God Moves When We Pray!

As I just posted the last blog with our March Prayer Letter I read it and was amazed at how God works. God is most certainly moving in this family that has become so dear to my heart. God has seen fit to draw Patricia to Himself and she has responded! I am so excited to call my dear friend Patricia, my sister in Christ!

Even as many of you are just now receiving this letter and beginning to pray for Patricia, there are many of you who have already invested much prayer into this family and have followed the ups and the downs in their lives with Andrew and I. I am so grateful to you. God has proven faithful and has answered the prayer that Patricia would come to know Him!

There are still struggles and obstacles that tempt discouragement in my heart, and could deter this family from making forward progress, but I am praising God for this beautiful victory and I am anticipating even greater works for them!

Thank you for your prayers--they are vital to what God is doing here. Continue to pray for this family. And pray that God will use Patricia and her girls in the future to bring the rest of their family to the Lord!

March Update

March 1, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

If you are a fan of C.S. Lewis and the The Chronicles of Narnia as I (Adria) am, you will recall that in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe the creatures of Narnia are in great anticipation of Aslan’s rumored return. The return of Aslan meant the return of their long-awaited king and freedom from the tyranny of the White Witch. The children who stumbled upon this land at first do not understand the excitement, for they do not know Aslan. When they express their confusion the creatures tell them with hushed and reverent anticipation, “Aslan is on the move.”

Recently I have felt as if I have told myself the very same thing, “God is on the move.” Granted, God is always on the move and usually I am just too self-absorbed and stressed-out to see Him moving, but sometimes He is gracious enough to draw me in and let my heart feel the excitement of serving such a mighty God.

Those moments of hushed and reverent anticipation come often in the face of great adversity. I think this is in part what Paul is talking about in Philippians 4:7 when he writes, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” It is the hope and peace we have in Christ that guards our hearts in times of difficulty, and sometimes, God uses those times of trial to open our eyes to His working hand.

My relationship with Laniecha, her son, and her family has been full of ups and downs, times of certain growth, and times when I do not even know what it is I am doing in their lives. Recently, however, God opened a door for me to step into a deeper relationship with Laniecha’s mother, Patricia, something I have been praying about for some time. As I shared a meal of French fries and hamburgers with her one day, her burdens spilled out onto a semi-clean McDonald’s table and she was real and vulnerable and looking for a solid foundation for her hopes. She shared her mistakes and her hopes for the future and I listened. She is beginning to take tentative steps to feel out a more certain path and I pray that it leads straight to Jesus, but in the mean time there are a great deal of obstacles ahead for her and her family.

Yet, I am certain that God is at work in this family. I do not know how it will look or what timing it will follow, but I can rest in the fact that God is moving and, amazingly, He has included me in the process. Your prayers are so appreciated for this family and for the ministry. We have some difficult challenges ahead of us, and yet we are certain that God is working and moving. The knowledge that we are in your continued prayers only strengthens our peace which transcends all understanding, for our surroundings are bleak and the battle is daunting but, “God is on the move.”

For His Kingdom,

Andrew & Adria Medlen

What are you doing here?

Last night one of our ministry vans was broken into. Thanks to a neighbor's awareness the damage done was fairly minimal before the two young guys were scared off. So much for the security of a club, because she spotted them walking down the block with the van club in-hand. Then as she returned from the corner market she saw them back in the van and scared them off. They managed to take the club, jack the driver's side key lock and completely remove the key lock in the steering column.

This would seem like the interesting story, but car break-ins really aren't that unusual around here. What was interesting to me was the encounter with the Crime Lab Technician who came to dust for fingerprints (none were found, however).

Andrew, myself, and another staff member, Gil, were waiting outside with the police officer handling the case when the Crime Lab van pulled up in front of World Impact. As the technician stepped out onto the street and looked up to see three white faces looking back at him, he exclaimed, "What are YOU doing here?!"

This is a question we've heard many times from police officers in the area, but maybe none have asked it with such force. We made small conversation with him while he dusted the door and steering wheel for finger prints. We told him we lived close by and worked at World Impact. He didn't seem too taken by our explanations and still had a look on his face that reinforced his previous insinuations.

It was what he said next that was most impacting from the whole evening. As he dusted the door with flashlight in hand he started in with, "There's a million different ways they could've gotten the club off. They've got 24 hours a day to think of ways. They couldn't spell CAT if you spotted them the 'C' and the 'T'. If they would only use their ingenuity towards something positive..." He continued with his stereotyping and oversimplifying and I found myself getting a little tense and feeling defensive.

Granted, figuring out ways to get a club off a car is not a positive use of one's time. However, I wanted to say, "If they can't spell CAT it's probably because our screwed up, non-accredited school system didn't teach them anything!" Or, "Maybe they are just like people everywhere in the world, who when faced with decisions to do the hard thing or the easy thing, just do the easy thing because it's what they know."

No doubt this officer is a nice man with good intentions, who has been jaded by his years of work on the streets, but his obvious ignorance to some of the real issues in our community and the blatant stereotyping saddened me. And I know that there are many in our neighborhood who would throw back stereotypes with equal force about crooked cops. I was struck with the depth of the chasm between cultures...still...in this day and age of political correctness. There is so much misunderstanding and so much lack of effort to cross the seemingly stone-carved barriers on both sides.

All day today that incident has left it's heavy trail throughout my thoughts. Last night, as I watched him back up his van, flip on the police lights and head off to a murder scene in another section of town I was left with the feeling that society (including all sides) as a whole is OK with just doing damage control and it burdens my heart with how far we have yet to go to bridge the gaps, to have justice for all, to see all men as equal.

We continue to pray peace, renewal, and revival over our city for all its inhabitants.

Ja'Marion's First Birthday!

It's hard to believe that one year ago today, I (Adria) stood in the delivery room as little Ja'Marion made his entrance! What a year this has been. There have been so many challenges and so many joys as we have walked with this family over the past year. We pray that God blesses Ja'Marion and directs him in a path that brings God glory. Keep praying for this family because God is working in their lives!!

Here are some photos from our little party...

February Update

February 1, 2009

Dear Team,

Greetings from St. Louis! If you go to your computer and do a quick internet search on America’s most dangerous cities, you will consistently find St. Louis in the top five. When I talk to people who are not from St. Louis I am constantly reminded of people’s opinions of the city. Most people see inner-city St. Louis filled with racial tension and danger and they want to stay as far away as possible.

I am sure that there are a number of reasons why we are always among the top five most dangerous cities. I have joked in the past that we are #1—everyone always wants to be the best at something. In 2008, there was an average of one murder every other day. Violence seems to be at an all time high. And, unfortunately, the church seems to be closing its doors at an all time high as well.

I do not generally speak about the dangerous side of the city in our monthly letters. By nature, I am an optimistic person and I want to keep you informed about the best things happening in our lives. The reason I am telling you this is that we need your prayers. Notice I did not say want. We need your prayers. There are so many different ways that Satan is trying to tear down the harvest that we are preparing for our Lord.

This is a new and exciting year that holds in store many great and amazing things. I am a firm believer that some of those things will only happen if prayer warriors are interceding for us. This year also holds many challenges for us and Adria and I are very grateful for your prayers and support. During these tough economic times, our support has not wavered and that is something that humbles both of us.

Adria and I are here until God calls us elsewhere and it is an honor to serve Christ in this ministry. Pray for our church planting efforts—that God would raise up indigenous leaders from our community and that through these churches lives will be redeemed. Pray for the youth and children we work with to have a clear understanding of His saving grace and that they would desire a relationship with Him. Pray for our staff to multiply and be unified. And last, but not least, pray for our safety—both spiritual and physical. Thank you for interceding for us and supporting us financially.

All for our King,

Andrew & Adria Medlen

My Memere

This is a story that no more begins with a smitten king and queen in a high school play than ends with a closely-pressed family saying tearful goodbyes. This is a story within a story—a little vignette drawn out from the main thread of the narrative. It is full of tears and heartache, kisses and laughter, but most of all I'd like to see it as a continuing heritage of faith.

My grandmother, Dorothy Marie Jean (known to me, my sisters, and my cousins as Memere), passed away December 26th. It was a bitter-sweet day as the family stood, arms tight around each other, tears running down our cheeks, and watched her leave a worn hospice bed and binding oxygen tubes for the open arms of Jesus and the glories of heaven.

As the story goes…Memere met my Pepere, Jean-Paul Jean, in a high school play. Naturally, performing as the king in the play he was at once smitten with the young woman cast as queen. What followed then was a life like so many others: marriage, five children, nine grandchildren, hard times, joyful times, and albums full of memories. Good health was often absent from Memere's life but she was so full of strength and mischief that she never struck anyone as unwell.

As I watched my family at Memere's bedside a few weeks ago, it came to me that my life is a result of my father and mother's lives and their lives are a result of their parents' lives and so on, and it was exactly as God had planned it. It was no accident that I was born the granddaughter of Dorothy Jean—God is too much a God of details. A great cosmic coincidence had nothing to do with my very particular heritage. So if this is my God-ordained heritage then what has been written into me as a result of my Memere's life? Surely there are too many things to note and it will take me a lifetime to realize them all. It has not been long that I have known my Memere as an adult. As a child you absorb actions and words, but it isn't until maturity that you begin to realize motivation and the subtle nuances that make people distinct. I may be only recently discovering a deeper understanding of my grandmother but there are so many precious memories that have impacted my life, some of which I have no doubt have shaped us as a family and as individuals.

Memere was a champion of causes. There was no cause that was too small when it meant something to her. She was frequently writing about people and their struggles, often using her own personal battles with health as her driving force. She had a strength and determination that has extended into her children and her children's children.

Creativity was woven into Memere's life. She loved the expression of art and music as a way to express herself and to bless others. Memere sang and played the organ in church and she knitted afghans and scarves for everyone. She was creativity in action. She didn't just knit because she loved to knit; she always knitted on the go and with people in mind.

The written word was something valuable to Memere. I believe it was one of her most treasured voices. I believe this because all of us used to periodically receive manila envelopes in the mail holding photocopies of articles she thought would be important to our lives. As a child I didn't understand why she did this but as I got older I saw that it was a way to do two important things to her: care for the people she loved and validate the importance of the written word. She encouraged all of us in this passion—as I explored my own love of writing she supported me through gifts of writer's tools. I will always cherish the literary voice she has infused into this family.

From these particular memories there is a connecting theme: Memere's investment in people. She loved to care for and invest in people. A trait much like the Savior she entrusted her life to.

When I think about the sadness I feel for missing her, I cannot help but also think of the joy in knowing she is in the presence of God, a full and complete and healthy reflection of His glory, and I will see her again. It has been through her passing that I have truly begun to understand what it is that we are offered through Jesus Christ. We are offered a heavenly heritage, something that has, until now, seemed a little abstract. It is as the disciple Peter says in I Peter 1:3-5 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you."

I am doubly blessed. I am the heir of the life of Dorothy Jean. My family and I are entrusted with her gifts and passions, her creativity, her value of words, her strength in fighting for what she believed in, her investment in people, and the certainty of her faith. I pray that as we live our lives here on earth, we will be faithful with this God-given heritage until we have the joy of joining her in our heavenly inheritance.