Gulu

Yesterday we flew to Gulu, Uganda - a town in the northern Uganda. This town was in the middle of the civil war for twenty years. The LRA would abduct children - boys to be soldiers and girls to be "wives" so the children in the villages would travel to Gulu at night and sleep anywhere they could - shop verandas, bus stations, anywhere. The idea was that they could be better protected from the rebels if they were in town rather than in their villages with their families. Peace talks are still underway, but the abductions have stopped. For a little over a year they have had relative peace in this area.

The fighting has stopped, but the healing is just beginning. Because of the war, many people are misplaced and live in camps called IDP camps - Internally Displaced People. These camps are basically slums where children are everywhere. The government is encouraging these people to go "home" to their villages, but many don't know where that is because they have been in the bush so long. The female children who were abducted as "wives" now have multiple children whose fathers are members of the rebels. Their villages do not want them back with those children. It's a really rough situation.

The hope is that KPC has begun their church campus here. They started in March and already have 1000 people on Sundays and 17 cells. They need more cells, but need to train up more leaders first. We were greeted by Pastor Joseph and he toured us around Gulu. We enjoyed spending time with him. He has quite a task in front of him, but he is full of faith and knows that through partnership with others God can do anything!

We saw a vocational school where they are teaching these child mothers who have been released from the rebels to sew so they can earn money to support their children. The average age at this school is 15 and some have more than one child. Right now there are so many students they must rotate the classes - and there are more young girls coming out of the bush everyday. What precious people to reach out and help these young girls! Watoto plans to partner with this school to continue helping these young mothers. Some of them may become Watoto mums one day.

The need is great - but God is so much bigger. We had quite a full day, so I'll have to post more later. Also, check back for pictures later. We are about to start our long travel home.

Watoto Villages

Today we went to tour of two Watoto villages. The villages are set up with about 99 homes. A home consists of a mother and eight children. Clusters of 9 homes are scattered around the central meeting area and the schools. Within the 9 homes a senior mother helps to care and support the other 8 mothers and their children. It's a very community supportive set-up. The villages also have a village manager who supports and helps the mothers to raise the children. The father in the couple becomes like a father figure to the children. It is really a God-concept! You can feel the peace as you enter the village. And when you look around at the relaxed and happy faces of the children and mothers, you know this is a special place.

We ate lunch in one of the homes with a mother and 4 boys - Mother Destiny, and boys Akim, Livingston, Russ and Nicholas. Her younger children had gone to a Christmas party, but the older boys were so pleasant to talk to. A few of them had been to the US on the choir tour and showed us their pictures. We also saw their love for soccer and their love for the word of God as posters of both were up on the walls of their rooms. These boys have vision and self-worth because of Jesus and how Watoto has demonstrated Jesus to them. These boys could be on the street or fending for themselves, but instead they are respectful, obedient young men who love their mother and have a bright future in front of them. It is really incredible! I love what they are doing here.

KPC Ministries

Today we went to KPC Kampala for their Sunday service. It was an incredible service! Worship was awesome with a full choir behind the worship team. As expected, the songs were full of life and dance. We loved it! Then there was precious baby dedication and a special dance by some boys from the Watoto villages. The boys are really talented and the whole church loved the dance. Then Pastor Gary Skinner spoke how Jesus was a giver and we should follow. It was a great message! We loved the whole service.

Afterwards we had the opportunity to have coffee with Pastor Gary and hear his incredible vision for sharing what they are doing at KPC and with Watoto with other churches in Africa. It was an awesome meeting!

Bulrushes Home - Uganda

Greg, Sonya Yamnitz and I are in Uganda, Africa. We are here to check out a project we want to be a part of this summer with Go Global. Since this is Greg and mine first trip to Uganda, we are getting the full tour. Today we went to see the Baby Watoto, the Bulrushes. It's a home for orphaned babies under the age of 2. Most of these children's parents have passed away because of the civil war in Uganda or the AIDs epidemic here in Africa. It's part of Watoto's plan to care for children in a family like atmosphere. Watoto is the arm of KPC, an awesome church here in Kampala. The babies were all so cute and healthy and playful. It was fun to hang out with them! We had a great time and love what this church is doing to care for orphans.
PS - If you are reading this on Facebook, check out the blog for pictures.

Dream Center

Greg and I just returned from a trip to California. We went for a conference - Global Summit on Aids and the Church - more about that later. But while we were there we went to L.A. and toured the Dream Center. This is an incredible place that is making a huge impact on the inner city of Los Angeles. The area where they are located has seen a 90% drop in crime since they have started serving the people of this community. They have every ministry imaginable! From a mobile clinic to children's ministry to recovery centers to feeding programs - they are meeting needs and seeing people's lives changed! Wouldn't this be awesome here in our city?!

Thankful

Today was a tough day. We decided about a week ago that it was time to let our little dog Penelope go. She's been battling symptoms of what we think is a brain tumor since March of this year. We had a wonderful night with her Sunday night as we celebrated her doggie brother's first birthday. Penelope and Cocoa had fun, pouch food (a treat) and I even made a doggie cake with two of their favorite foods - peanut butter and carrots. It was a great night! Penelope walked around and let everyone who wanted to pet her. That's something she has not been doing. Then Sunday night and Monday she was back to her previous tired and seemingly painful self.

I am so thankful that we had her in our life for a little less than 8 years. She would have turned 8, or 48 in human years (small dogs age slower), on Christmas. Years ago I really wanted a dog. Michael Norwood's family's dog got pregnant and they graciously gave me a puppy. Penelope was a cute little hedgehog looking puppy who had the bossy, opinionated attitude of a classic Pom. She was an easy little dog to spoil. She loved to go for walks and "talk" to the neighbors dogs. She would stand at the fence and sniff and bark at the big dogs next door - a german shepherd and a golden retreiver. She always knew she was bigger than her 10 lbs. She even bossed around our new puppy who ended up being TWICE her size. That didn't matter. Neither did the fact that she couldn't see well. She still held her own.

She loved to play fetch and hide and seek. We would throw the toy then run hide. She would grab the toy and come find us. You could see her looking and sniffing the room to see where you were. She brightened our lives and gave us a reason to be home.

Even though today has been one of the toughest days, I am glad to have had her in my life. I'm thankful that God has allowed us to have pets - they bring so much love and comfort to our lives. Penelope will always be in our hearts and we love her very much!

Hillsong at the Orpheum

What an incredible night we had last night! We hosted Hillsong United, Reuban Morgan and Pastor Brian Houston at the Orpheum. These guys are from an incredible church in Australia - Hillsong Church. This is the church is making an impact in the world and we were honored to have them here in Memphis. It was incredible! Thank you God!

Pictures by Kristi Shack

The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass is a new movie that will come out in December. Commercials and trailers are beginning now. While the movie looks like it's along the lines of the Chronicles of Narnia, there is a deep darkness to this movie that should motivate Christian families to stay away. The movie is based on a series of books called His Dark Materials and is supposed to be much worse than the film. Creators of the film are hoping to release the movies, have kids see it and then be enticed to read the books. But the author is an atheist who is promoting his atheistic world view. Along with a whole host of troubling concepts, the final book has the heroine killing God. For more info about the movie, the author and themes of these books, please check out this article by Truthquest.net.

While I am never into boycotting a movie or anything, I am concerned that parents know what their child is watching and reading. Everything may be permissible, but not everything is profitable for training a child in the way he should go. Please pass this information on to parents you know!

Live the Dream

Sonja (my sis) and I had the opportunity to accompany Leslie (our senior pastor's wife) on a great trip to Baton Rouge to the Live the Dream women's conference at Healing Place Church. It was an incredible time! Great speakers - Holly Wagner, Christine Caine, and Tammy Trent - made the conference full of spiritual meat. The church was all dolled up in pink and glitery stuff, but the things the speakers were challenging us with were far from the normal girly fluff. It was all about rising up and fighting in the spiritual. We are called to fight for our lives, our children, our marriages, our churches. We are in this moment in time for a reason. God could have placed us on earth at any time in history and he chose now! So we have to find what it is we are here on earth for - today!

Holly Wagner encouraged us to do what the Bible says and teach the younger women. Anyone younger than you is your responsibility! Chris Caine challenged us to work out our dreams - don't give up when it gets difficult. Just before a birth is the most challenging and painful time! If you give up then, you'll never see your dream come to pass. Peaceful times does not always signify God's will. Sometimes we have to work to see His will come to pass!

Run the Race

Today my devotional challenged me to look at my race and see what is distracting me from Jesus. It pointed to one of my life verses - Hebrews 12:1-2 - and again I was inspired. This time I read it in the Amplified Bible which adds some words to help with the understanding.

Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses (who have borne testimony to the Truth) let us strip off and throw aside ever encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us. Looking away (from all that will distract) to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith (giving the first incentive for our belief) and is also its Finisher (bringing it to maturity and perfection). He, for the joy (of obtaining the prize) that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

In the past other words have stood out, but today those words in bold stood out to me. I want to get rid of the weight of bad attitudes, frustration, and irritation. Instead, I want have the patience to endure the course that I'm on right now. Not looking ahead and worrying about how everything is going to work then, but to be steadfast and actively persistent. Persistence seems like a passive - just sit here and wait- type of thing. But it's actually an active thing - to pursue our Source, Jesus, for everything. To be persistent to believe the things promised and to see the fruit of your labor. It's an essential element of success. If you're not around the see the outcome, what's the point. So I'm encouraged not to give up or lose heart, but to continue with what has been given to me today, listening to Jesus, and doing my very best for Him!

Relentless Preparation

Leadership requires relentless preparation. You cannot predict every possible challenge. But if you prepare for those challenges that you can predict, you will be better equipped to handle all problems, even the unexpected ones. --Rudolph W. Giullani

This was on the side of my starbucks cup this morning. Seriously. What a great leadership principle to keep in mind! Prepare, prepare, prepare! It holds true in the natural as well as the spiritual. We can't prepare ourselves for every trial that will hit us as people walking through life, but if we are strengthening and staying connected to our source - God - then we will be better prepared for any and all trials! One of my favorite passages is in John 15 -

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.

Remember in all the things you do to stay connected to God. Don't just be involved in what God is doing, but be committed. Strengthen your relationship with Him today!

Incredible!

Check out this INCREDIBLE article about our church on the Mercy Ministries website! They were very complimentary about our church. I just believe that this is a God connection relationship with this ministry. I'm believing for a Mercy house here in Memphis! That would be awesome!

Chick Nite

We had a Chick Nite (our women's ministry events) at church on Saturday. It was incredible! Our special speaker was Nancy Alcorn from Mercy Ministries. She shared an inspirational message about the importance of getting God's word and His thoughts about you in you - and knowing who you are! Her life just radiates God's grace. She started Mercy 25 years ago to see life transformation in the lives of young women who struggle with all kinds of issues: addictions, eating disorders, unplanned pregnancy and host of other issues. She spoke at our church services on Sunday as well. Over 100 people gave their lives to Christ over the course of the weekend. Personally I was most challenged at the Kingdom Builder's lunch where she spoke about relying on God's word and believing it for provision for Mercy. God's word is true and when He gives you a vision, He will provide. It's a faith journey in the process. If you want to be challenged and encouraged to pursue God with everything - check out her book: Echoes of Mercy. I'm reading it right now!

Too Funny!

Sunday night, some friends we love - Mark and Julie Van Blaricom - treated Greg and I to a comedy show by Brian Regan at the Orpheum. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and laughed till our stomachs hurt! I think everyone needs to see this guy. His show is funny AND clean. Here's a clip.

www.brianregan.com

Baby Shower for Lora

We had a great time at a baby shower for Lora Emerson at our house, hosted by Paige Lord and myself with considerable help from Aimee Farmer, Nicki Cooper, and Becky Parsons. It was a fun celebrating this new little life that will join us soon.


Ryan and Lora are great friends who also serve in Kids Life, our children's ministry with us! They are having a little boy named Roma Tristan at the beginning of November. Lora was totally blessed by all the gifts and love! And we all enjoyed oohing and ahhing over the baby gifts!

Quick Trip to Washington DC

Greg and I had a great opportunity to go to Washington DC with our pastors, John and Leslie Siebeling. We went to check out this great coffee shop that National Community Church runs. It's called Ebenezers, which means "Thus far the Lord has helped us." And it's located in a prime spot just a block from Union Station and near the some of the biggest office buildings in DC.

It's cool place, plus they serve great coffee, but even better is that they are bringing Jesus out to the people. Even the girl I sat next to on my flight had heard about the coffee shop. The gm told us about how she's seen people hear about the church in the coffee shop, attend a service and give their life to Christ. How awesome! It would be great to have a place like that in Memphis. Let's knock down some religious walls and stereotypes and be relevant to the people. I think that's why Jesus didn't stay in the temples teaching - he walked around on the hillsides so he could be near the people who needed to hear his message. It was a great vision inspiring trip! For more pictures of our trip, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/krievans/WashingtonDC

Pictures from Greg's Trip

Check out pictures from Greg's trip to Mozambique. The children are orphans over there that they worked with. The organization they partnered with is Children's Cup. It's an incredible org that is doing an awesome job caring for the overwhelming number of orphans in Africa.

Luggage Has Returned!

Greg's luggage arrived yesterday! Yahoo! Thanks to all of you guys who were praying. It's just stuff, but some big things he reclaimed were his power cords to all his electronics (computer, camera, phone) and his journal and Bible. We are thankful! Plus some gifts he bought for me were in that suitcase too. :) We're excited!

We can't tell where the suitcase was - they obviously removed the stickers that would give us a clue. Wherever it was, we're glad it's home!

Saturday Fun

Greg is back from Africa, but his luggage didn't make it, so I have no pictures to share. We have the pictures - on the camera - but the critical cable that connects the camera to the computer was in his luggage. The piece of luggage that is lost somewhere between here and Mozambique. This is the second time that Greg has lost luggage recently on his trips to Africa. Makes you really want to use Fed Ex! Pray that his luggage turns up! We would love to have it!

We are off to the International Goat Days Festival in Millington, TN. (I have no idea what makes it International) The highlight will be the Anvil Shoot at noon. Marrying Greg has opened up a whole new world for this city girl!

The Germantown Festival also kicks off today. We might even take a peek at it - depends how hot it is. It's going to be a fun Saturday! I'm so glad Greg's home!

Greg in Mozambique, Africa

Greg is loving his time in Africa right now! Here he is helping to build a playground for some kids. They are working with Children's Cup, an organization that cares for orphans in Africa, and Healing Place Church, an awesome church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. You can follow their trip at the Mozambique blog!

Mozambique is located on the south-east coast of Africa. It borders Swaziland, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania. They have gotten to spend some great time with the missionaries who are there. This area of Africa has a big Islamic influence, so the Gospel is greatly needed. I love Children's Cup because they are meeting a huge need in Africa - caring for orphans - and spreading the love of Jesus. Because of the AIDS epidemic, Africa has more orphans than it can handle. This creates a huge opportunity to practically show the love of God. I'm so glad to be a part of what God is doing in Africa!

Water Hose Wrangler

Check out our crazy puppy Cocoa (affectionately known as "Loco Cocoa" by John Farmer)! He loves to help us roll in the water hose. We call him our "Water Hose Wrangler."

What Are Americans Really Worried About?

David Wakerly of Hillsong Church in Australia (Kid Inspiration) blogged about this study recently done by the folks at Barna Research.

With the 2008 presidential election campaign well underway, a new survey suggests that the biggest issue of them all may well be one that leaders do not seem to be focused upon: the well-being of America’s children…

Trailing the focus on children were matters such as improving national security (72%); helping the poor and disadvantaged (69%); upgrading the reliability and honesty in news reporting (63%); increasing the nation’s investment in environmental protection (60%); and enhancing the state of marriage and families (60%).

I don't know about you, but this is NOT what I'm hearing about in the news, but this is what people are really worried about! I think this is a reason our recent Parenthood series at church has been so great! David expressed my opinion too - "If the government won’t focus on kids, then hey… let the church lead the way!"

Facebook vs. MySpace

Ok, I just discovered Facebook and I love it! I've been using MySpace for a little bit now, but I totally think Facebook is cool. Sure it's not as "personality" driven - like the layouts on MySpace, but it's so intense on connecting you to people. Everything can be a network. And I have to say I'm a sucker for the icons. Very cute and clean looking. You can also see all on your homepage when your friends update anything on their site. I got on it because one of the children's ministry blogs I read encouraged everyone to get on to discuss stuff. Now I'm addicted. :)

What do you think - which is better Facebook or MySpace?

I Love My Life car stickers

Don't miss your chance to get your very own "I Love My Life" car sticker from John and Aimee Farmer. The stickers are $5 each and you can see Nicki Cooper to get yours. All proceeds go towards Kingdom Builders.

Here's a picture of the sticker on a car window.

Here We Are...Three Services!

Sunday was a great day in God's House! We had almost 1500 people (1470) in the house, with 383 in Kids Life. That met and exceeded our attendance goal this year of 350! 26 Fresh Starts and 57 first-time guest cards filled out - it was an overall great day! Thank you to all our awesome teams for pulling together and making 3 services look easy. I'm so proud of all of you guys!

And the days leading up to the weekend were incredible. Some shout outs to:

Aimee Farmer - cleaning out the nursery/preschool area

Nicki Cooper and Linda Wong - for making sense of the crazy Nursery/Preschool closet

Ryan Emerson, Christian Santiago, and RJ Vergara - for persevering and making the Kids Life stage look awesome!

Melissa Horn, Kissy Blanchard, Tammy Wade, Kristi Shack and Gwen Lee- for cleaning and organizing like mad dogs

Vasan, Sherrie (and family), Amanda Meneses, and Belinda Russell - for making JKL shine

I hope I didn't forget anyone!! Thank you to everyone who did such a great job this weekend with the prep work. It COULD NOT have been done without you.

Vacation Bible School finished on Friday. The last day was awesome! We had a special offering of canned and non-perishable food. The food will go to our church's brand new Food Pantry that John and Rennie Williams are coordinating. It was awesome seeing the kids give so freely! We asked the children to bring one item, but most brought a whole bag full! I know it's parents helping their kids learn to give joyfully and freely - and I think it's an incredible lesson to learn at a young age.

I actually had the opportunity to help a family in need last week with some items from our Food Pantry. It was a great feeling to know that we had something to give them, but we completely depleted the supply with just that one family (they had 6 kids)! Hopefully our VBS offering will set us up to help many more families and always have plenty to give away. Doesn't God say that He gives seed to the sower...that's exactly what He did. How awesome is He!
(cool pic thanks to RJ Vergara!)

Vacation Bible School

 

Vacation Bible School is in full swing this week! We are having a blast! Wednesday's craft was a Prayer Bear. The kids made two - one to keep and one to give away to orphans in Africa. Ours are going to Mozambique with a mission team from our church - that includes my husband Greg. I just love this idea that the kids are learning now the joy of giving! And they are learning to be concerned about what's happening around the world, rather than just their own world. It's awesome!

Greg and I went to visit Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, AL early in July. They were dedicating their new building. It's beautiful! Check out pictures from it at: http://picasaweb.google.com/krievans/ChurchOfTheHighlands

We had a great time meeting with some of the staff and just checking out Birmingham. We also got to visit with Greg's (and mine now!) great friends David and Ashley Brisco and their adorable kids - Timothy and Nathan.

Here we go...

So, I've been thinking about blogging for a while now. I've got a myspace and got my feet wet there, but I wanted something cleaner, easier to read. Then there's the question about what to write about...kids, children's ministry, church, life, leadership...it's going to be about all of these things. We'll just see how it goes! Hope someone out there will read it...