sondancing 1.8

A Quick Catch-Up

     

Since this publication has the subtitle. “the newsletter of sondance and the higgs family,” it’s about time to do some catching up on the comings and goings of the Higgs family. The photo at left was taken this summer on the front porch of our former home in Canby. When we first moved in almost 17 years ago, we took a family photo at the same location, one we used as one of our earlier LINC Ministries prayer/support cards. We were hoping to include both photos here so you could see the “subtle” changes to us all, but since Terri and I have been living pretty much out of suitcases for the past several months, the original photo is in a box somewhere. Use your imagination: Lilly was 5, Levi was 2, Terri had long hair and I had dark brown hair!

       Kids first: Lilly is in Kansas City preparing to travel to Jerusalem on Sept. 14 for a three-month internship/practicum at the House of Prayer there. What a cool adventure for her! Her parents are thrilled that God is leading her to pray and learn in such a spiritually (and politically) intense and strategic location.. She and other interns from literally all over the world will take a number of history and theology classes, prayerwalk the city, and engage in intercessory worship from a prayer room that overlooks the Wailing Wall and Temple Mount. Levi will remain in KC, where he is in his second year at the Forerunner Music Academy at IHOPU. If you get a chance, go to www.ihop.org and click on the prayer room webcast, which is free and broadcast 24/7.  What you will see – about a dozen singers and musicians leading a room of 100-200 people in “intercessory worship” – has been going literally non-stop for twelve years. It’s a pretty amazing place, with around 1000 students attending several different schools at the university, within a community of several thousand others (of all ages, but the majority young adults) who are committed to night and day prayer. 

     As for their parents, Terri and I are enjoying being homeless! That is true only in a sense – our Canby house did sell, and our move to Idaho won’t be until sometime in 2012, but for now we are staying at my Mom’s house in southwest Portland, preparing it for sale while she enjoys an active social life in a nearly retirement community. After the sale, it’s an empty nesters’ adventure! In the meantime, it is just a bit odd and fun having a makeshift office in the bedroom I grew up in.

     Terri recently surprised me with a table lamp she found in an Idaho thrift store. It’s a tripod style, made with three arrows, and when I saw it I was immediately reminded of what I wrote in an old LINCLetter about the “three sharp arrows” in my ministry quiver: character, prayer, and unity. God clearly led her to buy the lamp for me so I would always be reminded of those. Yet the lamp is also a reminder of the three mission emphases He gave Terri and I when we founded sondance: spiritual formation, family restoration, and community transformation.

     In his book The Torch and the Sword, Rick Joyner wrote of being admonished through a prophetic word: “You must resolve to walk each day in the domain over which the Lord has given you to rule. He has given you authority, but you must walk with Him in your domain. Only then will you be fruitful and multiply as you are called. Your domain is your garden.” Terri and I are in a transition season when our home and ministry “domains” or “gardens” are changing. While the exact timing remains unclear, there is nothing unclear about the changes – as we begin to spend more and more time in Idaho, our daily experience there includes new relationships and Kingdom connections that are all about our mission of spiritual formation, family restoration and community transformation. We don’t have to force things, God just brings stuff our way, and it is SO EXCITING to live that way!! The same is true regarding our “domain” outside of Blaine County, Idaho. More on that next month.

sondancing 1.7

Reduction

     Reduction has been in the headlines quite a bit lately – federal spending reduction, national debt reduction, government size reduction, health insurance cost reduction, overseas troop reduction, foreign oil dependency reduction, even the reduction of Americans’ waistlines!

     I recently enjoyed lunch with a pastor in the Idaho community that will soon be our home. It was one of those divine appointments Terri and I have grown to expect and anticipate when we are in our new neighborhood. Bob has a background in youth ministry, has ministered in the area for almost ten years, and is very involved in the community rather than residing in a church bubble, so he has a very good understanding of the dynamics of the area. When I asked him about the relevant issues and concerns among teens there, he replied, “I think they are simply a reduction of those in most American communities.” I think he saw my eyes glaze over, so he elaborated: “You know, like when you cook down a sauce on the stove to make it more concentrated? That’s called a reduction. And the issues among youth here are, for the most part, not any different than elsewhere, they are just more concentrated.”

     At the time, I thought that was a pretty astute comment, and more I think about it, the better it sounds. I am into my fourth decade of working with youth, and although most of my time these days is spent with youth workers, I still get the importance of understanding youth culture. The issues and problems that youth face today cannot be minimized – family dysfunction, substance abuse, depression and suicide, and the mess that most always accompanies fatherlessness is all very real and very destructive.  And it all can render us overwhelmed, discouraged, or even hopeless - unless a little reduction is practiced.

     Matthew tells us in his Gospel that when Jesus looked out at the crowd that had gathered because of His preaching and healing (Matt. 9:35-38) “He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.”  I don’t have space here to unpack the meanings of the words “compassion,” “harassed” and “helpless,” but they are much more intense in the original language than in our English translations. Jesus clearly perceived, and was greatly troubled by, the very real and very painful wounds, hurts and needs of the multitudes. But as concerned as He was about the nature of their wounds, hurts and needs, He was even more concerned about the willingness and faith of His followers to meet those needs by ministering healing – spiritual, emotional, physical – in His name and authority and power. That’s why just a few verses later, we see that Jesus sends out the Twelve out to preach, deliver and heal. (Matt. 10:1ff)

     Our situation is not all that different today; most of us are surrounded by plenty of wounded, hurting, needy people. Identifying the source and nature of the wounds and hurts and needs can be important, but perhaps we make too much of that. Perhaps we need to do a little reduction: people are needy, Jesus alone can meet the deepest needs of the human heart, and He will use us as His instruments of healing in the lives of others - if we are willing. Jesus didn’t do a whole lot of counseling or diagnosing, but He did do a whole lot of praying and ministering and healing. And while I do want to understand the issues in our new community, that understanding is not as important as “living on assignment,” with the willingness and faith to minister in the name and authority and power of Jesus, 24/7/365. Terri and I are seeing an increasing number of opportunities to do just that, not only in Idaho, but wherever else God has us living - which during this season is lots of places, since our Canby home recently sold!

     Terri often reminds me of the importance Jesus placed on childlike faith. You could probably call it reduction faith - reduced to the basics . . . walk with Jesus always, talk with Jesus always, do what He says always. I think that’s part of what He is doing in our lives to prepare us for our assignment in our new Idaho community. And perhaps a little reduction might do us all well as we seek to be messengers of hope in our own neighborhoods, schools and cities.

     Thanks, Pastor Bob, for the reduction insight!

• • • • •

     Some of you will remember Pray! Magazine, which had a great run from the late 90’s through 2009 and included a number of articles from yours truly. Economic realities and a changing industry (i.e. electronic media) led NavPress to cease publication of the magazine a few years ago. The original editor, Jon Graf, has started a new publication, PrayerConnect: Connecting To The Heart of Christ Through Prayer,  that will feature a combination of print and electronic media forms. PrayerConnect is published by the Church Prayer Leaders Network and PrayerShop Publishing, divisions of Harvest Prayer Ministries, and is also cosponsored by three significant prayer movements (Terri and I are members of the first two of these): America’s National Prayer Committee - (www.nationalprayer.org), the International Prayer Council (www.ipcprayer.org) and the Denominational Prayer Leaders Network. PrayerConnect seeks to be the voice of these groups and a primary connecting point for people of prayer to find news of God’s moving around the world through prayer, plus events, information, and articles and ideas to help you grow in prayer.  Please check out www.prayerconnect.net and support this new ministry.

• • • • •

In the next issue of sondancing – more about the Campus Alliance Call For Prayer, and Lilly’s internship this fall in Jerusalem!

sondancing 1.6

Hope High School

   

  Like many of you, the home page on my laptop includes news feeds from various sources. It's handy because I can peruse the headlines from time to time, and read more if the Spirit leads. While spending an unexpected three hour delay in the Salt Lake City airport on a recent trip to Kansas City, I noticed an article from the New York Times feed on tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri, entitled "When Everything Is Gone, Including A Sense Of Direction."  The article was a primer on what happens when the Normalcy Bias I wrote about last month is shattered in an instant.

     Context is important for what happened next. I was stuck in Salt Lake, missing a meeting in KC, because of human error. So I was taking advantage of a great opportunity to (1) forgive (in the fullest biblical sense) those who made the mistake; (2) actively love those I was interacting with at the airport (as opposed to yelling at them); and (3) put into practice what I have been learning (with much help from Terri) about being fully present with the presence of Jesus always. While having lunch in the airport I noticed the article, read it, and then heard God clearly tell me to go to Joplin (2-1/2 hours south of KC) to pray and experience it first-person.  If “human” error doesn’t stick me in Salt Lake for three hours, I don’t look at my computer until later that night, and I likely don’t see the Times feed. And if I am reacting in anger to my situation, I likely don’t hear the Holy Spirit’s instruction, and I don’t end up at Hope High School.

     In terms of destruction, Joplin was worse than I expected. Around 500 commercial buildings and 8,000 residences were damaged or destroyed. From what I could see, a good number of the residences were not damaged or destroyed, but obliterated, with nothing left but a small pile of rubble and trees with most of their branches and bark stripped off. Neighborhood landmarks that provide a sense of direction were for the most part gone. As I wept and drove through the tornado pathway, the first thing that came to my mind was, “how did only 160 people die in this?” While midwesterners are used to, and prepared for, tornados, there must have been something else going on. And there was.

     One of the most powerful images tattooed in my mind from Joplin is the high school. Because it is a brick and steel structure, it fared somewhat better than most buildings in the area, although it is hard to see how it could ever be used again. The 200+ mph winds of the tornado had sucked the letters J, L, I and N off the school sign, but as you can see, somebody had used duct tape to add an H and E. Why would somebody name a severely damaged high school in the middle of a devastated community Hope High School?

     That question can only be answered by the person who did the tape work. But for me, it was a graphic illustration that in the midst of calamity, God is always present and at work. The prophet Habakkuk spoke about this. Immediately after describing the devastating implications of an immanent Babylonian invasion, he proclaimed a message of hope:

     “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights” (Hab. 3:17-19)

     The author of Lamentations had a similar message regarding the same invasion and accompanying destruction of Jerusalem, although this time the message was delivered after the invasion had occurred:

     “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. “

     While only in Joplin for a short hour, I saw tangible evidences of God at work through His people, and I have heard many stories since then of messengers of hope serving in the midst of disaster. Weeks later, Hope High School remains, for me, a prophetic sign of the hope that can (and will!) emerge in the emerging generations of youth that I have given my life to reach and disciple. Joplin strongly shook my Normalcy Bias, and I think there is more shaking to come for many of us in the weeks and months to come. But it is not shaking without purpose! He shakes “so that what cannot be shaken may remain.” (Heb. 12:27) What cannot be shaken are faith, hope and love - which must be seen in our lives as we incarnate a new, spiritual “normalcy:” “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. “ (Col. 3:1-3)

   

sondancing 1.5

   A Week In DC

  Terri and I were in Washington, D.C. recently for several meetings that have given us increased clarity, confirmation, and conviction as we continue the first year of our sondance journey. Here’s a synopsis of what we experienced and learned:

     • The National Prayer Committee consists of around 60 folks from around the country who have a regional or national prayer ministry of some sort, and usually meets twice yearly. One of those is always in DC during the first week of May, to coincide with the National Day of Prayer, which I will mention in more detail later.  Several of my spiritual mentors over the years have come from the NPC, and I have always enjoyed being in the same room with like-minded folks whose books on prayer line our shelves at home. This year, I think all of us arrived at our nation’s capitol with a heightened spiritual understanding of the seriousness of the times in which we live. Unprecedented political upheaval in the Mideast (more about that later, too), an unusual number of natural disasters around the world, and an unsettled national economy could together be more than sobering. But the NPC meetings were characterized by a hopefulness that comes from knowing who is in complete control of not only the spiritual realm, but also the political realm, the natural realm, and the economic realm. He really does rule over the earth and the affairs of man! This year we were also privileged to bring a guest with us:  Jeff Eckart, who along with his wife Arianna, leads a student-led prayer ministry called Claim Your Campus. God has given them great favor on secondary school campuses across the nation. 

I have found that the NPC, and intercessors in general, love young people and understand the strategic nature of praying for them, so they loved to hear from Jeff about Claim Your Campus. They also loved to hear about the Call For Prayer that I have been working on for several months with the Campus Alliance Prayer Team. As I explained the Alliance’s commitment to help mobilize a prayer covering over every secondary school in the nation, they responded with much affirmation, which encouraged me greatly regarding one of my primary ministry thrusts of the next year.

     • The National Day of Prayer is, by presidential proclamation, held on the first Thursday of May each year. There are thousands of local and regional gatherings around the country; additionally, there is a national event on Capitol Hill. We have attended quite a few of these over the years, and to be honest, at times they have tilted further to the political right than I would like. However, that was certainly not the case this year. The 3-hour program this year, with a theme of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” was apolitical and spiritually powerful, as was the reception the night before. We were greatly encouraged to hear about how God is working within our government, and to pray with and for those who serve there.  Joni Erickson Tada was the honorary chairperson and spoke powerfully at both events.

     •We also had the opportunity to go to Israel – at least in a legal sense. The NPC was invited to attend the tenth annual Israel Solidarity Event at the Israeli Embassy in DC. So for a few hours we were literally standing on Israeli territory. Being at the Solidarity Event was a profound privilege for us both. 

Michael Orem, the Israel Ambassador to the US, was one of the speakers, and his eloquent explanation of the pressures and challenges that Israel is facing today was a jaw-dropping eye-opener for me. While I have known for some time of the biblical mandate to support Israel and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, this event was a wake-up call for me personally to take that mandate more seriously. Mark Rutland, the president of Oral Roberts University, powerfully drove home the theology behind that mandate. We were also pleasantly surprised to hear about how much the nation of Israel appreciates the support of Christians! This Solidarity Event, which was also attended by leaders from many pro-Israel Christian ministries from around the country, was in part an expression of that appreciation.

    Regarding the seriousness of the times that I mentioned earlier:  normalcy bias (a relatively new term to me) is defined as the phenomenon of disbelieving one's situation when faced with grave and imminent danger and/or catastrophe. While (like you) I did not believe that May 21 was Judgment Day, as radio preacher Harold Camping announced on the radio and billboards across the country, I do believe that there is widespread normalcy bias in our communities and nation regarding a number of issues that I will unpack in subsequent issues of sondancing. Some of the issues – prayer and fatherlessness, for example – are obvious sondance passions, but there are also others that warrant some consideration.

     One more housekeeping item . . . this newsletter is now published primarily in digital format (distributed via email) 7-8 times a year, and in paper format (conventional mail, which is also our delivery method for response/giving envelopes) 3-4 times in year. Since sondance is funded by God through the generous donations of our readers and supporters, delivery of the envelope is important to us – all the more so in this economy where donations to nonprofits (ours included) have plummeted. We are sending this issue out in both printed and digital format for the last time. If you receive only one version, that means we are missing either your mailing address or your email address. Please help us out and supply the address that is lacking by sending it to: mikehiggs@integrity.com. Thank you!

sondancing 1.4

Nard

     One of the benefits of a (mostly) digital newsletter is that I am not constrained by the amount of space on an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.  This one-page catch-up issue is about nard.  I can hear you thinking: “Hmmm.”

       John wrote in his Gospel (12:1-8) that just before He entered Jerusalem for the last time (Easter Week), Jesus attended a special dinner given in His honor. Lazarus, recently raised from the dead, was there, as were his sisters Martha and Mary. Guess which sister served the meal? And while she did that, Mary poured about a pint of nard, a crazy expensive perfume, on Jesus feet and wiped them with her hair.  Clearly, perfume marketing was not up to today’s standards, because I can’t think of many worse names for the spendy liquid than nard. And clearly, Mary’s act of devotion caused quite a stir. Judas Iscariot, who John rightly labels a thief, selfishly objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” In what seems to be a parallel account written by Matthew (26:6-13), the other disciples were described as being upset as well. But Jesus rebuked them all, saying that Mary was, in fact, anointing His body for burial.

       Most of us read these accounts, dismiss Judas as a traitor, and mentally berate the disciples for being cheap and/or shortsighted. But we’ve read the end of the story, while the disciples didn’t even know they were in the story of stories, much less how their story would play out.  They were lodging legitimate, “good stewardship” objections. “Hey Jesus, it sure doesn’t seem to us like good stewardship of God’s resources for Mary to pour all that Chanel No.5 on Your feet. We could have sold the bottle and supported the Jerusalem Gospel Mission soup kitchen for close to six months! And You just got done telling us the Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14-30) – wasn’t she listening?”

       Extravagant love is sometimes expressed in extravagant ways.  Extravagant devotion is taken to extravagant extremes. Extravagant obedience can go far beyond the letter of the law. Sometimes our love, or devotion, or obedience, doesn’t make common sense. It is not good stewardship.  It is not wisdom.  It is not good time management. Sometimes, however, stewardship and resource management evaluations are made according to the standards of the Kingdom of God, which can differ greatly from those of the world.  God sees what we have done. He smells the “nard” of our love or devotion or obedience. And He is greatly pleased. After all, right after Mary poured out her nard on His feet, Jesus poured out His blood on the Cross  . . . extravagant, foolish love - to the extreme. Happy Easter. He is risen!

sondancing 1.3

Tearing Open Heaven

     If espresso, Red Bull, or some other super-caffeinated drink was in existence during the time of Christ, the author of the Gospel of Mark was clearly an early adopter. His account of the life and message of Jesus is the shortest of the four Gospels, but it is arguably the most frenetic.* He rushes from one story to the next, making liberal use of the word “immediately” as well as similar phrases such as “at once,” “without delay,” “as soon as” and “just then.” And it is widely believed that Mark was describing himself in his account of Jesus being arrested: “A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.”  It that is true, it fits my perception of this Gospel writer.  Both Matthew and Mark include the account of Jesus being baptized by John, but while Matthew states that “heaven was opened” when a dove descended on Jesus and the Father expressed His approval, Mark was more intense and direct: he said heaven was “torn open.”  That description caught my attention the other day, and I like it. It reminds me of Isaiah’s prayerful plea: “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down!” (Is. 64:1)

     After many years of ministry to kids as youth pastors, God shifted Terri and I to LINC Ministries in 1992, where our mandate was to advance the Kingdom of God in some fresh ways, and primarily among those who work with youth. Over time, we became increasingly aware of the “three sharp arrows” God put in our ministry quiver:  calling youth workers, and youth ministry, to growth in character, unity, and prayer.  Now God has shifted us once again, to sondance, and while it remains to be seen how much we use the “three arrows” imagery in the years to come, we feel even more passionate about character, unity and prayer. One could make the argument that we are borderline frenetic about these three “arrows.” Why? Because they are critical to the success of the American church (or any church, for that matter) in tearing open heaven. And the future of our nation, and of the emerging generations who grow up among us, will be dependent on this tearing.

     That is, admittedly, a pretty bold statement; let me try to back it up. “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is a prayer for heaven to be torn open so that Kingdom life may pour out, so to speak, and be increasingly manifest on earth.  The Kingdom of God is not only a place in our universe or reality, beyond the reach of our telescopes, where we will reside once our life on earth is complete. It is the realm in which were created to live in eternal communion with our Maker, and a reality that is being restored, in increasing measure, in own realm ever since the Fall separated the two.  Jesus was and is the Divine Accelerator of that restoration, and He has commissioned us to follow His example. Habakkuk says that one day “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab. 2:14)  As we join God in bringing forth that day, we are to pray down, and incarnate through our living, Kingdom life now.

     The following illustration comes to mind: if the earth is a submarine and the Kingdom of God is the ocean, the encroachment of the ocean on life in the submarine can be subtle, as in a pinhole leak, or it can be catastrophic, as in a massive breach or tearing open of the hull. If you are an air-breathing creature in the submarine, you have problems. But if you were meant to breathe water, and your breathing of air has just been temporary, you are in good shape – perhaps better than before, since your original design was to breathe water.  I know my submarine metaphor here breaks down eventually, but I hope you get the point: the Kingdom of God is the realm in which we are created to live - eternally – and we don’t have to wait until we die to experience it.

     A friend and I were recently talking about a burden we share for the fatherless. For both of us, father wounds seem to surface everywhere we turn. I have made this point before: fatherlessness is arguably the biggest challenge in youth ministry, in the church, and in society in general today. While physical, emotional and/or spiritual fatherlessness may not be the cause of all wounds, depression, brokenheartedness, fear, anger, dysfunction and psychoses, it is certainly behind much of it.  And as my buddy Rus put it, bringing tangible solutions to this challenge feels, at times, like “spitting in the ocean.”  If our solutions are limited to the resources we have used in the past – counseling, therapy, medication, self-help  - we will, indeed, be merely perpetuating our ocean-spitting. There are simply not enough antidepressants or therapies or counselors or self-help books in the world to deal with all the problems, Similarly, where is the wisdom needed to bring resolution to millennia of conflict in the Middle East? Is there a solution to America’s multi-trillion dollar deficit that will not be chewed up and spit out by relentless partisan political squabbling? It is really possible to build completely earthquake-proof buildings and tsunami-proof coastal communities?

     The Bible tells us, clearly, that God can – and will – pour out real solutions to these problems, and others like them – as we cry out for heaven to be torn open (prayer) and the fullness of the Kingdom to be poured out, and as we together (unity) live holy, consecrated lives (character) that qualify us to the “great works” that Jesus promised we would do. Healing, deliverance, restoration, hope with a word or with a touch are practical realities when heaven is torn open. No more spitting in the ocean.

*frenetic |frəˈnetik| adj. - wildly excited or active; frantic; frenzied

Sondancing 1.2

Transitional Discernment

   

  Although one could view our shift from LINC Ministries to sondance as a “lateral” transition, what is occupying my prayers and thoughts is anything but lateral. Many of our transitional challenges require a fair amount of discernment, which means we have been investing a whole lot of prayer into these issues:

• Discerning the scope and significance of fatherlessness – I’ve been getting more opportunities to speak recently, and whenever I explain why I believe fatherlessness to be one of the most significant issues both within and outside the church, heads nod in agreement. Of course, recognizing the problem is certainly different than implementing God-given solutions. Yesterday I was speaking at the annual Portland Youth Foundation youth worker luncheon, which I began 19 years ago; this year I was the “outside guest speaker” which was just a bit surreal. Anyway, I mentioned to them the propensity we have as youth workers to make great plans and ask God to bless them (a problem not limited to youth workers!) rather than asking God for His plans, then obediently doing what He says. So, I am making sure I get the order right and am asking God for His plans regarding what Sondance should do to address the issue of fatherlessness. Also,  I am pondering a recent email I received from a Susan, who was in my youth group many years ago and has recovered sufficiently from that experience to serve with her husband, Brian, in both Papua New Guinea and Uganda. She wrote, in part, “ . . . laying in bed dirty and BEAT UP in Uganda we mulled over and over what the FOUNDATIONAL problem was with ALL OF AFRICA (yes…those late night world problem solving sessions…) and it boiled down to Fatherlessness…it is the root…to the orphan problem, the Aids problem, every problem it seemed we hit!”  I’m still processing Susan’s response; it is both affirming regarding the direction we are headed, but it is also too overwhelming (so far) to wrap my mind around.

Discerning a Spirit-led strategy for the use of electronic and social media – I am conflicted when it comes to the use of email, texting, web pages, Facebook, Twitter, and a rapidly proliferating number of other means of communicating and/or networking. Social and cultural commentators are lined up on both sides here – social media is either the greatest thing since sliced bread, or it is the beginning of the apocalypse. I understand the opportunities social media provide to connect with a much wider ministry audience. But how do I find time to give proper attention to all the new or renewed relationships? I have enough trouble as it is answering emails promptly. I am also very well aware of how time-consuming, attention-grabbing, and even addicting social media can easily become. Yes, I know that vociferous objections to technological progress have existed since Gutenberg invented the printing press. And I am thankful that tele- and video-conferencing allows us to have quarterly Sondance Board meetings without some members having to travel up to 1800 miles four times a year. But I am carefully praying through this issue.

Discerning the best way to help friends and supporters make the transition with us from LINC to sondance – feedback tells me there is still some confusion. So, to summarize . . .

• LINC ended an 18+ year run on Dec. 31, and sondance began on Jan. 1.
• Sondance is different from LINC; the biggest changes being the end of my directing the Portland Youth Foundation, and the start of a new focus on fatherlessness, as well as various ministry/mission endeavors in our (eventual) new Idaho community.

• Our newsletters will still come out monthly and primarily via email, but we will also mail out a paper newsletter on a quarterly basis. Obviously, email distribution is easier and far less expensive, but conventional mail gets sondance response envelopes in the hands of supporters and potential donors, and that’s important to us. This is why it is really important that we have both your email and conventional mail addresses.

• We need your help in the following ways: (1) If you didn’t get our recently mailed first issue of sondancing, that means we don’t have your mailing address; you can help us out by sending it to: sondancemike@gmail.com (2) We are re-assembling our Prayer Team, and would love for you to consider joining it; (3) If God should move you to become a financial supporter, you can use the mailing address to the left, or the envelope that will arrive quarterly, or the Paypal button on our blog. We can also accept non-cash gifts, if you are feeling led to be creative or have an extra luxury car in the garage . . .

• We are moving to Idaho, but at this point only God knows the timing. Since He is not yet chosen to share that information with us, we are resting and waiting for His leading. And In the meantime, we continue to make strategic Kingdom connections and have divine appointments during our trips to our future home community – fun!

Sondancing 1.1

Shift, Shake and Dance

This is the premiere issue of our new ministry and family newsletter. After 18+ years with LINC Ministries, we now have a new ministry, a new mission, and new modes of communication with our friends and supporters. The purpose of this first newsletter is to help you understand both the changes that have taken place, and why we believe the fingerprints of God are on all the newness. Inside, you will find somewhat concise statements of our sondance Mission, Values and Mandate. You will find descriptions of some of the new assignments God has given us. You will read about the shaking that God is doing these days, in us and around us. And you will read about the “sondance card” we will ask you to help us fill up by supplying information – specifically, an email and/or conventional mail address – that will allow us to communicate with you consistently and cost-effectively. After nearly two decades of producing a 2-page, photocopied, bulk-mailed monthly newsletter, we are making some changes and moving to a combination of emailed newsletters (usually), mailed newsletters (occasionally), and blogging. Accordingly, please give specific attention to the Dance section – our ability to communicate with you in the future is dependent on us getting the right information!

     

We hope you are ready to shift, shake and dance with us!

Shift

Sondance is not LINC Ministries under a different name and in a different state.  It is, in most ways, new. Below you will see our Mission, Values, and Mandate. They are significantly different from what we have done in the past, as are our ministry assignments. One more obvious change in that regard: stepping away from the Portland Youth Foundation, and stepping into the issues of fatherlessness and family restoration.

The Mission of sondance is to serve Christ, His Church, and the advancement of His Kingdom through a ministry of teaching, training, mentoring and writing, emphasizing:   


• Spiritual formation    • Family restoration     • Community transformation

In carrying out this Mission, sondance will embody the following Values:

• Faith – working itself out through love and obedience

• Prayer – cultivating intimacy with the Father

• The whole gospel – searching out and living the fullest meaning of the Cross

The Mandate of sondance is to pray, and obey

* * * * * * * * * 

Here are some of the new assignments God has given us:

• Facilitate the Campus Alliance Prayer Team (CAP Team) as we work with the Campus Alliance to see a prayer covering established over every secondary school in the nation. I am working with a wonderful team – Intercessors for America president Dave Kubal, Claim Youth Campus founders Jeff and Arianna Eckhart, Moms In Touch VP Marlae Gritter, National Network of Youth Ministries CEO. T. Ray Grandstaff – and we are highly motivated!

• Serve as an advocate within youth ministry for addressing the issue of fatherlessness. I believe that modern youth ministry has been a God-ordained exercise in bandaging the festering wound of fatherlessness, and He is now asking those us with a heart for youth and families to seek Him for ways to heal the wound.

• Network individuals and ministries around the nation that have an emphasis on bringing hope to the fatherless.  In this area, God keeps connecting me with likeminded folks from around the country. I know this is purposeful, and God will make His desires clear as I seek Him.

• Work with our Camas Prairie community in Idaho to address what they recognize as crisis issues: youth drug/alcohol abuse and family dysfunction. There are around 2,000 teens in the area, 2 public high schools, and lots of challenges.

• Work with local leaders to see a House of Prayer established and functioning in the Camas Prairie community. If 2 Chronicles 7:14 is our prescription for bringing healing to a land and people, this is a strategic way to start the healing process.

• Plant a church, likely in our Carey home. We already have connected with some potential “parishioners!”

Previous assignments that will be continued as God leads:

• Writing, speaking, teaching and training.

• Mentoring emerging leaders as God leads both locally and nationally.

• Serving on the National Prayer Committee, the Mission American Alliance, and other national groups where God has given us a measure of favor and influence.

• Serving as an advocate for prayer in the youth ministry movement, and an advocate for youth ministry in the prayer movement.

Shake

There is, we believe, a holy urgency to what God has called us to do through sondance. While every generation since Christ’s resurrection has believed in His immanent return, Scripture also makes it clear that we are to “keep watch” and discern the signs of the times.  We believe that there is some serious shaking going on in the western church that is not “coincidental” or simply a random historical footnote. The purpose of this, shaking is, in part, described by the write of Hebrews:

     “. . . once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken — that is, created things — so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Heb. 12:26-29)

Is your world being shaken? Ours certainly is! Part of our shaking involves a number of formidable challenges that come with starting a new nonprofit, selling a home, and moving to a new home in another state, all in a crummy economy. We have also seen a significant drop in donor income during the transition from LINC to sondance. The Scripture says that the shaking is for our good and for the removal of all that is “shake-able” or not of the Kingdom. Idols – those things that may occupy the places in our hearts and lives that belong to God alone - fit that description nicely. So, we thankfully worship God with reverence and awe, and join the chorus of the Spirit and the bride in saying, “Come, Lord Jesus!”

Dance

When the ark was retuned to Jerusalem in the time of King David, the Bible says that David “danced before the Lord with all his might.” The Psalms mention dancing several times as an acceptable form of worship. And the prophet Jeremiah spoke of a time when “maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well.” While there is more to the name “sondance” than the thrust of these passages, they are certainly relevant!

As we launch sondance, would you help us “ fill out our sondance card?” The dance card originated in the 18th century in Vienna, and was traditionally carried by a young lady attending a formal dance or ball. It generally had a fancy cover, often made of leather. Inside was a card listing the number of dances for the evening, and a gentleman would sign the young woman's card assigning himself a particular dance.

Our primary means of communicating with you in the future will be newsletters distributed via email. The cost of printing and mailing newsletters has continued to escalate, and the requirements for preparing a bulk mailing have become increasingly time-consuming.  We still believe in the value of a tactile (paper) newsletter mailed the conventional  (continued on next page) way (as this one was), but from now on we will be sending those out only three or four times a year. So, getting our “sondance card filled out” means getting both conventional and email addresses from you, our readers.

    

If you received this newsletter via conventional mail, then (obviously) we have your conventional mailing address, but we also need your email address. There are three primary ways of accomplishing that:

1. I have started a blog (a kind of web site) at the following address: http://sondancers.blogspot.com/The blog consists of newsletters past and present, some photos, and written responses to various rumblings in my soul. It also has a “Join Our Mailing List” link on the right side of the blog in a pale yellow box If you fill in your email address there, I will get it and we’re set!

2.  Send an email to me at: mikehiggs@integrity.com, putting your name in the subject box.

3.  Fill out the information on the enclosed response envelope and mail it back to us.

There is one more dimension to our sondance card: our prayer team. Throughout the history of LINC Ministries, we had a team of praying people who played a HUGE role in our ministry. We would like to reconstitute and expand this team for sondance. If God prompts you to join our prayer team, you will receive periodic updates via email that will help you know how to pray for our ministry and us.  You can let us know of your interest via return envelope or email. Thanks!

Over the course of eighteen years, the LINC mailing list took on a life of its own. Honestly, there are some names on the list that I do not recognize – perhaps Portland-area youth workers who moved on long ago, or folks who briefly connected with me during my ministry wanderings across the earth. Whatever the reason . . . if you receive this newsletter and we don’t hear back from you, we will assume you would like to be removed from our lists.