Back in Seattle again (sung to the tune of 'back in the saddle again')

I have been back in Seattle now for a week - it's gone by quickly, and in a kind of blur. I think this is mainly because of jet lag and the nasty coldy flu thing I have been fighting off over the past 7 days. On the one hand it feels like my time with you in England went by so fast, and my visit was so short, but on the other it feels like I had been gone from Seattle, YWAM, and Bethany for a very long time.

I have been glad to get back into life here, and start all those things I had been putting off until the new year - suddenly it was January (how did that happen?)

Today all of the Bethany Community church Interns were introduced officially to the congregation, in all 5 services. As I write this we have done 3 of them and have the 2 evening ones to go!!
I always attend church in the evening, so this morning it was strange to be in the Church building with so many people, many of whom I had never seen before. Of course there were some familiar faces, and also some very good friends who attend in the morning but it made me realize a little more the challenge we will be facing as a church when in a few weeks we move into our new building. We will be losing 2 of our regular services by combining them and I am sure this will be a hard transition for some members of our Bethany family.

Please be praying for us as a church community as we transition. Please pray for all of the staff and ministry teams who will be working to make this transition as easy as possible for everyone.

Today I led informational meetings for the mission trip to Mississippi that I am leading through Bethany. We had low numbers which was a little disappointing, but I am more and more excited to be going as I talk about the vision for our time. The trip will be mostly what we like to call poverty relief. This means being available to be used by the church in whatever ways they need. This will be lots of home repairs, still fixing houses from hurricane Katrina as well as more long term damage that predates any of the storms. We hope there will be quite a few skilled labourers on our team to balance out people like me who come with a good attitude and a willingness to learn but couldn't apply sheet rock if our lives depended on it!

The issue of racial reconciliation is becoming more and more of a hot topic in Christian circles, and the church begins to examine its role in pursuing this process. I know that our time in small town Mississippi, as we work serving a black community will challenge my comfort zone,a nd I am sure crack open some preconceived ideas about simple fixes to the issues of racial reconciliation.

I ask for your prayers as people begin to sign up, we would like there to be 15-20 people but numbers are looking low, mostly though I want to take a team made up of the people that God wants. Please pray for wisdom for me as I prepare to lead this team.

In other news, YWAM Seattle has started the year off well too. This week we have a family visiting from North Carolina who are considering joining us on staff. They did DTS with us 4 years ago, and have always felt a pull back to Seattle and the DTS program. Please be in prayer for them and us as we meet and talk about the future of YWAM Seattle and where they could be a part of seeing that vision come to be.

I will be sending out a newsletter to you all very soon sharing highlights form the past year, prayer requests and more about the vision of YWAM for the coming season. I don't want to spoil that for you so I will end now and hope that writing this ending will be the motivation to do the final touches to the letter and get it to you!!

(However...the sunshine outside is making it hard to be in the office much longer)

Have a wonderful week!