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Spiritual Formation For Extraverts

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I watched my friends wander by the lake, sitting with their backs to the trees, lying on the grass, looking up at the sky. Most had serene, angelic looks on their faces. I, however, wanted to explode.

Our leadership team was at a spiritual retreat, working on our own “spiritual formation”. There are many definitions of this concept, but most of them involve three ideas:

  • the work of changing the inner part of who we are
  • the process of conforming that inner being to look like Jesus
  • the outflow of this is to serve others.

We were spending the day in silence. We were encouraged to meditate, walk, read, think, pray; anything but talk. As far as I could tell, I was the only one about to have a fatal attack of the jitters (I later learned I was not the only one). I cannot go more than about an hour without wanting someone to talk to. I am an unashamed extravert. That means I can only live inside my head for a little while before I have to externalize my thoughts and interact with others. If I go too long without externalizing my thoughts to another person, I start to get morose, paranoid and even depressed. I need the rest of the world to help me keep my proper bearings.

When we gathered the twenty people together, we shared our experiences. I wanted to externalize my anguish, but I could quickly tell it would have gone against the stream. Several people were telling how this was a refreshing, renewing experience; they wanted to do this on a regular basis. I listened to their descriptions and decided I needed to get a deeper life with God before attempting this again. In the years since, I have certainly tried to spend hours in silence. I can do it, but I leave with no less anxiety and muddled head than I did years ago. I have also read many books on the subject of spiritual formation. These books fall into certain categories: Meditation, silence, Prayer, Scripture Reading, Listening to God, Confession of sins. The books are all saying things I completely agree with and try to practice. I have to say I do well at prayer, reading the Bible, listening to God. But recently, I noticed something about the practices of spiritual formation and the books that advocate these practices: They are written by introverts and are primarily designed for introverts. I have said this to many people and rarely do I find someone who disagrees with me.

Just as I have been critical of authors who write on outreach, evangelism and social justice from a strictly extravert point of view, so now I want to take to task those who neglect the extravert when it comes to Spiritual Formation. First, some definitions. I define an extravert in the classic Jungian framework: a person who gains energy by being around other people, who can think and feel more clearly if they use those thoughts and feelings to interact with others and who is not as comfortable living on the inside of themselves. An introvert is the opposite: Someone who gains energy by periodically getting alone, who can think more clearly and feel more confidently when by themselves or in a quiet place and who are not comfortable externalizing their life in front of others.

So, how can an extravert focus on the inner part of who they are when they are much more proficient in externalizing their thoughts and feelings?

For several years, I taught short seminars on spiritual formation for church planters. Generally, Church Planters are the entrepreneurs of church leaders. In order to get a church going from scratch, it takes people who are multi-relational, outgoing and interactive. Introverts can plant churches, but they have to take a more organic, one-on-one approach. Extraverts often get a church off the ground faster with more energy. Therefore, when I taught this course to extraverts, I noticed they were not terribly interested. I don’t blame them. I had approached the subject as if all of us were comfortable with reflecting deeply within. I now realize that is not how it works. An extravert will never be able to grow internally if they take an introvert’s approach. After getting polite but mundane response to my seminar, I revamped it with the extravert in mind. The first time I presented my Extraverted Version of Spiritual Formation, I witnessed a dramatic transformation. These church planters engaged immediately in the concepts. Even now, several years later, these church leaders come up and mention that seminar as foundational in their understanding of spiritual formation.

Here are the basic elements that form the fabric of a dynamic spiritual formation process for Extraverts:

  1. An extravert needs to have more times devoted to spiritual formation than an introvert, but they must be of much shorter duration. Rarely can an extravert concentrate on any inner discipline for more than a half hour.
  2. They need to have people in their life they can bounce ideas, decisions, thoughts and reflections off. These people must be instructed to know their role is to interact –  they don’t have to agree or disagree on principle. It actually works better if extraverts can have several other extraverts they speak to every week and possibly every day about the spiritual truths they are learning.
  3. An extravert should seek to pass on what they are learning through mentoring, teaching, writing or music as soon as possible after coming to an understanding of a new truth.
  4. Every truth has a corresponding action associated with it. An extravert should learn they must do something with what they are becoming and learning and not just accept new ideas as philosophical concepts.
  5. An extravert desperately needs to have safe people they can talk with concerning the things they want to eliminate from their lives. These people should not be judgmental in nature, but neither can they be soft. They must challenge the extravert to new patterns of living based on the way God is changing them on the inside.

I am researching these things and may develop this teaching into a series of articles. At the very least, these five principles can change an extravert from the core outward. For instance, let’s talk about intercessory prayer. It is too difficult for me to spend hours praying on my own. However, if I can gather two or three other people to join me in prayer, the things Holy Spirit says to me often blends beautifully with what the others are praying. What they say often jibes perfectly with my thoughts and propels me into a new thought pattern altogether. If I sat for two hours trying to pray for someone, I would out-think myself and second guess my inner thoughts. But as soon as they come out of my mouth, I am often surprised at what I just prayed. In this regard, it is helpful when I am alone to pray out loud. Even if no one else is there, I can externalize my thoughts and listen to them as if someone else was praying. It helps.

Stay tuned…I am forming these thoughts as I grow.

Christmas Devotionals

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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Why are people so eager to be done with Christmas? The frenzy now begins in October with Christmas decorations showing up in stores. Then by January 1st people are done with it. Before the new year rings in out go the trees and down go the lights. Why canʼt Christmas spill into the New Year? In my house the tree is still up and stately. The snowflake lights are still on the front porch and the deck lights still glow. The manger scene is still in tack and the cards are on display. I need Christmas to usher in the New Year.

Christmas is about beginnings not something to pack up and put away. As a child we never decorated our tree until Christmas Eve. We all decorated the tree and my Dad would sit in his chair and open mounds of Christmas cards that he brought home from work. The evening ended with church or the next morning we went to church. Church was alway in the picture. I grew up memorizing the words to Christmas Carols listening to them on my 45 record player.

Our tree stayed up until January 6 – Epiphany. This date on the church calendar marks the arrival of the Kings, the Wise Men. It was at the Epiphany service that we had candles. We were allowed to keep the candles. No turning them in at the end of the service because we were to take the light into the world. We kept our candles lit even as we drove home in a car without seat belts. Four Kids with lighted candles. The goal to take the light into our house. We usually achieved our goal but mostly because we had a brave mother who delighted in the Lord. So today as everyone is being done with Christmas I have let it usher in the New Year. I need itʼs light, its message. I need the person it honors. I need the story to take me forward.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The Epiphany, or the manifestation of the Christ to the Gentiles. This is the statement about the event in the church calendar in the Episcopal Prayer book. This is such an interesting celebration especially to me as a missionary. It marks the visit of the Gentiles to find the baby Jesus. I just noticed something a few days ago that in the Gospel of Matthew in the story about the wise men. I noticed that the magi who came from the East said that they wanted to know where the King of the Jews was because they had come to WORSHIP him. It is the worship part that struck me. They actually said all this to King Herod! So they were saying that Herod the half breed was not the king of the Jews. Yet for this new king the Magi were prepared to worship. WOW. Not homage or recognition but worship. And that is exactly what they did when they found him.

So these are the first Gentiles and maybe the first humans to actually WORSHIP Jesus. He is truly “ Good new for all peoples” as the angels proclaimed to the shepherds. Matthew 2:1-12.

Out of Cambodia

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Every afternoon rain splattered downwards onto our faces in little bits of drips and the grass was wet, but the air was still uncomfortably warm. Seventeen young Cambodian girls stood scattered around the small backyard space waiting for me to start speaking. They were a part of a local soccer team which weekly met with a few of us from our School of Dance Studies 2010 outreach team for extra conditioning classes.

Some days we taught them upbeat dance classes, sometimes we worked through aerobic exercises together, but on this day it was my turn to challenge their cardiovascular systems. Running with high knees, fast grapevine steps, and backwards jogging were all a part of the planned workout for the day. I pressed play on my iPod. Music beats blared. We began.

Well, I began, they stared at me as I ran—most Cambodians hide inside when rain begins falling. Consequently, this request to run in the rain was not looked upon very favorably. I quickened my own legs’ pace, trying to push thirty-four other legs to do the same. Smiles and cheers burst from my lips. I ran circles around them.

The girls reluctantly began moving. I came alongside their movements, looked encouragingly into their eyes, and challenged them to step further forward into more of the great potential they possessed. In my goofiness I let them know they could try without fear. I purposefully ran ridiculously so they might feel free to try without embarrassment.

And finally these girls moved and ran and laughed wholeheartedly. We shared smiles, laughter, breath, and sweat. In that small and sodden yard, they and I together found freedom and so much fun. Treating them with kindness was a joy. I loved loving them the best that I could. I loved encouraging them to run forward physically while believing the action to be a symbolic statement for their lives.

As a team, we believed in them, shared God’s love with them, and invested time into their lives. In a country where female children are often taken into the sex trade and treated horrendously, we let these girls know that they are worthwhile and worth so very much more. God gave us the privilege of standing against what was often seen as normal, not only on principle, but out of love for each individual child we met. A love that not only beat in our hearts, but flows from God’s heart directly into the atmosphere of that Cambodian land. His love for them flows more faithfully than their country’s afternoon rains. And it is only this love that can fully rescue and fully restore all of us beyond the bounds of both our logic and imagination.

God’s Provision

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In December of 2009 the news was given that the current Studio 501 was going to be moving to a new location on base for the new Studio 501. I wasn’t working in Studio 501 at that point but that was where God was leading me and my family for our future ministry. This was great news because we not only acquired newer and bigger space, but we were given the chance to design and build it the way a studio should be built. After a year and a half of plans being made for the building of the new studio demolition began in June of 2011. The move in date was announced for the 1 things didn’t turn out the way we thought. So began the journey of God walking us through patience, trust and faith that he would provide. As with any new project we ran into some budget issues, finding out things would cost more than they were along the way and so on. We were going through our budget quicker than expected and were left in the place of waiting for God to provide.

January 1st 2012 came and went and we didn’t even have our floating floors poured for each room. I’m not going to lie we were definitely worried about how this floor was going to get paid for. But since that point we have seen God’s faithfulness like normal! On February 24 were finally poured with the help of a professional concrete pourer from Spokane who donated his labor to get this done. The company that engineered our floor gave us a huge discount on the design and plans of the floor. So a floor that should have cost us 50,000 dollars to build cost us 20,000 dollars. It’s funny how easily we get caught up in the stress and doubt and wonder how God is going to provide the money for our needs. Not only did the money come through but he provided a professional to come and help us pour the floor and gave us a huge discount through our floor engineer. And this is the story of the new Studio 501.

Our walls and ceilings have ¾” double layered MDF on them. This was donated to us by a local lumber yard Plumb Creek Lumber; this was a 30,000 dollar donation. We were going to use sheetrock and would have had to pay for it, but God provided above and beyond. MDF is what we have chosen to build with if we had an unlimited budget but that wasn’t an option. It was only an option because this is God’s studio not ours. If we tried to do this on our own we would have had to cut corners and the studio would have been fine, but because of God’s perfect timing and provision we got the materials we wanted for free.

Our HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) system for the new studio needed to be very specific for our air tight rooms and it needed to run very quietly because we can’t have a machine making any noise while are recording. Through some connections with 100 Fold Studio we found a guy in Alabama who designed our HVAC system for free so we only had to pay for parts. We had a church from Michigan send a team to our base to help us build all over our campus. A few of the guys on the team helped us install the HVAC in the attic so in the end labor was free thanks to a group of people who took their vacation time to come out here and work for a week when they could have been relaxing on a beach for a week.

Early on in the construction process, before we knew what hit us we had spent all of our budgeted money for our electrical on an electrician. We had no clue how we were going to make the budget work to get the rest of the electrical finished in the studio. Lo and behold God provided for us again. On another VWAP (Vacation With a Purpose) team from Stanwood Washington there was an electrician who was able to get signed off by our electrical inspector to work on our building. In one week we went from 5% of our electrical done to 90% done. We saved 10,000 dollars in one week because of the donated time of the electrician and the guys that helped him pull wire and hang boxes.What a blessing!

So this is the story of the new Studio 501. As of today August 7th 2013 we are 70% done with the new Studio 501. Throughout the past 2 years we have seen God’s hand throughout the construction of the new Studio 501. This is God’s studio not ours. With his provision he has only made the studio better; better than we could have ever done on our own. What in the normal world would have cost us around 1 million dollars to build, this studio when finished will have cost us 70,000 dollars. God is a good God and even when we doubt and fear he chooses to provide for us even when we think what is ahead is impossible. Thank you God for your provision!

Outdoor Highlights – Disappointment Peak

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It wouldn’t be summer without a trip to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons national parks. It also wouldn’t be EDTS without our guest speaker and friend, Matt Hulst. Departing at the early hours of dawn and driving through a wild land fire north of Missoula, we made our way to Grant Village in YNP for 4 days and then headed towards Jackson for 2 nights at Colter Bay in GTNP.

Over the past three summers we’ve happened upon quite a few traditions for our annual Yellowstone trip. These include stopping for gas station cappuccinos/McDonald’s at the truck stop on HWY 93 and I-90, hitting up the Roosevelt Arch at the north entrance to the park, swimming in the boiling river, reading the park incident report and praying that we don’t get ourselves into an sticky situations with the wilderness, reading stories from the book, “Deaths in Yellowstone” and praying that we don’t get ourselves into any of those situations, dodging lightning and taking cover at the general store, cooking and eating camp food like we’re gourmet chefs (we eat like kings and queens on this trip!), frequenting Old Faithful, heading to the Tetons, stopping at Pizza Hut in Butte, MT within a few days of the “Evil Kinievil Festival” and hearing horror stories from the Pizza Hut employees and, finally, debating if we have enough time for a quick stop at REI in Missoula before heading back to Lakeside.

A huge highlight of the week was our camp sites. After baking in the scorching summer sun, totally exposed, in St. Mary’s back in week 4, we actually had to put on our down jackets each morning as we crawled out of our sleeping bags into the surrounding pine tree forest which made up our site.

Both campgrounds provided that wonderful outdoor classroom which facilitated a week full of impact. Matt Hulst joined us last summer at Rick Huffman’s and he once again taught on the tangible kingdom and story of God this year. A big thank you congratulations to Matt and his new wife!

While in the Tetons, the staff had some time to reflect on the first half of lecture and look towards both the second half as well as 2014. We were amazed at the accessibility of hikes and climbs and we spent one afternoon attempting to summit Disappointment Peak. It lived up to its name and we did not make it to the top this year. We’re hoping to be back in 2014!

Entering last week’s  EDTS everyone was excited to head out into the wild again for another trip. Our guest speakers, Tee and Kathryn Gatewood from Arbor Dale Presbyterian Church in Banner Elk, North Carolina, joined us for our week and taught on grace and holiness.

The team has really started to come together as a community as evidenced in our times of prayer & worship, work duties/meal prep, outdoor skill sets and learning/lecture processing times. It is great to see each member of the team (staff and students alike) bring their gifts to the group and bless each other with the blessings that God has given them.

Outdoor highlights of this last week include our mountaineering session where we practiced self-arrest on the snow fields and various hikes in the Many Glacier area, including a trek to Iceberg Lake (which was still full of icebergs!).

Click the image below to learn more about EDTS!

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Into the Wild

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Entering this 4th week of EDTS everyone was excited to head out into the wild again for another trip. Our guest speakers, Tee and Kathryn Gatewood from Arbor Dale Presbyterian Church in Banner Elk, North Carolina, joined us for our week and taught on grace and holiness.

The team really started to come together as a community as evidenced in our times of prayer & worship, work duties/meal prep, outdoor skill sets and learning/lecture processing times. It is great to see each member of the team (staff and students alike) bring their gifts to the group and bless each other with the blessings that God has given them.

Outdoor highlights of the week include our mountaineering session where we practiced self-arrest on the snow fields and various hikes in the Many Glacier area, including a trek to Iceberg Lake (which was still full of icebergs!).

This last week we were on our campus in Lakeside, learning together from Mariska Buzzard about Relationships. Mariska and her husband Keith are the directors of our campus, and she’s originally from South Africa. It’s fun to have Mariska, as a second language English speaker, join our group of 13 students, which already has 8 international students (most of them are also second language English speakers). We love that YWAM is intentionally an international organization!

We spent last week talking about our relationships with one another, with God, with our families, and with significant others. It was a week to consider how we love each other well, and how we treat our relationships with others. God is using Mariska to challenge us to His standards in our relationships.

We’ve had great times of worship, spending time outside on our campus together and enjoying the beauty of God’s creation.

Our big outdoor activities have been rock climbing in Kila, which is a nearby town, and doing archery indoors at a range in Kalispell. While climbing in 90 degree heat isn’t optimal, everyone had a chance to be on the rock and set personal goals for their time. Students conquered some fears, and others settled naturally into an activity that they’ve been doing for a long time before the school. It’s fun to have both experienced and inexperienced people championing and encouraging each other in an activity. We also shot at an indoor archery range, which was both a nice break from the heat and a great new experience for a lot of students.

Please pray for safety and great weather for us, and lots of opportunities to put into practice our school theme of Loving God and Loving People.

Click the image below to learn more about EDTS!

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The Beginning

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We’ve started! Endurance DTS 2013 is happening, and we’re all having an incredible time. Our school theme this year is from Matthew 22:37-39 where Jesus tells his disciples about the greatest command – to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. And the second command – to love your neighbor as yourself. We’ve taken these two commands and summarized them as “Love God and Love People” and as a school we’ve committed this season to doing our best to walking these out together. And already we’ve learned so much about how we can do that, and how challenging it is to be consistent in following these commands.

We started our first week of lecture with our friend Gordy McDonald teaching on discipleship, and giving us a basic understanding of what lies ahead in DTS for these next few months. Gordy is a former base director here at YWAM Montana, and we appreciated the opportunity to gain from his wisdom and experience. And as Gordy wrapped up teaching for the week, we headed out on our first trip together as a school – to Glacier National Park!As we prepared for the trip, we took time to practice some necessary skills for Montana living – including practicing using our bear spray. Better to plan ahead and be prepared is a common saying around our classroom and campsite!

Our first trip to Glacier was a great bonding experience for the group, and each student learned practical lessons about what they need and don’t need while camping and hiking. We went up to Logan Pass and hiked as a group one day, where we saw lots of snow and mountain goats. We did several hikes as smaller groups, which gave each person the opportunity to challenge themselves according to their desire. We ate like champions. Sushi all around. And yes, it was a lot harder to make sushi while camping than we had maybe guessed. But we had fun doing it!

We had Mike Phillips, a pastor from California (who formerly pastored in Kalispell), join us for a few days in Glacier to teach on Hearing God’s Voice. Mike shared basic principles on listening to God and discerning his voice in our lives, and started our students on the path of listening more closely for God in their own lives. Mike will continue to join us for a few lectures throughout the school, as he’s taking a sabbatical this summer and staying on our campus. We’re looking forward to more time with Mike, and more practice hearing God.

Our Glacier trip took us midway into our second week of the school, and we returned just in time to celebrate the 4th of July. We spent a day learning the basics of rock climbing, and then Dr. Ron Smith came in for a day to teach about reading the Bible and the impact it’s had on his life. Ron and his wife Judy together started the School of Biblical Studies within YWAM many years ago, and he left a strong impression on us about the value of the Word.

We spent the Saturday of our second weekend volunteering at a local adventure race – The Glacier Challenge. It’s a 50 mile, 6 leg race where participants run, mountain bike, road bike, kayak and canoe a combined distance of 50 miles. Participants can race solo, as pairs, or in a team, and it was a great opportunity for us as a school to reach out to the outdoor industry and serve in helpful ways. Two of our staff participated as a team, and the rest of our students and staff served as volunteers at transition points in the race.

Just like that, two weeks of EDTS are finished! We’ve had so much learning together and from each other, and we’re eager to see what God has in store for us next.

Click the image below to learn more about EDTS!

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the beginning…

 

God Is Love

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I wanted to come into DTS perfect. Sounds silly, right? But truthfully, I came into this experience with some baggage. I strove to adhere and maintain strict discipline because I wanted to be pleasing to God and others. It ruled over me to a point where I would be hard on others and their downfalls. The truth is, I was really harboring that criticism on myself. l was not yet perfected in the love of the Father.
Throughout DTS God began to show me that my drive to perform weighed me down. I stretched myself in ways that robbed me of my joy. 
During Father Heart of God Week, our speaker said something profound that caught my attention: “There’s nothing you can do to make God love you less. If you never read His word again or never prayed another prayer, God’s love for you would never change.” This blew my mind. I thought to myself, “Wow! If I didn’t work so hard to try and win His approval, He would love me regardless?”  I didn’t take this as license to rebel because I believe God desires the best for us. But rather, I learned a precious truth that despite how hard I try to earn His love with my tiresome efforts, His love for me was complete. And what’s better is that He actually desired for me to be free from my own perfection! I could serve Him without conditions holding me back.
I can confidently proclaim today that God loves His children because He IS Love.  It is His character! And motivated by love, God sent His Son Jesus to pay not only for our sins but rule-based acceptance! I learned that Love is full of grace and doesn’t point fingers if we don’t “measure up”. His Love for humanity is made complete in Jesus. I learned that there is no other standard I need to uphold other than to love with my whole heart. And to do the best I can in any situation! This is good news!
I am so thankful that God has made His love real to me. I end this story with an awesome revelation: I am loved. You are loved. Look in the mirror today and know God loves you.

The Truth Will Set You Free

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I had never before seen the Holy Spirit fall with such power and conviction as it did while teaching God’s plan of redemption in a Nepali village. It was beautiful there. Rice paddies and vegetable fields were terraced into the sides of green hills. We slept on the third story of a traditional Nepali house, with goats living on the ground floor. It was our first Bible Overview Seminar and I was apprehensive about how the people would respond. Those in attendance were of varying ages – men and women, old and new believers. A sixteen-year-old girl, who had been a believer for just eight months, sat under the same teaching as a church elder who had been a believer for thirty years.

We started with the character of God and creation. As we worked through the Bible, we could see understanding begin to show in the faces of the people. God was bringing truth into their lives. On the third morning of the seminar, I taught about the coming of Jesus. As I opened with prayer I became so overwhelmed by what Jesus had done for us that it was almost as if God was changing me by my own teaching. As I finished, a woman began to weep. She had been a Christian for six years, but that day she realized for the first time that God had forgiven her past, present, and future sins. She no longer needed to live in fear of un-forgiveness. At the end of the seminar, we lit candles to illustrate how believers are the light to lead people out of the darkness. In the candle-lit room we thanked God for redeeming us. We wept – Nepalis and Foreigners alike – hands held high, crying out to the Lord with our whole hearts. With voices joined, we prayed for power, that the world would know the truth and be set free. May we continue to preach with boldness and be filled with His Spirit.