries in our home in Minnesota, and in our Baptist church, at youth camp, YFC rallies, I continually sensed God’s presence and a sense that I had to find a way to do ‘ministry’ seeing people come to Christ.

AK: How do you currently fit with YWAM and how do you describe your ministry?

JO: Someone now 58, who received amazing input for the first 8 years in YWAM, who then was able to build with others, then on our own some long-term ongoing ministries, and who is now released to be able to experience a feeling of convergence, in that we are giving back, pouring directly and indirectly into hundreds of young leaders globally.  I suppose I feel most at home sitting with young leaders around food, listening, answering amazing questions they ask, learning (reverse mentoring), relationally walking with 20-some year olds, amazed how empowering some time and interest in their lives is to them.

The words came to me 10 years ago, “I have something new for you…be a father to a young generation, serve a new wave, more diverse and large than the first one.  Be a son of encouragement, a Barnabas, leverage your relationships, life-experience now, to see others spotted, encouraged, promoted, taught, etc.  So though we still serve as part of the executive leadership team at YWAM/UofNKona, we no longer have any title, but find that we have more influence globally through relationship than we ever had in direct line leadership.  This surprised me to discover.

I plan to be a catalyst to see thousands of YWAMic small communities (doing the upwards, inwards, and outwards elements of ‘church’) created and served in locations outside of traditional YWAM bases, with people who came through YWAM like we do an airline hub, which is for most not their destination.  We can validate them as YWAMers who carry the DNA, and who can then continue to be transformed (the DTS experience, up, in, out) and in community become amazing agents of transformation in thousands of low-maintenance locations.

AK: What do you hope your personal legacy will be?

JO: To see a new generation of leaders and communities infused with core values that I have come to see are huge and of ultimate importance.  A domino effect of movements of peoples who come out of relationships with my friends, faithful men/women who step up and influence others, die to selfish ambition, grow in Kingdom authority, in the mountains/arenas of society, especially in the arts/entertainment arenas.  A prophetic edge restored in teams, people who gather in small groups and value small reproduce-able units, whose lives are known as people who corporately receive value and love and identity not from ministry or success, but simply from knowing God as He is.  A generation of people who take personal responsibility all their lives for their own growth and development, and who then serve a small group of friends God gives them, like Jesus had those whom He knew the Father had “given him” as in John 17.  People who hunger for God’s presence to invade this planet, who live consecrated lives, whose ‘holiness’ is marked by growing wholesome-ness.  Who live in weakness and grow in relational intelligence.  Who pursue God with others all their days, not plateauing, growing cynical, resentful, but whose lives reflect beauty.  People who seek to do, to love, to initiate in a generation that are passive.  People who seek out those who are different, rather than stick with those who are ‘the same as them.’  People who die to their natural desires to know their personal fulfillment, because they are more concerned about the fulfilments of Jesus than their own.  People who live with a daily sense of accountability to God, and connectedness to friends.

AK: Something I admire about you is how you jump right into the lives of people who are younger than you. What motivates you to be involved in the lives of young people?

JO: Young people are like clay that is still able to be molded, hungry to have someone from an older generation call out their destiny.  They are able to learn at an earlier age what many of us only learned in later years.  Their spirits are not cynical yet, they are teachable, they do things in community (like God does), they aren’t yet fixed with situations that keep them bound, they are idealistic, open with their issues, waiting to be affirmed by their elders, wanting protection that close relationship with mature people gives them.

AK: I’m interested in pattern recognition. Are there recurring areas you’ve noticed where teens and twenty-somethings need mentorship in their lives?

JO: Everyone is wanting to learn how to discover their purpose and destiny.  A pattern I think is universal in youth globally.  They all want to talk about their relationships, break-ups, family issues, and usually are disillusioned by the way ‘church’ is currently viewed in the western world.  They actually yearn for someone to challenge them, to call them out lovingly in their passivity and lack of follow-through.  They want to talk about finances, and they love story!

AK: What do you think is the most important quality of a follower?

JO: Humility expressed to others, because God gives grace to the humble, and without Divine enabling we are isolated and dead.  But the willingness to step out of what is comfortable, and not see them selves as ‘consumers’ but as initiators and people who influence, and begin to give away what they have.  Oh, and someone who is quick to call a mature friend, admit weakness or sin or failure, and walk in the light.

AK: In your view, what is the most important quality of a leader?

JO: Humility.  Vulnerable enough to connect with, but strong enough to follow.  Relational intelligence.  Fear of God, someone who makes important to themselves what they see is important to God.  But in one word, humility.

AK: Why are young people suited for mission work?

JO: Young people are suited for mission work, because they are idealistic, willing to try new things, full of energy, easy to catch vision, bored today so wanting to be given a challenge that is bigger than personal success.

AK: When I hear the stories of original YWAMers who pioneered work around the world it seems so simple, and I think it’s more than just nostalgia sugar-coating things. What those stories seem to tell is: The Great Commission means Go. And Loren, Darlene and others did. And wow. Are things as simple as they used to be?

JO: Yes!   A few simple principles will still give amazing results today.  People are more broken, so there is need for longer-term development, restoration, etc.  But the keys to this are really simple.  Not easy to do, but simple.

AK: In your experience with bases around the world, how “on message” do you think YWAM is with its mission statement to Know God and Make Him Known?

JO: This motto is still the main thing.  I think bases can get distracted from this, and we need continual repentance, prophetic people calling us back to the basics.  But at a grass roots level, I see it stronger than ever.   And what we now have, is models of walking together, whereas years ago, we thought we all had to do it all on our own, with massive will-power, only alone with God.  But today there is grace as people ‘pursue righteousness, faith, love…together with those who call on God with a pure heart.’  This is getting back to the lifestyle seen in the New Testament.  It is more about a generation who will see revival/reformation, than isolated famous individual superstars.

AK: What will ensure YWAM remains relevant and effective for another 50 years with Youth in the Mission?

JO: I don’t know if that can be guaranteed.  But I have hope that as we now have several generations in YWAM, if older ‘fathers and mothers’ don’t seek identity in titles and traditional structures, but rather in the relational way that the generations can serve one another, YWAM can remain relevant, if we keep being God-focused, and not try to be ‘relevant’ to people first of all.  Plus, now we have leaders from the non-western nations throughout, connections with fresh movements of God in the global body, we now are beginning to understand being missional in the spheres/arenas of life, not just in ethno-linguistic groupings.

We are primed to continue to pioneer new things, to take the flack that requires, to not become focused on keeping our ‘constituents’ happy.  If we stop pioneering, we will be a dead, if nice and respected, institution.  We have to keep taking risks trusting young people, allowing mistakes to be made, keeping DNA pure, but allowing a new generation to give vocabulary to what is happening.  We have to be willing to let ministries die when their shelf-life is over.  We should be building relationships with leaders of all parts of the Body of Christ globally, and being more concerned about the Kingdom big picture, than our YWAM part of it.

It is totally possible to have another 50 years of movement.  But nothing is guaranteed.

Susanne Childers is a visionary, not only a woman who has faith to see change, but one who looks at the world through the lens of a camera. She is a native of Germany where she studied photography and worked professionally for 10 years, specializing in portraiture. For Susanne, the camera is more than a device through which she can capture powerful images: it is a pen, a sword, her voice. Her camera is a way of communicating with the world and naming things. And she has put her camera to use, working on community development projects in nations like Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Nepal, and India to advocate for those who suffer injustice.

I first met Susi, as her friends call her, at a leadership seminar in Kona, Hawaii in 2003 along with her husband Paul, with whom she recently launched a school that combines the study of culture, scripture, and photography. At the time, she shared some of her photographs and spoke with honesty and passion, her words cutting to the heart as she told of injustices like female genital mutilation and children sold into sex slavery, terrible things she has seen first hand in her extensive world travels.

Her photography makes impact and evokes a response. When I first saw her calendar The Eyes of Afghanistan I was compelled to engage her work and did so with a series of poems that coincided with each picture.

Susi’s most recent work, among her other publications which can be viewed and purchased through photogenX is featured in the booklet 30 Days of Prayer for the Voiceless, a publication that highlights issues of gender-based injustice worldwide. The booklets set Susi’s photographs and creative short stories alongside staggering statistics, prayer points, and suggestions for action.

About the booklets Susi said the following, “the pictures are for the eyes, the statistics for the mind and the stories for the heart. The three combined should not leave anyone untouched.” And here her vision becomes both inspiring and audacious: she risks the belief that some of the ugly issues of injustice that scar our world will be eradicated in her lifetime.

I asked Susi a few questions about her approach to the art of photography.

Andrew Kooman: Susi, your photographs are powerful. You capture something subtle but deep about your subjects, and we often see it through the subject’s eyes. What, as a photographer, is it like to look through the lens at all different sorts of people around the world, and at injustice? What happens in you as you travel the globe and take photographs of beautiful but suffering people?

Susi Childers: In all the challenges of poverty,injustice and hurt it is still the greatest privilege to be able to interact with people from different tribes and languages by using a camera. I have never stopped being in awe of the beauty of each individual no matter the circumstances they are in. Meeting all these different people changed my life too.

I often explain it the following way. Each suffering I saw has left a scar in my heart. A scar is not something nice. But each scar made me into who I am today. I am thankful for every connection I had – hard or easy – because I became a different person through them and I don’t take things for granted!

AK: How has your approach to photography changed since you worked as a professional photographer in Germany to today – what’s different?

SC: Its been so freeing to not be bound by money. As a photographer who lived off my work I had to take pictures the way people wanted them. Now I can take the pictures the way I see them. I often experience that God shows me what he sees and that’s not always easy. But it so much more exciting!

AK: As an artist, how do you keep your art form fresh and exciting so that you don’t tire of what you do?

SC: I do something with the pictures I take. The one sure way to lose all joy of taking pictures is to put them in folders or drawers and never do anything with them. Pictures are taken to be shown, not to be stored. Whenever I hold a new publication in my hands the fire and passion for photography is refreshed!

AK: As a creative person and communicator, and, as a leader of a training school that emphasizes photography and Christian teaching, how do you see these two things intersecting and working together?

SC: Skill with character is only half of the thing. As people develop skill they

should also be trained in character. The two things go closely together. That’s why we train people in both and its fun to watch their development.

I believe it makes a difference if a person behind a camera is a Christian. God challenges us to worship him with our all, so no matter what gift or profession we have we are to worship. In teaching both we bridge the gap between the wrong ideas of secular and sacred!

View some of Susanne Childers’ photographs here.

* photographs courtesy of photogenX

Purchase the work of Susanne Childers:

A Voice for the Voiceless. A beautiful calendar featuring the stunning photographs of Susanne Childers, and the faces of women, children and refugees from around the world. Proceeds from the calendar are given to the work of a new publication focused on raising awareness about the plight of abused migrant workers in South East Asia.

Calendar Stats -

Language: English and German; Multi-year; Size: 9×12.5 inches (folded); 9×25 inches (unfolded); :: $21.00
- It is a full color print

30 Days of Prayer for the Voiceless. With more than 100,000 copies in print and translated into 5 languages, these booklets are opening peoples’ eyes and hearts to the issues of injutsice so many women and children face around the world. Examining 30 issues of injustice, including Female Genital Mutilation, Human Trafficking, and Slavery, the booklets are filled with facts, stories, photographs, prayer and action points.

A must read book! $5.00 :: Buy it HERE

read an excerpt

Paul Childers is a man with boundless energy. I first met the Kiwi at a leadership conference in Kona, Hawaii where he and his wife Susanne now live. They were launching a new initiative: A Voice for the Voiceless which comes under their exciting photogenX ministry.

Paul has visited over 50 nations and is a sought after lecturer and communicator on issues ranging from Biblical studies to leadership to justice issues. Paul is a man of great optimism, vision, and faith. He and Susanne, a professional photographer and spokeswoman for the suffering, are a dynamic tag-team. When I saw Susanne’s photographs and heard the couple speak against gross injustices in the world, I wanted to collaborate with them in some way.

That dream came true over the last few years on a project that became the booklet 30 Days of Prayer for the Voiceless, a booklet that dares to address issues so many people would rather ignore or not hear about because they are too terrible to imagine, let alone confront.

Paul is a globe-trotter, and therefore difficult to track down. I wanted to learn more about how he was introduced to issues of gender-based injustice, how the prayer booklet came about, how realistic he thinks changing the injustice is, and how Christianity can be a positive agent of change in the world, rather than a form of cultural capitulation.

I connected with Paul online while he sat in Japan’s Narita airport waiting for a flight to Manila.

Andrew Kooman: What is photogenX, how did it come about?

Paul Childers: photogenX is an dynamic community of photographers that seeks to create a bridge between the massive need that is in the world and the resources that will be able to do address the need. In addition photogenX seeks to be a catalyst to see new initiatives start around the world in the most challenging nations, to the most difficult issues and to the most desperate situations.

photogenX has three functions. photogenX create is our education wing with seminars, workshops; the new photogenX “round the world” is a community of photographers who travel to each continent studying photography, the Bible, and Christian Worldview; and photogenX publish has published four photographic works: “Eyes of Afghanistan”, “A Voice for the Voiceless Calendar and postcards, “Unique: Faces of the Nations” and finally has printed 100,000 copies of 30 Days of Prayer for the Voiceless.

photogenX was developed out of the basic calling and gifting of my wife Susanne and I. At the start of our marriage we travelled the world to places like Afghanistan, the Amazon, the Sahara dessert. As we began to publish our work and then distribute it around the world, we saw the great potential of photography and how it could be used to change the world! photogneX is an attempt to develop this basic approach and to see waves of photographers do similar things around the world.

AK: Tell me about your new prayer booklets. How did they come about and why they are important?

PC: Around Christmas 2003, Saara Kurtilla e-mailed us from Finland and said that she wanted to come and work with Susi and I for a period of about 2-3 months. When she came we wondered what we should do and why it seemed that God had sent her to us. So we prayed. While we were in prayer we felt that she was with us to initiate a 30 day prayer booklet addressing the issues of gender-based injustice. She worked tirelessly and did the basic research that has been the foundation of the project. Then I contacted the writers who would end up doing the majority of the creative writing in the booklet – you and Grace Farag.

Although the project was about 60% completed, it was not brought together until Joey Paynter arrived and worked day and night for about 3 months to pull it together. It has been a project that has taken many people and multiple hours to pull together and it took close to 3 years to bring it to fruition.

AK: So much of the world is unaware of the suffering in it. Many people in North American don’t turn a blind eye to suffering because they don’t even know that many of the injustices against women and children worldwide occur. How did your eyes open to injustice?

PC: Two basic things opened our eyes to the injustices that are occurring around the world. The most important has been travel. Actually going to places and helping ordinary people out showed us the desperate situation in which many people live in the world, particularly women. One example was in Afghanistan during the war against the Taliban. We were on a humanitarian mission to help those Afghans made refugees by the conflict. Women were brought to our clinic stuffed into wheel barrows almost unconscious from exhaustion. We could even see their ribs through the back of their shirts. The most important thing has been our experiences as we have travelled.

The second thing is our further education. Through our travel we came in contact with many of these issues: trafficking, sexual slavery, female genital mutilation, basic gender discrimination, female suicide bombers and more. Then we wanted to learn more about them so we read books and attended conferences that gave us more information on what was happening around the world.

AK: How realistic is change to gender based injustice? What has to happen and what, practically, can people do to change this ugly scar on the world?

PC: Well its not realistic at all. This issue is the largest challenge that the world faces today. It is the largest in terms of numbers, the most private and the most hidden. It practically touches the lives of hundreds of millions if not billions of people on the planet, is intertwined in culture, is unpopular and embarrassing to talk about.

However the good news is that this year, 2007, we are celebrating the 200th anniversary of an event that happened in England that was also an unrealistic goal. That was to see slavery abolished in the British Empire. When William Wilberforce started to speak out against it in the British Parliament, people laughed at him. The whole economy of the British Empire rested on slavery! There was no way THAT was going to change! However he kept plugging away despite opposition and the seeming unrealistic vision that he had. Slavery was abolished and the world was changed! We are in the same position today.

It is completely unrealistic to think that in the next 100 years this kind of gender-based injustice will be history, but it is our goal nonetheless. I believe that if people of all ages and genders rise up and just start to take a small step and there is a general upsurge of positive action. The first thing that they can do is get a copy of the 30 Days of Prayer for the Voiceless and walk the journey. They will get, firstly, an education, but also they will get an understanding of how they in the normal flow of life can actually start working against these issues in their lives.I remember seeing some graffiti on the Berlin wall which said, “Many small people who in many small places do many small things, can change the fate of the world.” That is our goal. If we see a people movement of millions of people knowledgeable about these issues and also doing their thing around the world we will begin to see gender based injustice a thing of history

Purchase the work of Susanne Childers:

A Voice for the Voiceless. A beautiful calendar featuring the stunning photographs of Susanne Childers, and the faces of women, children and refugees from around the world. Proceeds from the calendar are given to the work of a new publication focused on raising awareness about the plight of abused migrant workers in South East Asia.

Calendar Stats -

Language: English and German; Multi-year; Size: 9×12.5 inches (folded); 9×25 inches (unfolded); :: $21.00
- It is a full color print

30 Days of Prayer for the Voiceless. With more than 100,000 copies in print and translated into 5 languages, these booklets are opening peoples’ eyes and hearts to the issues of injutsice so many women and children face around the world. Examining 30 issues of injustice, including Female Genital Mutilation, Human Trafficking, and Slavery, the booklets are filled with facts, stories, photographs, prayer and action points.

A must read book! $5.00 :: Buy the booklet HERE

read an excerpt

I shared the following scripture, quotes, and thoughts (posted below in a condensed form) with the photogenX track on campus at the University of the Nations in Kona, Hawaii in August of 2008. They helped as signposts along the creative way. At present the team is putting together a powerful publication of photographs and stories to show how the abuse of sex and money devalues human life.

Scripture:

1 John 1: 1-4 - …that which we have seen and heard we declare to you.. John, son of Zebedee. John, son of Thunder. John the brother of Jesus. John, the disciple that Jesus loved. Writer of a gospel, three epistles, and a cataclysmic and encouraging book about the end of time. John: one man with one voice whose words have impacted believers for centuries. He wrote because he felt an urgency to tell people something that he believed they needed to know: believe in Jesus and you will have eternal life. His gospel. He wrote thoughts and instructions to people about what they should do once they were informed of the truth. His epistles. He wrote as a response to the things he saw and the experiences God gave him. His revelation. John had authority to speak about Jesus because he saw Jesus and he knew Jesus. John wrote what he knew. You also, like the apostle John, have had incredible experiences: you have seen, heard, touched. You have authority to share stories in words and images because you have had authentic experience. Your experience will translate into significant impact as you tell these stories. That which you have seen and heard, declare it!

Ephesians 2: 4-10 - We are what he made us, created in Christ for good works. Have you ever asked the question, “Who am I?” This question can be painful, filled with disappointment. It is often clear who we aren’t. The world is good at showing us how we don’t measure up, even rubbing it in our faces: who we are not, why we cannot do it, how we fall short. The question can also be an exciting one, and Paul gives us a thrilling answer. Throughout the book of Ephesians he reveals to the believer who God made us to be, generously invited by God to do what is pleasing to the Lord, things that are good, right, and true (5: 8-10). There are over 60 declarations in the book that Paul makes about the believer’s identity in Christ. Here are a few that relate to you: people who expose deeds of darkness (5:11); subject to one another, putting others before yourself (5:21); hard workers (6:7); strong in the Lord (6:7); filled with God’s power (6:10); equipped with spiritual armor (6:10); fighters and victors in a spiritual battle (6:13-17); alert, knowing when, how, and what to pray about (6:19); seated with Christ in the heavenly places – victorious overcomers with authority over evil (2:6). May these words encourage you as you set out to fulfill the task of this creative project. You were created for it. You have authority to do it. It is important and you have so much freedom to create it in a way that is good and right and true.

Luke 1: 26-38 and 46-55 - Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. God brings about salvation in unexpected ways. The world in the first century was dark. Mary was caught up in a drama – a scandal to her relatives. And yet through it, God was bringing about the salvation of the world by conceiving his son inside of her. The creative process is also a form of incarnation. Ideas and words take root in our hearts, form and grow. We need courage, patience, and grace to birth them, even when we cannot see how it can be possible. Though you write these stories in a short amount of time, seeds, experiences, and ideas have been deeply planted in your hearts and they have been hidden inside of you, growing for twelve months. My prayer is that like Mary you will invite Christ in and that he will be fully formed in you and this process. Whatever creative challenges you face, Christ is here inside of you, working out salvation. As you create, may your work be fresh, courageous, and make people think!

Ephesians 4: 1-16 - There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling. The world is very competitive. I think the root of this competition is fear: fear of failure, fear of being overlooked, fear of not measuring up. Paul tells us in Ephesians that we are all on the same team. Where we are different is in the spiritual gifts God has given individuals – diverse gifts that are meant to more effectively see the Church reach the same goal: unity and maturity as people, full in the stature of Christ. Imagine if we had to compete for the things of God, for his mercy or for his love? The good news is that we are not in competition with each other. We don’t compete for the mercy of God, for his love or for his gifts. He freely gives these things to all believers. Diversity is a blessing in the body. Different gifts don’t suggest God choses favourites, but are given to achieve unity. My prayer is that you will be united in hope, united in faith, united in love. And that as you have unity in these ways, that you will see the kingdom come the remainder of your time together. As you share your publication with others you will see the oppressors and unjust overcome.

Joshua 4: 1-7 - These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever. Throughout Israel’s history God gave his people memory prompts to connect them to past events where God worked out promises, redemption, and grace in their circumstances. The rainbow in the sky as a reminder of his promise to never destroy the world again by flood. The stars at night as a reminder that Abraham’s ancestors would be impossible to count. The covenant of circumcision to serve as a symbol of a people set apart. Memorial stones. One thing that is clear about the human race – we see it in scripture and in our own lives – is that we quickly forget the good things God has done and get restless, anxious, and irritable in our present circumstances. We need to remember. The good things God has done in our lives. The good things God has done among us. It can feel ridiculous to share these things, especially aloud, especially when we feel anxious or irritable. But when we do, it builds our faith. Hearing the testimony of the goodness of God creates expectation that God can, that God will, show his faithfulness again because he already has. So I exhort you to Re:Member. RE (Concerning) Member (Each other). As you remember the good works of God, as you share them aloud, you will build up each other. Remember.

Quotes

Annie Dillard. The Writing Life. New York: Harper Perennial, 1990. Pages 75, 78. At its best, the sensation of writing is that of any unmerited grace. It is handed to you, but only if you look for it. You search, you break your heart, your back, your brain, and then – and only then – it is handed to you. From the corner of your eye you see motion. Something is moving through the air and headed your way. It is a parcel bound in ribbons and bows; it has two white wings. It flies directly at you; you can read your name on it. If it were baseball, you would hit it out of the park. It is that one pitch in a thousand you see in slow motion; its wings beat slowly like a hawk’s. One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The imp8lse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes. After Michelangelo died, someone found in his studio a piece of paper on which he had written a note to his apprentice, in the handwriting of his old age: “Draw, Antonio, draw, Antonio, draw and do not waste time.

Alexandr Solzhenitsyn. From his Nobel Lecture. The artists duty is to be a receptor for that “one word of truth that outweighs the world.”

Gary Haugen. The Good News About Injustice. Intervarsity Press. 2000. Page 67. In the end the battle against oppression stands or falls on the battlefield of hope. No one knows this better than the oppressors. They know that they never have enough power, lies or loyalty to withstand the onslaught of even a fraction of the power, truth and courage that humanity could at any minute amass against them. Therefore they rely on, utterly depend on, the inaction of despair. They know full well the preeminence depends on m ost people in their community, their nation and their world doing nothing.

Annie Dillard. Advice to Young Writers, a letter to students at Chapel Hill. Found in Image Journal. Always locate the reader in time and space—again and again. Beginning writers rush in to feelings, to interior lives. Instead, stick to surface appearances; hit the five senses; give the history of the person and the place, and the look of the person and the place. Use first and last names. As you write, stick everything in a place and a time. Don’t describe feelings. The way to a reader’s emotions is, oddly enough, through the senses.

some exciting things on the horizon.  foremost of which is my younger bro’s wedding.  dan and christy are tying the knot out near cochrane on a beautiful ranch that has a picturesque view of the mountains.  i have the privilege of standing up with all my brothas (and one from another mother, joel, who found a way to get to alberta from chicago).

it will be a busy and exciting weekend seeing family and old friends after an interesting week that involved some new and meaningful activity (i.e. teaching and insight from neville johnson, a baby dedication of my godson elijah, and a power packed night of encouragement from don morrison; dan and i have also been trading spaces, as the end of our road as roomates has come).

tonight we head to calgary and will spend much of tomorrow setting up things for the wedding.  my older brother and i will MC the program, and have some interesting ideas.  it will be a fun night.

early sunday morning i’ll catch a flight from calgary to kona, hawaii for a two week stint.  there i’ll be helping out students in the photogenX school with the text-side of their upcoming publication.  they’ve been travelling the world for the last two years, equipped with cameras and pens.  the publication will focus on sex trafficking and will be in the spirit of the 30 days of prayer for the voiceless booklets i wrote for a few years ago.  i’m looking forward to meeting the group, they sound like an incredible mix of people.