More Indy Pix...

Well, it's been anything but quiet this week out in Indy.  A cool front passed through last night and after an awfully hot week it has turned milder and drier.  The team took the day off to rest up for week two of the trip after a busy week one.

We tore off old paneling and the some hideous ceiling tile at 1436 Montcalm as well as landscaped all around the yard.  The place is looking good on the outside and getting there on the inside.  The old garage on the back of the property was cleaned out of all kinds of odds and ends that get stored in old garages and is now gaining back some of its dignity but it still needs a lot of work.

On the Southside we cleaned out 31 Karcher.  It had been a long term rental and suffered terrible abuse.  The debris and the old stinking carpet are out of it and the walls have been scrubbed down.  Next steps include more general cleaning and then repairing and repainting the walls.  The backyard of 31 Karcher was also cleared of debris and some old fences taken down.  The yard will get some grading and raking and hopefully some grass seed this week.

Saturday night we celebrated Pentecost with a BBQ on Karcher St.  The forecast was for storms but we prayed in the morning for clear weather and by the time we started it was a beautiful Indiana summer evening.  The Indy branch, some of the Muncie Branch, the Action folks, the Christians in Mission and a contingent of Southside neighbors gathered under a big tent for a prayer meeting.  Michael Coney led the meeting and the Indy music ministry served us well.  It was a night a great praise and worship.  Along toward the end of the meeting prayer teams set up around the yard and people got prayer for more of the Holy Spirit.  It was a great evening.  CIM did a wonderful job again.

We're off and running on week two of Indy #1.  Here's a few pix courtesy of Trish Brewer.

Indy Trip #1

Barbara and Mary Brophy

Pentecost Tent Meeting on the Southside

Katherine, Caitlyn, Mary and Haidy

Gabi's Big Board - Keeping us moving!

Michael Coney welcoming everyone on the Southside

Barbara, Meghan, Kathleen, Liz, Caitlyn, Gabi, Addison, Laura and Mary

Indy Action Underway

It's day three of Indy Action Summer Trip #1.  The team is working hard in very hot conditions and doing it all in a wonderfully generous spirit.  Each time we pray together we look at another story from Acts where the Holy Spirit is poured out on the church.  We're praying for a fresh outpouring of the Spirit this Saturday at our Pentecost meeting.  Come Holy Spirit.

This week we're working on 1436 Montcalm St.  The house is slated to be the second women's campus household in the Fall.  We'll have at least 14 women living in our campus households next year in two houses.  The house was made into a duplex some years ago and this summer we're putting the two apartments back together to form a single family house once again.  Years of neglect and a whole series of quick fixes that were installed over its years as a rental need to be fixed up so the house will be ready.

Another project has been gutting a house on Karcher Street on the Southside.  This little duplex has suffered severe neglect and needs a lot of love an attention to be livable once again.  The work down on that house on Karcher is hot and dirty.  The Action folks are laboring hard to get the place cleaned out.

We're especially blessed this trip to have Jack and Haidy Busekrus with us from the Oahu branch.  These two troopers are on their second trip to Indy and just like last year, they are working hard to move things forward.  Their faith, good humor and willingness to dive into the work are an inspiration to us all.

Here's a few pictures:

John Mysliwiec and Jack Busekrus working on 1436 Montcalm

Andrea Kane and Haidy Busekrus

The project on Karcher

Paul Kane and Mike Coney on the Southside

Pentecost meeting tent on the Southside, Come Holy Spirit

Lunch on the front porch of the duplex.

The lunch crowd.

Josiah Johnson working on 1436 Montcalm.

Thank God !

All three of our campus sisters were admitted to the Nursing School at IUPUI for Fall 2011.  Thank the Lord for their hard work and for answering our prayers.  Entry into the Nursing program is very, very competitive so we're especially happy that the Lord and their hard work has opened this door for them.

I asked each of them to say something about how Campus Household living affected them in the pursuit of their academic goals and here's some of what they said:

Meghan, Annie and Cathy

Annie Putzier: Praise God for the Triangle in Indianapolis! I can not explain enough how much of an impact household and campus division life made on my success academically my first year of college. God is so faithful. Living in the campus division, we are called to learn all that the Lord has for us to learn, as well as to put out studies in common. It is definitely the case that all the nine other women I lived with this past year encouraged me and allowed me to be the best student I could be. Studies are a priority for all of us, and I am so thankful for that. I didn't have to worry about friends not understanding when I decided to spend Friday and/or Saturday nights studying, because most often they were up studying with me! And when the work load became overwhelming, there was never a lack of housemates around to pray over me and for me in my studies. I experienced God's overwhelming peace this year in whatever challenges or uncertainties I faced: a difficult class, an upcoming tests or projects, applications for jobs, the application for nursing school...whatever it was, I knew God's hand was in it, and that His will would come about, whether or not it lined up with my plans.

God is working in huge ways in the Triangle and at IUPUI. I love the life God has called me to in Indy and look forward to the (at least) next 3 years there!!

Pam and Jacqueline

Jacqueline Magill: I am so grateful for the way in which my sisters in household supported me this past year. I could not have succeeded without their continual encouragement and prayer. I was blessed to share classes with and study with my sisters. I really benefited from talking over with them ideas discussed in class. Pam's encouragement, experience, and help during my application to nursing school was a huge advantage. She graciously edited my application essay and took me out to discuss the application process, my goals, and hear how she has brought and continues to bring Christ to the nursing field.

I had a hard interview in the application process. At first, I was very worried that I would still get into the nursing program and frustrated that this should happen to me. But then I realized who better could it have happened to? I had the tremendous support of my sisters in household and faith in our Father.

Although I would say this past year has proved by far the most challenging of all my previous academic years, and I was often anxious that I would be accepted to the IU School of Nursing, again and again, I saw the Lord in my studies. I knew that what was required of me to get into the program and the perfect GPA that I needed to maintain was beyond my abilities. I learned this year what it truly means to rely on the Lord's help in my studies. I found myself saying often on many papers and many tests, "OK, Lord. This is all that I can do. You're going to have to come through for me. If You want me to be a nurse, You're going to have to make it happen." On many a test, paper, and class, I felt His presence and His help tangibly. I know that I was admitted to nursing school because of His power and love. I am deeply indebted to the Father and I am very excited to serve Him as a nurse! Praise the Lord!

Cathy Schwab

Cathy Schwab: This past year of living in household was essential for my acceptance to nursing school. Schoolwork, of course, was a substantial part of these, but my residency status in Indiana was still a question through the first week of January, plus, working at Riley enabled me to go to school at IUPUI from a financial standpoint. In the midst of all of this, household and the relationships born from it were my tether to the Lord and his faithfulness.

There would be times throughout the year when I would be discouraged with my schoolwork and tempted to breeze my way through it, to get it done for the sake of completion and not actual learning. Then, I would walk through the living room and see one or two of my friends in household glued to their anatomy book, planning a physiology mentoring session, or writing a 20 page research paper. Their commitment to their schoolwork was exceptional and by their example, I was encouraged to persevere in my studies.

When I received the news the first semester that my initial request for Indiana Residency was not approved, it was my sisters in household who brought the Lord's peace through their words and actions. I knew that I wanted to serve the Lord by going to school here in Indy, but it could not happen financially without residency. When I appealed the ruling and met with the the Admissions Board at IU, one of my sisters came with me for support, which made all the difference in my peace of mind. Being granted the residency through the appeal was a victory for Lord. My household and the entire campus team prayed this one in! I would not be going to nursing school at IUPUI without it.

My sisters in household have also been essential in supporting my job at Riley Hospital, which has provided the monetary means for me to live in Indy and attend IUPUI. I know many coworkers who go home after their shift to a lonely life consisting of few people with whom to share the hardships and joys that accompany this job. When I came home from the day, I had the opportunity to share these issues over dinner with 9 other women. I experienced the Lord in my sisters' encouragement and interest through these conversations in a way that enabled me to continue to love my job and persevere. It was within these dinner conversations that my sisters shared what they experienced throughout their days, inviting me to turn my focus on the Lord in their lives and avoid dwelling on my day in an unhelpful manner. The Father took care of me through my sisters, thereby enabling me to continue working and going to school.

If I have learned anything from the path of getting into IU Nursing School, it is that God is good. He is ever faithful and desires to reveal his love for us through our life together here on the Campus Team.

Summer Plans '11

Plans are coming into focus for our Indy Action Summer 2011.  The growth of our work in Indy is going to keep everyone very busy this summer.

On the Southside we have recently purchased a very run down little duplex right on Karcher St.  (Karcher St. is the heart of our Christians in Mission work on the southside).  This house isn't very pretty... yet.  We'll probably end up gutting a lot of it and preparing it for eventual renovation.  I'll be posting some "before" pictures soon on this property.  This property is on the verge of ruin.  Pray the Lord provides the means to resurrect it from "mostly dead" to alive in Christ.

In the Triangle we have a big job to renovate a house that is currently two apartments but needs to be one single family house to accommodate our growing student population.  We'll need to fix up the kitchen, install a working laundry room and connect the two apartments in some livable way.  It's a real challenge.  We are growing from 22 to 27 in the campus work next fall so this project is important to making our life happen.

On both the Southside and in the Triangle, we plan to do a great deal of work on neighborhood improvements which include scraping, caulking, painting, landscaping, debris removal, and general fixing up.  No special skills required (other than willingness to work hard), so come on down and give us a hand.

I know I've mentioned this before but if you have some time to spare this summer we could use your help.  We're also looking for ways to fund our summer staff stipends.  The Action Summer Staffers are mostly college students who ask so very little for their summer of work with Action.  Despite the low, low stipends they receive, the cost of staff stipends remains a major expense of summer Action.  If you'd like to make a donation to help these folks, you can do so by sending a check to:

People of Praise,  attn:  John Xenakis
107 S. Greenlawn
South Bend, IN 46617

If you'll mark the check "Summer Action Staff" in the memo line that would really help.

May the Lord be with us this summer as we labor in his name.

walt

44 Days

Just 44 days before Indy Action One arrives. There's room for you to join the trip. So maybe it's been a few years since your Action days and maybe you think you've moved on with life yada yada but you can come back and do it again and we need your help and experience...or maybe you've never been on an Action trip but always thought it was a good thing to do, why not make a trip this summer?

Can't do two weeks? We can work it out.

Want to bring your spouse along? We can work it out.

No way you can make it this summer? We're trying to raise money to pay the Summer Staffers who give up the majority of their summer and work 24/7 for a small stipend. If you'd like to help, send a check to People of Praise, Attn: John Xenakis, 107 Greenlawn, South Bend IN 46617 and write ACTION STAFF 2011 in the memo space.

Pray that the Lord bless this summer and that he would send us all the folks that he needs for the work he wants done.

All for his glory.

Ready?

Ready?

We're getting ready for the end of the semester here in Indy.  Next week is the last week of classes and then finals -- everyone seems to be heading in a good direction in classes, praise God.

Ready?

We're gearing up for Action Summer.  We have just a few key vacancies left to fill for summer staff and then we'll be set to welcome this summer's visitors.  We have a lot of work planned and we're hoping you'll come on out to help.

Ready?

We have four guys in the application process for the Action Summer Intern household and we're expecting more very soon.  The household is open to High School guys who want to make a difference by getting their hands dirty doing the work of citybuilding.

Ready?

Is your men's group or women's group ready for a change of pace?  Why not organize a road trip to help out this summer during Action trips?  Get away from the usual meeting routine and do something different.  We're ready to host you here in Indy this summer.  All you have to do to decide to come and we'll work out the details.

Finally,

Last weekend Indy branch hosted their Action Auction and it was a great event.  Everyone had a great time and we raised a nice donation for the work of Action.  Thanks to the Indy Action team for making it happen.  Here's a few pictures courtesy of Trish Brewer:

David Gruber 

Meghan Couch and Andrea DeLee

Melissa Rader and Naomi Caneff

George Kane, Walt Seale, Chris Walker

Three ways...

Three ways to do something for the kingdom this summer:

1.  Come on an Action Trip.  There are three trips available this summer here in Indy.  We have a great deal to accomplish both here in the Triangle and on the South Side.

2.  Join the Action Summer Intern household.  This summer we are organizing a summer household for High School men here in Indy.  ASI guys will arrive on or about 6 June and stay through July 24 or so.  We're looking for guys who want to earn a little money, live in the men's household and do something constructive for the kingdom of God.

3.  Action Summer Vacation.  We've set aside some space for couples and families to spend some part of their vacation working on an Action trip.  It'll be a vacation with a purpose!  You'll join in on the work and on the team meetings and see for yourself just what the Lord is doing here in Indy.  Last year we hosted three couples and they were a huge help.  We're flexible on time commitments, so think it over.  This may be your year to make an Action trip.  We'd love to have you here.

We enjoyed a visit from the Missionary Company this past weekend.  It was so encouraging to hear their stories of the Lord making a difference in the Mississippi River valley.  Pray for our missionaries as they labor in the name of our King and in the name of the People of Praise.

Missionaries joined us for Lord's Day in the Triangle

Downhill Run

 Three more weeks of classes and a week of finals and we'll be done for the school year.  Went by fast. Our last Lord's Day will be on 7 May.

 We're planning to finish strong and get some rest before Action Summer starts on June 6th (that's coming on fast!).

Our three nursing school applicants have all received interviews for entry into the class next fall.  Say a prayer they all get in.

We're gearing up for Action Summer so pray that we can find the right group of summer staffers to make it all work.  This summer we're also doing an Action Summer Intern household for high school guys.  The ASI guys will stay for all three Action sessions here in Indy and live in household together.  We're hoping that they get some experience in household living and learn some valuable work skills.  Pray that we get that off the ground and find the right staff and good candidates.

Oh that reminds me...have you ever done an Action trip?  Come on and do it and you don't have to be a teenager to be a big help.  We need you.

Planning for next year !  Pray for those making college decisions over the next month or so.  We hope to add at least 50% more students next year so pray the Lord provides all we need to make that work (He will).

Some recent pix courtesy of Trish Brewer:

Lord's Day activity

Chris and Trish birthday cakes.

They match!

Pam and Rachel playing Irish tunes.

Isaac and George + Corned Beef !

Trish and Meghan did a HS girls retreat in New Orleans

"Oh come on, smile."  So we did.

Lord's Day conversation

Thanks for the Prayers

Well, the high school guys retreat is now history.  We had 40 men here in Indy for the weekend and it was a good time in the Lord.  We talked about making the Lord the center of our life and outlined some ways to make a good choice.

We also played a lot of basketball and dodgeball, took a lot of walks together, had great meals together...it was a time to make new friends and to discover what the Lord was up to across the seven branches represented.

All of us were very grateful to the Indy branch for offering us their branch center for the weekend.  We couldn't have pulled this weekend off without their help.  Thanks also to all the brothers who drove and took time away from home to make this trip happen.

I think we ought to do this again next year.

The women's household serenaded us during Lord's Day.  It was glorious.

Prayers Please

This weekend the Triangle is hosting 40 people for a high school men's retreat.  Pray that the Lord would bless each person coming and draw them more and more into his life.

Pray for us too.  Pray that all the logistics go right (thank God for Pam) and that we can be Christ for all who come here.

walt

Meeting the Lord in Household Life

Andrea DeLee, Junior at IUPUI

by Andrea DeLee

                  On the first day of classes, sophomore year, I was sitting in IUPUI’s largest lecture hall surrounded by over 400 students waiting for an Inorganic Chemistry lecture to begin. At the time, I was living in the IUPUI campus apartments and was an extended member of the women’s household in the Triangle. As I waited, I noticed someone I had met several years ago waving at me from across the room. Despite the large class, she managed to pick me out of the crowd and I motioned for her to sit by me. We exchanged a few words and class began. The minute class ended, she immediately asked if we could talk longer. I invited her to come over to my apartment and she willingly accepted the invitation. While we walked toward the apartments, she told me about several exceedingly challenging situations in her life including faith crises, difficult relationships, a less than ideal living situation, and battles with previous addictions. As she talked, we entered my empty apartment, (my one roommate had classes all day) and I offered her a late breakfast. “Do you want one or two eggs?” I asked. “Two please!” she said quickly. I scrambled the eggs and put them on a plate, thinking we would sit down together at my kitchen table to continue the conversation. “Where do you keep your forks?” she asked in a hurried manner. I handed her a fork and she proceeded to rapidly eat the eggs right off the plate on my kitchen counter. “Do you want toast and cantaloupe to go with your eggs?” I asked, realizing how hungry she was.  Two pieces of toast, several slices of cantaloupe, and an hour of conversation later, I asked if I could pray with her. She agreed and I prayed with her begging Lord to move in power in all areas of her life.  After the prayer, with a word of thanks, she headed on her way and I haven’t seen or heard from her since.

                  Fast forward one year, I was in my first Physiology lab at the start of my junior year. At this point, I had been living in household in the Triangle for several months. As I found my seat in the front row of the lab, I met my Physiology lab partner, Sharon. Throughout the course of working together, I shared my life in household and in the People of Praise with her. I told her about my friendships with each of my incredible sisters in household. I invited her over for dinner on numerous occasions, but due to scheduling conflicts, she wasn’t able to accept any of my invitations until a month and a half after the end of that semester.

The planned day for Sharon to join our household for dinner arrived. That day, due to a lengthy and challenging meeting with an advisor, I found myself still on campus at 6:30pm, 15 minutes past the start of our dinner! I rushed home and sheepishly walked in the door. To my delight, I found Sharon sitting at our table, eating, laughing, and having a great conversation with the rest of my household, the majority of whom she had never seen before! My household had welcomed her and made her feel right at home. That night, Sharon met the Lord in all of the women in my household. After dinner, she asked for a tour of our house. As we walked through each room, Sharon was amazed by how each clean and organized area was suited to putting our studies and free time in common. During that tour, Sharon met the Lord in the order of each of the spaces in our home. Sharon and I continue to stay in contact to this day.

While living in the apartments on campus, I kept asking the Lord for more. Lord, how can I more fully share your love with the women I meet on campus? In a word, my prayer has been answered through household life. The Lord’s great love for the world is revealed in our real friendships, our ordered homes, and the freedom and purpose we share in Christ. Christian community lived out in our People of Praise households creates an environment for meeting the Lord face to face. Thank you Father for life in household!

Visitors Welcome

This past weekend the Triangle welcomed the DeLee family from South Bend and four sisters from the NOVA branch.  All together we seated 36 for Lord's Day dinner - a record number for us.

It is a real blessing for us to host our guests.  We enjoyed getting to know them.  We also had a lot of fun after dinner playing what turned out to be a fairly large-scale game of password.

Our college curious guests visited IUPUI and Marian University here in the city and had an opportunity to share a bit of campus household life.  Great fun.

Trish Brewer, Mrika Kadeli, Barbara Brophy, Nadia Fraga, Rachel Osterhouse and Alanna Crimmins 

Thaw...

O thank the Lord the ice that has been here since the ice storm a few weeks ago is finally melting.  The forecast calls for a week of above freezing temps and even for a day in the 60's.  That really helps!

The weather lifted the mood at this week's Lord's Day and it was an especially good time to be together.

So, here's where we are at this point in the semester:

-  Most students have had their first test of the semester.  The challenges have been identified and plans are being put it place to get things moving in the right direction.  We have four full weeks before the spring break.  Time to get busy.

-  We just settled on the dates for Action Summer (details will be out shortly).

-  We're planning a high school young men's retreat here in Indy for the weekend of 25 - 27 March.  (More details shortly but save those dates guys.  It's going to be good.)

-  We instituted lunch groups to meet on campus three days a week to share life and to provide another opportunity to share our studies and to invite people to meet our housemates.

-  We're expecting a huge Lord's Day next week with people in town to visit the Triangle from South Bend and from NOVA.

-  We just welcomed the newest member to the Triangle Campus work - Katie Anne Havard.  Katie attends IUPUI and lives in the dorms.  She plans to join us in household in the Fall.  Welcome Katie.

Praying a welcome prayer over Katie Anne at Lord's Day

- In our prayer so far this semester, we've been hearing a couple of themes over and over:

          Be a light in the darkness.

          We've heard the words of Jesus in Matthew 9, "It's not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick."  Don't label anyone a lost cause.  Everyone is just one decision away from coming to the Lord.

Lord bless our efforts to be your light.  We're ready to host you if you'd like to visit the Triangle.  Spring is coming and we'd love to see you here.

Have a great week.

walt

Snow Day #2

First a light, misty rain and then the temps fell.  Everything is encased in ice.  IUPUI is off for a second day but we did manage to have our team dinner and meeting last night.

We've been talking about household living in the university setting.  John Henry Newman once said, "It is scarcely too much to say that one-half of the education that young people receive is derived from the tradition of the place of education."   Newman, in his many writings on founding a university, recognized the importance of household living as integral to the education of young people.  He recommended that, "small communities must be set up within its [the university] precincts, where his [the student's] better thoughts will find countenance, his good resolutions support; where his waywardness will be restrained, his heedlessness forewarned, and his prospective deviations anticipated."

To modern ears Newman may sound overly paternalistic but he didn't recommend the continuation of authoritarian style rule of the high school years.  He wanted to establish a healthy educational environment that would help students excel in their studies and grow as followers of Christ.  The suggestion of some balance between liberty and restraint strikes some prospective students as just what they want to avoid but we're finding that this balance brings out the best in each other.

We have four goals for our life in the Campus Household that steer our decisions from day-to-day:

1.  Learn what the Lord has for us to learn.  We're serious about our studies.  The Lord has drawn us together and he's interested in our education.  We're not looking for easy A's but to gain the knowledge we need to work with the Lord on his plan.

2.  Put our studies in common.  We aim to share what we're learning.  We have a variety of majors present and together we're learning about them and taking the time to share about what we're excited to learn.

3.  Grow in our People of Praise life.  We have the treasure of community life and all that encompasses including our shared teachings that years of wisdom and God's grace has handed on to us.

4.  Grow in brotherhood and sisterhood.  College years cement lifelong friendships and we're committed to each other's growth and development as men and women of Christ.  We're learning to love each other and that means great times shared in joy.

There are other ways to do college, I'm sure, but we're blessed to be here and thank God for the opportunity.  It's good to be together here.  If you'd like to visit, let us know.  We'd love to see you here.

walt

Then and Now

Then and Now

George Kane

I've had the privilege of being part of the Indy Campus Team since August 2009, back when there were four college students in the Triangle instead of the present 11.  My life as an underway member of the People of Praise has been incredibly enriched over the last year and a half by the steady influx of brothers and sisters who have answered the Lord's call to come build a city here in the Triangle, and I am looking forward to meeting all the future team members the Lord is preparing.

photo by Trish Brewer 

I look at my time here in the Triangle as a God-given opportunity for training and growth, both academically and in my People of Praise life.  Some highlights include:

-  Listening to Tuesday night teachings on being the light of the world, living in the Spirit, Christ-centered friendship, how to have good conversations, consolations and desolations, and right relationships.

-  Learning how to do meditations.  Meditations have become an integral part of our spiritual growth, and the fruit from these exercises frequently serve as the starting blocks for stellar dinner conversations.

- Leading physical training runs along the White River in the dark of the morning and experiencing how -9 degree wind chills can really freeze bond brothers together.

- Learning to analyze and interpret H NMR (or proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) results in organic chemistry lab and then trying to convince my household that H NMR analysis is fun (still working on that...)

God is really up to something here in Indy, come check it out this spring.

Lord's Day Song

This past Saturday we gathered for our first Lord's Day of the new semester.  After the Christmas holidays it was a great pleasure to be together again especially because it was also Laura Kane's birthday.

Trust me, there were women singing, thank the Lord.

Each Lord's Day someone is assigned to create a group activity for after dinner.  This week Trish Brewer taught us a song.  It was challenging enough for the untrained ( me ) but easy enough for us all to learn with just a bit of practice.

Trish taught us the parts with Annie's help on the piano.  The great thing about learning a song together is that we get to make beautiful music but we also exercise our ability to work together as a team.  It was especially great that George's guest, Brad, joined right in and sang along.  I think we'll do more music, it was a great evening.  Thanks Trish, great fun.

Here's a link to the song (it's short, really):  Siyahamba

All for the glory of God,

Walt

Triangle Transition 

Pam Seale

December marked our first anniversary living in the Triangle in Indianapolis.   When we first arrived, I was invited to write a sharing about the story of my discernment to move here. I have a list written of thoughts to include in such a sharing, but life around the Triangle is busy and I haven’t gotten to it.

Robin Gonzalez and Pam Seale

 What strikes me most at the end of a year is our use of the term “sent out”. For twelve years I lived as a member of POP with all my heart, mind, and soul. I was “sent out” everyday to work as a nurse and did my best to bring Christ and the vision of community to that setting. We had different household settings at home, but as Charlie Fraga said in his explanation of city-building, no one could carry a pot of soup to our house. There was real sense of isolation and, in fact, a sense of being sent out. In many ways it was a harder life than I have now. In a way, I was called home.

Last December we arrived in Indianapolis to work at city-building as Walt took the lead for our campus team here. The transition hasn’t always been easy. I found I was more attached to some things than I realized. Looking at those things and deciding that I’d prefer to live without them in order to be here has been a life giving exercise. Life among brethren is better than having a garage, a fireplace, and a title at work. In exchange, I got the thing I asked for most of my life. I have more of the Lord. I have an hour more daily to spend in personal prayer. I have more time to read spiritual books. I am built up by morning prayers with my household without organizing it among community members. I have the blessing of engaging in deep conversations at every dinner about the Lord and anything in his creation that is on a brother’s mind without inviting anyone over. I have the opportunity to grow in loving kindness as I see loving kindness in others. I get to grow in patience as I experience the differences in personalities that we all have in the household.  In a very real sense, I have more of the Lord.

So while others in my state in life may choose more golf, more leisure, more warm weather, or more vacations, I am happier than all of them. I have more of the Lord. I thank God for Paul DeCelles’ and his openness to the Spirit that ultimately started what we now call city-building. I thank God for the generosity of Dave Porter and the Indy Branch who support our life so selflessly. I thank God for Nick Holovaty and all the city-builders who came before us and made our home a better place to live. Most of all I thank God for the invitation to be “sent out”. It still feels like more of a coming home, but whatever you want to call it, it’s a wonderful life and I only hope I can serve our Lord well here as long as he so desires.

Here We Go...

People are slowly filtering back to Indy for the Spring semester.  Spring - sounds good doesn't it?  South Bend is getting clobbered with snow today but here in Indy there's blue sky but it's very cold.  Spring?  Not so fast.

Pam and I just returned from a few days visiting the New Orleans branch.  The weather was mild.  The food was good.  The hospitality could not have been better.  Visited the New Orleans branch?  I recommend it.  Thanks to the Mahaffeys for their warm welcome.

The Cathedral on Jackson Square.

So what's new for 2011?  I've moved the blog to a new site to make it easier and more flexible to post.  I hope you like the change.  Let me know how it works for you.  Here in the Triangle we're delighted that Rachel Osterhouse is joining the team.  Rachel brings a wealth of household living experience and is an accomplished violinist.  In case you haven't heard, we've moved into the house that was re-located last summer.  The basement is finished and it has created great new living space for the women.

Paul Hommes finishing up the island in the kitchen.

The sunny side room. 

Things are a whole lot more settled this semester than they were back in August when we arrived to begin school year.  So what now?

I'm thinking about our campus surface area.  Now that we have doubled the number of people involved in the campus team here in Indy we have a great many more opportunities to be present to those we meet in our various environments.  Where can we make a greater difference for the Lord this coming semester?  Who, among all the people we meet and the people we already know, has the Lord prepared to receive his life?  What do we and the Lord want to do about it?  There are many possibilities...imagine the possibilities.

The Lord has blessed the Indy campus team at every turn.  We have seen the goodness of the Lord and we share his heart for the world -- may this coming semester provide many opportunities for us to be his light to our world.