The Call to Live Sent

                       

Nearly five years ago as I graduated from Highlands College, my prayer was for the Lord to allow me to do ministry vocationally. Covid delayed that dream for a while, but God was faithful and for the last couple of years I’ve had the privilege to run alongside some people who were building some amazing things for the Kingdom of God. During my time as missions ministry assistant, I traveled to the Netherlands and met people from all over, led a group of seventh grade girls at a camp in Tennessee, helped bring a touch of Christmas to hundreds of families, loved on missionary partners, witnessed life change and baptisms of young men, helped send food home with students who needed weekend meals, hung out with second graders during Vacation Bible School and saw God’s love put into tangible action time and time again. And while not every day and every task looked like the moments I just listed, I can look back and see that God was at work not only using me in ways that stretched far beyond what I could see in the moment, but He was also working in me in ways I didn’t even know I needed. 

When I first started as a ministry assistant, I was coming off a very weary season in my life and I think the Lord knew what I didn’t. He knew that I needed to rest in the presence of the Lord for a bit. And that I needed to learn and grow and have a front row seat to what He was doing through His church. I needed to see that real life ministry looked less like me and more like Jesus leveraging His life and His time and who He was for others.

And in a way only the Lord could, He wove just the right people and the right circumstances into my story. He placed me under leaders whose heart for people and getting the Gospel to everyone quite honestly challenged me. I went to schools and ministries I probably never would have set foot in if it had been left up to me. I got to see every day ordinary people who weren’t on staff use their spare time for something bigger than themselves. I got to see what it looks like when the Lord calls you to something whether that’s across the country, across the world or across the street. I got to usher in moments with the Holy Spirit through all team worship and prayer. And I got to understand on a deeper level how the Lord had created me and wired me with specific giftings. 

But as the Lord tends to do, He began to show me that my time of being refreshed was not just for me, but because He had more in mind. As the Lord continued to grow me in my job and in my personal life, I heard a message that began to do a fresh work in my heart. The mini sermon came from the transfiguration in Matthew 17 when Jesus takes Peter, James and John up the mountain. The preacher pointed out that after the transfiguration with Elijah and Moses, Jesus told them to “get up” and “they went back down the mountain where a crowd was waiting for them” (vs 7; 14). That phrase “get up” meant that they could not stay in that place forever. Jesus allowed His disciples to go up the mountain to get a glimpse of His glory and be stirred to awe, but it was not where He intended for them to stay because there were people at the foot of the mountain who needed what they had and what they had experienced. The Pastor went on to say that the mountaintop represents the place where we learn dependency on God and see Him for who He is but that there is a mission attached to that moment. We go to the mountaintop to be filled up, and then we go back down to pour out. The message ended with this quote, “Jesus says to us that there are some things we will face that we won’t be able to handle unless we’ve been at the top of the mountain with Him” (from a message by Chris Erwin, August 16, 2024).

It was in that moment that I felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me. That passage beautifully illustrated my time at Shades. I was literally on top of the mountain working at a place that had the word mountain in its name. It had been a place of refuge and rest, of seeing who God was and being dependent on Him just as it had been for the disciples. But then I thought about the second part of the message. The Lord told them to go back down the mountain because there was still work to be done. There were people who needed them to come into their space and to meet them where they were at. As I pondered what this could mean for me personally, I realized that going down the mountain sounded a lot like “Live Sent” which is the heartbeat of Shades. Leaving the mountain is not exactly what I thought would happen when I started the journey, but if the Lord has gifts He wants me to use in a place that people need them, who am I to stand in the way? After all, I have seen words that encouraged that every day for the last 19 months of my life in the phrase leverage your life for the sake of the Gospel. I admit I have sometimes thought that could happen best inside the church walls; that my best way to do it was from a church staff position, but oh how I have been reminded that we aren’t meant to keep it there. We are meant to take it with us wherever we go. How can they know unless they hear? How can they hear unless we go?

I’m not sure where that meets you today, but I hope it encourages you to be filled up on top of the mountain but to also look for ways to pour out in the valleys. People need you. They need your kind words. They need your unique gifts. They need you to step outside of the safety of the church pew and into the rugged wilderness they are walking through. They need us to be willing to go where it seems messy and unlikely. They need us to live sent so they can be delivered. Whatever that next step or that call on your life is for this season, I hope you will lean into it. I hope you are reminded today that while there are times that we need refreshing, there are also times we are meant to brighten our world. If you need rest, seek it. If you are ready to go back down the mountain, take the first step. 

As I reflect on all these things, I can't help but end by expressing how grateful I am for my time working at Shades Mountain. There were many things working there taught me about myself, about God’s people and about God Himself. I think back on my days, and I see some hard plowed ground, some moments of victory, some intentional development, a season of growth, an enormous amount of laughter and a call to live on mission. I also met some amazing people who not only poured into me and prayed over me but also will be called forever friends. Thank you, Shades, for providing me with refuge, for investing in me and for giving me the courage to go from you and live sent in the next chapter of my life. I will not forget to take new ground, to lift high the name of Jesus, to serve with joy, to grow together and to stand shield to shield. I’m going down the mountain, but I won’t forget my time on top of it!

-Only Hope

To my team-Myles, Josh, Brandon, Jenny, Dom, Reagan, Beth, Sherri and once upon a time Tommy and Toni-I am so grateful for you. We have absolutely stood shield to shield, and I am better because of you! Thank you doesn’t seem weighty enough, but I’ll say it anyway. I will miss you so very much, but I know we will still be plowing for the same goal. 

To the rest of the Shades Staff—I will miss seeing you every day! Thank you for allowing me to run the race with you. I can’t wait to see the wonderful things you do from here. You have loved me, made me laugh and been exactly what I needed in this season. Until we see each other again…

And to all the teams and church members and volunteers I’ve worked with—it’s been a privilege and a joy to do ministry with you! Thank you for serving so faithfully and inviting me on the journey. You inspire me!

       

                                                From the first day to the last...thanks for the memories!