Your Call

Your Call

Your call is to be a worship leader...

But not necessarily with a guitar in your hand.

Your call is to befriend that funny little lady at the end of your street,

Your call is to feed the hungry and to spend yourself on behalf of the poor... and to offer hospitality to strangerswho just turn up in town needing a place to crash,

And it's to fast,

And it's to pray, so long and hard that you run out of words and tears.

Your call is to preach the good news of Jesus to every person who will listen and a few who won't.

Your call is to go somewhere, anywhere, wherever, whenever, for Jesus, and never stop.

Your call is to love people no one else loves and toforgive then when they treat you like dirt - or worse.

Do your job to the best of your ability without grumbling about your boss or whining about your colleagues.

Your call is to pray for the sick, and when they are healed, to dance with them all night. And when they aren't, toweep with them and love them even more.

Your call is to honor your parents, pray for your leaders,study the scriptures, and attend plenty of parties, be apeacemaker in every situation: when the fight breaks out on the bus home late at night and when the gossip starts to circulate at church.

Your call is to pick up the litter in the street when no one else is looking, to wipe the toilet seat, to pull gum off from under the desk. t's to get to meetings early to put out chairs.

Your call is to make disciples and to teach them to obeyeverything Jesus Commanded. And don't forget to ministergrace to them when they sin (which they will).

Your mission is to baptize and to cast out evil spirits.

Your call is to bind up broken hearts wherever you find them, and you will find them wherever you look. It's to visit hospitals and prisons.

Your call is to listen more than you talk and to listen with your eyes as well as your ears.

It's to do the chores again and again without grumbling, It's to buy ethical coffee and to recycle your bottles, and while your at it, don't forget to leave anonymous gifts on peoples doorsteps.

And when you've done all that come back and we can spend a little time praying about phase 2!

An Excerpt from Pete Grieg's "The Vision and the Vow"

Prophetic Pennies

Around comes Friday night: prayer walking time. And everyone in the house has this gloom over them. So before its time to start I go into the prayer room, and ask God for some fresh hope, some rejuvenation for our team. While I'm there I find these dreams. Dreams that we wrote almost at the beginning of the year. Dreams for a change, dreams for hope, dreams for revival and salvation. And I prayed that God would restore these dreams in our hearts, and that God would bring them about in our town. And by the time prayer walking was coming, I was stoked. Stoked to see what God was gonna do tonight, because I knew it was gonna be amazing. And I made Steve and Mike read out their dreams too, and the atmosphere changed, all of a sudden we were excited, excited to see this new work God was gonna do. And then that fresh hope that I had just prayed for, Steve brought it. He had this idea about pennies, and by now I've learned that the crazier an idea sounds, the more likely to be brilliant it is. He read us the passage from Luke 15, about the woman with only ten coins to her name, who loses one. She searches and searches everywhere for her lost coin until she finds it, and when she does, she is so excited she tells all her neighbors and friends and celebrates with them. And just like that woman with the coin, thats how God celebrates when we come to him.

So Steve, he finds like a 100 pennies, and we prayed over them. We prayed that the pennies would be symbols of hope, and light in this town of despair. We prayed that God would use them in ways we didn't understand. We were inspired to see God change this town, to see God change Corringham. And so with a bag full of change each, we went out. We laid pennies in front of gambling shops, churches and youth hangouts, in front of the park, on benches, down alley ways, on top of rubbish bins and in pizza boxes. Anywhere we wanted the symbol of Gods' hope to be we put a penny. A heart shaped row on Penny's next to the dodgy pub, and a smiley face down a dark alley. Wherever we walked we prayed Gods' hope would be, we prayed that people's veils would be removed, that they would see God clearly. Because we knew that if they could see God, actually see what was going on, there would be no stopping the revival in this town.

As we laid the pennies, something awesome happened. We got to tell people about Jesus. Because yeah, walking around on a Friday night laying pennies on the streets is weird, and people want to know whats going on. So they asked, and we told them. We told them, that sometimes this town is dark, and despairing, but we're praying that hope would fill it, we told them that we care enough about them, and this town, to pray. And we gave them pennies, to put in their houses, purses, schools. Maybe they will forget about the pennies, but my hope is that when they see random pennies lying around, that they will remember the prayers that we prayed, and they will remember that their is hope in Christ.

We got to pray for healing, for restoration and hope. For individual people, for the rough and tough crowd who act so cool, we prayed for those boys, and they were actually keen for it to happen. Man! Isn't God good! He can do immeasurably more than we can ask think or imagine, so I'm gonna ask for Corringham!

Corringham

I have no words to describe the way my heart has broken for Corringham. The girls showed up at our house today, and we just got to sit on our couches with hot chocolate and chat. The boys come round all the time, but it was so nice to have the girls today. It wasn't anything special, it was just the fact that they felt comfortable here. They felt comfortable just being, its like we've hit a new stage, and I hate the fact that I don't get to be around to see it out. I want to see them in love with Jesus so bad it hurts. And I know God is going to provide someone else who has a heart to see them serving God, but sometimes its easier to say you know something than believe it. I just have to trust that God loves these girls so much more than I ever will, and so He will therefore bring someone into their lives who will love on them and show them Jesus. Because His desire is for them to know him.

Jumping

I don't know where God wants me, and I don't know where He's gonna take me. That place of the unknown is a tough one. Its a place we all face. Trust sounds easy when its all in theory, but then the reality comes and we have to take the leap of faith. We jump off those steep cliffs and trust that God is gonna catch us. But man that time in the middle from the land to His hands, man that time is scary, and its exciting and its awesome. But man it takes a whole lotta courage to jump. I'm scared to jump. Because my mind keeps telling me I'm gonna jump off the wrong cliff at the wrong time. Where next? The dirty streets of Boys Town is where my heart wants to be, but I don't know if thats the plan. Do I get to stay in Corringham, or should I move on to something thats a little more out of my comfort zone? Is it Kansas City or Madison? Or maybe just right at home in Austin. All these decisions lie in front of me and yet somehow I know that when the time comes to make that decision Gods' just gonna do it. And it won't be me jumping off the unknown cliff free-falling... it will be God guiding, and it will be him jumping with me, and He'll be the one with the parachute. Cuz he says He's got plans for me. And he says they're gonna be good. He says He loves me, and He's gonna provide for me. He says do not be afraid.

So Lord you show me the way. If you want me to stay, well then you kick open that door, and if you want me to go, well then show me that way too. I'm jumping Lord, jump with me. And on this journey through the air, Lord teach me to follow your truth. Teach me what faith and trust and belief are. Cuz I wanna walk with you. I wanna be like Moses, and I don't wanna move unless your moving with me. Ok God here I go, you take the controls. I'm letting you decide the destination. Cuz your plans are better than mine. Your ways higher than my ways.