December Moments... Part 2 Peace with/in God

Today I am thinking about the sermon from this weekend. Pastor Heather did a great job continuing the Gift Series. She talked about how we use the word PEACE so much during this season. We talk about Peace, sing about Peace, and yet so often this season and even the Christmas story has so little Peace in it. She talked about how first and for most we need to have PEACE WITH GOD!! We need to be in relationship with God and at Peace with our maker. It was a great moment to stop during the service and give people a opportunity to accept Christ as their Savior. The second point that she made was we also have PEACE IN GOD!! During times that are not so peaceful or situations that we don`t understand we have Peace in God. This is ringing true to me today. Jason and I traveled to PA Sunday morning to be with our family. Jason's Aunt is in the ICU in critical condition. We are sitting, praying, and being together as a family. Today it is important to have Peace in God.. thank you all for your prayers.

December Moments... Part 1

December Moments. Life seems it travels so fast. I am going to make a new years resolution to post daily here to keep a better record. This past weekend was so exciting. We released the A18 Marketplace. This Christmas you can not only buy gifts for family that mean something special but can change the world. Check it out!! Great idea and great way to impact the world.

http://aoneeight.org/marketplace/

Weekend of Fun!!!

These are just some pictures from the weekend. Jason leading service, Colin Davis playing with the band!! More to come from the Baptism tonight at Ebz!!

Leaderships Summit Saturday morning. We have annual meetings with the leads of all small groups (over 90 this semseter alone) and ministry heads to give them a view of where the church is headed and what they can expect from staff in the near future! It was a great place to see all the leaders from all 4 soon to be 5 locations. It was also a great opportunity to see Pastor Mark's heart and love for the leaders and church body.

Dreaming... and God Brings Your Dream!!

I am so sorry my blog has been slacking!!! Jason does such a great job keeping everyone up to date!! This week I am busting at the seams to Blog!! When Jason and I first started dating one of the concerns we both had about becoming Married was, Is God taking us both in the same direction. We were both sold out for our JESUS and we didn`t want anything that would take us to the right or the left. As we talked and dreamed about what we wanted to do and how God might use our gifts and talents together our Dream together started to become clear. Jason and I started to dream about a place where people in need could come and get education, medical, emotional, and physical needs met. We started to dream about planting them all over the world. Like most Dreams the Lord plans in your heart he determines your steps and just asks you to trust him and learn as much as you can about your Dream through prayer and education.
Having that Dream in our heart the Lord ordered our steps here to NCC. We started to see how the Lord could use us in the Local church and we have started to gain love and knowledge from some amazing people here at National Community Church who have a huge heart for people and act on it daily. Our first weekend here was a great awakening to that with The Convoy of Hope. Jason and I were struck by a full day of our Dream in the Convoy of Hope we were able to walk up to people ask what they needed and take them there for free!!! What a amazing feeling. This week as we watched our Pastor talk about the Election and how we need to be the answer, WE THE CHURCH!!! Again I started to Dream in my seat.... wow what would it be like to have a place where people could come and........ my Day Dream was interrupted when Pastor Mark Announced that he believes along with many others that within the next YEAR we will be building a Ministry Center/ Dream Center/ Hope Center!!!!! Yes I am not kidding!! The Lord Directs a Man/Women's steps. Coming to NCC was always a big step of Faith for Jason and I raising support and moving. We have officially been here 2 months today, the Lord has not only blessed us for our obedience, he had more in store for us here then we ever imagined!! Thank you for your support and we are so excited to keep you updated on what the Lord is doing in our city and in our hearts!!

Catlatyst 2008

This year is the first time I have been to Catalyst, LIFE CHANGING. Jason had been twice before so I knew with his level of excitement I was in for a wonderful two days. I did not expect the level of speakers and information we received in 48 hours. I enjoyed everything from traveling as a group over 20 of us on a plane together to every speaker. Each speaker had a point that hit me and moved my heart to Dream and Action. One speaker that really stuck out to me by the end of the weekend was Pastor Steve Flickman. He is a pastor in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a 28 years old, PK and in two years his church plant has grown to over 5,000 people. He was meaningful to me because he talked about Promise, Process, and the Promise Land. His message really hit me because he spoke the most about Process. He spoke about how the Lord gave him a promise when he was 16 years old and 10 years of the "Process" he went through before taking the step of planting this church. He talked about how the Promise was not specific, he prayed with a group where the church would be, how they would reach people, and when they would move. It rang so true for me with the stage of life Jason and I are in. We feel we have a promise but making it through the process is the hard part. Trusting the Lord with the promise he has given you and making it through the Process is the Key. Think about it how many things happen in the process. In the process you begin to dought, in the process you have to make choices that don't make sense of you can`t see have a happy ending, in the process you MUST HAVE FAITH and in the process you are totally dependent on Jesus. I LOVE THE PROCESS!! I know you are in the process so much longer then when you receive the Promise or when you get there! The process is what prepares you for the Promise Land. Wow it just really hit me!!

October Brings FUN!!

October has brought so much to the life that Jason and I are living here in DC. We are really starting to get into the hang of things. Jason is in charge of a location officially, we went on our first Team conference in Atlanta, Catalyst, and we celebrated being married one year!! I don`t want to do a supper long post so I am going to try to break them all down.
This experience now only 6 weeks in has been on of the most stretching thing I have ever done. It feels that we are trusting in the Lord not knowing even what that day will hold. I love living in a place of full faith. A place where you don`t know what the next year could hold and the many things that is could hold are so different.

Starting to get plugged IN!!

Jason and I are really starting to feel a part of NCC. It is week three and we are leading a bible study, Jason led his first service at Ebz this week and we are gaining more and more relationships. We are so excited about how God is bring His plan together in our lives. This morning Pastor Mark finished up a Six week series based on his second book "Wild Goose Chase" This week he focused on the "Cage of Fear" he focused on how we need to play offense in our relationship with Christ instead of what so many of us do and play defense. He made a point that I have been thinking about all day. "Why does the world know the church by what we are against instead of what we are for" I am excited that we are part of a church that desires to be known more for what we are Doing for Christ and the Community then what we are against and protest against. 

This week Jason and I will start to lead a Alpha group at Ebz. Alpha is a place where people that are investigating the faith, have doubts about the faith, or just have questions that they want to explore before making a choice to follow Christ. It is a great place for people of all kinds to come and find out more about this faith that we live out everyday. We are so excited to have a chance to be on the front lines of getting to know people who are interested in getting to know Christ. 

In the next few weeks Jason will be transitioning into the Point Pastor position at Ebz. It is a great opportunity as well as a great responsibility to be the Point Pastor at one of the four NCC locations. 

One last think that I wanted to share that have started to make a big impact on me is the core values at NCC. When we do a event, a service, a plan, or even thinking of ideas for something new these values are used day to day. I just wanted to share them with you to get a glimpse of the type of community we are working within here at NCC. 

• Expect the unexpected
• Irrelevance is irreverence
• Love people when they least expect it and least deserve it
• Playing it safe is risky
• Pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you
• Everyone is invaluable and irreplaceable
• Everything is an experiment
• You cannot out give God
• Maturity does not equal conformity
• Go the extra mile
• It's never too late to be who you might have been
• Do it right and do it big

Thank you so much for following Jason and I and what God is doing in our lives. We are so excited to be a part of this plan that God has in DC and in our lives. 

How should the church really look!!!

Here are a few photos from the weekend.

The first pic is from Connection Cafe at Union station on Sunday. Once a quarter they have a connection cafe at each location to welcome new members and help get them plugged into a ministry or a small group. Like I already mentioned NCC has over 100 small groups THIS SEMESTER meeting so lots of ways to get connected. My favorite so far is a Tennis small group call "Enter His Courts" creative right...... that is just how things are here CREATIVE. As you can see the boxes of goodies for new people is a pop corn box (we do meet in movie theatres)

The next picture is from one of the three services at Union Station on Sunday mornings!! ALL three services were standing room only, it was awesome to see a movie theatre packed out for Jesus and not the newest movie.

The last picture is Jason (on the left bottom) walking to Ebz (the coffee house). It was so fun Union is only a block from the coffee house.

Today I am trying to put into words our first week at NCC. Jason has been on staff with NCC for a official week today and oh what a week. From Convoy, Alpha training, Services, Connection Cafe, and Catacombs well we are tired to be honest. Jason has been turning in 10-12 hour days on the regular and learning so much.

We had Alpha training this weekend on Saturday morning. It was amazing to me to see how much time and effort the church focuses on non believers. Alpha is a place where you can come with your questions and thoughts and be open and honest to talk about them. Jason and I are excited to be a part of it!!

It was great to connect with new people during Connection Cafe after services Saturday and Sunday night. What is so exciting is you meet people from all over the world in DC. People only there for a semester or a term and people with such influence in the world. I was really excited about the people that I met and what they were doing to bring peace and justice to our world!!

Catacombs is a time once a quarter where we have live, unedited, all out worship!! It is a great time to see the body of Christ at NCC come together to Worship God with no other agenda! That is a little of what we did this weekend. Keep the comments coming and let me know if you will be in town we would love to see you!!!

Beyond what you think or imagine!!!

Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

This verse has very strong significance for me. This verse is the verse that my mom quoted over and over it didn`t matter what you were struggling with or what you wanted she would say, "Shelly our God is going to give you more than all we ask or imagine!" Now if you know me at all I have a HUGE IMAGINATION, I think my husband might say the word REALITY honey more then he thought he would. So this verse it FIRES ME UP!!! It excites me to out dream God, not that I can but OHHH to try! I think of EVERYTHING.... from walking off a plane and meeting eyes with a child that I have been longing to adopt from another country to seeing my husband and our family in a place where the Lord is using all of our gifts to influence the WORLD for his call.
Today this verse keeps ringing in my head for several reasons. One we are starting to get a glimpse of what things are going to practically look like her at NCC. It looks like Jason will be "Point Pastor" at Ebenezer's. Ebenezer's is the Coffee House that NCC built that is one block from Union Station. It is open 7 days a week and people from all walks of life and Congress...lol... walk in and out every day. The bottom floor is a "Venue" of sorts, like what you would imagine a poetry reading to look like. On Saturday nights we have service down there at 5:00 Live and 6:30 with everything Live except the sermon. NCC has a total of 8 services between Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, three of those are preached live and the others have access to the same sermon to play at the other services, it is quite a amazing concept really. Ok sorry off topic. So Jason will be pastoring between 300-400 people from that location. It is so amazing to see where God takes you and how he promotes when you trust in him. Jason and I have gone from sitting on our floor 10 minutes before midnight on new years eve feeling God doing something HUGE in our hearts to MORE than we could have imagined. Don`t worry Jason will also be leading worship, not at the same location because it would be a little much to try to connect with everyone and play each night. Imagine Jason having One job at a service...lol!! He will be leading worship at a location on Sunday Mornings helping another Point Pastor at their location.
Another reason that his verse is going around and around in my head this morning. Before we left Salisbury the Lord gave me a word about discipleship for a dear friend. The Lord opened my eyes to two stories in the Bible and really brought them together. He showed me when Jesus fed the 5,000. AMAZING act of Jesus to show mercy and to feed the hungry. I think often times we are drawn to the big events. We are drawn to The Call, Convoy of Hope, Conferences, and when the Lord does healing. I am not saying that we should not be called to those things. We are doing things that the Lord has asked us to Pray, feed the hungry, Heal the sick, and meet together. What the Lord showed me for this friend, and I think for myself even more is JESUS poured his ministry of three years into 12. Not 12,000 but 12. He selected 12 to be with him through what the Lord was calling him to. And he even choose 3 to be even closer to him than the rest. It was through the life of those 12 that a nation, world, generation, PEOPLE were changed. Those that were fed on that day he fed the 5,000 they were impacted with a person need that the Lord met for them. THAT IS AMAZING. When we met at RFK last weekend to feed, pray, love on, provide for over 10,000 people. We were able to help the Lord answer prayers of his people. But my eyes have been opened to the impact that pouring your life into another can have. Jesus thought it worthy to select 12 to share his journey with the good and the bad. So during this time God was revealing this to me he was giving me a heart for Discipleship and the impact it has on the church. I would venture to say with out effective Discipleship in a church your church will die. I was moved and God has been pushing this on my heart. AGAIN, more than we could ever hope or imagine. This week Jason came home to tell me that the semester of small groups is starting this week at NCC. They have a plan for every person that enters the doors from a study for new believers or non believers to groups for those that want to give back and identify the gifts the Lord has given them. Jason said, "Shelly guess how many groups are meeting this semester?" I was like 20.... Then you know that Jesus more than you can imagine. NCC has 100 groups that will be meeting this semester for people to be DISCIPLED!! The bible says that God announces what he is going to do before he does it. I am so amazed and humbled that God can speak to me and prepare me for where he is sending me if we just wait on him and open our hearts to his Word.
Wow this was a long blog but it was just burning in side of me to get out!! Thank you Jesus for your love!! Leave a comment!!! Talk to you tomorrow!!

First Day for Jason

Today was Jason's official official first day. Check out his blog and hear about about his activities today www.jtyost.blogspot.com !! I was excited to find out about all the missions trips finally. NCC has designed a booklet for all the missions trip for the next year. We are coming up with the cost for each trip we will need to raise for the trips we feel God calling us to.
Today was so exciting for me as a wife. I guess since your reading my blog you are interested in the perspective that I have as well as Jason's. Today I felt like I was sending my child to his first day of school and I could not wait for him to come home and hear all about it. Jason was no disappointment today when he got home. Full of the news from the day and has me so excited for even more things to come. God is so faithful months ago when Jason and I heard the Lord calling us to move and calling us somewhere we never thought we would end up in our nations capital serving the people of God that change our world everyday when they go to work.
This weekend was such a great experience getting to know those NCC that helped out with Convoy of Hope. It was amazing and exciting to start to get to know the people we will be serving here! I am in love with the heart of NCC already, they want to GROW to GIVE. The Pastors have made it clear that they do outreach to GIVE not to grow the church. It is amazing to me to be a part of a church thats very heartbeat is in sink with Jason and I, we feel like we have come home!! Please keep praying for us and the monthly support we will need to live on capital hill and go on as many trips as we can. Thanks!!

Washington Post Coverage

http://tinyurl.com/56amj3
Check it out!!

and check out our head pastors blog he has more to share...

http://www.evotional.com/

Beyond Words......

A picture is worth a 1,000 words is a understatement today. I am sharing just a few with you today from the Convoy of Hope DC. Today over 1200 volunteers served over 80,000 lbs of groceries and over 10,000 people through different services and activities. According to Wikipedia a Convoy is a group of vehicles traveling together for mutual support. Today a Convoy of Hope rolled in to the city of Washington DC and BLESSED THE SOCKS OFF OF THE CITY!! It is very hard to take today and place it into words... but I will try. The first hour or so that the gates were open it was hard for me to contain my tears people from all over the city starting to line up for jobs, hair cuts, games, food, and people pouring in for Prayer!! I was moved to see people within minutes of the doors opening people were being shared with about the good news of Jesus Christ. Jason and I were able to serve today with my sister Jaclyn and family friend Justin. It was great to join them hand in hand in being the Hands and Feet of Jesus. I am not sure about what we call Sunday Morning "Service" anymore. Today we had CHURCH like I have never experienced in the 25 years I have been walking with the Lord. Today we were Jesus to His people! It was really something I will never forget and am having trouble putting into words. As Jason said today we Loved the Lord Our God with ALL our Strength!!!

God Makes Things Grow

Today Jason and I are sitting at home during Hurricane Hanna. The Convoy has been moved to Sunday September 7th as a result of the buckets of rain and high winds we are experiencing here in DC. As was said last night at our volunteer training God's timing is perfect so tomorrow is going to be great. I wanted to share some thoughts with you this morning from my devotional time.
1 Corinthians 3:6-9
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

This morning sitting in the sun room reading and watching buckets of rain fall outside the window. I was moved to think, tomorrow we will be this rain to the city of DC. We will attempt to plant and water the lives for 10,000 people that are expected to turn out for food, games, hair cuts, medical aid and so much more. We will be working to the glory of the Lord. The amazing part is GOD MAKES THINGS GROW!! He takes the smallest thing that will be done tomorrow and He can change a life out of it. He can take a photograph of a family taken in the Family Portrait section and give a mother a new vision and excitement for her family. He can take a need for food and turn it in to a new job as we heard about last night at the training. I am so moved by the heart of NCC and the willingness to place themselves in the marketplace to help those that are broken. The Lord is going to bind up the broken hearted tomorrow!!! He is going to set some people free!! Praise God!!

First Offical Event

We are so excited to go to the rally tonight to get ready for Convoy of Hope tomorrow. NCC (National Community Church) is hosting the Convoy of Hope (http://www.convoydc.com/) this Saturday September 6th at RFK statium. They have been planning it for months to reach out to the city of DC and be the hands and feet of Jesus. What a blessing to be a part of such a act that displays the heart of Jesus. Jason and I are starting to settle in here and we are excited to see what the next few months will bring. Stay plugged in here and at http://www.jtyost.blogspot.com/. Thank you for all your love, prayers, and support the past month. We know that God is calling us and what a great group of family and friends to support us along the way.