Externally Focused at Watermark

My roommate, Sarah and I are a CARES team at an Apartment Community close to Love Field. The more we open up our home and our lives, the more fruit we’ve seen! It’s been humbling and remarkable to see what the Lord can do when we open up Scripture and live the way we’re called to live: communally, with love, honestly, authentically, in service, speaking truth, sacrificially, in community.  The Lord has taught us so much about the importance of service that comes from a pure heart and love that is rooted in faith in Christ.

 While I feel like we’re making a dent in our community of 600, I’ve been burdened.  Over the last two months, I’ve been praying unceasingly about our friends in our back yard who are living in the Village. There are 10,000 people who live in the apartment communities just south of that giant Half Price Books. TEN THOUSAND. That is a staggering number! So what are we doing to be a light to those who live there? Currently we have three Apartment Life teams planted and they are doing a wonderful job, but that’s only six people (plus their volunteers), We’re looking at roughly— a 1:500 ratio. This simply isn’t enough. So what do we do?

 After a lot of prayer, the answer is simple: Find believers who already live there, and mobilize them to live missionally with the intention of reaching their neighbors for Christ! Seems simple enough, right? Identifying those who want to be part of the team is a bit more of a challenge.

 So I’m asking, do you live in the Village?  Do you know someone who lives in the Village? Are you willing to pack your bags and move in? Are you up for the challenge?

 Help us identify people that would be great missionaries here in town!

 Contact me, Shay Culpepper if you have any questions or want to get involved! sculpepper@watermark.org

 -Shay

“Eggstravaganza” was last Saturday and it was so fun to see over 1,000 folks from West Dallas playing, bouncing, egg hunting, and not only hearing the gospel proclaimed but also demonstrated by volunteers from Mercy Street, other West Dallas organizations, Watermark, IBC, and PCPC.

Stephanie Schweinfurth coordinated the event for Watermark and said that the event is designed to expose West Dallas residents to Mercy Street and other ministries there.  “It’s also a way to share the gospel with a ton of kids and even the prizes remind them what Easter is about. It’s also a way to build trust between that demographic and our demographic and to expose our people to the poor and oppressed in a non-threatening way.”

Quite a few mentors would tell you their first exposure to West Dallas was through Eggstravaganza and it was so encouraging to see so many mentors bringing their kids to the event as well.  Following the event, there is great follow-up through mentoring, after-school care, or sports programs offered by Voice of Hope r Mercy Street. Stephanie said “I like to think it’s a burst of light in an otherwise dark situation and all in the name of Jesus.  I hope adults and kids walk away feeling more hope, feeling more loved and knowing that we’re there because of our love for Jesus.”

Many people think that the only ways to be externally focused is by taking a mission trip to another country, or committing several years to mentoring a child in a low-income area in town.  While these are amazing opportunities and ways to be externally focused, you may or may not feel called to serve in these ways, and that’s ok.  There are more options out there.    Your mission field could be as close as your front door.   

Take a minute to read about what some families from Watermark are doing to make eternal investments right in their own neighborhood. 

  http://watermarkblogs.org/stories/03/love-your-neighbor/

If you live in an apartment and want to learn more about opportunities with Apartment Life contact Shay at: shayculpepper@apartmentlife.org .

44 – Hours of travel time from Gitega, Burundi, to Dallas/Forth Worth, TX.

 11.88 – number of team members (Kyle Thompson left 1 day earlier, so he only gets 8/9 credit ).

60 & 40 – Number of men and women that were a part of the conferences we helped lead.

120 – average number of minutes we had to wait for dinner each night. It was good for me – I’ll never complain of slow restaurant service in the states ever again!

8 – Number of young boys we got to sing Beyonce’s Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it) with. One of the early highlights was running into a group of young Burundi boys who couldn’t speak a word of English but still knew all of the international language of Beyonce! It was a blast, and I am glad we got it captured on video. 

Brief Trip Summary

Recently a team of 12 Watermark members made the trip from Dallas to Burundi to be a part of 2 separate conferences for men and women in Gitega, Burundi.  I was incredibly proud of our team and of our church. I love the ways we are intentionally partnering with great ministries across the world (ALARM – http://alarm-inc.org/ and Living Water International (http://www.water.cc/). While in Burundi, we partnered with ALARM in hosting a conference for local pastors – we taught on topics such as conflict resolution, leadership, forgiveness, bible study methods, and healing/grieving. The women taught local church leaders on some of the same topics, as well as HIV care, health and hygiene, and parenting. Brett & Sheri Johnston and Kyle Thompson led our teams, and modeled what leadership really looks like through serving the team and the locals with Christ-like humility.

Team unity was incredible – I was in awe of the gifts and skills of the other 11 men and women on this team (Team picture to the right, without Kyle Thompson and me). The ways they served, taught, and led, both one another and the men and women at the conferences, were incredible. Again, I don’t know if I have ever been prouder of the people of our church. We enjoyed rich conversation with each other, and had MANY laugh until you cry moments. We very quickly learned that Americans can’t sing, dance, or worship like our African brothers and sisters. In fact, we were told that ‘white people dance and worship like trees’. Very true…

On a personal note, I was convicted and challenged in so many things. One is how RICH I am – in friends, family, resources, etc… Of course I knew I would be challenged in this, but it really hit me hard. I will frequently make comments about how ‘poor’ we are since I am in vocational ministry, but what a joke… I felt like the richest man in the entire world many times on the trip. At the same time, I found myself still comparing our lifestyle with others I know in Dallas. Somehow as I saw and talked with men and women who earned literally 50 cents a day in manual labor, I still found myself coveting what others back home have, trips they have taken, etc… Honestly I was disgusted by my greed…

We were able to bring a few gifts for them – bibles translated into their language (Kurundi), reading glasses, and clothes. We learned that a very small stack of hand-me-down children’s clothes is worth about 6 months of wages. The joy these men and women had was amazing. The women literally danced for minutes when they were given their own bible and the small stack of clothes.

Taking a stretch break.

The country itself is incredibly beautiful physically – very green and fertile. The poverty, on the other hand, was so saddening. The women literally would walk anywhere from 3-10 miles every day to get clean drinking water – a very common site was a woman walking up hill with bananas on her head, a baby strapped to her back, a small child walking alongside her, and a 5-gallon container of water in hand. We absolutely take for granted how blessed we are to have safe and clean drinking water all around us. Also, the consequences of war and internal conflict were evident throughout the country.

Our team had the opportunity to bring the hope of Christ to an often hopeless people. A hope that transcends income level, skin color, and country. It was awesome to watch the ‘lights’ come on as the men we were with learned how to follow Christ, to lead themselves, and to lead their families. In turn, this will help them be better leaders in their churches and communities. The hope of Christ is the only cure to the physical and spiritual poverty – both in Burundi, and locally in our lives here as well (1 Peter 3.15).

-Scott Kedersha

• Want to form relationships with the folks we serve in W. Dallas and Mercy Street? Help out with Eggstravaganza this Saturday! DM 4 details. #
• Looking forward to meeting with World Relief leadership and thinking about church engagement in redevelopment…briefing/prep tonight. #
• What does that mean and how do we fix it? #
• I'm in Baltimore and not posting anything. Maybe it's pellow or Jordan? #
• Great day of meetings with World Relief and other churches as we think through Haiti plans. #
• Have just a few slots left for bus captains and site captains for Service Day. Come help us engage the city! #
• Mercy St Eggstravaganza this Saturday! 150+ volunteers building relationships with families. Come join us! #
• Mercy St Eggstravaganza this Saturday! 150+ volunteers building relationships with families. Come join us! #fb #
• Watch for other monthly service initiatives! April – prison ministry, May – Service Day and Baptism, June – Hunger Month, etc #fb #
• Finished "When Helping Hurts" for the second time. Probably the best book I have ever read on responsible, biblical poverty alleviation. #

I just finished reading, Donald Miller’s “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life.” If you read “Blue Like Jazz,” you’ll find the style familiar.   In it, Miller writes about being contacted by two movie producers who want to make a movie based on his life. During the process of re-writing his life for film, Miller realizes that his life has been boring and meandering and begins the work of “editing” his actual life into a better story. He challenges us to reconsider our “story” and the things that we’re striving for.

He challenges us to be intentional about making sure that our lives are not simply a string of random meaningless experiences, but to do the hard work of choosing a meaningful life, stiff arming a life of ease and comfort, and being intentional about building relationships.  Life is about overcoming our fears and being transformed and how, if we submit to our fear, we can easily look back at a “boring” life.  Here’s one of my favorite quotes from pp. 154-55:

“And I found myself wanting even better stories. And that’s the thing you’ll realize when you organize your life into the structure of story. You’ll get a taste for one story and then want another, and then another, and then another, and the stories will build until you’re living a kind of epic of risk and reward, and the whole thing will be molding you into the actual character whose roles you’ve been playing. And once you live a good story, you get a taste for a kind of meaning in life, and you can’t go back to being normal; you can’t go back to meaningless scenes stitched together by the forgettable thread of wasted time. The more practice stories I lived, the more I wanted an epic to climb inside of and see through till its end.”

Praying that we would grab hold of every opportunity and boldly proclaim the good news that will lead us out of a life without meaning and into a life of full and complete abundance! John 10:10

As a CARES team, Sarah (my roommate) and I get so many incredible opportunities to follow the second greatest commandment in the most literal interpretation of the phrase “Love your neighbors as yourself.” After three days of seemingly constant neighbor interaction (movie night on Friday, guitar/saxophone jam session Saturday night, church Sunday morning, dinner with a few Sunday night, and then I am Second Group after dinner), Sarah and I were able to reflect on the way the Lord is blessing our commitment to Him through our community. Our I am Second group has started fresh in 2010, with incredible authenticity and openness among everyone who attends. The Lord is working incredibly! Here’s what Sarah had to say about last night:

 Last night Shay and I hosted an “I am Second” group at our apartment. We had four neighbors (through Apartment Life), a seminary student, and a girl who came to know Christ through iamsecond.com and of course, Shay and me. The eight of us watched a video and proceeded to go through the pamphlet that we use as a guide to facilitate discussions. The scripture we focused on was Philippians 3:3-9 where Paul talks about his accomplishments before Christ and how he counts it all as loss compared to the joy he has found now in Christ. We realized quickly that several of the people in the group didn’t even know who Paul was. This gave Preston (our seminary student) an opportunity to teach who Paul was. We followed that up by reading in Acts the actual passage explained what a Pharisee was and why it was such a big deal that HE, of all people, was converted.

 Our two-hour discussion was rich with truths about people and God that could be derived from the passages: that God meets you where you are at and changes you; that He loves the unlovable; and that forgives the seemingly unforgivable. When we asked how this affected everyone personally, our friend John opened up about what a hard time he was going through, one of the hardest times in his life in fact. He said he knew what he was supposed to be doing, which was going to church, reading his bible, and hanging out with believers, but that he just couldn’t seem to get there. He told us how much he’s appreciate our prayers (and yours too!). Others talked about people they needed to forgive and others mentioned siblings that were going through a hard time that they would share with.  

 The awesome part about this group is that we have people in all life stages here. What wisdom can be gleaned from such a diverse group! We have a seminary student, two Watermarkers, two guys from a less than ideal neighborhood in LA, one from Miami, a new believer who barely knows anything about the bible but is digging in as much as possible, and an older gentleman who is going through the hardest time in his life! All these people have one thing in common, they want to know more about God. The environment is one that says “Hey, it’s alright if you don’t know much. You’re learning! This is a safe place to ask questions, no matter how small you think they maybe (who is Paul?).” What an awesome opportunity to share God’s word and show God’s love to his people who are seeking!

It’s so exciting to see what the Lord is doing here! We’ve just invited several of our friends to join us in the work of making disciples. I can’t wait to see where the God takes us and our neighbors!

 -Shay Culpepper

If you’re interested in becoming a CARES team, volunteering with a CARES team, or starting an I am Second group  (or want more information), contact shay at sculpepper@watermark.org.

Members of Watermark participated in a service project to benefit children in Zambia.  The group, led by Watermark member Laura Hernandez, partnered with “Hoops of Hope” and Courtney Clark Cleveland of “The Revolve Tour” to pack backpacks called Promise Packs.  These backpacks are given to children at the John Sims Legacy School in Zambia and are filled with school supplies, a blanket, and basic hygiene supplies.  “It was so cool to see families serving together from five to fifty years old.  Everyone could get involved.  I think we’ve all been moved and our hearts have been broken for the children of Haiti.  But the reality is that there’s a tragedy leaving children orphaned everyday called HIV/AIDS.  That’s who we’ve gathered to fight for,” said Courtney at the events’ introduction.  500 backpacks were stuffed, prayed over, and the coolest part was that each person got to write special notes to each child.   Thanks to all who came out to serve and love on these kids.

- Courtney Cleveland

WOMEN

On this trip, the heavy lifting and teaching of the Shelter from the Storm materials was performed by 6 amazing ladies from Watermark Church who spent the past year readying the materials for an African audience.  It was exciting to see Congolese women break down in tears and for the first time tell the stories of sexual violence against them.  This transformation of the hearts in Goma happened because 4 of the women on this trip were willing to tell their own stories of past abuse at the outset of the conference.  Immediately, barriers were broken down among the women from Congo as they realized they were not “terminally unique” and that other women, even in America, suffered as victims of sexual violence.  But, they also saw how Christ suffered horribly through no fault of His own, just like them, and because of the pain He endured, greater good was done.  For many of them, an understanding of how the acts against them might be something God could redeem for His greater use flew in the face a lifetime of shame, guilt, and internal bondage.

 LAWYERS

I was blessed to have Russ Brown join me to carry bags for the gals on the team and spend some time with a group of Christian lawyers in Goma diving deep into scripture for the first time in many of their lives.  We examined parables and passages and had some “lively” discussions on the meaning and application of scripture.  In the end, they were left with a practical model for examining, interpreting, and applying scripture.  It was another step in the process of equipping them to use scripture as the basis for how they confront the temptations of life in central Africa.  We are hopeful that the next step before we return in the fall is a weekly bible study for the lawyers led by a pastor in Goma, who helped establish our relationship with the lawyers there.

 ORPHANS

We were also blessed to spend an extended time at the girl’s orphanage in Goma that we visited last fall.   It specializes in taking in child sexual violence victims.  The director of the orphanage told us they have now 143 girls of which 67 have been raped and rescued.  They are between the ages of 5 and 19, so you can imagine the emotional state many are in.  But, we found that many are joyful because they are safer in the city than out in the bush (areas outside the city of Goma) where most were raped by soldiers or militiamen while retrieving water or firewood for their family.  Unfortunately, there is a need for: money, clothes, shoes, beds & food.  We are hopeful that we can develop a plan to send shoes and clothes from Dallas to this orphanage in Goma. 

MEDICAL

Finally, we once again spent time at Heal Africa hospital (www.healafrica.org).  A great facility that ministers to the needs of children who are sick or have been injured in the ongoing war as well as adult victims of rape rescued from the bush. Part of our time there was spent with founder, Jo Lusi, talking about the serious need for western doctors to come and perform medical mission trips including: medical procedures, training for African doctors.  The needs in Goma are every bit as serious as those in places like Haiti.  Unfortunately, long before there was an earthquake in Haiti or a tsunami in Indonesia there was war, disease, and poverty in central Africa.  Lots of help is needed, it is just a little more inconvenient to get there.

 Thank you to all who prayed for us as we prepared the trip and carried out the mission. 

 - Rick Howard

• Heading out for some camping action with other dads/sons. I love these times…Psalm 148. #
• If it snows, we're gonna come snuggle. #