You’re back! How did it go? These months of sabbatical have been a timely gift. God knew how deeply we needed it. We minister out of who we are. If who we are is defined by mere productivity, pragmatism, and management by objective, we have settled for something less than fruit. And its all about fruit, about the outcomes God gives when we do His work in His way. This is why God commanded that fields lie fallow – unused – for a season, so that they might be replenished, and become fertile soil once again, in order to bear fruit. Truth was, Tina and I felt like an overworked field for a long time – depleted. This chance to rest, pray, read, visit, listen, look, soak, ponder, write, laugh, question, walk, and a host of other things there never seemed to be enough time for, was perfectly timed to get our field ready. And the world didn’t fall apart in our absence, nor our ministry!
What is the fruit? Tina and I established some new rhythms: certain prayer times, certain prayers, and our spiritual conversation has renewed. We have taken care of ourselves physically, and our energy has returned. We have reflected on our life, talked it all through, and gained new clarity. We refined our sense of mission, found ourselves hopeful about the future. We read close to 40 books between us, some of them out loud to each other, and found “our well” filling up. We met leaders around the world and I established better connections. We encouraged some young leaders in the places God sent us. They encouraged us. We reconnected with family and friends. And I dedicated time to the cultivation of my creative side and emerged with a manuscript for a new book, a handful of poems, a few paintings, mosaics and stained glass, and some overdue household projects.
You said you refined your mission? Yes, you know all the experts on mid-life stuff counsel to do the internal work necessary to boil your calling down to a single sentence. In order to do that, you really have to focus, to decide on what is most characteristic of your gifts and passions, and how you want to spend the rest of your life. What do I want to do? I want to inspire and mobilize international momentum among students and urban leaders for the redemption and transformation of their cities. “Say to the cities of Judah, ‘here is your God!’” (Isaiah 40:9) “[Jesus] answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also, for that is why I came out.’” (Mark 1:38) “And the name of the city from that time on will be, ‘The Lord is There’.” (Ezek 48:35) “Seek the well-being of the city to which I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its well-being you shall find your well-being.” (Jer. 29:7)
What’s next? Top Quality Seed: With our local leadership team operating on all pistons I am free to focus on strengthening gains we have made in 26 other cities and responding to new potential work there. I am excited to see elements of our year-round program in Fresno inspiring similar components in Orlando, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Greensboro and Tampa. In the coming months we are presenting two major training events to inspire and equip new and current Urban project staff to achieve similar outcomes. We are ramping up the resourcing of every Urban Project Director across the country. I am preparing messages for a major outreach in Boston, sending students to community development training in St. Louis, and writing material to help equip students to engage the church in relevant ministry in the midst of a migrant stream. And I am raising money for this expanded vision, my conviction and dream is that InterVarsity would grow to have the infrastructure it needs to offer the finest training of this kind in the U.S.. We will help more students become transformational leaders, that is, leaders with the motivation and skills to make a lasting difference in neighborhoods affected by poverty and violence.
This vision is larger than us, and we need your help. It is not something that our energy and determination will produce, nor can it happen overnight. It will be, by nature, the fruit of plowing, planting, risk, weeding, sweat, hope, heavenly timed rain, farmer-inspired prayers, and the mysterious, divine process described by Jesus himself when talking about how the kingdom of God grows. We live, inspired by a vision. We do our best to work toward it, we trust God for the rest.
We are rested, focused, ready to go. Thank you for helping us be that way. Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength …” (Isaiah 40:31)
