7 posts tagged “ministry”
Hey everyone!
Just wanted to let you all know that my new website is up. We haven't been able to get the .com address linked to it yet, but until then you can reach it by going to www.mindyboyd.net.
I'm still tweaking the site, so keep checking back! Hopefully, as I continue to learn more about site building, it will look better and better...hopefully. I'd love your feedback, i.e. constructive criticism--what works, what doesn't, what would you like to see, ideas you have that would make it better or more effective...I don't know, whatever. I trust you guys. :)
I also just posted a brief update on where I am with the support raising for Germany, so you can check that out while you're there.
Thanks again!!! I really appreciate you guys!!
Well, I'm about halfway through my trip. Right now, I'm with some friends in Jackson, MS and will be here until Wednesday morning when I leave for French Camp Academy in French Camp, MS. So far, my trip has been WELL worth it on so many levels. Mainly on the heart level. I've had the opportunity of connecting with several friends along the way and I'm so, so grateful for the gifts of those meetings. I've also had several opportunities to sing as well. In St. Louis, I gave a house concert which turned out to be such a sweet time of fellowship with everyone who came. From there, I drove to Oklahoma City for a few days and had the chance to lead worship and share my testimony at Living Waters (First Stone Ministries). Then on Friday, I made the ridiculously long trek from OKC to Jackson, MS. As a Northeast girl, I forget how far apart the cities are out here!!
On Saturday, I was given the chance to play down in Gautier, MS (pronounced "go-shay") at a ministry called Home of Grace for Women. It's a recovery program for women struggling with drug and alcohol addictions. I was unprepared for how that evening would minister to my own soul. One of the things that the Lord has been dealing with me about recently, is my need to present a well-put-together-Mindy in ministry. Even when Mindy is not put together at all. Even when the reality is that she is falling apart. How does one reconcile the call to minister, and the need to be ministered to at the same time? I'm still trying to figure it out, but I'm overwhelmed by the Lord's compassion for me to give me a space while ministering at Home of Grace to just "be" where I was. To just be honest. To just be real. I needed that. And I think they did, too.
I got home pretty late from that concert, and when I pulled into the driveway of my friends' house, a friendly stray dog came up to my car to greet me. He'd been hanging around there all weekend, so it wasn't the first time I had seen him. I realized that I had a left-over sandwich in my car and instead of letting it stink up the car, I decided to feed it to the dog. (Everyone was in bed, so I figured no one would know that I was feeding the stray dog. Sneaky, I know). So I fed him the sandwich and then proceeded to unload my car. I took the guitar out and placed it on the driveway next to the car, then I leaned back in to grab my backpack. As I stood up, I turned around just in time to watch Mr. Stray Husky Dog vomit the sandwich all over my guitar case. Did I mention that it was late and I was tired? I basically just stood there and stared at it for a few moments thinking, "You have got to be kidding me." However, I have to admit that I was surprisingly very calm in that moment. I just took the guitar over to the door of the house, grabbed some paper towels, and cleaned up the mess in a very "this-is-a-normal-event" sort of way. I will say this, though, that is the last time I feed anything to a stray dog ever again.
Last night, I gave a concert at Lakeland Presbyterian Church here in Jackson (but that was only after I got eaten alive by a bunch of red fire ants!!! Not fun. Not fun at all). This is my third year of visiting and ministering at this congregation, and each year I am deeply encouraged by their generosity and support of my ministry. Tomorrow I'll be at Mt. Salus Christian School for their chapel and then Wednesday I leave for French Camp...but I already told you that. :)
TODAY, however, is my day off this week. It is raining, and it is beautiful. All morning, I've been staring at the rain clouds rolling in across the sky, and I am convinced that they were just for me! I've been reading and thinking about Psalm 18 a lot recently and those clouds were just the picture that I needed.
Take a moment and read it for youself.
This post is LOOOOONG overdue, and for that I apologize! For all you know, in regards to my last post, I could be still waiting to hear from the "Big Dogs" about whether or not I was accepted as an official appointee with FIM! Well, you can stop drumming your fingers on the desk now...I will put your minds at ease and let you know that my meeting with the Board of Directors went very well and I am pleased to announce that I have been officially accepted as a missionary appointee to Germany and Eastern Europe with FIM!
The whole experience at Candidate Orientation was a very good one for me. For starters, it was great to be able to go through the week with Craig and Debbie (my new teammates!) :) They've been in ministry in Germany for the past 6 years and were the ones who initially began "twisting my arm" about moving to Germany and joining them. Last year, they switched mission agencies and were thus required to attend this year's Orientation. It just so happened that the Lord's timing in calling me to this ministry and His timing in opening the doors for them to join FIM allowed for us to attend the Orientation at the same time! What a blessing that was...not to mention more fun than we probably should have been allowed to have! :) I am so thankful for Craig and Debbie and the relationship that we have. One of my biggest concerns in the past about "being a missionary" was having to be on a team. I have to say that in this case, I'm excited to be a part of this team!
Well, tomorrow (Friday) is the big day. It has been an INTENSE week here at Candidate Orientation, but it has been so, so good. I'm planning on taking the time to write about it when I get home, but for now I must just ask for prayer. Tomorrow the Board of Directors for FIM will be here as we present our respective ministry plans. All week we've been working on defining and articulating our visions and missions and goals, and now we have the opportunity to present them to the Board--after which we will be individually interviewed by the Board and then officially accepted...hopefully. :)
I'll keep you posted. Thanks for praying.
...but I'm not sure why. We were never allowed to watch "Casper, the Friendly Ghost", and I didn't know any other Caspers. But that was his name. I can remember frequently climbing up the hill through the woods, pulling briars from my legs, and grabbing a stick to clear the way in order to get to him...my Casper. As a little girl of 7 or 8, I made this trek so I could talk to him, tell him my secrets, cry or just simply be. Even though he was dead, I believed that he listened, that he heard me. He was an old fellow, and BIG! Especially to a little scrawny girl like me. But I liked that. I'd climb up onto his fallen trunk, brush away the leaves that were gathering and lay back on him. Somehow I felt safe there, so there I would stay. In the stillness of the woods. In peace.
I still remember the sick feeling I had in my stomach the year I walked up to Casper and found that he had been sawn into peices for firewood by my dad. It seems silly that I would do this, but I cried. It seems silly, I know, but an old fallen oak tree had become my closest confidant, and I had considered him my friend. Now he was gone for good. And even though he kept me warm that winter, I was sad that he was gone.
I was reminded of all this tonight. I have a favorite place here in my little town where I like to go. I take walks there with the Lord. Down the street, behind the old Presbyterian Church, there's a cemetery. In the middle of it is a paved path that cuts the cemetery in two. At one point along the path, it splits and forms a circle around a tall tree with a stone bench underneath it. I'm not weirded out by cemeteries. I don't mind being in them at night by myself. In fact, that's when I like going there--not because I'm Goth, or have some freaky affinity for death or anything like that. I am not bound by death. It has no hold on me. So I am free to find solitude in this quiet place and allow the cemetery to give me perspective on my own life. That's why this is one of my favorite places to go...and sit...and just be. I have shed many a tear on that bench. I have prayed many a prayer and confessed many a sin. My heart has ached there. I have grieved the loss of relationship. I have celebrated the birth of new love. I have gained perspective and questioned the meaning of my life. I have a close connection to that place.
But tonight all that changed. Tonight as I approached that place, I remembered that sick feeling I had as a little girl. The bench is gone. The grass is gone. The tree is gone--chopped up into several huge peices and discarded on the side of the path. All that's left of this place for me is a dirt circle with tire tracks through the middle. And as I stood there staring at this void, my initial thought was, "You have got to be kidding me!" But immediately following that I realized that this whole scenario fit perfectly into this reoccurring theme in my life over the past year and a half. I remembered writing this, and felt the Lord clearly reinforcing that Truth again. Safety and belonging and intimacy have little to do with a geographical location--no matter how attached I may be to it--and everything to do with my relationship with Christ and my position in Him.
For some reason, I'm having a hard time getting this, which is why it keeps reoccurring, I assume. And yet, I am very much aware of how much I need to get it. It is no small thing to realize that God is calling you into full-time ministry. In fact, it scares me senseless. But during my recent trip through the South, I had several meaningful conversations with close friends and people who I trust that confirmed what I already knew, but have been too afraid to act upon. What I also think He is showing me is that the ministry He is calling me to is going to be somewhat transient...itinerant, if you will. This both excites me and scares me at the same time. It excites me because there are two things that cause me to feel most "alive": when I'm sharing my music/heart and when I'm travelling. I am not settled here. I am constantly looking ahead to the next trip. Could it be that I am "wired" this way for this specific purpose? Or does the "unsettled-ness" have to do with a deeper issue? Perhaps this is why I am also scared by this prospect of itinerant ministry. In all honesty, I do not trust myself. I feel so far from having it all together. Who am I to think that I should be in full-time ministry? And yet, I cannot shake it. He has called, and He has confirmed. It's funny--being in ministry is what I always thought my life would look like, and now as I stare it in the face, I stand trembling, afraid to look it in the eye.
This is why the source of my safety, belonging and intimacy must be Him--my Spring of Living Water. Not a stone bench under a tree in a cemetery. Not an apartment that can easily burn to the ground. And certainly not in a dead log named Casper...that's just silly.
I always forget how ridiculously HUGE this country is until I have to drive across it! I just arrived in Mississippi last night after driving for two days and 1,200 miles. I'm glad I have friends along the way with whom I can stay, otherwise, I couldn't do it. (Thanks, Faithy! :)) When I was going to college in South Carolina, I remember popping home to Pennsylvania for a weekend--not often, mind you, but I remember doing it and thinking nothing of it. By the time I got halfway through Virginia, I was thinking, "Wow, my back hurts. My neck is stiff. My butt is SORE!" It's amazing what 10 years can do. Now, I'm not complaining. I'm merely making an observation.
Well, I've had several people at home ask me to keep them posted on my travels (Hi, Mom!) so I thought it would just be easier to let them know about my blog and have them check back here when they are wondering what's going on with me. So, my public posts over the next couple weeks will be geared along those lines. Who knows, perhaps they will come, experience this wonderful Vox neighborhood and not be able to leave!! :)
Anyway, I'm in Mississippi this week because I have several places down here that wanted me to come play, and since I was down this way, I went ahead and tried to book some other stuff along the way in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and now Virginia. (Thanks, ragamuffin! :)) I got in last night around 10:45 pm and had to get up at 6 a.m. in order to be at Mt. Salus Christian School in Clinton. Nothing like having to sing at 8 o'clock in the morning after a long drive the night before! God is gracious though, and I think it went well. I so much love being able to meet new people and finding points of connection with them. My desire is that God would use me to encourage and build up the Body of Christ, but so often I feel like I'm the one who walks away encouraged by Him. There's a line in a Sara Groves song that says, "I can't remember a trial or a pain He did not recycle to bring me gain." I love that line, because He does recycle my pain to bring me gain, and hopefully for others' gain as well, but ultimately may it be for His.
Tomorrow I'll just be hangin' with my good friends Michelle and Andrew here at Twin Lakes Camp in Florence, MS. It's a beautiful facility and I'm looking forward to spending some time walking around the lake and preparing for the upcoming weeks. Please pray for this time of connecting. I need it. Sunday I'll be giving a concert at a church outside Jackson, and then on Monday I'm heading up to French Camp Academy in French Camp, MS for a few days. I spent a week there last year was a great opportunity to just hang out with the students and get to know them a bit.
I'll try to keep "y'all" posted as the days progress. Thank you so much for your prayers. I could not do this if I thought there was no one behind me praying. You are vital and I don't take that lightly. Thank you.
