let's pray together

Dear fellow missioners,

One of the most fun and spiritual enriching things about doing the Lord's work is getting to commune and pray with some of the country's most amazing people in ministry. Unfortunately, it never seems to last long enough. We all have our own missions, cities, and families to get back to.

What if there were more time? Just for us. To pray, eat, share, and dream. What could the Lord do with us in a weekend, where we weren't "working" or "serving" with one another, but simply coming to Him, intentionally, for an outpouring of new vision for ministry and evangelization in this country? Don't you think we owe this to ourselves? To our God? To the people we serve? I do.

This is not a commercial. This isn't a last ditch effort to boost our numbers. This isn't about any one ministry or any one name (although we could drop some names). This is about a community of evangelists and ministry leaders from across the country coming to seek Him in a great time of need. The ADORE Worship Summit is about you and I getting that time we need and desire.

If you think this is going to be just another conference, give me a call and I'd be happy to explain why it isn't. You seriously don't miss this epic weekend, September 4-6 in Houston.

For registration and event info - www.adoreworship.com - and click on the summit graphic.

I love you all dearly, and I hope to see you in Houston. Please feel free to forward this on to anyone else.

peace+

ennie

Trust is hard

For the last couple of months, we've been faced with a lot of situations where we just have to step into a dark place, not really knowing what was on the other side.  Although our situation is unique, it almost has this timeless character. For generations, Christians have been behaving in seemingly dangerous ways, all in trust of God.  It's the Christian experience; learning who your life belongs to, yours or His? My life still belongs to me, but I'm learning how to hand it over piece after piece.  It's not easy... so it makes the list of the latest Holy Irritations.

There is a great Mother Teresa story (don't you just love MT stories?), about a man from the United States who fell in love with Christ and just knew that God had something magnanimous for him to do.  He left his job, and began searching.  After a while, he became a little impatient, because he felt that God had not given him absolute clarity in what he was supposed to do with His life.  He packed his things and decided to go and work with Mother for a while in Calcutta.  When he finally got the chance to meet Mother, he thought he could ask her to pray for him through his discernment.  So he approached her with this question, "Mother, will you pray for me? I know that God wants me to do something great with my life, I just don't know what it is.  Will you pray that I have complete clarity from God as to what it is that He wants me to do?  Once I have clarity, I will do it."  And Mother, in her sweet Mother Teresa way, said, "No. I won't pray for you for that.  I never once in my life had clarity as to what God wanted me to do.  I will, however, pray that you Trust Him."  

Trust, not clarity is what we need during our transition.  When I try and begin to figure out just how God is going to make all the mission work, I get bogged down and begin to panic.  When I live in such a way that is completely vulnerable to God's will, I have freedom and peace.  He knows what's best for us.  He's our Father. 

Please pray for the Hickmans, that we never have clarity in what we are supposed to do, but that we completely trust God each day and each step.  

peace+

e

Missionaries!

Since our marriage seven years ago our goal has been to live our lives in submission to the will of God in whatever mission that He had for us to do.  It was that submission that led this Texas boy Arizona!  (this rarely happens). We have always felt a strong call to advance the New Evangelization in the world.  We feel that God has also placed a burden on our hearts to lead people to worship and adoration of Our Lord.  I've been working hard at this mission here at St. Timothy's and the fruits of our mission have been immeasurable. 

For about ten years now I have gathered a lot of support and inspiration from my good buddy Paul George and his organization ADORE Ministries, who so obviously share the same vision and passion for the New Evangelization.  It is with faithfulness to God that we have accepted an opportunity to work full time with ADORE in an outreach to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.  We are not completely sure as to how is going to do this ministry in Houston, but we know that we need your support and your prayers.  I'll be at St. Tim's through September and then we will becoming Missionaries!  Completely dependent on God's providence. 

Simplicity

By God's Abundant Grace... we have not stopped learning and growing.  Throughout the past year, through study and prayer, we have felt God reveal more of His plan for our growing family, and the way He desires us to live.  As we pray and discern, there has been a very specific call to a sparing/sharing lifestyle that includes simplicity of life and embracing a certain level of poverty, in order to, among other things, free us from the bonds of this world and enable us to be more effective witnesses to all the people that God puts in our path.  And what freedom we have found!  It's with great excitement that we have begun this process, and we are looking forward to what the Holy Spirit has in store for us in the near future!