A Squibblog

This summer I interned at Compass Christian Church in Dallas, TX.  More specifically I interned at their Roanoke, TX site under Jeremy Peterson and Trevor DeVage.  I began the internship with very little in mind or even a very good grasp as to what I would be doing.  I have sensed that in some ministry situations, at least at the beginning, this is often the case.  But you soon hit the ground running and begin developing a game plan.  That is what I did, with a little bit of “going with the flow” thrown in.

There have been several factors that have contributed to this being a beneficial and successful internship for me.  But before I get into those let me go over a little bit of what my summer has looked like.  When I first got here I took a little bit of time to just get to know the people and really build relationships within the church itself.  The church runs a little bit shy of 200 but that is changing weekly and hopefully they will soon blow past that mark.  This season of relationship building was a great foundation.  I soon jumped right in to teaching the youth every Sunday and went on several youth events to see the students and have a great time with them.  This was great because before you can ever speak a lick of wisdom to someone you must have a reason for them to listen to you.  This is best accomplished by them being your friend because we all listen to our friends.

Later I got to go to CIY, which was of course a great learning experience.  I was a sponsor but more than that I got to see some of the planning that went into it.  I also was privileged to see how to deal with problems.  Our buses broke down about 3 times, a kid had to go the emergency room and our bus got searched by the police.  It’s difficult to control 200 kids when there is a lot of drama going down.

On a weekly basis I got to sit in on all-campus staff meetings and specialized team meetings like the campus pastor’s team meeting, the creative team’s meeting, the preaching team’s meeting and the Roanoke campus staff meeting. There are lots of meetings in ministry but it’s all for the sake of ideas and encouragement so I liked it.

Finally I built a relationship with the local food pantry.  I put together a work day where we could serve them and do some painting, I also helped move furniture for them, and I visited Tinsy, the director, in the hospital after she had an infection.  That was one of my favorite moments this summer.  I visited other people in the hospital too and I really enjoyed getting to talk with them and pray with them.

On a multi-cultural level I have been blessed to observe the plant and growth of the Hispanic ministry here in Roanoke.  My friend, Jose Luis Camacho is the Hispanic minister at Compass and it has been great to learn Spanish a little from him and watch his dreams for the ministry he is starting begin to take place.  We had an outreach event that I was able to be a part of and I made some good friends in the Hispanic community.

The factors for me having had such a great experience are that I have received great resources, great mentors, great exposure to ministry, great relationships, and great opportunities to use my talents.  From access to many books, e-books, sermons, videos, study guides and research material, to ministers who have given me their time, their friendship and their input, to watching all the ways the church  works day in and day out and all the meetings and planning that goes into Sunday and every other day the ministry occurs, to people in the church who have opened their homes and the refrigerators to me and my wife and played cards and let us play with their kids and fed us and let us sleep under their roofs, to great conversations on Sunday and thankfully other days of the week as well, to getting my own hands dirty and being able to teach and study and learn and serve and plan and organize and everything else that goes into ministry.

Whew…that was a run-on sentence if I ever have seen one but you know there is so much more I could say about my internship at Compass Christian Church but one thing sums it up pretty well.  The Holy Spirit moved, is moving and will continue to move here because Jesus is present in His body in this place.

I have a dream…

I remember another man who had a dream.  Martin Luter King.  But his dream was to bring equality and even true freedom to a group of people.  My dream is different but still similar too.

I dream that the Body of Christ learns to utilize its resources.  My title refers to a fusion between Theology, technology and innovation.  Where do we stand in the Christian world and what are it’s priorities?  Christians exist to glorify God and to make disciples who will glorify God.   So are we doing that?  the answer is yes…but the true question is are we doing it the best and most efficient we can?  The answer is no.

First we need to have the right foundation, because if we don’t ensure that we start right than there is a good chance we won’t end right either.  We must hold as the highest principle the teachings of Jesus.  His words are living water and he set the perfect moral example for us.  God’s word is our standard and his Spirit is the animating element that brings us to act.

Next we must produce.  Creativity doesn’t exist in our minds…it flows from the work of our hands and the act of putting our thoughts into action.  Thoughts that simply sit in our head and are never acted upon will never bring anyone any good.  Now I obviously mean good and productive thoughts not sinful ones. The kingdom needs our thoughts, God wants our thoughts…but not to stop at thinking but rather to create and take our thoughts and make them real…tangible. God didn’t sit around thinking how nice it would be if he could see in the dark.  But rather God spoke and there was light…

God’s image is in us and when we create, God smiles because his children are acting like him.  We glorify God with the works of our hands especially the ones that further his causes and his ultimate purpose.  Unfortunately we are not God and we will fail.  This is another aspect that we must be ready to accept.  Failure isn’t a bad thing but rather a chance to learn and to come at a problem from  another angle…often times with a much better result because failure makes us ask questions like “why?”  So fail!  Please fail…and when you do look at your block of marble through new eyes and see a new dream and a better vision. Maybe you failed because God was saying…you can do better than that, this could be so much more than what you are thinking it could be!

Now all the principles apply in so many ways to so many areas of ministry.  But my dream that I have is for the church to use creativity and technology to innovate.  Technology is a tool.  And in the proper hands of someone with the right intuition can be utilized to bring about amazing results.  I understand that people are afraid of change and that sometimes new things don’t work out for the best.  But I guarantee you that a humble heart and a persistant spirit along with innovation will transform entire communities and communities of communities.

Imagine…

what would it look like if the body of Christ used innovation to share messages across multiple internet platforms.

What about a social network for churches?  Why do half the people in one town go to one church and the other half go to another church but nobody knows each other?

What if databases were used to store information not so we could use information for selfish means but rather for tracking purposes.  Who gets tired of filling out a card every week at church?  There has to be a better way to capture demographics.  What about a card system? G.E. and IBM are revolutionizing the medical paperwork filing system to make it all electronic.  They will be able to share massive amounts of patient data instantly all over the world and they will save billions of dollars in the process.  How can we as the church do something similar?  How can we do something better?

How do we reach out to people who don’t come to church?  Why not have a chat session live during sermons that are broadcast live?  Or how about when you go to a website of a big corporation and a chat box opens and asks you if you would like to chat?  What if churches had the same capabilities?

What about people seeking resources?  Perhaps a database of resources could be made complete and available.

What about video games?  Video games create community.  What if churches sponsored events and activities that were not about ulterior motives but rather simply about getting people together for a good time to do something they love?

What if small groups were so connected that they truly were like family to one another and they knew all about each other through various means such as email, calendar syncing, twitter, facebook, blogs, phone calls, text messages, prayer chains, etc… This would lead to a revolution in prayer and accountability.  This could be made more private like a small social network just for small groups and not for all the world but maybe for everyone to see…whatever meets the individual needs.

What would it look like if the church led the way in the green movement?  What if the church loved the environment instead of having the mindset that Jesus is coming back and he’ll  remake the earth someday so we might as well trash it while we got it….Paul says, “Should we keep on sinning so that grace may abound? By No Means!”  If the church could have the vision for the future to see that green materials cost more initially but save money long term perhaps we could make a difference.

What about video and graphic arts?  Marketing and archiving are important.  What if the church used creative abilities to brand and create art to go along with mission, vision, values, messages, events and even people.  Take truth wherever you find it and speak it but sometimes you need to paint it too…or photoshop it.  And what if we documented our journey and the journey of our people?  What if video and photography was used to capture the love and joy and pain and sorrow and trials and journeys that we as a body of believers have shared in together?  Then we could use those resources to tell a story.  And isn’t it all about telling a story?  To tell the greatest story of all time we sometimes have to tell a lot of little stories, but they don’t seem little because they are the stories of individual lives.  Of victories and defeats and lessons taught and learned.  What if we captured these things?  What if we made art work and told a story with them?

What if we equipped missionaries on a global scale to communicate with congregations they are from?  Or to any body of believers.  Imagine the moral support and spiritual support?  What if we used technology to build a system for accountability for missionaries?  What if we used technology to allow missionaries access to resources, lessons, teachers, podcasts, databases, programs, networks, or graphics…all to help tell the story of Jesus.  What if we used technology to track and learn about the stories of people in other countries.  To find hope and joy in their walks with Christ?

Some of these things are being done, some are not, some never will be and many that I don’t know about will shake the very core of this planet and the people that inhabit it. All I know is that we are all ministers and we all are called to live in the light.  We have nothing to hide and we have no excuses for getting our hands dirty, giving everything we have, using every tool available, and being at the forefront of innovation.  Too often I see the church get hand-me-downs or second rate things.  ”Oh we can’t use this so you can have it, or I have a little spare time so I can help out.”  No give God the majority of your effort if not all, and give God your best, not a second or third offering, but your first offering, let it be sweet to God.

May your mind be a sweet offering to the Lord and your hands be ever at work.  I pray we find hope for the body and make it the defining characterisitic about this world.  Lets be thinkers and doers for there is nothing holding us back.  The sky is not the limit…heaven is.

I had a thought today.  Okay I had two thoughts.  My first thought was to post a blog about how I  am doing.  So here it goes.  It’s Hot in Dallas…who would’ve thought?  I am loving all the people I am  meeting and am learning so much.  I am learning about resources and narrowing my vision for the future and I am trying to lose weight!  So all these are blessings and good things.  I miss my wife terribly.  I don’t believe that God makes it easy to be apart from your spouse.  But thats where we get the old saying, “Distance makes the heart grow fonder.”

Now to my other thought.  What is teaching?  Teaching is the transfer of knowledge or rather…truth.  2+2=4.  This is true.  When you teach someone this you are telling them the truth about a matter and helping them to retain that information.  So teaching is the transfer of truth and assisting in retaining that truth.  My prayer is that I will always teach truth and have the courage to stick it out and help those I teach to retain and grow from the truth.  To teach out of the Spirit is to teach in such a way that our Spirits are influenced and they are awakened to action.  This is where our relationship with God comes in.  Because we do not have the words or the skill needed to heal another person’s soul.  We can very easily botch it more likely than not.  We are a vessel that God can use to make His message more effective.  The Holy Spirit can flow through us but we must be willing.

Anyways…my prayer is to teach with the Spirit in mind.  I pray I do not teach for my own glory, so that I look good, or so that I just don’t look bad.  I don’t want to teach to fulfill an obligation.  I don’t want to teach simply because I may grow smarter through the process.  Rather I want to teach because teaching is what God has called all of us to do.  We are all  called to tell the truth to one another and to stand by each other when it isn’t so easy to  remember what faith looks like.

I am in Dallas.  The land of a million opportunites…I think.  Anyways let me update you who  read our blog. 

I arrived in Dallas about 9 days ago.  I have gone to church, met a bunch of people, heard a lot of wisdom, had some fun but its a little bittersweet without my wife.  I stayed with close friends the first week and let me stop there and say something about hospitality.  I love it!  I am so thankful for the way people open up their homes and their hearts.  I know it isn’t easy and it costs more money to feed and shelter three people instead of two.  I was really blown away by my friends and how they gave and gave and gave to me…just because they love me.  I know that the Lord used them and is at work in  their lives.  You owe me 20 bucks for saying all those nice things about you Kyle.  =)

Now I am staying with Jeremy at his house while his wife and kids are out of town.  So far he has been nice too. 

My prayer this week is to learn to grasp what ministry is here.  I want to soar and not crawl.  I want to move mountains not fill in mole hills.  I know the Lord has the power  to use even someone like me but learning how to open myself up for it is a different story entirely.  I think it boils down to just giving up everything and I mean everything, leave nothing behind of your former self.  Once you don’t care about yourself then suddenly a whole new world opens are you’re willing to take risks and do things a different way.  I pray for a healthy fear that pushes me forward. 

The future is unseen. But I stand ready.  Lets do this.

Wow its been a while! We are both horrible about posting. Mainly because our life is really only interesting to us… but for some reason it is still fun to let people know what’s going on. So here you go :)

Josh left today for his internship in Dallas with Compass Christian Church. He will be there for about 2 and a half months working with various people from the satellite churches there and also the main campus. It sounds like he will be very busy and I know he will do excellent!  He will be staying with friends and then wherever the church finds for him to live.

Josh took Bear down with him to live with my sister, Kayla, for the summer. I hope she is patient with him. He needs it. So now it is just the girls at home.

Bella and I are really sad. Well I am and she is sad that I am sad. She’s just been laying next to me all day. If I get up she  follows me and the lays down again where ever I move to. Really pathetic.

I am in Joplin to teach summer school and make a little money for the baby… or car. I cannot wait to visit Josh in less than 2 weeks for a joint Birthday/Father’s day visit. I’ll then be joining him in Dallas for July.

We will be finding out the gender of our baby on July 3rd, as long as everyone cooperates :) I will be 21 weeks. Crazy how I know I will blink and then Ill be holding our sweet baby but at the same time I cannot get today over with so I can start tomorrow and get on with this month.

To keep me company, Carolyn will be moving in. I am very excited because in all our years of friendship we have never been room mates.

So I thought I would give you just a small insight into our evenings with one of our dogs Bear. He is currently a year and 4 months old. Some would say he is still in his puppy stage. I would say he had better get out of it soon or get out of the house. Keep in mind he is night and day when Josh is home so tonight Josh is obviously not home. He left for work while I was trying to take a quick nap around 5:50.

5:57 I wake up because the dogs are fighting in their crate. They don’t normally share an open crate but we left the divider at my grandparents house and have no desire to drive an hour so the dogs can be separated. So they are fighting over a fuzz in the crate so I get up and let them out. They are hungry so I put Bear in his pen (on the tile floor) so he can eat and not disturb Bella’s food.

After approx. 3 minutes he informs the that he is done  by peeing on the floor. Did i mention its tile and he have the pen in there for a reason. So I spank him and tell him hes a bad boy and put him on the balcony while I clean up the mess. Then I bring him in and he comes over for a quick cuddle then goes off to play.

They got a raw hide yesterday so they are happy to chew on that as I put in Marley and Me and begin the daunting task of entering 3 weeks of grades. (I am severely behind)

As I am watching Marley and Me I realize just how much Bear resembles Marley. About 30 minutes into the movie i notice that Bear has gone out of sight. This is usually not bad but I dont know whats on the floor in the hall that he may think looks good so I call him. He doesn’t come. This is bad. I quickly jump up and find that oh yes he has pooped nasty crap all over the carpet by the doorway. I pick him up as he tries to run to his crate and hold him over his accomplishments. He hates this because it smells so incredibly repulsive. Then I spank him on he bottom 2 times. The second time I missed his rump and got his bony knee and wouldn’t you know but it burst a blood vessel in my ring finger. It hurt so bad so I tossed him on the balcony and shut the door and ran my finger under water. Then after about 5 minutes I cleaned up the poo and went to let Bear in, got both dogs on their leashes and took them outside. Once out in the light i notice he has poop in his tail. Gross, so I take them inside and walk him into the bathroom. Now remember my finger is throbbing… I gave him a quick bath, focusing on the tail and just as I was about to bend over to get him out… he starts to drink the water- with feces in it and all and then he jumps up and out!!!

I love this dog I really do but sometimes I just can’t handle it and have to wonder what my stress level would do if I didn’t have to constantly be looking around to see what kind of trouble the dog is getting into.

Which by the way as I wrote this post I had to call him out of trouble/mischief 7 times…

This is Bear.

This is Bella- She’s 2 and a month and very well behaved. Which gives us hope about Bear… kinda.

So heres a quick (but realistically not so short) overview of what has been going on in the life of the Squibb’s. 

Starting on March 7, 2009- The Squibb’s find out their pregnant!!!!!

        Elyse had a sneaky suspition something was up with her, so she took a pregnancy test. It was a cheap one but it looked like it came out positive. We waited and sure enough that pink line showed up a little darker. So we ran to Wal-mart and went for the expensive kind…

March 8, 2008

      As soon as we woke up Elyse took another test this time it was a digital test. You know the kind that anyone who can read can figure out. It said PREGNANT. So now we’re positive we are pregnant and we do a little research to find out that we are probably about 4 weeks along. After jumping up and down and getting over the shock of “is this really happening” we realized that our lives are about to change forever. This is a humbling and amazing feeling.

      We started to do the math and find out that according to the computer our baby will be due Friday, November 13th. This is all very exciting news for sure but our Japan trip was a week away and the whole purpose of going was to find out about an internship for Josh. So Josh continues to plan and prepare for the trip while Elyse tries to wrap her head around what’s going on in side her. We realize pretty quickly that the purpose of this trip just changed alot.

Fast forward to Japan.  

      We are loving it and meeting amazing God loving people. Josh is quickly picking up on words and phrases and we have a pretty good idea for how transportation works just about anywhere in Osaka. In fact our baby’s heart probably started to beat while we were there. Pretty amazing huh. So while we are there we pray and seek Gods wisdom and guidance on our decisions. 

March 25th- riding a day bus back from Tokyo

     Josh and Elyse decide that perhaps an internship in Japan isn’t going to work out like we had hoped which is totally fine because our motto at this point in our life is “babies don’t ruin plans they change them” and it’s more than okay if we don’t rush over there in August. Although we both feel that the future may hold some sort of stay in Japan at some point.  

 Which brings me to today, March 26th

     We have so many directions our life can go in at this point.
- Stay in Joplin to be covered by Elyse’s insurance and have the baby there. This means finding a new place with a yard so the dogs don’t go insane with the baby and Josh would find a temporary other job.
- Move to Katy to be closer to family. This means Elyse would start at a new school and Josh would also be finding a job in Texas
- Josh could pursue an internship with Southeast who offers year long opportunities and would give him a chance to see what missions looks like from the church side.  Elyse would probably not work in a school since this would be such a short term thing and she would be out of the class for so long anyways. 
- Multiple other options that we have yet to explore and work out details of such as trying to find a summer internship for Josh, trying to get OCC to go back and let him count previous internships as his credit, …ect.

All of this to say, please be praying for us and our growing family. Pray for the baby that it will continue growing healthy and strong. Pray for guidance for Josh and Elyse as they are at a major fork in the road in their life. We know that as we prayerfully seek Gods wisdom and guidance he will bless us in our decisions and hopefully will always keep Godly friends surrounding us in prayer.

Thank you for taking time to try to understand where we are at.

In Him,

Josh and Elyse