Hello again, friends! It's been a busy, exciting season for me. Between finishing college, starting seminary, doing an internship at my church, and undergoing a round of kidney stone surgeries and all the fun that goes along with that, I just haven't had the emotional energy for writing. No wonder the only post I wrote was on going gray!

But wonderful things have been happening, things I've been wanting to share with you. So now that my kids are back in school, and I'm beginning to emerge from my Lortab-laced stupor, I'll try to give you the run-down.

Mission Covenant Church:

I started an internship at my home church, Mission Covenant, in June. Since it's the first time a woman has done something in this capacity at my church, the pastors and elders have been doing a study on the issue of women in ministry, and looking a lot at the work of Phillip B. Payne. It's been a fabulous, humbling, and stretching experience. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I am SO thankful for my church! Many of the people there have loved me and supported me since the day I was born, and loved and supported my parents and grandparents before that. I feel so blessed to be able to serve them.

Called Out!

Called Out! Kingdom Living for Missional Teens, the youth curriculum I wrote for Christians for Biblical Equality, was released this summer. It goes through what Bible geeks would call the missional meta-narrative of scripture (Creation; The Fall; The Call of Abram; Israel; Christ; Pentecost; and the Church), and addresses the issue of gender equality in the context of what God wants to do through both male and female image-bearers. I wasn't interested in creating a “Hey, girls are just as good as boys” resource: I wanted to create a positive, Bible-focused curriculum that would encourage both boys and girls to go all in for Jesus and his purposes for this world. My talented husband Aaron is creating companion videos for this series, which should be released shortly.

Kenya

Okay, here's the REALLY big news! The Ekklesia Foundation for Gender Education (EFOGE) has decided to use Called Out! for the youth program they are piloting in Western Kenya. Called Out will be taught in seven different public school systems, to an estimated 15,000 students, over the next two years.

In November, I will be going to Bondo to go through the curriculum page-by-page with a group of pastors, priests, and teachers who will begin implementing the program. This will give them a chance to clarify any questions they have about the Biblical references, theology, and the curriculum itself, and provide more input for the African adaptation of Called Out!, which a core group of 14 African church leaders are working on right now. I wrote the curriculum with a Western audience in mind, and not everything transfers.

I am SO EXCITED for this trip! My incredible church is throwing their weight behind this by covering my traveling expenses, but if you want to give, EFOGE could still use help housing and feeding the attendees, and CBE needs to print 3,500 new books for use in Kenya. You can donate by following the links, as you feel led. And please do pray for health, safe travel, and hearts and minds open to what God is doing for everyone involved, and that my preparation and teaching will be led by the Holy Spirit.

Uffda! That's a lot going on!

Time for another cup of coffee.

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