Reflections of Liesel Spicer, WTC Chair, about embracing God's movements towards the ministry and individuals
I stepped into my backyard one morning for some “restorative therapy” amongst my plants 😊. I have an indoor aloe vera plant that annually outgrows its pot and on this day I happily took it outside to gently loosen the offshoots to re-plant in multiple pots in my backyard. I keep the “mama” plant indoors and I watch it propagate “babies” during the year.
I received the original shoot from my mom, and since then have shared many offshoots from my own plant with friends, family, and other community gardeners. I suspect these recipients have also passed on shoots to others around them.
Considering my very minimal skill with plants, it is wondrous to watch the ongoing multiplication of this plant.
Ministry multiplication
We met as board in early June in Edmonton. One of the intercessors sent in the verse Isaiah 43: 18-19. I now lovingly chuckle with the Lord when this specific verse comes, because it
has come over and over and over to us as board throughout the years.
In my earlier days on board when this verse would come in, I’d become wide-eyed with my radar on full alert looking for the “big new thing” coming to the ministry, perhaps some radically different trajectory to implement.
Now I have the hindsight to see all the new things the Lord has been continually doing in our midst, as a part of his ongoing work of creation and redemption, and our growing relationship with him towards an ever-increasing wholeness.
One of the new shoots of growth this spring has been a non-residential School of Prayer Ministry (SPM) in the lower mainland of BC. Participants attended from 9 am to 5 pm at a local church hall where teaching and prayer ministry occurred in two rooms. The attendees were responsible for finding their own accommodations and to travel back and forth each
day.
I am so thankful for our team members who were willing to pioneer this new (ad)venture! Karen Ohashi drafted a revised four-day schedule, and it was finalized through consultation with the two SPM team members, Kathryn Armstrong and Mei Hwang. The four-day schedule meant that a PMA occurred on the very first day!
Karen O took on the local rep duties in addition to planning and executing the menu
(we hear her coleslaw was a hit!). I suspect she may have worn out a layer of her shoe soles with all the trekking back and forth to provide snacks and lunch for the participants.
Kathryn and Mei shared a rented room a couple kilometers from the church and traveled back and forth each day by car. They navigated the compressed SPM with seven students registered. The SPM was originally intended to have six students, but we felt led to
extend the registration to also accommodate Rex Ng, one of our most recent board members. Because of the compressed schedule, Rex’s PMA was held online after the
SPM was completed. Flexibility was the name of the game for this event!
A New Way
The Lord doing new things also incorporates changing our paradigms on how we value the ministry itself and ourselves as staff, team, board, intercessors, and local reps.
Over the last while, the Lord has given us “live examples” within areas such as the registration process to showcase our bondages to religious beliefs, expectations, ways of operating, and slightly-skewed values. Certain things can seem small initially, but once the Lord reveals what is behind some of these things, we come to realize how significant they actually are. He is so devoted to our growing wellness as a ministry!
As we enter the second half of the year, what “baby shoot” might the Lord be growing in conjunction with your participation?
Perhaps he will ask you to do a new talk or serve in a new position. Maybe he will give you a new place or way to pray. Perhaps you will be a part of a team to put a new type of event together. Or maybe he will give you a creative way to communicate some of the WTC principles, or give you a new insight into an aspect of upcoming days in the ministry.
Growth is not linear
Paradoxically, the propagation of new shoots can also include a renewal of things from early days –elements that were a core focus, but through the journey of life somehow moved from the forefront to the back burner. God’s is calling us back to our relationship with Him with a renewed focus.
Even within the “new” that God orchestrates through various seasons, it can be easy for our hearts to wander, get distracted, or be overwhelmed with the things of life.
I have the great privilege of sitting on the board with several team who have been involved in the ministry since its introduction to North America by the UK team. I get to hear some of their recollections of those days.
During the last board meeting, some reminisced about their initial desire to prepare a core talk for each of the course topics simply to be ready to be called on, and also for their
own growth in understanding God’s ways. One member recalled her experience of encountering God’s heart in a bigger way as she prepared talks, by hearing and seeing God’s heart for us all. Another mentioned the adventure of receiving God’s fresh manna for a specific talk in a specific course for specific people, and of the privilege of the call to do this “for the fam.”
Let Us Remember
It is inspiring to hear their hearts after the Lord. Of course, we all ebb and flow with our focus and heart journey, but somehow the “origin stories” of faith – whether of creation or other biblical accounts, or of current ministry or personal faith, have the capability to fan the flame of our love relationship.
May you be refreshed this summer in your relationship with the Lord and his call upon your life.
As we continue as ministry partners to trek into the ongoing expansion and “new things” the Lord has in store for WTC, I pray for God’s blessing and anointing upon our participation in the Lord’s creative and resurrection work of giving life to the dead and calling into being things that were not (Romans 4:17).
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