i dont know about you, but my life seems to run in seasons... and i don't mean the 4 seasons of weather that supposedly exist (i wouldn't know them, houston only has hot and hotter).
but seasons of lessons that god is teaching.. and this season's recurring theme is that living a life for christ costs something. and if you think the bible teaches that being a christian should mean an easy life... then you are reading a different bible than i am! pt.1 of counting the cost is: life is going to be tough. Jesus didn't die for us so that we can live a life of ease... he died for us to restore our relationship with our creator & part of this means restoring us to the holy people we were meant to be in the first place. as said by C.S. Lewis, "The job will not be completed in this life; but he means to get us as far as possible before death. that is why we must not be surprised if we are in for a rough time. When a man turns to christ and seems to be getting on pretty well... he often feels that it would now be natural if things went fairly smoothly. when troubles come along- illnesses, money troubles, new kinds of temptation...God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher level: putting him into situations where he will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than he ever dreamed of being before. it seems to us all unnecessary: but that is because we have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing he means to make of us." life for a christian will never be smooth sailing because on this side of eternity, we will never be perfected. god will constantly be pushing to make us better, more like him, and though its tough, it's what we want right? who wants to remain stagnant? who is satisfied with being sub-par? not me! i want to be all that god wants me to be... ...which means constantly working through the junk that god reveals is buried in my heart & mind. ...which means going through tough situations to refine & practice these new changes. ...which means learning pt. 2 of counting the cost... ...stay tuned.
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Spring is a season known for change and it's beauty. And while it's not my favorite Season of weather, it is my favorite season of Life. Why?? Because it was during late March in the Spring of 2016 that God called our family to live radically and step out in faith to trust Him completely in a very real way by joining a brand new church plant full time and fundraising our own salary. It was a time of BIG change and it has been a beautiful display of how God is faithful to provide for those who trust in Him. This particular week (the week leading up to my birthday... holllaaa!) is one of my favorites because knowing what I know now, when I look back through my journal entries of 2016, I can clearly see how quickly God answered our prayers. But it definitely didn't seem like that in the middle of things... and that's just how life is isn't it? When we have impending change on the horizon and huge prayer requests, it always seems as if that situation is all consuming and will be the biggest thing we walk through. But when we look back knowing how things turn out, though it may have been a life-changing situation, it's silly to think how much we let our anxiousness, doubt, worry, and simply fear of the unknown rule our thoughts and prayers. At least that's how it is for me. And I love having this very tangible reminder to look back on at this time every year to see that God is with us, He is listening, and He is responding. On March 18, 2016, I first wrote about being interested in joining the launch team of Real Hope Community Church: March 20, 2016 is the first time Percy also voiced to me that he too had been praying about the idea of joining Real Hope: On March 24, 2016 we were already brainstorming and praying about the idea of fundraising Percy's salary in order to join the staff full-time: And by May 13th, after many meetings and tons of prayer, we officially started fundraising! Now, 2 years later in March 2018, we have officially been living on a fully fundraised salary for 19 months and God continues to be faithful! I know that not every prayer request and season of life moves this quickly or ends up exactly like this but it serves as a reminder that God is not absent. There's no way that any of this would be possible for us without his direction and provision. So I'd love to use this example in my life to encourage you of 2 things: First and foremost: TRUST GOD. TRUST GOD. TRUST GOD. Trust is not just a hope that things will turn out well though. Trust is believing that God KNOWS what is best for you, that God is always FOR you, and that He will always provide HIS BEST. His best may not look like our best, but if what he has is TRULY what is best (and it is), I don't want it my way anways. No matter what that looks like. Second: Document your life! And I don't mean post pictures and updates on social media for you to check out on your TimeHop in the years to come. I mean, keep a record for yourself. A personal record. Where you can be real, raw, open, and honest. Where you write down everything that is happening to you, and all of your thoughts and feelings, in as much detail as you can muster so that you can look back years from now and say "Look how far God has brought us!" That's all I have for today! If you're in a season of waiting for unanswered prayer (as I'm sure we all are in some way) I hope this is just a tiny reminder to not give up hope, and to not let this season consume you.... instead, let the love of your heavenly Father consume you and he will not let you down! I promise! God Bless,
Marin We have officially met with a pediatric cardiology surgeon and have scheduled a PDA closure procedure for Knox on Oct 11 at 7 am.
To be honest, this has been a long journey of learning to lean on God in circumstances that we cannot control and we feel complete peace about how we have walked these steps out. But we are so ready for it to be behind us. I'm still not entirely sure why these are our circumstances, and we never will know for certain. But what I do know is that God has grown us and prepared us in ways that we're not even aware of yet. This extensive season of praying for healing has caused us to truly search and affirm our beliefs on healing and God's sovereignty. We have had to practice what we preach by trusting God no matter the outcome, and we've had to wrestle with ourselves when things don't go the way we want or believe they should go. I read this week that there are two types of storms: correcting and perfecting. This storm undoubtedly has been perfecting our faith by forcing us to not only live what we believe on the outside, but to also face and deal with doubts and disappointments on the inside, that we wouldn't have otherwise known were even there. Even though Knox has not been miraculously healed, we know that God absolutely is still able! We are just learning first-hand that sometimes God does not desire to spare us from the storm, but rather to walk through it with us. We have sought God's Will through every step of this journey and are confident that the procedure is the next door God desires for us to walk through. But with that being said, if God wants to perform a miracle in the last minute, we are absolutely welcome to that! Please join us in continuing to pray that God chooses to miraculously heal Knox, but if not, please pray that God is present in the procedure room and uses the doctor's talent and ability to showcase His glory in that way! Because honestly, the fact that doctors can detect and correct the issue in the first place is a miracle in itself and is only possible because of God! Thank you all for walking and praying through this season with us... we are so thankful for every call, email, comment, and prayer! This would not have been as peaceful a journey without you and we have been overwhelmed with your love, concern, and support! God Bless, Percy and Marin Hudson Easily one of the top 5 moments of my life occurred last night. It was one of those times when you realize in the midst of the moment, that this is a memory in the making... where you think to actually take a mental picture to save for later.
As many of you know, we have been walking a faith journey concerning Knox's heart for the last 10 months and as we walk closer to a procedure date, this mama's heart has felt the pull to ask for healing in an intense way, as you can imagine. So tonight, our little family huddled up on Knox's twin size bed to pray together- not just our normal bedtime prayers- but a more earnest and heartfelt prayer. And in the midst of this prayer, I look up to find my opinionated, wild, energetic boy quietly sitting between his parents, with a hand on each of our legs, staring up at his daddy... wide-eyed, and perfectly still and silent. Which if you know Knox even a little bit.... THAT DOES NOT HAPPEN. And this was just the most beautiful picture and representation of how I believe God desires for us to relate to Him in the toughest moments of our lives. Of course, He loves our personalities and conversations and He wants us to bring Him our desires and our troubles... but the best moments are when we sit quietly before Him, trusting that He knows best and has everything under control. Like our 2 year old, we may not necessarily even know what is really going on in the moment, but we know that our Father, who loves us more than anything, is with us, is protecting us, and is leading and teaching us. Tonight, I learned from my toddler a true picture of what it means to BE STILL AND KNOW. And though we have not received it yet, this season of praying for healing brought me this moment, and for that I am thankful. We have been meaning to get an update out about Knox's diagnosis but life has been so busy the last few weeks with traveling, camp, and summer programming at church, that time has gotten away from us! And honestly, it's taken some time to process and decide how and what I wanted to say. For those who aren't familiar with what I'm talking about, you can read our original post, but the short version is that back in February, we received the diagnosis that Knox has Patent Ductus Arteriosis (PDA), which is an extra blood vessel in his heart that was supposed to close at birth but did not close. The doctor's recommendation was a catheterization surgery in order to close the vessel so that he is not susceptable to bacterial infections and extra pressure on his heart and lungs. We decided not to take any action until after he turned 2 in order for him to get bigger and stronger, and to give God time to heal the condition on His own. We had many of you praying with us that God would supernaturally heal Knox and that when we went in for a second opinion, we would find that no further action was necessary. We took Knox for a second opinion on June 9, the day after his birthday, and unfortunately, the PDA is still there. To be honest, this news was a shock to me because I was completely confident that God could and would perform a miracle by healing it on His own and use this situation for His glory. But God's ways are higher than our ways. And just because He did not heal Knox the way we asked, does not mean He will not use this situation for His glory. The fact that doctors are able to detect and correct this condition with minimal risk in the first place, is a miracle in itself. It's just not the miracle we were asking for exactly. But that is okay! I won't pretend to know what all of God's purposes are in having us walk through this journey, but I do know that His purposes are good. His purposes are perfect. And that His plans are to prosper and give hope and a future! But I also won't pretend that it didn't take me some time to get to a place where that is my reaction either. I think sometimes that Christians put on a front that everything is good and that trusting God in difficult circumstanes comes easily to them and I don't know why we do that because it's not helping anybody! It's really difficult when God answers our prayers differently than we expected or asked Him to. Or worse yet, when it seems as if we don't get an answer at all. I know that I have the gift of Faith, but my Faith is FAR from perfect and walking through this journey has shown me things about myself and areas of my faith where I need to grow. Living in a mostly Christian American bubble, I've learned to hold some expectations of God and faith that just aren't Truth. God wants us to be joyful and content, not because our circumstances are perfect, but because He is perfect. To summarize the Book of James, it is very clear that we will go through many trials and struggles here on Earth, but these trials are to bring us closer to God. They are to train and refine us so that we continually become more like Christ. God has very clearly shown up for our family in amazing ways throughout the years and I expect this situation to be no different... not because He is going to spare us from it, but because He is going to walk through it with us! With that being said, here are a few ways you can join us in prayer: 1st and foremost: As always, we are praying that God's Will will be done in this situation. We only want what God has for Knox and desire for Him to reveal His plans to us, as He sees fit, as we walk through this so that any decisions we make as parents, align with His will. 2nd: We are not giving up on asking for a miracle! It is not too late for God to heal Knox so we are asking just that. Specifically, we are asking that at our next appointment (TBD) that the doctors will not be able to detect the murmur while listening with a stethoscope (which will mean that the vessel has gotten smaller or closed) which will render surgery unnecessary. It's not over until the surgery is complete, therefore we will not cease asking for supernatural intervention until that time. 3rd: We are asking for God's peace, that transcends all understanding. It is a scary thing for a parent to hear that anything is wrong with your child and that they need medical attention to correct it. But so far, God has given us incredible supernatural peace in this situation so please pray that God would continue to comfort and calm us while walking through this with us. Our desire is that God will receive the most Glory possible through our lives and if it is necessary for us to transparently walk out difficult journeys in order to help draw others to Christ, we will accept that calling. Thank you all so much for being so encouraging and supportive through this! We are thankful for each and every one of you! Please feel free to reach out with questions and comments, we love hearing from you!
God Bless, Percy and Marin Hudson Today, while digging through some boxes of books in our closet I ran across this photo... And I immediately thought "Wow! This place truly is so gorgeous! How could I ever forget that we used to live in a castle!" Yes, you read that right! When we first got married and worked at a children's home, we lived in this castle! Knox's first home was a castle... I can't wait for the day when we get to tell him that! I started thinking, "Why don't we tell more people about this!? It's one of the coolest things we've ever done!" And I have to admit.. when we first moved in, it's one of the first things we told people when we met them.. because it was so dang awesome! But after a while the novelty wore off, life got tough, living in a castle actually got difficult (because somebody has to clean that thing... and when you're living it.. that person is you!) and we actually just kinda forgot that we lived in a castle. It just became normal. Every day we would come home and just walk into a castle like it was nothing. Until we would meet someone new and they would find out we lived there and ask a bunch of questions, or until we would pull into the drive after a lengthy vacation, then we would remember how cool it was! But every time our excitement would build back up, we would inevitably get back into every day life and the awesomeness would eventually wear off again, until one day this awesome experience of living in a castle would become just a memory that's shoved into a box in the back of our closet... After a minute of looking at this photo and thinking back on the joys and trials during that season of life, God used this little moment to speak to me, as he often does. He reminded me that... I often treat Jesus' sacrifice the same way that I treated living in a castle. And I think it's something that all modern American Christians do at one point or another. Sure, your experience may be different than living in a castle, but we all know what it's like for the novelty and excitement of something new and awesome to wear off until it just becomes this memory that gets drowned out by the trials and routine of life. The same thing happens to our Faith. When we first meet Jesus and decide to commit our lives to Him we are so excited about it and spend a good chunk of our time and energy thinking about our new relationship, studying scripture, pursuing God's plan for us, and especially telling everyone we know about this new amazing thing that we have discovered! But then life happens. And while we don't forget about Jesus altogether, our Faith just becomes normal. We still pray and go to church, just as I would still go home to a castle, but the excitement wears off and soon enough it just becomes this thing that we do. We don't think about the magnitude and the awesomeness of it all anymore. Except when Easter or Christmas roll around or when someone new asks us about it. Even for those of us who are heavily involved in ministry and volunteering, church can become more about programming, curriculum, numbers, and getting things done, than about remembering that Jesus actually died for us. We get so wrapped up in our day to day check lists, and even in making sure that we do all that we can to invite others to church and produce an atmosphere where they feel welcome and safe... which is a great thing! But sometimes we get so busy that we forget to sit back and thank God for the sacrifice he made and just bask in the Glory of all that He is and does. It's so easy to get distracted by WHAT we are doing that we forget WHY we are doing it. And I never want to get lost in that. So today I am thankful that God still speaks and that He gave me a simple reminder to pause and think about just how amazing He is and how grateful I am that Christ laid down his life for me. Because I never want to get so busy working FOR Him that I forget to spend time WITH Him. Here's to hoping this little reminder goes beyond just helping me, but encourages someone else to remember Jesus and the WHY of it all today too! God Bless, Marin Yep! There's a castle in Texas for those of you who didn't know! The Texas Pythian Home is a non-profit basic child care facility in the DFW area. They do some awesome things for the kids who live there and give tours, so you should check them out!
In the Real Hope Next Gen Ministry, we have kids and students broken down into 4 phases, split into 5 classrooms, with 1-3 leaders each, teaching anywhere from 2-4 in our nursery all the way to a whopping average of 15 in the younger elementary classroom. In each of these areas, we are helping to “build a house” for the age group that we work with. We are constantly working to establish a firm foundation in Christ and help our Kids and Students shape the walls of their house using the Gospel. I am amazed each week at how all of this happens in the chaos of Next Gen Ministry, to the point where I have looked back on several weeks in wonder at how the Lord pulled off everything He managed to pull off! Now, we aren’t sitting on our hands wondering how God is going to make church happen each week. Real Hope Community Church has been uniquely equipped to handle the chaos of a Sunday morning with exactly what we need in Greeting, Next Gen, Main Service, Hospitality, and every other moving part we have. The important piece of this puzzle for our church, and every church, is recognizing what the Lord has given each of your unique ministries to work with. A little disclaimer could be helpful here in saying we are still only in our first year of church planting. We don’t have it all figured out as a church, and we probably never will. However, in the Next Gen Ministry, I have been able to recognize some simple tools and how to prepare and cultivate them, and my hope is that these tools can be useful in other ministries and other churches in whatever shape they take. Teams are not Tools At some point I will go into detail on how I build up my Next Gen Teams, but that’s not what today is about. We are still on a journey as a church to figure out exactly the right way to do Teams, and we learn new things about building and caring for our Teams all the time and do our best to implement them. Because our teams are so vital to everything we do as a church, I wanted to start this list by making sure it is clear that your Team Members are not Tools at your disposal. If there is one thing I can encourage anyone to do with any of this information it’s this: If you stop working before your house is finished, you might as well have built it on sand. But you can't build the house by yourself, and your teams can't help you if you don't equip them well. When I started out in ministry, I did a terrible job of caring for volunteers. If you had come into my ministry and tried to evaluate my volunteer ministry, you would have come out with a bullet point list something like this:
I took the foundation of my ministry and told my volunteers to help me hold up the roof of the Student Ministry without actually taking time to help them build their own walls, let alone teach them to help students. I expected them to know where I was headed each week without ever taking time to explain the vision or mission behind what I was doing. In my first years of ministry, I had a hot enough head to think that because God had trusted me with this ministry, I was the only one that was supposed to have authority in the lives of my students. I had a team so that I could have support, and I didn’t give a second thought to their Spiritual health unless it started to have an effect on the way they helped me. I used my teams as the walls, when really they should have been right alongside me building the walls. I can’t say that an evaluation of my ministry now would show anything close to perfect ministry, but it would probably show a list of all the things we are clearly working toward weekly. Things like:
You cannot ask your Teams to follow blindly and expect longevity of leadership; yours OR theirs, unless you take time to invest in them and provide their equipment. It is so important that your teams have as much of the 360-degree view of your ministry as possible. Find a way to build the vision of your church into the teams that you have, and meet with them, disciple them, lead them so they can effectively lead others. Engaging Environments A bland room leads to bland people. Why do you think weddings are colorful, or they bring disco balls to parties? Because the way you set up the room has an incredible effect on how people interact with each other in it. We work hard to bring in as much color and excitement into the room as possible. The nursery and preschool are filled with age appropriate toys and stations, our elementary and Jr. High students enter the room to energetic and uplifting music and we smile and laugh and goof off a lot! (because yes, volunteer, you help make the environment what it is!). Focusing on the way we set out an environment sets the pace for ministry that day and can make or break a kid’s reaction to a room. Making your environments fun, welcoming, and safe gives you an invaluable tool that, once you’ve got it set, only needs minor tweaks here and there. Quality Materials The number one tool we always bring on any Sunday morning is the material to get the job done. Each week, I have a checklist with what we need for that coming Sunday. Okay, Marin has the list, but I ask her about it a lot. A good sign of ill-equipped and ill-thought out classrooms is same-ness. If your kids are doing the same activities week in and week out, they are probably not very entertained. We want kids to want to stick around, to excitedly ask about when they get to come back to church! One of the best days I have had in our Kids Ministry is when a parent told me their child was disappointed when Tuesday wasn’t Sunday because they wanted to go to church. While providing engaging and fun games and activities for your ministry does take time and work, it will be worth it, and eventually it will be second nature, taking only a few minutes each week. Engaging, Truth-filled Messages Our teams can be energetic and go all out to entertain the kids in our ministries, but if the material they are teaching isn’t engaging AND truth-filled, then it’s time to re-evaluate the material. Whether it’s your personal delivery style or a curriculum your church has purchased, be aware of how the audience is interacting with it. This doesn’t mean that if a kid isn’t looking at you, smiling, and politely nodding their head that they aren’t engaged. In our Student Ministry, I approach speaking by telling the students this at the beginning of each message: “I have given you a paper with some blanks on it and plenty of room to write. If you want to take the notes I put on the TV, great. If you want to take your own notes because you hear something more important to your situation than what I have personally written down for you, great! If you want to doodle on or fold up the paper, even greater, I’d love to see your artwork!” And that’s it. Then I go straight into the message that I have prepared and I never cut myself off by pointing out a kid who isn’t paying attention. Monioring behavior is one thing I ask my team to do, but I also ask my leaders to only intervene when a student is distracting other students who are trying to engage with the message. If a hyperactive student is doodling instead of talking, I won, because that’s how that student stays focused and controlled. If a generally studious student is doodling instead of taking notes, they probably don’t understand or relate to the material that week, and I’m able to take a mental note to check in with them later. I’ve probably lost them and they want to appear polite. Now my delivery style doesn’t really change from week to week. The material does, so If I missed the mark with how I wrote the message, then it is my job to reevaluate how I am presenting the Scriptures to translate into the lives of the people I am communicating with. It is not my job to make kids listen to me who are uninterested or don’t understand. Evaluating and providing teachers and leaders with truth-filled and engaging materials is half of the battle, but just like everything else on this list, it does take time and energy to build and then renovate outdated material and methods. The younger generation is constantly changing; therefore our presentation and style should too. The Power of Prayer The last but most important tool that I make sure is available to my teams each week is prayer. I gather prayer requests from my leaders on Sunday Mornings and continually follow those up during the week if needed. I also pray over each element (activities, games, message, small group questions) of each classroom leading up to each Sunday. At the end of each week, when the office gets packed up and moved from the local coffee hole back to home, I want to make sure every ounce of what we do is covered in prayer, because when push comes to shove, nothing I do changes anyone’s life. I only get to be here, at this church, with the fantastic people I get to lead and work with, because of the grace and will of God. Ultimately, we put all the tools into place that we can find and arrange them in the best order we know how. We work to equip leaders and teams with everything needed to make Sunday Morning happen. We work hard to build each other up in grace and truth. But prayer is the thing that makes all of these other tools work. If Jesus is the foundation and the walls are made up of the message of the Gospel, then Prayer is the electrical conduit that powers everything, from the tools to the light switches that come on as we all learn together. What about you? Those are some of the tools that I focus my time on most each week. What are some tools that you have noticed are major keys to your ministry working the way it should? What are some tools you wish you had? Percy Hudson is the Student Pastor at Real Hope Community Church and is currently seeking his MDiV through B.H. Carroll Theological Institute "Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." |
Marin HudsonMarin likes to stay up late and write. But sometimes Percy will write as well. :) Archives
October 2017
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