One week left… one more week after which will conclude over three years of waiting!  I don’t have words to adequately express how thankful I am, how excited I am, how expectant I am…how faithful the Lord has been through the process!

So, what’s the big countdown??  On April 1st of 2014, I will be beginning a new season as full time worship director at Light of the World Prayer Center!!  I’m amazed and humbled at the doors that have flown open and the support that has streamed in!  From the gift of 9 weeks away at the Levite Praise Institute in Herrnhut, Germany last fall to the provision of part time work after returning to Bellingham in November to a surprise trip to China for a precious week with family to now having enough committed monthly support to leave the marketplace and dive into full-time ministry – it’s been a wild ride!!  I wouldn’t trade it though.  The Lord is truly a good shepherd and leads SO well!

Having grown up as a missionary kid in Asia, I’ve often wondered how I ended up in the marketplace so long. As a child, when people asked if I thought I would be a missionary, I would always answer “yes”, but always had the thought in the back of my mind that it would look different than my parents.  As I finished high school and decided to move to Seattle after looking at colleges and universities all over the United States, I had a very strong impression that the Lord was SENDING me to the Pacific Northwest.  Now, 12 years after moving from Hong Kong to what is comparably the middle of nowhere in Northwest Washington, I see how the two of these fit together!

In my last update I gave some highlights form 2013 and plans looking ahead to this year.  Since January, I’ve been proceeding as planned, and shifting to being more and more fully integrated with work and life at LOWPC.  For an inside look at what we’re doing, check out our latest testimony videos.  If you haven’t seen it yet, also check out the Whatcom Story video, as it gives a clear picture of what we’re doing at LOWPC, why, and how.

THANK YOU for supporting me in prayer, friendship, and finances over the past few years!!  I wouldn’t be here without you!  To fully express my thoughts, feelings, joy, and anticipation would require many more words than I can write here.  I would love, however, to share in person (or via phone/Skype)!!  I really could talk for hours.  😉

Please continue to pray for me in the coming weeks and months!  While on one hand I have a pretty good idea what I’m getting into (we’ve been dreaming about what this looks like for about three years), I have not gone this way before!  For the first time in years, quite possibly ever, I am going to get to be focused on ONE job.  I’ll be hitting the ground running – there is SO much to do!  On top of the day-in, day-out rhythm of building towards corporate prayer and worship 24/7, we are four months into planning for a seven week summer internship (I’ll be on point for communication, logistics, website, and overall administration), we’re re-vamping our Sunday evening meeting called Newsong Fellowship, we’re looking at some exciting state-wide projects for fall (more info on this later), and the list goes on.  So, here are a couple of specific requests:

• Pray for the grace to quickly find a good rhythm for work and rest, for input and output, for schedule and balance
• Pray for wisdom as we move forward as a team on the biggest projects we’ve undertaken so far
• Pray for my relationship with our staff team – these are my closest friends, but my transition to full time at LOWPC means a huge shift in our working relationship.  We will need to learn to love, trust, and partner together in a whole new way.
• Pray for protection and health!  As worshipers and intercessors, we are on the front lines of a sometimes unseen but very real battle.  The weeks leading up to Easter are often more intense in the spiritual atmosphere and schedule than other times of year.  For the first almost three weeks of March, I was fighting the worst head-cold that I’ve had in years.  I’m recovered now, but it was a good reminder that I need prayer covering!
• Pray for continued financial provision – I would like to get 4 more consistent music students now that I have more time to teach (if you know anyone wanting to learn guitar or piano, send them my way!)  I’d also like to specifically ask for the provision of a laptop, as I’ll be spending much more time at LOWPC away from my desktop at home, but much of the work I do outside of the prayer room requires a computer.

I look forward to sharing more in the weeks and months to come!  Please rejoice with me as I enter the new season that the Lord has prepared!  I find the first 6 verses of Psalm 108 fitting: “My heart is steadfast, O God! I will sing and make melody with all my being! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! That your beloved ones may be delivered, give salvation by your right hand and answer me!”  This is what I’m doing!