Bluegrass Bound: A Reflection on Four Years in Kansas City
My bags are packed, my two weeks are in at Trader Joe’s, and I’m saying my goodbyes in Kansas City. It is so bittersweet and exciting at the same time. I believe in making this move to Kentucky that it is causing the reality of spending 11 months overseas so real.
The weekend before last, my class from the International House of Prayer University (IHOPU) graduated. My best friend walked with her black robe, and her husband as well. My old worship team’s leader strode down the isle with his cap and that quirky goofy grin. I stood proudly as my old piano teacher saw me from a distance and winked his eye in recognition.
(Last worship team as a music student in the fall of 2014.)
I was there in the audience with emotions like happiness, regret, and confusion swirling about within me. A year and a half ago I was forced by illness to put a pause on my music and ministry leadership studies. From the moment that I committed to going to ministry school as a high school student, I dreamed of dawning that cap and gown, walking that stage, and whispering silently to myself, “I did it.”
(Awakening Teen Camp, summer 2011)
Last summer when my health and my immune system was healed, I then started making plans to continue with my music training. But an uneasiness about returning led me to seek the Lord during the summer of last year about this subject. In August of 2015, the Lord made it clear: “It is time to go to the mountains.” This phrase is a personal promise from the fall of 2012 as I was marked by a story of a missionary who went to the mountains in a region where him and his team were able to share the gospel with a people who had never seen a white man before as well as never hearing the sweet name of Jesus. In that moment three years ago the dream of going met the necessity of going: there are those who have never heard His name. I desire to lift high the name of Jesus through prayer, worship, and in lifestyle in such a way that it brings many people into giving God His rightful rule in their hearts.
(Serving on ministry teams throughout my time as a student with IHOPU.)
Monday morning I will be leaving a big city with a big heart in my little volvo to the “hub of the universe,” Kentucky (thats what my pastor’s wife back home calls my hometown.) I am literally driving away with so much that I have learned: humility, the value of the word, the fervency of prayer, the urgency of the hour, the power of a cup of coffee, and how the life of a believer should really be lived.
Humility, because I have learned the bad news that all have fallen short. I have been blinded by my sin of pride in “being forgiven much” and haven’t been able to see the sin of self-righteousness in my heart. If all have fallen short, then all are forgiven much.
The value of the Word, because it is the daily renewal of my mind. His word is truth, and it washes me daily. His Word breaths life into the cobwebs of my soul.
The fervency of prayer, that it is not a side ministry but it the very core of all ministry activity. Ive learned this at a place where there has been continual 24/7 prayer with worship since 1999. I have learned my DNA as an intercessor… as someone who wars with Jesus for things that are on His heart.
The urgency of the hour, in knowing that I am part of the universal body of Jesus Christ. I know that I am part of His bride, and that He is coming for a pure and spotless bride. & I desire to be a friend of the bridegroom who helps prepare His bride for the coming of the King. The Worship and Prayer movement is a catalyst for this. Jesus is coming back for a singing bride.
The power of a cup of coffee, I love the coffee scene. I kind of put this in here for humor, but taking a friend out to coffee and being intentional. I was a barista for two years in Kansas City, and have mad respect for coffee artisans.
How the life of the believer should really be lived, because we should be about our fathers business all the time. Not just in church, but at the gas station when we are filling up our tanks, or at that small coffee shop, or in those conversations with out tattoo artists. Jesus is worthy of it all.
I grew in love for Jesus and for others, and also grew in confidence in who I am before God.
I hiked mountains, literally and figuratively.
In being a student and an Intercessory Missionary at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, I have had the opportunity to travel to Pagosa Springs, CO about four times to strengthen the church, and to see the kingdom abound more and more! When I first went with IHOPU in 2013, I had no idea how a mission trip could be to the church. After years of fellowship with the church in Pagosa Springs, and study in the Word I now see missions and ministry through the eyes of the church.
In October of this year I will be launching with a team of radical young adults who are passionate to see the love of God change the people groups of the earth. We will be joining with Adventure in Missions as they partner with different churches and ministries throughout Southeast Asia, Africa, and in Eastern Europe. I am excited to build the kingdom and give God His rightful rule in the nations of the earth.
(With Kat Githens, one of my fellow Team Members on the World Race.)
