December 1, 2009
Has a full year of calendar pages already been turned? We pray that this letter finds you well and experiencing the love of our Savior in this Christmas season! A new year is upon us, and it seems as if this year, more than others, has flown by. We want to take a moment to reflect on all the marvelous things God has done this year.
Although we have shared with you the great challenges we have experienced, this year has also been one in which God has revealed Himself at work in our lives through His strength and grace. With much growth and awe, we have watched Him answer prayers, surprise us with unexpected blessings, and come through when we could not. Here are a few of the things that God did this year:
• God proved faithful in Laniecha and Patricia’s family. Patricia came to know the Lord and continues to pursue a better life for her family.
• God provided a group of local college students to run our spring-break program when our usual groups had to cancel a month before.
• We were blessed by a core group of youth involved in our summer program! Through the program great relationships were formed, and two young girls came to know the Lord!
• We witnessed one young man mature in his faith this summer. He is now meeting regularly with one of our missionaries to do Bible study and be mentored.
• We were encouraged when we reconnected with a young man whom Andrew has known for many years. He was part of the Bridge of Hope youth group and came from a very difficult family life. He was transient, and it was difficult to stay connected to him. He has worked hard to overcome these obstacles. We visited him on campus as he experiences his first year of college!
• God laid it on our staff’s hearts to focus on young adults this year and opened doors for four new outreaches: Monday Night Football, Chess Club, High School Basketball, and Sunday Night Bible Study in our home.
• We were able to move to another World Impact house a few blocks away that has more space and allows us to host people more often.
• We are continuing to see opportunities of growth in the men who faithfully come to our adult basketball outreach.
• God continues to provide for our staffing needs. We have gained five staff members this year.
These are a few of the ways that God has proved faithful to us and to this ministry this year. We pray that you are able to look back and see His hand at work in your life too, even in the midst of life’s challenges. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support. Your faithfulness accomplishes much as we together serve our Lord and Savior!
Merry Christmas,
Andrew and Adria Medlen
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Family Fall Fest 09!
Our Family Fall Festival was a great success! Saturday from 6pm to 8pm we had about 200 people in the ministry center. The kids painted pumpkins, played games, went through a crazy maze we built out of refrigerator boxes in the gym, ate food and snacks, watched a Gospel Magic presentation, and had an all-around good time!
Monday, November 2, 2009
November Update
November 1, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
God says He provides for all our needs. I believe this, but usually I apply this truth to broad contexts such as food and shelter and safety and still obsess about all the details in between. This year God has been teaching me a lot about what a detailed God He is and how His provision is not just a generic blanket of goodwill, but a daily attention to each new situation we face.
Last Fall one of our missionary couples told us that they felt God had called them to another ministry position and would be leaving within a year. We had one other missionary couple that we knew was encroaching upon retirement and with no sight of new staff, Andrew and my meetings with our director came to feel like survival meetings as we prepared to hold down the St. Louis ministry indefinitely. We doubted a little. We set our resolve. We prayed.
Spring came, the departure date of the missionary couple was drawing near, and there were no signs of additional staff. Then one day, out of the blue, our director received an email from an interested couple. They came for a visit. They came back a week later for an interview. They moved into staff housing a few weeks later. Randy and Hannah Riggs arrived two and a half months before the other staff couple left—just in time to learn the ropes and help fill the gaps. Each day since then, Andrew and I have marveled together at the specificity of God’s provision. He could have sent a few people to get us through, and that would have fulfilled the immediate need, but instead he sent a couple whose desire is to be long-term missionary staff, who have a heart for church planting, and whose gifts and talents specifically fill areas of great need in our ministry. And all this happened when we considered things to be at their most unnervingly last minute.
This year we have gained two year-long interns and hired two new support staff in addition to Randy and Hannah. God has been faithful to provide for our needs. Although this has been one of the most dramatic examples of His provision, I have continued to witness, both large and small, God’s attention to our daily needs. It is an exciting time in ministry as we are seeing pieces, that once seemed disconnected and without direction, coming together and finding momentum in ministry. I believe God is moving mightily here in North St. Louis.
Through this all I have realized that my faith is small but my God is all-encompassing and completely faithful. After witnessing God’s perfect provision for our staffing needs it is impossible to go back to a place where I could worry that we will not have the right people at the right time to do what God wants us to do. However, I am ashamed to say that this confidence came not from faith but from sight. I pray for God to continue to teach me to live out a lifestyle of faith in every area of my worrying, controlling personality. I do not want Jesus to look at me and say, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29)." I want to be one of those who believes even when I do not see!
As the Thanksgiving holiday is upon us I am even more aware of how much we have to be grateful for in our service of such a great and loving and detailed God. I marvel at the way He has brought each of you along side us in this journey—how He uses you through prayer and finances and care packages and notes of encouragement to meet very specific needs in our ministry and personal lives. Thank you for serving with us. Your faithfulness has continually proven God’s faithfulness, even when Andrew and I have had short-sighted faith! Praise God for His goodness and mercy.
For His Kingdom, Andrew and Adria Medlen
Dear Family and Friends,
God says He provides for all our needs. I believe this, but usually I apply this truth to broad contexts such as food and shelter and safety and still obsess about all the details in between. This year God has been teaching me a lot about what a detailed God He is and how His provision is not just a generic blanket of goodwill, but a daily attention to each new situation we face.
Last Fall one of our missionary couples told us that they felt God had called them to another ministry position and would be leaving within a year. We had one other missionary couple that we knew was encroaching upon retirement and with no sight of new staff, Andrew and my meetings with our director came to feel like survival meetings as we prepared to hold down the St. Louis ministry indefinitely. We doubted a little. We set our resolve. We prayed.
Spring came, the departure date of the missionary couple was drawing near, and there were no signs of additional staff. Then one day, out of the blue, our director received an email from an interested couple. They came for a visit. They came back a week later for an interview. They moved into staff housing a few weeks later. Randy and Hannah Riggs arrived two and a half months before the other staff couple left—just in time to learn the ropes and help fill the gaps. Each day since then, Andrew and I have marveled together at the specificity of God’s provision. He could have sent a few people to get us through, and that would have fulfilled the immediate need, but instead he sent a couple whose desire is to be long-term missionary staff, who have a heart for church planting, and whose gifts and talents specifically fill areas of great need in our ministry. And all this happened when we considered things to be at their most unnervingly last minute.
This year we have gained two year-long interns and hired two new support staff in addition to Randy and Hannah. God has been faithful to provide for our needs. Although this has been one of the most dramatic examples of His provision, I have continued to witness, both large and small, God’s attention to our daily needs. It is an exciting time in ministry as we are seeing pieces, that once seemed disconnected and without direction, coming together and finding momentum in ministry. I believe God is moving mightily here in North St. Louis.
Through this all I have realized that my faith is small but my God is all-encompassing and completely faithful. After witnessing God’s perfect provision for our staffing needs it is impossible to go back to a place where I could worry that we will not have the right people at the right time to do what God wants us to do. However, I am ashamed to say that this confidence came not from faith but from sight. I pray for God to continue to teach me to live out a lifestyle of faith in every area of my worrying, controlling personality. I do not want Jesus to look at me and say, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29)." I want to be one of those who believes even when I do not see!
As the Thanksgiving holiday is upon us I am even more aware of how much we have to be grateful for in our service of such a great and loving and detailed God. I marvel at the way He has brought each of you along side us in this journey—how He uses you through prayer and finances and care packages and notes of encouragement to meet very specific needs in our ministry and personal lives. Thank you for serving with us. Your faithfulness has continually proven God’s faithfulness, even when Andrew and I have had short-sighted faith! Praise God for His goodness and mercy.
For His Kingdom, Andrew and Adria Medlen
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The Winds of Change Seem Like Gale Force Winds
In a perfect world for me (Adria), the Winds of Change would be a light breeze, something gentle and pleasant...the kind of breeze that gently pushes back stale air and draws refreshingly cool and fragrant air across your skin as you lay under the sun on the beach. Rarely has this idyllic metaphor proven itself to be the way of life. These days the Winds of Change seem like gale force winds. Under the pressure of these winds old things are completely blown away and the new is suddenly and immediately dropped into your path. It's not my favorite part of life.
Life and ministry (can the two even really be considered separately in ministry?) have been a swirl with these kinds of change. Pieces of the known have been ripped up and thrown off in the distance and new things have been dropped into our path, like transplanted debris in a storm. It makes me feel a little unsettled, tired, frustrated, excited and sad.
I have always had a little difficulty saying goodbye to what is safe and comfortable. We recently had a staff couple leave, who are good friends and who came on at the same time I did, which was a hard loss. Andrew and I moved yet again and it all came about in a surge of activity that left me tired and frustrated - this is my 4th move in 4 years. Our move was to a bigger staff house only a few blocks away (a good move), but each block here is nearly like its own neighborhood and it feels further from our previous "home" than it really is. My ideas, vision, competancy, relationships, and personality have been challenged by new horizons.
The new things God is bringing to us are exciting: new staff, new programs, new contacts, new possibilities. It is so evident that God is providing and moving in special ways right now. I find joy in these things, yet, the very fact that these things are new and sudden things leaves me feeling a little unsettled. It takes extra energy for me to build new relationships and start up programs. It places a nervous excitement in my stomach as I see what can and will be, yet am overwhelmed with the process.
And so, I find myself in an unwarranted state of melancholy, presented with so many waves of great blessings and yet like a new sailor at sea, struggling to still feel grounded. Praise God that He does not rely on my delicate constitution to stir up good things, for He is doing great things here, and I pray that He will have patience with me until I get my sea legs!
Life and ministry (can the two even really be considered separately in ministry?) have been a swirl with these kinds of change. Pieces of the known have been ripped up and thrown off in the distance and new things have been dropped into our path, like transplanted debris in a storm. It makes me feel a little unsettled, tired, frustrated, excited and sad.
I have always had a little difficulty saying goodbye to what is safe and comfortable. We recently had a staff couple leave, who are good friends and who came on at the same time I did, which was a hard loss. Andrew and I moved yet again and it all came about in a surge of activity that left me tired and frustrated - this is my 4th move in 4 years. Our move was to a bigger staff house only a few blocks away (a good move), but each block here is nearly like its own neighborhood and it feels further from our previous "home" than it really is. My ideas, vision, competancy, relationships, and personality have been challenged by new horizons.
The new things God is bringing to us are exciting: new staff, new programs, new contacts, new possibilities. It is so evident that God is providing and moving in special ways right now. I find joy in these things, yet, the very fact that these things are new and sudden things leaves me feeling a little unsettled. It takes extra energy for me to build new relationships and start up programs. It places a nervous excitement in my stomach as I see what can and will be, yet am overwhelmed with the process.
And so, I find myself in an unwarranted state of melancholy, presented with so many waves of great blessings and yet like a new sailor at sea, struggling to still feel grounded. Praise God that He does not rely on my delicate constitution to stir up good things, for He is doing great things here, and I pray that He will have patience with me until I get my sea legs!
October Update
October 1, 2009
Dear Team,
Taking youth and children to camp is one of the highlights during the summer, both for me and for the youth that we take. This summer we had the opportunity to take three youth and five kids to summer camp at Morning Star Ranch in Florence, KS. It is a World Impact camp that we go to every summer.
The last week of the summer program was the children’s week at camp. Three of the five kids who went were siblings. About an hour into the drive to camp, we were driving by a field full of cows and Darren, who is 10 years old, asked what we were driving by. It was at that moment that I realized that Darren had never before seen a cow in real life.
After talking with Darren a little more, he went on to tell me that he has never even been outside St. Louis city limits. So, to see a cow in person and not just on the television was a huge deal to him and his siblings. His reaction to every cow that we saw on our seven hour trip was “OOH, look at the cows”. I wish you could have seen the excitement on his face and in his voice. After we arrived at camp, which is also a ranch, he saw many different animals for the first time. I think the funniest reaction was when he saw a frog for the first time. The frog was jumping around and got real close to him—and I am sure you can imagine it was another priceless moment.
At the end of the week, we always stop on our way home for an evening meal at a McDonald’s. Each kid got a drink and as we were at the soda fountain to get our drinks, I noticed him struggling to figure out how to work the lever. I did not think too much of it and I showed him how to get a drink from the soda fountain. I then asked him if he had been to a McDonald’s before. His response floored me. In Darren’s 10 years of life, his family has not had the means to ever take him to a McDonald’s.
After we arrived back in St. Louis, Adria asked Darren what his favorite part of camp was. Darren’s classic response was “the WHOLE thing was my favorite part”. It was in that moment that God allowed me to see just what this trip had meant to Darren. I cannot put in to words what an honor it was to be a part of that experience for him.
I relay this letter to you because you are a part of this. Because you have sent Adria and I through your prayers and support you make it possible for us to love Darren and his family in a way that they have never experienced. You may not be right here with us, but you have sent us and we are representing you in our ministry together in St. Louis. Keep praying for Darren and his family. They are involved in a great local church and God has great plans for them. All glory to the King of Kings!
Grace and Peace,
Andrew & Adria Medlen
Dear Team,
Taking youth and children to camp is one of the highlights during the summer, both for me and for the youth that we take. This summer we had the opportunity to take three youth and five kids to summer camp at Morning Star Ranch in Florence, KS. It is a World Impact camp that we go to every summer.
The last week of the summer program was the children’s week at camp. Three of the five kids who went were siblings. About an hour into the drive to camp, we were driving by a field full of cows and Darren, who is 10 years old, asked what we were driving by. It was at that moment that I realized that Darren had never before seen a cow in real life.
After talking with Darren a little more, he went on to tell me that he has never even been outside St. Louis city limits. So, to see a cow in person and not just on the television was a huge deal to him and his siblings. His reaction to every cow that we saw on our seven hour trip was “OOH, look at the cows”. I wish you could have seen the excitement on his face and in his voice. After we arrived at camp, which is also a ranch, he saw many different animals for the first time. I think the funniest reaction was when he saw a frog for the first time. The frog was jumping around and got real close to him—and I am sure you can imagine it was another priceless moment.
At the end of the week, we always stop on our way home for an evening meal at a McDonald’s. Each kid got a drink and as we were at the soda fountain to get our drinks, I noticed him struggling to figure out how to work the lever. I did not think too much of it and I showed him how to get a drink from the soda fountain. I then asked him if he had been to a McDonald’s before. His response floored me. In Darren’s 10 years of life, his family has not had the means to ever take him to a McDonald’s.
After we arrived back in St. Louis, Adria asked Darren what his favorite part of camp was. Darren’s classic response was “the WHOLE thing was my favorite part”. It was in that moment that God allowed me to see just what this trip had meant to Darren. I cannot put in to words what an honor it was to be a part of that experience for him.
I relay this letter to you because you are a part of this. Because you have sent Adria and I through your prayers and support you make it possible for us to love Darren and his family in a way that they have never experienced. You may not be right here with us, but you have sent us and we are representing you in our ministry together in St. Louis. Keep praying for Darren and his family. They are involved in a great local church and God has great plans for them. All glory to the King of Kings!
Grace and Peace,
Andrew & Adria Medlen
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
I'm just a Christian Doing My Job
When the days start to blur together and I start wondering if I'm having any effect at all, it's stories like this that give me new vigor. This morning Andrew and I sat talking with a fellow staff member after our morning prayer meeting and the conversation turned to a young man who has been part of our programs for several years. This year he has shown huge steps in his desire to follow Christ and since he lives just down the street from Randy (our fellow staff member), Randy has been meeting with him on a regular basis.
This young man is 14--soon to be 15--and is one of those kids I loved from the moment I met his squirrelly self. He is so bright and funny and has blown us away with some of his wise comments in group discussions.
So, the story is this: Yesterday he was hanging out with Randy as Randy finished up his evening yard work. As they talked and joked, Randy walked to their back dumpster to pick up the trash that inevitably collects in the alley and this young man pitched in to help. Randy encouraged his participation by saying to him, "You are a gentleman and a scholar."
The young man, vigorously scooping up trash, responded, "Nope. I'm just a Christian doing my job."
Later he pondered aloud, "We're kind of like superheros. No, we're Super Christians, doing good that nobody knows about."
What a beautiful, hilarous connection. It is amazing to see this young man "getting" it. Please pray for him as he continues to grow and learn about what it means to walk with Christ. He has so much potential, has such an open spirit, is so bright...God is eqquiping a mighty man for Him, I think. Still, there are struggles in his home life; this young man takes care of a great deal at his home, and he struggles in his education...though very smart, his education has failed him and he has difficulty reading. Pray that he will continue to be a witness to his family and that he continues to teach us a thing or two about following Christ as well!
This young man is 14--soon to be 15--and is one of those kids I loved from the moment I met his squirrelly self. He is so bright and funny and has blown us away with some of his wise comments in group discussions.
So, the story is this: Yesterday he was hanging out with Randy as Randy finished up his evening yard work. As they talked and joked, Randy walked to their back dumpster to pick up the trash that inevitably collects in the alley and this young man pitched in to help. Randy encouraged his participation by saying to him, "You are a gentleman and a scholar."
The young man, vigorously scooping up trash, responded, "Nope. I'm just a Christian doing my job."
Later he pondered aloud, "We're kind of like superheros. No, we're Super Christians, doing good that nobody knows about."
What a beautiful, hilarous connection. It is amazing to see this young man "getting" it. Please pray for him as he continues to grow and learn about what it means to walk with Christ. He has so much potential, has such an open spirit, is so bright...God is eqquiping a mighty man for Him, I think. Still, there are struggles in his home life; this young man takes care of a great deal at his home, and he struggles in his education...though very smart, his education has failed him and he has difficulty reading. Pray that he will continue to be a witness to his family and that he continues to teach us a thing or two about following Christ as well!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
September 1, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
My eyes were supposed to be closed, but I can never resist the temptation to look around when the speaker asks everyone to close their eyes and raise their hand, “If…. This time I justified my sneakiness by reasoning that our youth were the ones responding and we needed to know the answer to better help them.
It was the last night at Jr. High Camp where youth from several World Impact ministries spent the end of their summer learning about trusting in the firm foundation of Christ and allowing Him to build new things in their lives. The statement they were responding to this time was “Raise your hands if you have been told that you are worth nothing or that you wouldn’t amount to anything.” Hands went up all around the room.
Then the speaker asked those students to come to the front of the room and the camp counselors to come pray over them. The sound of metal chairs scratching on the concrete floor filled the room as broken and timid youth walked forward. There was a solemn pain in the air that seemed palpable as I stood up front, for the second night in a row, with a Jr. High girl holding tightly to me. This night the arms wrapped around my waist were those of a young girl from the World Impact Dallas ministry. The youngest of all brothers, she was scrappy and full of attitude. Tonight, however, I could see past the protective walls she had built and saw a little girl trying to survive the pain and lies that made up her experience with life.
As I looked around the room I saw another young man with a reputation for clowning around leaning against the wall, staring straight ahead as slow tears tracked his cheeks, a counselor adamantly speaking truth over him. Yet another boy, a sweet, tenderhearted boy, had his head buried in the speaker’s chest crying.
A deep river of pain had been tapped into and even as we finished our prayers and closed out the session, many of the kids continued to cry, needing someone to help share the burden of their heavy tears and to fill their ears with whispers of hope.
It was one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking moments I have experienced. Their weary and tear-stained faces spoke of the abuse, neglect, rejection, and lies these youth have known, but even as I saw brokenness I was taken by the beauty and purpose written on their faces. And I wished so much that somehow they could see their faces just as I saw them then, surely only an imperfect version of Christ’s view of them.
As long as Andrew and I have been here in St. Louis we have witnessed things for which we have no answer in and of ourselves: Why do so many of these kids have to experience abuse? Why are people’s family members senselessly killed? Why do some have to experience the hardships of poverty?
I was reminded that week at camp that no words I can say will make right what those kids have experienced, but a willingness to see people as Christ sees them and to simply hold them and speak new words to them, words of life and of hope, can be life-changing. It was not by accident one of their memory verses that week was Jeremiah 29:11, because our God is a God of healing and of new beginnings, and He is a God who lovingly looks on each of us saying, “For I know the plans I have for you… plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Pray for these youth, and for our neighbors, that they would experience the healing of our heavenly Father and come to know their worth and purpose in His Kingdom.
For His Kingdom, Andrew & Adria Medlen
Dear Family and Friends,
My eyes were supposed to be closed, but I can never resist the temptation to look around when the speaker asks everyone to close their eyes and raise their hand, “If…. This time I justified my sneakiness by reasoning that our youth were the ones responding and we needed to know the answer to better help them.
It was the last night at Jr. High Camp where youth from several World Impact ministries spent the end of their summer learning about trusting in the firm foundation of Christ and allowing Him to build new things in their lives. The statement they were responding to this time was “Raise your hands if you have been told that you are worth nothing or that you wouldn’t amount to anything.” Hands went up all around the room.
Then the speaker asked those students to come to the front of the room and the camp counselors to come pray over them. The sound of metal chairs scratching on the concrete floor filled the room as broken and timid youth walked forward. There was a solemn pain in the air that seemed palpable as I stood up front, for the second night in a row, with a Jr. High girl holding tightly to me. This night the arms wrapped around my waist were those of a young girl from the World Impact Dallas ministry. The youngest of all brothers, she was scrappy and full of attitude. Tonight, however, I could see past the protective walls she had built and saw a little girl trying to survive the pain and lies that made up her experience with life.
As I looked around the room I saw another young man with a reputation for clowning around leaning against the wall, staring straight ahead as slow tears tracked his cheeks, a counselor adamantly speaking truth over him. Yet another boy, a sweet, tenderhearted boy, had his head buried in the speaker’s chest crying.
A deep river of pain had been tapped into and even as we finished our prayers and closed out the session, many of the kids continued to cry, needing someone to help share the burden of their heavy tears and to fill their ears with whispers of hope.
It was one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking moments I have experienced. Their weary and tear-stained faces spoke of the abuse, neglect, rejection, and lies these youth have known, but even as I saw brokenness I was taken by the beauty and purpose written on their faces. And I wished so much that somehow they could see their faces just as I saw them then, surely only an imperfect version of Christ’s view of them.
As long as Andrew and I have been here in St. Louis we have witnessed things for which we have no answer in and of ourselves: Why do so many of these kids have to experience abuse? Why are people’s family members senselessly killed? Why do some have to experience the hardships of poverty?
I was reminded that week at camp that no words I can say will make right what those kids have experienced, but a willingness to see people as Christ sees them and to simply hold them and speak new words to them, words of life and of hope, can be life-changing. It was not by accident one of their memory verses that week was Jeremiah 29:11, because our God is a God of healing and of new beginnings, and He is a God who lovingly looks on each of us saying, “For I know the plans I have for you… plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Pray for these youth, and for our neighbors, that they would experience the healing of our heavenly Father and come to know their worth and purpose in His Kingdom.
For His Kingdom, Andrew & Adria Medlen
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