365 Days of Service

Too many big changes have taken place in the last six months to do them justice here. The biggest change of all was the decision to leave the staff at LifeChurch.tv to pursue a new direction. My last day was October 30, 2009 and since that time I’ve been able to work on a lot of personal projects, support Ryan in his role at LifeChurch.tv more than I was ever able to before, and to develop some new working relationships. I’m currently pursuing God’s plan for the future, and praying about the new direction He would take us as a family. It’s been a great adventure so far, and I know His plan is perfect.

For more about what I’m doing now, follow my blog at http://www.alisondowdy.com.

I’d mentioned in a post in May that I thought my math was bad which ultimately meant that when June 11th rolled around again, I’d still be finishing up my 365 days of service. This amazing adventure all began in New Orleans on June 11, 2008. It turns out somewhere along the journey I miscounted my days and on June 11 (Day 358) I’ve still got a week left to serve. It’s not a problem, however, because I fully anticipate these 7 days being jammed-packed full of awesome opportunities to serve! It also means that I’ll be celebrating my 7th wedding anniversary with Ryan, watching several hundred people be baptized (some by Ryan) at LifeStock on Sunday and celebrating my 365th day with my family in Texas! God is so good.

I’ll be serving at one of the One Prayer micro mission opportunities available around the Oklahoma City area on Saturday, June 13th. Will you join us?? http://edm.lifechurch.tv/blog/post/mission-partners-2009

This year has been the toughest Christmas I’ve ever experienced. I won’t go into all the details, simply because I don’t think I can voice the spiritual and emotional challenges I’m facing right now. God has been leading me through some revolutionary thinking about Christmas through blog posts and online articles. I’m not sure I’ve landed in any particular place yet, but I have a feeling Christmas in ‘09 is going to look far different from Christmas in ‘08.

Read through these blog posts (Going Giftless Parts 1-5):
http://www.shaungroves.com/shlog/comments/going_giftless_part_1/

And take a look at this article:
http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/archives/2008/12/gods_bailout_pl_1.html

What do you think?

Day 188 - Dec 18

I never really know what is going to happen on a Thursday. It is one of the unscheduled days of my week where I go to work at LifeChurch.tv and wait for God to move me. Sometimes it is during work, sometimes it is afterwards, and sometimes it is serving my family at home.

Today was a rather unusual day as we were preparing as a team to spend time together in celebration of Christmas and what we’ve accomplished together over the past year. Andrew Statezny has most recently joined our team and is heading up the Network/United side of Partnership Exploration. If you’re curious about any of this, you can read more here: http://www.lifechurch.tv/free-church-resources. It is sometimes difficult to explain what exactly it is that I do all day, but for the most part I make LifeChurch.tv-produced resources available to other churches worldwide for free.

Brian Ahern, who is the coordinator of most of my efforts, is an amazing man of God and I started serving with him a year ago. At some point, we decided on metrics (goals) for the year and we came up with two: 16,000 OPEN users, and 500,000 total resource downloads by the end of 2008. I can tell you that we were able to blow those goals out of the water. We’ve been awed repeatedly by what God is doing through LifeChurch.tv and the OPEN web site.

Tonight we spent the evening eating dinner together and getting to know our families (our spouses joined us) better and honoring the awesome work that God is doing through our team. I’m honored and humbled that I can serve the Lord in such an amazing way with such a selfless group of people. Thanks team!

Day 173 - Dec 3

Once a month our LifeGroup meets at Mercy Ministry to bag groceries, help with sorting clothes and stock shelves. About 10 of us were able to be there and Rosa came to share some of the awesome things we’ve been a part of this year. She pulled some statistics for us and this year alone we’ve served roughly 17,000 families. 17,000 families in a city of a population of about 1.1 million. That number is astounding for several reasons. Seeing what a dedicated group of people, staff and volunteers can do with limited resources amazes me. It’s only through the power and generosity of God that we are able to accomplish that.

It also amazes me that we are only feeding and clothing roughly .01% of the total population and .02% of the estimated 587,000 people living in OKC below poverty level. Is there something more we can do? Is it possible to unite the body of believers through an initiative like One Prayer to get the poor in cities around the world fed, even for one day?

In the last two weeks a lot of things have happened. Ryan was hired as a pastor on staff at LifeChurch.tv (we are waiting on the official start date). Our LifeGroup has undergone some major spiritual transformations and as a result we are all seeking God more fully and embracing each other more gratefully. Ryan and I were able to take a MUCH needed break to visit with family. On top of all of that, Ryan and I have been going through some huge personal and spiritual changes. It’s times like this when I am truly amazed at the work that God does in our lives through the most ordinary circumstances.

While working at Mercy Ministry last Tuesday (it was complete organized chaos), I was able to pray with several people who are hurting, tired, struggling, using drugs, dealing with family issues, and looking for jobs. If I think back on each of those conversations in STARTLING contrast to my own circumstances, I am genuinely able to thank God for the blessings in my life. It’s not just a Thanksgiving Day thankfulness, either. This is a whole-hearted, thank you God that everything in my life is under your hand, I-don’t-know-how-people-live-without-God kind of thankfulness. And it re-energizes me to do more, speak with more people, share God’s abundant and eternal love, and to bring light to a hurting world. If you haven’t taken stock of your circumstances recently, I highly encourage you to do so. Especially during the holidays. It always helps to have a grain of perspective that just might turn your world upside-down. Get out of your comfort zone and be challenged by others. Do something that will make someone else’s day.

Day 59 - August 8

Some of you know that I’ve had these mysterious bites on my arm and leg. I saw the doctor this week and he put me on a different kind of antibiotic to try to stop the inflammation. I won’t go into detail and spare you, but I was so disturbed about what it might be that is biting me that I tore my bedroom apart. It honestly did not occur to me until later that I never even thought about anyone outside the house. I was completely consumed by bleaching and cleaning everything in my bedroom (since I thought I was being bit at night). Here’s the lesson for the day - focus entirely on yourself (and your mysterious bites) and you can completely forget about everyone else.

*Update: I KNEW I FORGOT SOMETHING! I didn’t completely lose it today… I forgot that I got online and spent some time going through MySecret.tv posts tonight (after the crazy cleaning). I purposefully made myself sit down and focus on someone else tonight - I just didn’t take the time to register what I was doing. Oops. But I remembered just now and thought I’d edit the post.

On another note, I visited a specialist, an endocrinologist, with Ryan today. We had to travel to Tulsa to speak with her, but in that single conversation, I was reminded again that I have to trust God. That all the answers and tests and specialists in the world can’t tell me what I want to hear - that in everything, I simply have to trust God. So it was a long day full of long drives only to get home and know what I’ve known all along. No matter what life throws my way, I am going to live everyday firmly in the grasp of God and there is really nothing that can change that. I have peace about my health that I haven’t had for quite a few months. I am not in control of my future - and that is O.K.

My grandmother passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. I am traveling to be with my family in West Virginia for the funeral this weekend and would love prayers for safe travel for the entire family. Pray for my grandpa, Elmer, who wholeheartedly and steadfastly cared for my grandma for years. He’s going to have to figure out what to do with his time now. Thank you for the prayers.

Day 15 - June 25

The weather was really nice in Oklahoma today. Hot, but nice. The evening was actually mild as we prepared to host a few families at our house for LifeGroup. With the summer season so busy it is often difficult to get everyone together for a time of fellowship. We thought it might be fun to have everyone over, get out the kiddie pool, sit on the porch and just play. None of that heavy worship or prayer stuff for us tonight. Just kidding… but sometimes the fellowship should be the focus.

Our friends, Tara and Gary, and their two boys Cohen and Gavin, came to the house to play. It was a fun evening with my boy Ryan, 30, and Cohen, 4, playing baseball and splashing each other in the kiddie pool. Cohen clearly had a good time with Ryan - he needs a 30 year-old big brother apparently - and Ryan had fun teaching Cohen how to hit, pitch and say “Boom, Baby!” every time he hit the ball over the fence into the neighbor’s yard. It was an entertaining evening with those two. It’s so good to slow down and enjoy each other’s company. I love summer.

Our friends Kevin and Holly, with the brand-new baby, were planning to come over and play with us but Holly was under the weather. Unfortunately that meant that they missed out on a delicious spaghetti dinner. Ryan is such a great husband that he is delivering it tomorrow. What a guy.

What plans do you have for the summer? Are you slowing down occasionally and just enjoying time with family?

Yesterday was the official kickoff for my 365 days of service. I had decided to wait until I was on the mission trip to New Orleans to begin. I thought not only will it provide me a launching point that is intense and memorable, but it helped others remember when I was starting as well. A good friend from our LifeGroup even called while I was on the bus to let me know she was “proud” of me and praying for me. Encouraging words to say the least. I intended to start blogging yesterday as well, but I has some challenging issues with my wireless internet connection at Celebration Church where we are staying and so I am starting today. For those of you following along, I have some pretty cool thoughts in my head right now but I have to shower before dinner (good idea after a long day in a dilapidated house in New Orleans) and get ready to leave on our second activity for the day. I’ll write more later.