Summer help - Sonja, Kayla, Derek

Things are going great in Lakeshore even though I haven't updated ya'll over the past week or so. Last weekend and early this past week we said goodbye to a few kids from Michigan that were here for about a month this summer. Sonja, Kayla, and Derek headed home after a great month and many hours of hard work in the hot Mississippi heat. It was great having them here and getting to know them this summer.

memorizing ephesians

After listening to Andy Davis speak on memorizing scripture and reading Timmy Brister's blog post about his plan to memorize the book of Ephesians I was convicted of my own practice of memorization. I began the year off great working each week on the fighter verses put out by Desiring God ministries, but about 4 months down the road I failed memorize one week, and quickly fell off pace and stopped memorizing.

After being convicted I decided I too would work on memorizing Ephesians with the same plan as Timmy Brister. Allison agreed to memorize the book along with me. We began this week, I am looking forward to the next 25 weeks that we will be working on the book.

Mars Hill Doctrine Series

This past week I had a little extra drive time as I was dog sitting and as a commitment to myself I wanted to make the most of the time that I had to grow spiritually in my relationship with the Lord. The majority of my time was spent listening to sermons. I listened to the sermons from the 2008 Founders Conference and then began in on The Doctrine Series preached by Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill in Seattle. For the most part I found this to be a great series a definitely worth listening to. I've made it through all but three of them and I look forward to hearing what Driscoll will bring to us from the scriptures.

Trinity: God is
Revelation: God Speaks
Creation: God Makes
Image: God Loves
Fall: God Judges
Covenant: God Pursues
Incarnation: God Comes
Cross: God Dies
Resurrection: God Saves
Church: God Sends
Worship: God Transforms
Stewardship: God Gives
Kingdom: God Reigns

Mid - Summer Update

I finally got on top of things and wrote an update...I've been meaning to this since the beginning of summer but since that didn't happen here's my mid-summer update. Lord willing I will be sending the pdf update out in an email shortly.

Mid- Summer Update

We are about half way through the big summer rush. It's been an exciting summer so far. We've seen a lot of progress on our homes. We've recently started framing 2 new houses. We've moved 1 woman into her home and few more are very close, Lord willing by the end of the summer we will have them in. We currently have about 15 homes in progress that we are sending volunteers into week after week. We are doing everything from sheetrock, painting, building porches, trim work, siding, roofing, plumbing, electrical, HVAC...and the list goes on and on.

We will see between 1200 and 1300 volunteers this summer equaling between 48,000 and 52,000 volunteer hours. That's amazing...Praise God he continues to send volunteers this way.

June 1st I began my new missionary appointment with the North American Mission Board. I've transitioned from a Semester missionary to a US/C2 missionary. This Lord willing will allow me to stay in Lakeshore for the next two years. I am excited to see what the Lord is going to do in the future!

I also became an aunt early this summer! My sister had her first child a baby girl, Kailey. She was premature and was in the hospital about 1 month, but was able to come home about a month and a half before her actual due date. Praise God for his healing power and protection for my sister and the baby.

The Church has also begun building me a little house that will make my stay in Lakeshore a little more homey. It is approximately 200 square feet plus a loft for sleeping. The best parts though is the private bathroom and the space I will have to spend time in the Word, undistracted.

Ways to pray for me:

• For a freshness in prayer and Bible Study

• Boldness in sharing the gospel

• Pray for deliverance from loneliness, discouragement and depression.

• Pray for patience as church staff and volunteers work together and patience for others as they work with me :)

• Pray God would be glorified in and through me.

Ways to pray for the ministry:

• That God would be glorified in all that happens through Lakeshore Baptist Church.

• That the Gospel would be spread throughout the Lakeshore community and the Gulf Coast.

• That volunteers would continue to flow through the church

• That finances would continue to come in to keep this operation funded.

I appreciate all the prayers and support from friends and church family. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve Lakeshore Baptist Church and this community.

Summer's reading list

This summer brings many volunteers to Lakeshore, praise the Lord, and the recent building of my house has allowed me to spend several hours working towards it's completion, which doesn't leave for a whole lot of extra reading time. But that hasn't stopped me from buying more and trying to finish the ones already begun and start a few more before I purchase even more.

Recently Started

Save Me From Myself – Brian Welch

An Autobiography of Korn ex-band member who was graciously saved from the wrath of God and out of the rock and roll and drug addicted lifestyle.

A Bright Red Scream – Marilee Strong

From the book's back cover: Why do some people need to inflict pain on themselves?? At least two million Americans, and millions more worldwide, are cutters - notably, the late Princess Diana. Yet, the reasons behind the need to self-mutilate are profoundly complex and largely misunderstood. Marilee Strong shatters the stereotypes and dispels the myths surrounding the phenomenon of self-mutilation and gets to the heart of the matter by way of her subjects. The voices of cutters themselves, combined with Strong's own astute observations, make for an unparalleled exploration of the disorder that has been called the “addition of the nineties”.

The Gospel According to Jesus – John MacArthur

From the books flap: Is it possible to accept Jesus as Savior while refusing to accept him as Lord? Can someone truly believe without actually repenting? How do obedience, commitment to Christ, and turning from sin fit together with the truth that we are saved by grace through faith alone? MacArthur carefully answers these questions in light of Jesus' own ministry – that a humble spirit of unconditional surrender to Jesus' rightful authority as both Lord and Savior is the ver essence of genuine faith

Recently finished

Humility – CJ Mahaney

God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Mahaney writes on the struggle every believer has at one point or another, pride. Mahaney uses scripture to teach on the subject of pride, in light of glorifying God.

A Gospel Primer – Milton Vincent

Vincent stresses the importance and the benefits of the practice of telling the gospel to yourself daily. He lists many things that the gospel does including :

• The gospel serves as the means by which God daily constructs me into what He wants me to be...
• The gospel slays sin at the root and nullifies sin's power over me
• The gospel reminds me that my righteous standing with God always holds firm regardless of my performance
• On my worst days the gospel encourages me with God's unrelenting grace toward me
• God deliberately designed the gospel in such a way so as to strip me of pride and leave me without any grounds for boasting in myself whatsoever.

God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him

Today the Lord really helped me to see that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. I woke up this morning saying I can't wait to see what the Lord is going to do today. I got into the book of Hebrews bright and early...then my day became one of the most interesting days as far as things going wrong, yet enjoying everything that went on.

First we were expecting a shipment of bottled water on Monday, but that was delayed...no problem to me but we were out of bottled water for volunteers to take out the the job sites, but we made due. The Lord provided a few cases of water to quench the workers thirst.

Then a volunteer came to me to inform me that there was no running water in the kitchen or the shower house. So I went to check out the well and saw that it wasn't working properly. I wasn't worried at all since this has happened several times before and it's always been fixed. So I called James, I figured if he couldn't fix it he could find someone who could...but he took care of it.

A few minutes later a volunteer walked into the office to inform me the air conditioning wasn't working in the Quonset Hut they were sleeping in. I went to take a look and the problem seemed apparent to me, but had James take a look at it too. It was a problem neither of us could fix easily, but again no big deal. There is an A/C man coming later this week and I knew I could find a place to sleep the ladies that were in there if need be.

There were then a few miscellaneous things that took place, but I spent most of my afternoon working on cleaning the office and then headed for my house to continue working on the sheet rock for about 2 hours.

On my way to dinner I was talking with Allison and her dad about some of the things that came in on the truck and he mentioned a grill that was taken. That immediately made me look over to the place where our grill normally sits and I saw that it was gone. He said it wasn't that grill that was taken, but one that was donated which got me looking to where our grill had disappeared to. I then spotted it sticking up out of the dumpster!

I weighed the options 1. Go in after it to get it out or 2. Tell pastor Don I had no idea what happened to it. Since lying is wrong and I was having such a fun day already I decided to go in after it. So we ate dinner then Allison, Allison's mom and dad, Zack and I went to retrieve it. We saved that and several folding chairs that had been tossed into the dumpster. So I thought things couldn't get more interesting, but I was wrong. As I was climbing off the dumpster I stepped onto a bucket that contained some very liquidy paint type stuff...That lid gave way and my foot went sploosh into the bucket...I couldn't help but to laugh hysterically.
It was a great day and I as really able to see how the Lord is working in my life as he transforms this wretched sinner. I could see the Lord working in different ways in each situation, but I was able to praise him throughout the day as I was not bent out of shape, frustrated with anyone and if it were not for him working in my life I could have made today a terrible day. But instead it was great - To God be the Glory!