Written 11.28.2008 by Keri D.
Some exciting things have been taking place in this unnoticed little inner city neighborhood!
As you may know, in August we hosted a Back to School Party with hopes of building relationship with the kids and parents in our neighborhood. Bags of school supplies were put together and given to the parents to make those never ending and overly priced supply lists a little lighter. I've heard "success" defined many different ways and honestly, I don't think we cared whether or not it was "successful". We met our neighbors. We hugged on some babies. We were joined this Thanksgiving by at least one of the families we met that day. To us, this is success. Even if it were all just for that one family…mission accomplished!
On September 25th I became Mrs. Jeremiah Duckett and thus the living arrangements had to be tweaked. Meghan moved in with her parents on the other side of hwy 35 in the hospital district. She's about ten minutes away, which makes community living still possible with her! She continues to play a vital role in our community. And now we have an extra set of parents, too! Chris Tharp moved to Bedford and is living with his sister and her son. The Lord is using him in radical ways to minister to and be a source of hope for his sister! We are very excited for his obedience in that situation. It was hard for him to leave the IG House, but we are behind him all the way! Paige and Valerie moved downstairs into the side of the duplex the guys were in before while Jeremiah and I now share the upstairs apartment. So basically, we swapped houses!
Now, our team is being expanded!! A couple weeks ago we moved in two new girls into the other side of the duplex! Katie and Danielle have a passion that cannot be contained and are ready and eager to jump in full force. We are blessed and moved forward by Katie and Danielle's passionate hearts and tears that are wept over the nations. You may have heard about the people that lived in this duplex before the two newbie's. They were very sensitive to noise and would get extremely angry if we so much as walked the wrong way on the other side. We are now free to make as much noise as we want and our landlord even opened a passageway between the two sides! This has allowed us girls to have breakfast early in the morning before we go to work. The time we spend over coffee, guitars and dreaming has been so sweet and motivating!
Tom and Marsha have continued to not only open their (bigger) home and (bigger) table to us, but have also spent much of their time pouring into us, teaming with us, and at times being on the listening side of our venting! Right now there is a group of us meeting with them every week to study how to be a "Church for the City". We just started, but already God is humbling and breaking our hearts for Fort Worth.
My parents, Bob and Ann, have been meeting with Tom and Marsha and through much pleading and listening, have decided to branch out! That's right, IG-"middle ground"! There are many people in our neighborhood that are in a later part of their life and simply don't connect with a bunch of twenty-somethings. The LeNevues and the Crowell's are teaming together to start actively pursuing relationships with this group of people. They are already rockin' and rollin' with a couple that lives across the street from us! Soon they'll be kicking our butts and I couldn't be more excited! We've made it very clear that we are still in need of their wisdom and guidance so we will be making it a point to keep walking in community together. What's so great is that we're focused on the same neighborhood, just different age groups. This will be a slow process that will be fueled first and only by relationships. So be praying as they begin to plan dinners, game nights and the like with people who need Jesus and need family!
Before August, IG was laying pretty low. I know a lot of you are probably wondering what has been going on or if we even still exist! I won't go into this too much only because I think each one of us has an individual explanation for this season we've been in. I do not speak for everyone else when I say this, but I truly believe the Lord needed to break us down and carve out our pride. When you're doing "ministry", especially in places that not many want to venture, it feels good. Feeling good is okay. God created our souls with a craving to be His hands and feet and so when we experience such a thing, its like being in a dance with the King. But pride, as always, has its way of creeping its way into our hearts. I just wonder if maybe our "feel good" was becoming less about the dance and more about the feel. What if it were just becoming about meetings and events and attention? Like I said, not speaking for everyone. Or maybe I am? Its as if He knew we couldn't go any further with this mission until He dealt with us. Until he addressed our own sinful nature, our own wickedness. Our integrity. Our character. Our love and passion for HIM and our dependency on his hand. If these things begin to fade, we become useless to Him. I am so grateful that He didn't allow us to keep going. This season has been so hard, but what if He had just left us to wander deeper into our own selves? I'm glad He intervened. "Things" (or whatever you want to call it) are picking up again, slowly. But we are still very aware of the bent and broken ways in us. We are still, and will always be on the journey of sanctification. If you've been diligent to pray for us, thank you.
That's the latest on Intentional Gatherings Fort Worth. Keep checking this blog!
As always, we want more of Jesus for you and your family and hope this season is a time of building memories and practicing love.
2 comments:
Keri,
You guys rock. I am going to have to do an interview for Shapevine with you guys. I will be around some over the next few weeks. My mother had a stroke and my Dad can't care well for himself, so Sherri and I are having to do all we can to care for them through some trips here. Anyway...I am serious...I want to do a story on you guys.
You guys are a constant encouragement to us. I've been floatin' on a cloud all morning since i read this post. It's so amazing to see how God has, and is using you guys in such a natural and REAL life way. It's gritty, raw, and REAL. There's no B.S., no programs, etc. Just real people living out real faith with a desire to build and grow the kingdom. I agree that you guys need to be on a Shapevine interview. We've been taking a break from the webcasts on SV for a little while because some other things have been in the works, but as soon as i get the go-ahead from Lance we'll have to rock it! Love you guys.
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