Operation Care International

A little over a year ago, I was sitting through yet another professional development seminar when unexpectedly a slide with contact information for Susie Jennings, the founder of Operation Care International, appeared on the screen. The presenter profusely apologized, explaining that this was a slide from a presentation he had done recently at his church, and he was uncertain how it had ended up in his slide show. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, “Write that down.” Fortunately I was listening and wrote down Susie’s information. When I checked out Operation Care’s website, I saw an opportunity to minister at The Bridge, a homeless shelter, around Thanksgiving of 2010. While my friends and I enjoyed this opportunity, I had my energies focused elsewhere and moved on with other areas of life and ministry.

With Operation Care a distant memory, I was preparing a worship set for our church service on October 30. As usual, I asked my husband on what topic he would be preaching. He said that actually he wasn’t speaking, but that Susie Jennings would be joining us. I was excited about this, believing that many of our people would be blessed by her testimony and might be able to help with the Christmas event. However, I did not plan to be deeply involved due to a myriad of commitments in my life at this time.

Sometimes God’s plans are not our plans. During the invitation, I prayed a dangerous prayer, “God you know my heart to be more deeply involved in worship ministry, and to be a part of what you are doing with worship around the world, but I do not have any open doors to explore this calling. So whatever you have in store for me next, in advance my answer is yes. I want to serve you in any way that you can use me for your kingdom and your glory.” This was about 12:25. At 12:45, out of the blue, Susie asked me to be a part of planning for the Operation Care Christmas event. So I said yes, and the adventure has begun.

I am excited to see where the journey leads. I still do not know what God has in store for my life, and how he plans to fulfill my calling into worship ministry, or even if this adventure is a part of that, but none of these things are even really very important. After all, it’s not about me! What is important is being used today, right here and now, for God’s kingdom. What is important is making a difference in the lives of the people that I am with each day. This may be in my classroom as a teacher, in our church as a pastor’s wife, in my home as a wife and mother, or in the weeks to come as I minister to the homeless with Operation Care. The important thing is to point to Jesus with every breath, because He alone is worthy.

An Unsold House

Our house has been on the market for nearly three years. We have remodeled and dropped the price repeatedly. My kids have had their stuff in boxes in the attic for so long we no longer remember what we even own. In spite of our best efforts, we are still in this same house. We have cycled through many seasons of discouragement and disappointment. Recently I have remembered 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, "Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."

Thankful, in all things. Well, hmmm....that's not always my strong point. Why could I be thankful that my house hasn't sold and we continue to live in Anna, but sleep in Sherman? Well, let's dig a little deeper -

1. 3 years of commuting helps me to understand clearly the issues our congregation of commuters is dealing with. The lack of time with the family, the strain on the marriage, the rush to get homework finished, the exhaustion that engulfs you. Living through this helps me to understand the pressure that our people are under and offer them understanding and love.

2. I have spent many hours trapped in the car with my children. These hours are usually spent laughing and talking. I would say that because of commuting my children are forced to spend a greater amount of time communicating with me, which has been critical in these early teen years.

3. Our people are learning to practice hospitality. This summer while we were displaced between Sunday morning and Sunday night services different families hosted us in their homes for lunch and let us hang out. Even now various families are making arrangements in their homes so that in the fall we can have a place to sleep after late night football games, or when we have a late counseling session, or if we need a place to hang out in the afternoon while the kids are at practices. As a result, we are getting to know and love these families on a whole new level. I am certain that God is going to pour out blessings on them. After all, hospitality is one of his primary gifts (I go to prepare a place for you....).

There are other positive things I can say about still living in our house - things like the band has a place to practice, we have room to entertain large crowds, we have room to have a long term guest, and a great place to go running.

I am desperate for my house to sell so that I can live locally in Anna. Commuting is tough, and I definitely dread it this fall. However, I want to focus on the good things that have come from this experience and be patient as I wait on God's timing for the sale.

What's Up with The Kemps?

It's been a busy season in our lives. I have had many thoughts about writing over the past month, but it seems that exhaustion wins out over the words. I am certainly looking forward to summer break! While I have a bit of time tonight, I'm going to catch up to the present moment, so that my readers at least have an idea of what's up with the Kemps.

Work

I am thrilled to only have 10 more days of school left. This particular group of first graders has been a little unique. Typically I have a high percentage of children who seemingly were born reading. This year my students have had to work hard to get to the magic level 16 text that is required by the end of first grade. I am excited that almost all of my students have far exceeded these expectations. I have seen students move mountains this year in order to read.

I have experimented a great deal this year with new teaching strategies. It seems that children are struggling more with memory loss and attention issues than I have seen in the past. The kids rarely retain anything that is taught in a whole group setting, and little taught in small groups. They have needed more individualized instruction than ever before. I have brought in tons of hands on, kinesthetic approaches. We have sang, clapped, cheered, jumped, hopped, and written our own songs, stories, and poems to remember stuff. I leave work everyday completely spent. However, in the end, the hard work has paid off. Every one of my students now reads well enough to be successful in second grade. I am still hopeful that someday God will lead me into a different career, but in the meantime I am attempting to be faithful where I am. There is definitely something to be said for having a job in tough economic times. I am certainly grateful that I have a means of providing for my family.

Family

Abby turned 5 last week. It seems like such a short time ago I was laying on my couch praying for her safety through long months of bedrest. She had a fabulous birthday. Shawn's mom and my dad and stepmom came out for her party. I was surprised that she wanted to have an exclusively family party. I expected her to want to invite everyone she knew. I finally realized that by not inviting friends, she was guaranteed all the undivided attention of her family. I guess that's pretty awesome for a 5 year old.

Grace enjoyed her theatrical production of 'The Wizard of Oz." She played a variety of supporting roles: a poppy, munchkin, oz citizen, tree, monkey, and crow. Her main night she played the role of the coroner, with a short solo. She was excited to stay on key for the entire performance. The grandparents were also able to attend the play. It meant a great deal to have family at her event.

Katie is working on her solo for the talent show. She plans to sing Addison Road's song, "What do I know of Holy." I am looking forward to her performance on Friday. She is staying busy loving on Abby and playing hard.

James is patiently waiting on a neurology appointment at Children's. Well, patiently may not be the right word. James had some complications with a migraine headache last week, and the doctor pulled him from athletics until he is able to see a specialist. His coaches are more than ready for him to be back in the swing of things. We are currently reviewing his schedule for his freshman year of high school. How can my baby boy be headed to high school in the fall? It seems strange that he is nearly grown. His 8th grade graduation is next week!

Shawn is working like a dog trying to balance two jobs. I admire his commitment to our family so very much. He is determined to do what is best for the church plant financially, and so he will be returning to his position of teacher's aide again in the fall. I know that right now it is pretty tough to be at work ready to work with kids by 7:15 and then still be working hard at church stuff late into the night. But he maintains a positive attitude, grateful that God has blessed him with the ability to work with me, to be involved with the families in the community, and to be in a position to minister to the teachers.

So how about me? I am missing my workouts! Over spring break, I did some trail running in old shoes. I came home with what is probably plantar fasciitis. This means that I have not been able to run at all. One of the best ways to help those feet heal is to sleep with them in a completely flexed position. Since I am too cheap to go to the doctor, I have used my brilliant Arkansas ingenuity to rig up a way to tie my feet into the correct position at night. I will confess that last night Shawn just couldn't contains the laughter any more, finally busting out with, "That is just too ghetto." Not exercising has added 7 pounds back onto my behind. I will have to get serious soon about returning to the gym! I have been sick for a couple of weeks and as soon as my cold clears up, I'll be ready to hit it hard.

I did well in my second semester of college. This semester I took a class titled, "Spiritual Formation and Worship." I learned much about spiritual discipline, and how lacking my spiritual growth tends to be. I enjoyed getting to research the discipline of worship, learning more about what it means to offer up praise and how God inhabits the praises of his people. I learned about praise being sacrificial, and about how to be thankful in all things. It was an amazing journey. This summer I will be continuing to work on my degree, taking "Christian History and Heritage." The title of this class seems a bit daunting. Then I have one more theology class left to take in the fall before I dive full fledged into my worship media concentration. I get crazy with excitement whenever I think about getting to study something about which I am so passionate.

Ministry

Last week our church participated in an awesome ministry opportunity. We had the chance to completely furnish a transitional apartment for a single mom and her 3 kids. I loved getting to hand her the key and show her around her new home. It was amazing to see how everything came together. If you are interested in reading more about this incredible project, check out Shawn's blog: blazingthetrail.blogspot.com.

The other big news at The Crossroads is our relaunch of the youth program. Our youth minister had to step down last year due to work commitments, and God has not yet raised up a replacement. We waited and waited, until finally Shawn and I decided that we would lead the youth. I mean, what's little youth ministry thrown into the rest of our crazy life, right? A small church in town, Calvary Baptist, is renting us their facilities on Sunday night, which has been a super location for working with the youth. The first week we brought in a young band. That was tons of fun. The next week we played games and Shawn talked about guarding your words. Then last week we took the kids to see "Soul Surfer" and eat pizza. I am enjoying getting to know the teens. I am especially looking forward to youth camp this summer! It has been nearly 10 years since I last went to youth camp. How cool will it be to go with my own teens and see God at work? I can't wait.

I hope this fills in some gaps about where I've been, and what God has been doing. I appreciate your prayers as we chase after God and seek to learn to love him more every day.

LaRissa

Monday Morning Update 1.16.11

I led worship in Kid's Cove yesterday, so I don't know much about what happened in the adult worship service. I know Shawn was very excited about his sermon on the Year of Jubilee. I am excited about his upcoming sermon series on loving your neighbor and how to practically apply that in our lives.

One of the things we are doing is adopting an apartment to furnish for a graduate of The Samaritan Inn, the only homeless shelter in Collin County. It is going to be a huge blessing for our people as they collect and pray over the needed items in the next few months. I can't wait to see how God grows them through this outreach.

Kid's Cove rocked yesterday. Our lesson actually tied in very well with Shawn's upcoming message series. We talked about how the early believers shared with one another so that none had need. I gave the kids an opportunity to share how they have helped others recently. The answers varied from sharing their pencil with a friend at school to serving in a soup kitchen over the holidays. We brainstormed ideas about how we could reach out to others, including practicing hospitality. Kids are awesome at hospitality - they love to have friends over. My favorite moment though, was probably singing, "The More I Seek You." At the last minute, I discovered one of the girls knew the sign language for the chorus, so I had her co-lead with me. It was cool to watch the kids really engage on this slow song, in part because their friend was sincerely helping lead them in worship.

I was thankful for a day off today. We went to Arkansas to spend time with Shawn's family. It was great to get away for a bit before heading back into work. It will be a busy season over the next few months as we have many projects on the horizon, as well as school, work, and ministry. I know that God has amazing plans, and look forward to seeing them play out.

Morning Dawns

Saturday morning, I laced up the sneakers and slipped out the door for an early morning run. As the first pink fingers of light touched the clouds, Paul Baloche's, "Your Name," played on the ipod. The opening line of the song is, "As morning dawns and evening fades, you inspire songs of praise." It was such a fitting moment that I stopped still in my tracks in awe. I watched the pink spread all across the sky and the evening roll away. I saw in that moment a reminder of how God works in life.

We have recently experienced rough times in our family, as well as our church family. We have had friends lose a baby, have another church member's teen son diagnosed with cancer, others confronted with debilitating illnesses, financial distress, and failed marriages. It has been an extremely dark time in our life and in our church family's life. Not that we are distant from God's presence, but we have suffered great amounts of crisis and pain.

I was reminded Saturday morning that MORNING DAWNS and EVENING FADES. Light comes, and darkness dissipates. I cannot allow discouragement to hold onto our lives. We must all press forward in the firm expectation that morning is on its way.

I thought about the story in the Bible about how the women with the hemorrhage pushed through the crowd, desperate for an opportunity to touch Jesus' garment. She did not give up until she was successful. I felt a very real sense of urgency to be that woman. Pursue God's presence with desperation and urgency. Do not be dissuaded from seeking his presence!

As I watched that sunrise, frozen in time and space, I saw the beauty of the light against the darkness. Without darkness, there is no beauty of a sunrise. It is in that first glorious moment of the light breaking the darkness with stunningly gorgeous color that is most amazing. If life was eternally sunny, we would not have the opportunity to fully recognize the beauty of the light. I am not saying that God delights in sending us difficulty, but I am saying that as we experience the difficulty that is a part of the normal human existence, it affords us the opportunity to more fully appreciate the beauty of God's love, mercy, and peace.

Monday Morning update 10.24.10

This morning Shawn opened a two week series entitled, "Monsters." I heard it was a great sermon about spiritual warfare. I think sometimes we underestimate the spiritual battles waging around us and wander through life unprepared and defenseless.

I was in children's this week. We were learning about how even a great hero like Moses still needed help in ministry. I enjoyed visiting with the children about what their favorite super heroes and their favorite real life heroes had in common. It was cool to see how many kids listed their parents as their real life heroes.

Tonight we had the opportunity to take part in a community service. It is always a great experience to worship with the other believers in our community. I especially enjoyed seeing a lady in her 90's still able to rock the baby grand. She slowly teetered to the piano carefully balanced on her walker, sat gingerly on the edge of the bench, and took a deep breath, and then magic flowed from her gnarled, arthritic fingers. I hope God grants me the ability to play until the end. What an amazing blessing in life!

It seems impossible that it is time for another week to begin. I am so far behind with my homework and term papers that it's not even funny, and at the same time I am swamped with work. Pray that I will find a way to get done what needs doing and the ability to make that discernment.

Saturday night musings

It's been a very long day at the Kemp house. I was knee deep in mud in my backyard (well, ankle deep at least) before 7 a.m., on the phone with my dad, trying to repair my air conditioner. The good news is that I was able to do a temporary fix on the condenser that may hold until Shawn gets back from Mexico. This made me very proud of myself for two reasons. 1. I didn't get shocked and die which is what my dad told me would happen. 2. I didn't have to call any of my guy friends to come wade in the mud and rain to take care of me

On another note, our mission team is still stateside, in Brownsville, Texas. After multiple tries to cross the border today, finally all the correct paperwork has been faxed in from the rental van company, and they are prepared to try again in the morning. They are asking that we continue to pray for the team, that God will send them over in the morning.

However, even though the mission team did not have success getting into Mexico, they have already seen God at work. One of the team's passports had expired, so a couple of people were staying behind to go to the consulate to get things straightened out, then planning to take the bus to Tula to meet back up with the rest of the team. On their way back across the bridge, they accepted a ride. The driver of that car accepted Christ on the way back to the states from the border crossing. It just goes to show how important one person is to Christ. Our entire mission team was stalled so that one person could "happen" to hear about Jesus.

I have spent the day in prayer for the team. I don't know how you feel about spiritual warfare, but to me it is a definite physical reality today. The longer I prayed today, the sicker I became. I experienced severe nausea and the worst migraine of my life. My body is still reeling, hours after my intense intercession has ended. No matter how much medication I take, I can't make the pain go away. The interesting thing is that I still have the ability to write, while my spoken language center has all but shut down.

So tonight, please pray for me. In twelve hours I will be at The Crossroads, setting up, running a million miles an hour trying to be multiple personalities that are gone on the mission trip. But most importantly, I will be sharing the message. This message has been crazy hard to write. The computer ate it twice, the electricity went completely off on our street the 3rd time I was writing, my handwritten notes were missing key pages, and now the migraine is making it impossible for me to focus on editing and revising. I am nervous about sharing anyway, but at this moment, my speech is too garbled to even make sense. I need to be pain free, and focused, alert, and able to hear God's voice about how to best communicate to guys how to love their wives so they are encouraged, not dismayed.

It will be a very different gig tomorrow. I am not playing in the band, instead choosing to focus my energy on just doing Shawn's job while he is gone. Pray that God will be glorified, and that I won't jack it all up too bad! I am excited to see how God is going to be at work tomorrow at The Crossroads!

Catalyst 09

Catalyst '09 featured a stellar line-up of "famous Christians." I'll get to that term in a minute. I had the opportunity to hear Andy Stanley, Rob Bell, Francis Chan, Matt Chandler, Louie Gigglio, and many others. Worship was led primarily by Steve Fee, with other artists such as Aaron Keyes doing small segments.

I wanted to share some of the insights and some of the lessons that I learned over the weekend. I had not ever listened to Andy Stanley before, and I must say that I was impressed with his honesty and his depth. He preached about the story in Joshua 5 where the angel appears to Joshua. Joshua asks, "Are you for us or against us?" The angel answers, "Neither." I had always skimmed past this part of the story, but Andy Stanley made a great point here. We have life all mixed up when we are asking God, "Are you for US or against US?" The correct question about our life is "Am I living my life FOR GOD?"

When Joshua asked what he should do next, the angel replied, "Take off your shoes, you're standing on holy ground." These were the same words spoken to Moses. It seemed to me to be an affirmation of Joshua's ministry. It is also noteworthy that the first response of a leader has to be worship before it can be leadership. Falling in love with Christ is the first and most important aspect of leadership.

Rob Bell spoke on the importance of a leader observing a Sabbath day of rest. It has occurred to me that if God took a day off, maybe the pastor's family should as well. He also talked about the importance of preserving family and our relationships with each other. It was a great reminder, especially in my hectic life, of the importance of family time.

Lots of other great moments, but these are a couple of the best that have replayed over and over in my head since returning home.
1. Leadership begins with surrender and worship and loving God.
2. Family is first before ministry and a Sabbath is important.