The gravel road of the month was in Iowa and Chad Stewart (not to be confused with "Puff" Chaddy Lawrence) was the first one to correctly identify the mystery state. That makes four books in a row won by staff on catalytic teams. Driving hundreds of miles to several campuses a week and always looking for shortcuts has paid some dividends. Good eyes C-Stew!
Serving on the Omaha Catalytic team doing statewide catalytic in Nebraska with her husband, Terah Wiekamp has seen her share of gravel roads- and that is just getting to Camp Ed. One of the first GPI staff couples I got to know when I was transitioning to the region was Terah and Ethan at the School of Leadership in the summer of 2005. I was impressed by Terah's infectious energy, drive, charm, and how well Ethan had married up.
God continues to teach me how it is all about Him and not me. My own efforts, if not for His glory, are meaningless. He is complete in every attribute and characteristic He possesses and therefore He is all I need and the reason we live.Terah Wiekamp
Omaha/State Catalytic
I asked Terah to share one of her highlights in ministry this fall and to list some of her people of influence:
"Taking Jericho Prayer Walks on different campuses throughout Nebraska, I saw God do amazing things and He used them to increase my faith a ton. I experienced students truly beleiving God for their campuses and looking for the areas on campus where He was already working."
"People who have most influenced my life would include my parents; they raised me in faith and helped shape who I am today, my husband Ethan; he challenges me to never settle for anything less than all that God has for me, and my high school basketball coaches- it sounds cheesy but they really did beleive in me."
I wonder if Ethan used the - "never settle for anything less..." line when he proposed to Terah??? For more on Terah check her profile on the right.
We have consistently visited the theme of growth here on the GPI Gravel Road. At our DCC luncheon when Eric Swanson was sharing insights from his study on the kingdom, I was reminded of one of my favorite kingdom passages in Matthew 13:1-23. Most of us have taught on the parable of the soils. The sower sowed his seed and it fell on different types of soil with different results.
In the parable, Jesus makes something very clear. The seed, which is the message of the kingdom, has an objective. The objective is not to have a seed take root and to grow a plant. Initial shoots and sprouts coming from mother earth amaze us and can have some short term value. But that is not the ultimate purpose of a sown seed.
Growing up in the northeast plains of Colorado we were surrounded by agrarian communities with 8 man football teams. One year a little school between New Raymer and Stoneham called Prarie High School qualified for the state play-offs. In their last home game of the regular season, an October downpour turned the field into a muddy bog. When it dried up the gridiron turf resembled a dirt parking lot more than a football field.
Having a couple of weeks until the play-off game, some of the more ingenious farmers in the booster club leveled the field and planted wheat and rye seed. After using the short weeks for adequate fertilizing and irrigation, the wheat and rye stalks (which look like the grass in your front yard in their early growth stage) had created an instant gridiron. This turf was more than sufficient to host the play-off game. The seed had served its short term purpose, but when the season ended, it was no longer cared for and was disced under, never to grow enough to bear fruit and produce a crop.
In the kingdom, and as kingdom leaders, growing up is not enough. The kingdom advances when the growth produces fruit, and that fruit produces a crop, some 30, 60, or 100 times that which was sown. Something about verse 23 paints a picture of movements. So in the coming weeks we will be visiting the topic of the kingdom and fruitfulness some more in our development as staff.
-For the fruit
Bert
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