Wow, where even to start? The past summer was so jam packed and insane. I can't believe how fast things moved. Sorry for the randomly mixed in photos >.<

The first class we had was when Heather Strong-Moore came and spoke to us about World View and Academic Faithfulness. One thing she asked us was "what does it look like to be motivated differently?". We can't fully know who we are apart from God's nature. And, God cannot be mirrored by one person, but needs a multitude of people. Even then, we cannot see the fullness and goodness of who God is. One of my favorite quotes of that night was: "God's image is within us. The mirror is shattered, but it is still in the frame". Something else that she said that night that stood out to me was "When we grieve, we are affirming the goodness of God because we realize what the world should be". And, also, realizing that God is not trying to keep us under his thumb, He is trying to protect us. That is a hard one sometimes. It is so easy to think that God is controlling us for some reason. But, He is only trying to protect his children. There was so much more to her talk, but those were a few things that really stood out to me.

The next class I want to talk about is the class based off of Gospel Centered Life that was taught by Pete Ware. First off, if you have not read this book, you should. It is VERY good. One thing I remember talking about was how Jesus died for our successes...He died for our righteous acts. He died for these because these are the things that we rely on. We far too often rely on our righteous acts to make us worthy. Only Christ can make us worthy. It's only through the lens of our sin that we can see God's awesomeness. One thing that he said that has stuck with me and others and that we have said many times to each other is "Cheer up. You're far worse then you think you are. But, you're far more loved then you could ever dare hope". We spend all of our lives by identifying ourselves by what other people think. But, we should be finding it in what God thinks. "The gospel is not just the A,B,Cs of your faith; it is the A-Z of your faith. Two big things we talked about was impartation vs. imputation. Impartation: Taking on the image of the parent-did not happen on the cross. Imputation: We are adopted-Christ was treated as if he was a sinner and we were as if we are righteous-what happened on the cross. And then the concept of Double Imputation was talked about. Double Imputation: Not only are our sins removed and put on Jesus, His righteousness was also put onto me. Now that is insanely, crazy good news. That concept is just incredible to think about. Just stop for a moment and let all that sink in. The thing about being adopted by Christ is that it deals with our identity and shame. Because, to deal with our shame, we need to be given a new identity. This most definitely happens when we are adopted in Christ. Christianity has 3 parts: 1) Justification 2) Adoption 3) Sanctification.  Another concept that Pete presented us with was "If I really believed in the gospel, I wouldn't have any problem with sin". Chew on that. Do you think that is accurate? I honestly don't know what I think about this one. I want to keep on talking about what he talked about. However, there is so much more I need to write about the rest of the project. So, please, ask me about it. Because I would love to talk about it.
So, two weeks ago I led my first ever bible study. I felt as if it went really well. It was also very cool because my campus minister, Isaac Vineyard, was here and got to sit in on the study that I led. It was about Hebrews and the similarities between Melchizedek and Christ. And, what it looks like to have Christ as our great high priest.

The next class subject we talked about was our strengths. We took this like quiz thing that was a bunch of questions that showed us what our top 5 strengths are. Mine were (in order) 1)Restorative 2)Relator 3)Communication 4)Adaptability 5)Belief. We talked about a couple lies that we often believe: "work on your weaknesses" and "a good leader is well rounded". Good leaders should be working and leaning in on their strengths to make them better. And, good leaders aren't well rounded. Good leadership teams are well rounded. They have all the people put together to make a team that has all the components you need. A strength is a pattern of thinking, feeling, or behaving. And strength based leadership is a combination of talent+investment+time=strength. There are also 3 pieces to the biblical theology of leadership: 1)Power 2)Authority 3)Stewardship. If we were good at everything, we wouldn't need each other. We are one in Christ, but not the same. When I am weak and understand that I am God's vessel, then I am strong. Weakness gives us a capacity for the gospel to come through.

The next topic we covered was kingdom diversity. If you ever get the chance to go hear Mike Chen speak, do it. He pointed out to us that there is a reason each of us is born into the body, skin, and personality that we are born into. We discussed why we don't talk about things that we need to talk about. Often times we feel a fear or paralysis of not knowing what to say. There is something powerful about the gospel that goes beyond one cultural group and extends to the whole world. JUSTICE IS NOT OPTIONAL. There are no second class citizens in the kingdom of God. We should be pressing into 3 things:1)The trinity 2)The image of God 3)The kingdom of God. Trinity; unity/diversity/sending/suffering. Image of God: Even with all of the Christians we know put together, we are only getting a small glimpse of the wonder of God. Kingdom of God: Is at hand/ Is growing/Is advancing/Is justice, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The extent to which you lament is the extent to which you hope. There are all kinds of reconciliation: To truly empathize and be in a relationship with people, you need to be in lamentation with them. There are 6 practices of reconciliation: 1)Lament:crying out to God 2)Incarnation:Dwelling with 3)Hospitality:Welcoming and belonging 4)Solidarity:co-suffering and common narrative 5)Mutuality:Interdependence and union. There was so much more that he talked that I haven't mentioned. Seriously, if you get that chance to hear him speak, go.
The second class we had on kingdom diversity was taught by Natalie Harvey and Geraud Brumfield. Something they pointed out to us is how do you bring change when someone doesn't want change or want to discuss certain subjects? Just because someone doesn't want to have a conversation doesn't mean it should not happen. What does a kingdom mindset look like? We had several answers, but that was one thing that I want you to sit with. The question of what does a kingdom mindset look like? When we begin to appreciate each other, we get a bigger view of who God is. We can only love God as much as you love the person you love the least. An exercise we did in that class was looking at our darkest prejudices that we did not want other people knowing about. All of us have prejudices of some kind. Even though we think we don't, we do. It is ok to admit. Once we have acknowledged these things, we can begin to work on them. You can make change. You don't always have to follow cultural rules.

Two of the last topics we talks about was hospitality and evangelism. Hospitality-The beginning of Christian Life: 1)Surrender your heart to the mercy of God 2)Have your mind renewed-have a Christian worldview 3)Gives you a calling and allows you to put your and to a particular thing 4)Love is the ability to give your life away. Be externally what you are internally. Your public image should reflect your private convictions. What is hospitality? It knows true hospitality-In order to give true hospitality, you need to have received it. True hospitality blurs the line between who is the guest and who is the host. Hospitality is not a condescending thing-we are not doing the other person any big favors. Hospitality is keeping your eye on the guest: taking your eye off of other people is not the way to love them. And true hospitality tends to break the status quo: being hospitable might require you to do something that is uncommon.
Evangelism: We talked about how evangelism was similar to many other things. So then we talked about the process you have to go through to be good at something: 1)You have to learn the fundamentals. 2)Practice the fundamentals over and over again. 3)Your attitude changes towards the subject. Another thing we talked about is how we are often scared to share the gospel because we are afraid it won't be perfect or something along those lines. The reality is that God is the one who changes people's hearts and minds. We are not. No matter how badly we present the gospel, God can still use it. The great commission calls us to make disciples, not believers. How does this change the way that we look and do evangelize. Evangelism shouldn't be about you. There was more that Terry Thomas talked about. But that was the main idea.

So, if you stuck it through and read probably the longest blog post on the face of the earth, you got a small glimpse of what I experienced and learned this summer. Thank you all so much for your prayers this summer. God did some amazing things and I cannot begin to describe how good He is. Thank you for reading through all of my ramblings. I would love to talk to anyone about this summer if any of you would like to know more.
Cheer up. You're far worse then you think you are. But, far more loved then you could ever imagine!

Love You Fam!

People always talk about being in the world, but not of it. What does that even mean? What does it mean to do ministry? What does it mean to be a light to the world?

Well, let me ask you one question: What is our salvation actually for? Have you ever stopped to think about that? Yeah, we know what salvation is and how it effects us when we first learn about it. But, have we ever stopped to really consider what our salvation is actually for?

Lets start by defining salvation. Merriam-Webster has two different definitions.
1) In Christianity: the act of saving someone from sin or evil : the state of being saved from sin or evil. 
2) Not in Christianity: something that saves someone or something from danger or a difficult situation.

Now that we are clear on what salvation is, let's take a look at the different ways we interact with the world. There are 3 ways:
1) Fortification
2) Condemnation
3) Conformation

What do these three things have in common? Urgency. We as humans are so scared that if we do not do something right away, the end result will not be good. Not only does this take away our trust of God and His plans; but, it makes us exiles in some way or another. 

EXILE: As Christians, we are all strangers on earth and we are trying to find our way back to God in order that we might not be exiles anymore. Are you okay with that? Are you okay with being a little different, left out, not tolerated, made fun of, ect. for the sake of your faith in God? 
If I am going to be honest, I don't know if I am or not. Human acceptance and love is something that everyone craves. But, as a Christian, people are not always going to like me or what I have to say. But, you know what? That is okay. My identity does not fall with anything of this world. My identity falls with Christ. As long as I am in that, those other things, do not matter. Now, is that easy to live out? No. Not at all. 

Now, in talking about our interactions with the world, let's talk about how we evaluate the world. This is where the whole "in the world, not of the world" saying made a lot more sense to me. Sometimes we need to look at things with a new perspective. The way we evaluate everything changes when the focus is on the good of the world and not the good of ourselves. When I thought about this saying before it was always how do I do this? How do I live in the world and not let it change ME? I have been so self-focused that I have not taken the time to think of the people on the opposite end.  What about THEM? What if we took ourselves out of the equation and focused of doing God's work? What if we focused on loving others and showing God's love to them unashamedly? What would the world look like?
Then the question becomes: Are you willing to prepare the way for Christ, but never see the fruits of your labor? I have thought about the question a lot. In all honesty, I want to say I am. But, I know how discouraging it becomes after a while. Especially when you really care for the people you are ministering to. But, we do not know God's plan. And we need to trust that in the end, He has it all under control. Can you do that? Because, I'm not sure I can. But, I am going to try. 

I want to talk to you about another concept: Okinomia. How do I explain this? Imagine each area of your life is a different instrument. And, each instrument plays it's own melody (the economy of that area of your life) right? We don't want to admit it, but to some degree or another we all have different "melodies" for the different people and places in our lives. Well Okinomia is when all those "melodies" (economies) come together to form one big harmonious melody (economy). The different parts of our lives are not meant to be separate. They are meant to be all meshed together and some might like to refer to it as a "beautiful mess". 

So, What is the purpose of our salvation? For the Life of the World. Our humble work is ONLY a heavenly offering. 

There is a video series you should all watch. It is called "For the Life of the World" and it might help you understand my train of thought a little bit more. I know it is hard and I know I jumped around a lot. My bad haha. But, I do want to leave you with the closing letter of the first episode of that series: 

Dear Everybody,
The psalmist writes "the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. The world and all who live in it. For He founded it on the seas and established it on the waters". Now listen to the words of Jeremiah. "pray to the Lord for it. Because if it prospers, you too will prosper". This is our economic responsibility. In our families, our work, our communities, and every broken place. Each of these economies is designed to work as a humble part of God's Okinomia. His economy of all things. All of our work is designed to bring flourishing to the world. To be an act of priest hood. An act of blessing. An offering. This priest hood was our original calling. It has been restored to us through the gracious blood of Jesus. His song in the world is gift. And we are called to play this song in all we do. So go. Live in your true nature. With the work of your hands, your every day work and the words of your mouth, the very breath that you breath bless and sanctify the world. Make it a gift and offer it back to God. For His glory and For the Life of the World. 
Yours,
Evan  

So yeah. That's what I have been learning. Hope it impacted you as much as it did me.

It has been an insanely packed 5 days. So much has happened that I feel like I have been here for two weeks already and it has only been almost 5 days. But, God is very good. The first night we got here, we did what you would usually expect to find your first day here. We ate dinner and did some get to know you things. Then, we did a scavenger hunt. My team was #THEteam1 and even though we did not end up winning, we all had a ton of fun walking down the board walk and doing the different things that were on the list. (FYI: Cops will not hand cuff you to them for a photo). 

This is where it got real good. We spent that night out on the beach doing praise and worship and just spending time in prayer. It was really cool for me because it was the first time that I had done something that public with my faith and did not care at all if people were walking by and watching.

Then Thursday was crazy. It was jammed with one activity after another. Most of them were get to know you/group bonding exercises. However, one of the big things we did was create a covenant. This covenant was made to hold the group accountable and to give us all one mindset/goal to strive for. That evening we had class. Now, class is exactly what it sounds like. We have speakers who are teaching us on different subjects. That night, Natalie Harvey S.O.I.A. S.O.I.A (survey, observation, interpretation, and application) is the way we approach leading a bible study. So, in both prep and leading the bible we are being trained to use these steps. The great thing about being trained doing this was that by the end I was not nearly as worried about the idea of leading a bible study as I was before. And one thing that was said that night that I loved: More Today than Yesterday. More Tomorrow than Today. That is something I am trying to keep in mind as a HUGE goal.
Friday was slower. But, there was still a lot going on that day. We split up into our discipleship groups which is a group of me, one other girl (Kayla), and a leader (Emalee). So, we spent a good amount of time talking and just getting to know each other. Then, the afternoon we had free. I took this time to go job hunting. I ended up finding a job and am currently waiting to hear back from another. Prayer for job situations to run smoothly around here would be much appreciated! Then we held bible study in the afternoon. My bible study group consists of me, Paige, Laura, Nate, and Andrew (one of the leaders). I really really enjoyed the bible study because I just enjoy smaller, more intimate groups. It was nice to get to study and learn with these people in a different way. Friday evening was spent support raising. Praise God, because our entire house is at 68% support. But, there is still a lot that needs to be raised, so please be in prayer for that as well. Saturday was our free day. We spent that morning looking for jobs since most of the house had not found a job yet. Then, I used the rest of my free day to run errands and go to the beach. It was a very nice and relaxing day.

This morning we went to church at 8:40 socialized with people, sang in the church choir, and got out of church around noon.
So yeah. That pretty much brings y'all up to date. I do find myself missing home sometimes. But, God has been so good. I have realized that being here and being far our of my comfort zone is something that He is going to be using a lot. God has blessed be so much by surrounding me with some incredible people. The fire and desire for God is so evident in all of my fellow students. I ask that you would continue to pray for God to grow and mold us. I am really looking forward to what the rest of this summer holds.

So, obviously I am Grace. The reason I am starting this is because in a week and a half I will be out in Ocean City, New Jersey in a leadership training program with the CCO (coalition for christian outreach-if you don't know them look them up. They are pretty bangin'). It's called the Ocean City Beach Project. I am terrible at this kind of stuff. But, my hope is to keep you all updated on what I am learning and just in general what is going on. If you contributed money to make it possible for me to do this, I want to thank you so much. If not, no worries boss-you're cool! I would ask that you all keep me in your prayers and that my heart and mind would be open to what God has in store for me. And, ya know, if anything interesting happens I'll make sure to put it up. So yeah. Sorry, like I said: not great at this, but trying.