1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Be joyful always; pray continually;

give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

Prayer Partners

Jer and I signed up for 'Leadership Boot Camp' - a 3 month journey with some others in the church, lead by the Lead Pastor. Along with the classes, there are some outside assignments that we need to do, including writing our testimonies, reading some books, and meeting with a prayer partner twice a week. All this is on top of the current busyness I am already experiencing - work, school, youth group, homework, housework, sleep... so it wasn't a small thing to take on.

I saw the roster for the class and felt like I was supposed to ask Jane Palmer to be my prayer partner. She is the mom of one of our senior boys, and she also leads a ministry for single mothers called 'MOMS'. We have had a few conversations in our 2 1/2 years at Faith, and she has always struck me as a very humble, intentional, caring person. What more could you ask for in a prayer partner?

Jane and I meet twice weekly - once on the phone (typically on my drive home from my Monday night class) and then once in person. We talk about our challenges, what we are struggling with, where we are seeing God moving, and just learning to love others well. Jane and I have both been so blessed by this relationship - the Lord often using one of us to speak to or affirm the other.

Last Sunday, Jer and I went to the Palmer's for brunch after church. We ate with the family and then spent time sharing funny stories of dating, growing up and personal habits. I'm sure we could have done that forever, but His love really shines through when we are intentional in inviting Him into the conversation. As Jane and I were preparing to pray, I was sharing with her the two options that God seems to have opened up for us: STORM and Chapel Hill. I held out my hands and said 'God has these two things, these two great things, and we are trying to see which one the Lord is leading us to.' And that is when Jane stopped me and said 'Keri, I see you holding out these two hands... and I want you to know that the Lord will bless whichever one you choose. Sometimes we try so hard to figure out which one is THE one, when both options have been provided by Him.' So as we continue to seek the Lord's will for our next season, I'm realizing that He will, and is, taking care of us, and that we don't have to do anything extra, anything special, anything outside the ordinary, except have faith that He will be faithful.

Amada

When we first started at Faith Covenant, I was in awe of how many beautiful women there were in the Senior High ministry. The church is filled with young women who are desiring and seeking the Lord. It honestly continues to excite and amaze me, and I find myself crying happy tears at getting to be a part of this journey with them, however short a time if has been.

There is a particular group of girls, this years' sophomores, who consistently teach me how to love Jesus through everyday living and loving. I was broken into them on the Fall retreat of 2008 when I was their cabin leader. I had no idea what I was getting into, but found myself housed with a large group of silly, sarcastic, serious teenage females. Over the course of the weekend, they broke me into their brand of love - which is SO similar to my own. Right away they drew me in and accepted me through the Love Language of Sarcasm. It sounds strange, but it is the truth - beyond the verbal language, they spent the weekend hiding the alarm clock, hiding my bed, hip-checking me on the walking paths, and laughing at the new shared experience we were creating. Since that weekend, which was their official 'Welcome to Senior High', we have had a silly, God-honoring, God-ordained relationship. I love these girls like I can't even explain.

And with this budget-lead decision at the church, I have to let go of the last two years I would have had with them. I have to trust that the Lord will take care of them, provide for them, lead them, grow them, and stick someone in their way that will love them like I do. And by far, this is the hardest and biggest thing I have to trust God with. And I don't want to. I don't want to give up my weekly love relationship I have with them. I don't want to leave. I don't want to let these ladies grow up without me... but I am choosing to trust the Creator, the one who made these crazy silly girls just the way they are, and have faith that he will continue to do the good work in them that he began so long ago.

Amada Stapp, one of my sophomores, gave me the best gift I have ever been given three days ago. On the end of our regular Wednesday night programming, she handed me something wrapped in hot pink tissue paper, and written in pen "To Keri: Love, Me. This side is the front." I waited until most of the students had left to open it. Inside was a regular white three-ring binder, the kind you would use for school, with a hand-drawn cover that said "23 Days of Keri". The first page was a letter from Amada, written on the day we told our kids that we were leaving Faith Covenant. I remember how awful that day was for me, and how shocking it must have been for our students, because I clearly remember none of them reacting to the news - like it was so shocking that they weren't quite sure what we were saying was real. Amada had written a letter to me that day, saying that she didn't know how to handle the news and how awful it was - and to process it, she was going to write me a letter each day reflecting on some of the things she has seen and learned in and through me during our time at Faith. What a gift. She used 22 letters of the alphabet and chose a word per day to reflect on. She also found verses for each journal entry. It is seriously the most affirming, most special, most precious gift I have ever received. Thank you Amada.

Chapel Hill Church

Years ago, when Jeremy was in college, his best friend Peter Herzog was the Youth Pastor at Chapel Hill Church in Eagan. Jeremy and a few of his buddies volunteered as leaders for the Junior and Senior High ministries for a couple of seasons.

He has kept in contact, through Peter, with the church over the years. As a young married couple, we used to meet with Peter and his wife Joy, and another older couple from Chapel Hill - Randy and Sandy Thiele, semi-regularly for fellowship. The Theile's have become the adopted parents we see about twice a year, but never have to worry about the long intervals in between those times. When we started at Faith Covenant and would have long Sundays planned, we would call Randy and Sandy to spend the afternoons at their house, napping on the couches because it was comfortable enough to become almost like home to us. We even used their house to watch one of the big Vikings games this year.

Also through Peter, we met Paul McVety and his family. Paul replaced Peter as the Youth Pastor a few years back, and we have run into him regularly at different youth gatherings and sponsored weekends, as well as at Herzog family functions. Paul is wired very much like Jer - he seeks to teach students to intentionally seek the Lord, and doesn't engage in the 'shiny happy program' method of youth ministry. Several times (including this January) Jeremy has commented on how he wished that he could be like Paul and have the freedom to run a Jesus-shaped ministry.

Since God has such a great sense of humor, along with the STORM opportunity, he has also popped open a door at Chapel Hill. Paul McVety has been called to serve as the Senior Pastor at Chapel Hill and needs to (and gets to) find a replacement to lead the Student Ministry. Since Paul has already done the hard work of turning the ministry into a Jesus-centered, discipleship model, and that's the direction he wants for the church, he wants someone with that same focus to step in. And he thought of Jeremy.

Jer got the call when we were up at my folks house a few weekends back. Paul said he couldn't stop thinking that Jeremy would be the perfect person to fill the role. He also said he desired to serve alongside brothers - the exact wording and phrasing that Jer has mentioned he needs in his next season. AND - the staff at the church is pretty small - it would be Paul, Jer, and Peter, who is the Worship Pastor, and an administrative assistant. AND - Randy Thiele is on the Elder Board, who would be 'calling' the next Pastor for this role. God is pretty funny.

STORM

4 years ago Jeremy was working a small Methodist church a few blocks from our house while launching the Revolution. The youth group had a total of 6 kids (Junior and Senior High combined) that went to STORM camp each summer. It was here that Jeremy met David Brown, a fiery Methodist preacher with a passion for the emerging generations.

Fast forward to this year: David sent Jeremy an email about his desire to plant a church in the Twin Cities, and that he wanted Jer to be a part of it. We agreed to meet with David and a few other folks this January to discuss the vision... to be honest, I probably wasn't on board or too excited about the idea, but I could agree to a 'discussion'. My one and only experience with the Methodist church wasn't exactly Kingdom-type living.

Apparently God wanted me to have an open mind, though. Four days before we were supposed to meet to talk about the church plant, Jer was told that his position was being cut. So, here we were, suddenly very 'available' for this ministry, should the idea become a reality.

And God has continued to move other mountains surrounding this church plant. Jeremy said it to David on the phone before a meeting once: "If this is of us, it will fail. But if this if of God, nothing will be able to stop it."

My Life Verse

From Romans Chapter 12:

11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹²Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

My Prayer

I wrote an email to a few friends a week following the news about Jer's job. These ladies are the ones that I trust will actually pray for us. This is what I wrote:

Some news from the Berg's neck of the woods that I'd like you to pray about:

Jeremy was told on two weeks ago that the church will be phasing out his position due to budget cuts (a direct result of our awesome economy)... good news is he is on staff through May. So - we have three or four months for discovering where the Lord will take us next.

My special prayer request is that Jeremy would discover the PERFECT role that would fit his giftings (a lot to ask, I know...) but the Lord has already started to open a few doors we probably would never have thought about otherwise that seem to be right up his alley. I am struggling with having to leave a church I love, kids I love, and relationships that were just starting to really develop... needless to say, I'll be in a 5 month 'mourning' process even though I don't have to say goodbye to the weekly relationships just yet. So please pray for me - that I'll be able to really trust that He will take care of the details (like who is going to lead my small group next year and love all the crazy students that walk through the door? And love them well?)

And this is how my dear friends responded (along with many 'For sure we will be praying for you's):

- I'm sorry to hear about this, but believe it could be an opportunity for something great

- God always provides and I'm excited to where God takes you guys

- We will be praying for God's guidance and peace in this situation

Those prayers, friends, are working. God is doing something crazy with the Berg's...

Jonah

I have this wonderful group of girlfriends that I meet with sporadically. The intention is that we get together monthly... but that never seems to work out quite like we think it will. We gathered last night for the first time since October (!) and caught up.

We have been walking through the book of Acts together (another way God is funny), but last night we decided (thanks Sara!) to dive into the book of Jonah. What do you typically think of when you think of Jonah? You think of a story of disobedience and a big fish... God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah chose to disobey. And Jonah ended up in the belly of a big fish. So Jonah, from inside the belly of the fish, prays to God. This is what struck me in his prayer (Chapter 2):

²"In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me.

From the depths of the grave I called for help,

and you listened to my cry.

⁷ "When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.

⁸ "Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

⁹ But I, with a song of thanksgiving, I will sacrifice to you.

What I have vowed I will make good.

Salvation comes from the LORD."

At the end of this prayer, the fish vomits Jonah onto dry land. God is funny. In the midst of us having to leave a church and people that we love, I keep seeing His hand in our story. Verses 7 and 9 are the ones that really hit me - here Jonah sat, unable to control his destiny or run away from what the Lord wanted, and yet found comfort in knowing that God will use his life for good things. And here I sit, unable to change the decision of the Church Council, but I keep thinking that maybe God has something bigger in store for us, and I need to - with a song of thanksgiving - sacrifice my place at Faith Covenant and follow his lead. Jonah saw, when he finally got to Nineveh, a hundred and twenty thousand people turned to the Lord.

An Intro

Sometimes I think God has a funny sense of humor. And other times I think that he just knows what we need. Here's the back story that will surround this blog:

My husband Jeremy and I have been married for not quite 5 years. He has been in a 'season of obedience' serving as the Senior High Director at Faith Covenant Church in Burnsville, MN, for the last 3-ish years. We refer to it as a season of obedience because if you were to meet Jeremy, you probably would not walk away thinking 'That man is wired to be a youth pastor'. Don't get me wrong - I think he's fabulous at it. But his personality doesn't fit the crazy-out-spoken,-game-loving-guy-who-wears-loud-clothes stereotype that I typically think of when I think of a youth pastor. Jeremy is an introvert who is most himself when studying the Bible, reading, or talking theology.

Ironically, though, God's sense of humor has had us serving with teenagers for the last 5 years. I'll probably talk about how we ended up doing this (funny, God, funny), but this blog is really going to help me reflect on what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives right now.

Three weeks ago, Jeremy met with the lead pastor at church. He was told his position is being 'phased-out' due to budget cuts... which sucks. The thing that we are most grateful for with this decision is that he will be on staff through May, so we have a few months to find out what God wants to do with us next. So... God, what are you doing with us?