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Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,
This blog isn't about birds. Please indulge me this illustration.
A few weeks ago, we put up a bluebird box in hopes that one of those beautiful insectivores would take up residence outside our window. It's not a pretty box, just one I threw together from a piece of scrap in the shop. Bluebirds frequently perch on our pergola and hunt in our back yard, so mounting a box below their favorite perch seemed logical. Within 48 hours, a pair of purple martins had taken up residence in our bluebird box. I had never heard of such a thing. Martins in a bluebird box? So I convinced Meredith we should put up a proper martin house for them, and off to Tractor Supply we went. Within a day, about 50 feet from the bluebird box I mounted a shiny new martin house. I cleaned the nest they had started out of the bluebird box and waited for them to find their new home. Only they didn't move. They surveyed the new martin house, and then proceeded to rebuild the nest in the bluebird box with fervor! You know, sometimes I feel like a martin in a bluebird box. Martins are colony nesters, so branching out alone is odd. But there are other martins in the neighborhood, so they're not really alone, they're just the oddballs in their group. They're doing things differently than others in their community, and certainly differently than they way "they've always been done around here"! I can only imagine the conversations when the other martins fly by the little box.
Last weekend we were blessed with a visit from John Brown and Pat Smith from Denton. John has been a dear, wise friend for more than a decade. Pat oversees Denton Bible Church's local missions, which includes a variety of ministries. Vision Ministry is the local benevolence ministry of DBC, and Charlie modeled much of Mountain Vision around the way things were done at Vision in Denton. Pat has made a lot of changes down at Vision in the last two years, one of the most significant of which was launching JobsforLife. His counsel to me last weekend was to work hard to get the first class off the ground.
When we moved here, benevolence ministry was new to me. I jumped in feet first and hit the ground running. Over the last three years, my understanding of poverty has changed a lot. You can read more on that here. By extension, my understanding of the types of things that need to be done to begin to alleviate poverty has also grown considerably, which is why we've been working hard at moving forward with JobsforLife. The vast majority of resources that have been used to help the materially poor over the last 50 years have been given in the form of relief (handouts). In a crisis, relief is absolutely appropriate, and we are blessed to be able to minister to families in crisis on a weekly basis. However, many things that appear to be a crisis on the surface are really areas where a person or family needs development. When the kids have outgrown all their clothes, giving their parents clothes can be a huge blessing (relief). But helping a family find and keep better work so that they are able to purchase clothing for their kids breaks the cycle of material poverty. But it's hard. And it's not been done here before. So people in our community sometimes look at us like martins in bluebird box. We're odd. We're trying to do things differently than the way they've "always been done." But not everyone is skeptical. God has been gracious in allowing some others to begin to buy in to this new way of thinking, and many folks are watching to see if it works. Pat Smith has seen it work in Denton. Churches and non-profits have seen it work in other communities around the country. I think it will work here too. It might not. If it doesn't, we'll revise our strategy and try again.
Thank you for praying for our planning times over the last couple of weeks. They have been fruitful, and I'll fill you in on more of that in next few posts.
This week please pray for...
Next Thursday I'll be meeting with Joey Tillery at church to talk about dates for our first attempt at launching JobsforLife. We'll also be recruiting key volunteers to serve as champions (mentors). As soon as we have dates set, I'll begin recruiting our first round of students. Please pray the Lord would open all of the appropriate doors for this program to move forward. Please pray that the Lord would bring exactly the right first round of students, and that he would transform lives by the power of the gospel. One clarifying note. JobsforLife is a program. I don't believe in programs. I'm positive on JobsforLife because it's infused with the Gospel. Real change, family transformation, is only possible when the Holy Spirit intervenes and empowers people as they submit their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is this that excites me and keeps me going day to day!
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| She's working on the nest while he's standing guard. |
This blog isn't about birds. Please indulge me this illustration.
A few weeks ago, we put up a bluebird box in hopes that one of those beautiful insectivores would take up residence outside our window. It's not a pretty box, just one I threw together from a piece of scrap in the shop. Bluebirds frequently perch on our pergola and hunt in our back yard, so mounting a box below their favorite perch seemed logical. Within 48 hours, a pair of purple martins had taken up residence in our bluebird box. I had never heard of such a thing. Martins in a bluebird box? So I convinced Meredith we should put up a proper martin house for them, and off to Tractor Supply we went. Within a day, about 50 feet from the bluebird box I mounted a shiny new martin house. I cleaned the nest they had started out of the bluebird box and waited for them to find their new home. Only they didn't move. They surveyed the new martin house, and then proceeded to rebuild the nest in the bluebird box with fervor! You know, sometimes I feel like a martin in a bluebird box. Martins are colony nesters, so branching out alone is odd. But there are other martins in the neighborhood, so they're not really alone, they're just the oddballs in their group. They're doing things differently than others in their community, and certainly differently than they way "they've always been done around here"! I can only imagine the conversations when the other martins fly by the little box.
Last weekend we were blessed with a visit from John Brown and Pat Smith from Denton. John has been a dear, wise friend for more than a decade. Pat oversees Denton Bible Church's local missions, which includes a variety of ministries. Vision Ministry is the local benevolence ministry of DBC, and Charlie modeled much of Mountain Vision around the way things were done at Vision in Denton. Pat has made a lot of changes down at Vision in the last two years, one of the most significant of which was launching JobsforLife. His counsel to me last weekend was to work hard to get the first class off the ground.
When we moved here, benevolence ministry was new to me. I jumped in feet first and hit the ground running. Over the last three years, my understanding of poverty has changed a lot. You can read more on that here. By extension, my understanding of the types of things that need to be done to begin to alleviate poverty has also grown considerably, which is why we've been working hard at moving forward with JobsforLife. The vast majority of resources that have been used to help the materially poor over the last 50 years have been given in the form of relief (handouts). In a crisis, relief is absolutely appropriate, and we are blessed to be able to minister to families in crisis on a weekly basis. However, many things that appear to be a crisis on the surface are really areas where a person or family needs development. When the kids have outgrown all their clothes, giving their parents clothes can be a huge blessing (relief). But helping a family find and keep better work so that they are able to purchase clothing for their kids breaks the cycle of material poverty. But it's hard. And it's not been done here before. So people in our community sometimes look at us like martins in bluebird box. We're odd. We're trying to do things differently than the way they've "always been done." But not everyone is skeptical. God has been gracious in allowing some others to begin to buy in to this new way of thinking, and many folks are watching to see if it works. Pat Smith has seen it work in Denton. Churches and non-profits have seen it work in other communities around the country. I think it will work here too. It might not. If it doesn't, we'll revise our strategy and try again.
Thank you for praying for our planning times over the last couple of weeks. They have been fruitful, and I'll fill you in on more of that in next few posts.
This week please pray for...
Next Thursday I'll be meeting with Joey Tillery at church to talk about dates for our first attempt at launching JobsforLife. We'll also be recruiting key volunteers to serve as champions (mentors). As soon as we have dates set, I'll begin recruiting our first round of students. Please pray the Lord would open all of the appropriate doors for this program to move forward. Please pray that the Lord would bring exactly the right first round of students, and that he would transform lives by the power of the gospel. One clarifying note. JobsforLife is a program. I don't believe in programs. I'm positive on JobsforLife because it's infused with the Gospel. Real change, family transformation, is only possible when the Holy Spirit intervenes and empowers people as they submit their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is this that excites me and keeps me going day to day!
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| Meeme and Papa came to see us for Easter! |
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| Mrs. Dianne sharing the Easter story at the church Jellybean Jamboree. Lily loves the Easter story! |
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| Hunting eggs. She's getting SO big! |
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| Meeting Eli Farrow, who is 6 weeks younger than Hosea. The Farrows paid us a visit on their way from NC to Kentucky. |
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| Our cute little boy is gaining on the monkey! |
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| "Dad, would you take my picture, please?" Yes dear. You're too precious. |
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| Me, and mini-me. |
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| And a few more pictures of our martins. |
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