Tales of Travel: Portland, Seattle, and beyond...

And...I'm home! I cannot believe it. This past month has flown by! It seems like just yesterday I was getting on that first plane. Time spent away has been just what I needed and so much more. Each trip had a perfect purpose.

Stop #1: Portland

This city reminded me the most of Austin! Filled with music, coffee, unique restaurants, and plenty of outdoor activities, Kate and I felt right at home. A sweet sanctuary of adventure, laughter, and just room to breathe, Portland was perfect. We even got to see a good friend, Anna, who has recently moved back from Texas. From white water rafting, to traveling by bike to all of the main sites of the city, we felt we had conquered this town...and even started to make our plans for the next trip! What a needed time of reflection on this previous season and quieting our hearts and minds for the next one to come.

 Stop #2: Seattle

From Portland, we drove to the beautiful state of Washington. We were blessed with a place to stay on Anderson Island where we were surrounded by water and some of the most breath-taking scenery I've ever witnessed. This provided a perfect place of physical rest, as well as peaceful time to just be with the Lord. After our time near Olympia, we met up with some dear friends who are like family to us. Life-giving conversations and exploring were met with anticipation of the next phase of our trip.

That weekend a team of our interns and college students landed in Seattle for a week on mission with our church-planting mobilization initiative. This group was particularly special because so many were some of closest friends, and living on mission in a new city was a dream for us. We worked with local church plants to help as needed, including community service, putting on a neighborhood block party, house shows, and engaging students from University of Washington in conversation about Jesus. Getting on the plane to return to Austin, my heart was full from time spent with these incredibly humble and talented people whose love for Jesus is contagious!

The In-Between

In just a few short hours I will get on a plane for Portland, OR for some much-needed rest and then travel to Seattle to join our team in doing mission work with local church plants in the area. And then back home to Austin for a day, only to fly out to Madrid the next! My mind and heart are filled with anticipation for what's ahead...and also wondering whether or not I'll actually make it (haha). I know, it's a little bit crazy but that's how things seem to work around here. I wouldn't trade it!!

When I return, I'll be wrapping up my internship with West Campus Connections and begin pressing hard into support raising as I transition to my new position. It's easy for my mind to become consumed with what I think I need to do to reach this goal right now, but the Lord has reminded me of His perfect provision. He is continually pressing Luke 12 into my heart, bringing me to daily submit my worries and anxieties to Him. Lay them at His feet. Trust Him. See Him to be Who He truly is. The Creator and Sustainer.

So in the meantime, I would love your prayers these next couple of weeks. A few things to be thinking on:

1) That this would be restful--mind, body, and soul. God is an incredible Father who sees me and knows me intricately. He knows everything that fills me up, so that I can jump back into sharing about Him. My prayer is that I would be recharged, to be sent back out this year to serve His people.

2) That I would seek Him daily. That just because life may seem to become less weighted with responsibility for a time, I would still see and know my desperate need for Him in my life. He will prepare my heart for what's to come.

3) For Madrid. For the people, specifically the Muslims, there. Our prayer, as we work primarily with these people, is that God would make Himself and His gospel known to them in an undeniable way. Pray for our team, for trust in the Lord for everything (starting now). For my support. I am $150 away from my goal, and am trusting God to provide. If you feel Him leading you to give, please feel free to go here and place my name in the "Referred by" line.

4) For support for this year and all that God will do through this ministry. I will continue to share more about what I'm going to be doing, but in the meantime you can check it out here. I am currently at about 40% of my overall support needed goal for this year! 

I'm sure there will be lots of stories to share soon! Praising Him in the In-Between.

Mobilize: NYC

Today, I'm reflecting back on about 3 months ago the day when I boarded a plane to New York City. I was blessed with the opportunity to go with the Austin Stone/North American Mission Board on a trip with about 70 of our college students to learn about church planting and to have our hearts' affections increased for missional living. Having family in the area, I had been to the city several times, but never with this point of view. Just a few things we were blessed to be a part of:

• We sat under the teaching of Apostles' Church in NYC on topics of mission and church planting.
• Visited Redeemer Presbyterian's Center for Faith & Work for a workshop on how to process and use faith in the context of whatever work environment we are called to.
• Participated at the studio of International Arts Movement to dialogue with college students all over the nation about how to use creativity and the arts as a mission field. 
• Groups visited various organizations and gained hands-on experience in the business, sports and mentoring, fitness, and youth development arenas. 
• Prayer walked through the United Nations, NY Stock Exchange, Grand Central Station, and others. 
• Had dinner with a families of Apostles' to share and hear more of what it is realistically like to live in NYC. 
• Saw many of the sites of NYC including 5th Ave, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, the 9/11 Memorial, Brooklyn Tabernacle prayer night, Central Park, Queens, and Apollo Theater in Brooklyn. 
• Joined in for a Sunday night church service with Apostles' church. 
• Got lost on the subway. 
• Survived freezing cold temperatures. 
• Took lots of pictures.
• Filled a small hotel with a bunch of loud college students and somehow managed to not get kicked out. 
• Made lots of new friends. 
• Had nights of sharpening questions and conversation, tears, and laughter that I wouldn't trade for the world.
• Saw God open the door for many trips to take place this year, mobilizing hundreds of college students across this country.
• Witnessed God move in the hearts and lives of our students as well as those we came in contact with. There is story after story of His marks He's left here.

International Arts Movement

The United Nations

Grand Central Station

9/11 Memorial

Apostles' church

Brooklyn Bridge

Teaching under Logan Gentry

Harlem RBI. RBI Austin is in partnership with this organization.

Center for Faith & Work

Apostles' church

Our small group

 

 

This trip would not have been possible without my partners in this ministry. Thank you for all your prayers and support this year. You may not have even known about this trip, but He did and He used your prayers to work in so many lives. You have shown me the love of God, as well as opened the door for God to use me and show me how to love others more fully as He does, and for that I am grateful.

MADRID!

I am excited to announce that for the final part of the Women’s Development Program, I will be going to Madrid, Spain from July 25^th-August 3^rd! Through this incredible year of learning about God and growing to know Him more, one mission still remains for all of us: to make Him known to every tribe, tongue, and nation (Acts 1:8, Revelation 5:9). While in Madrid, we will do just that in partnering with a local organization, LM2. We hope to further their long-term vision of establishing gospel movements among unreached peoples in key European cities.

 Every day, we will:

1.     Meet, worship, and train.
2.     Prayer walk through communities of immigrants, asking God to open hearts to the Gospel.
3.     Share the Gospel with immigrants through their personal testimony and the “creation to Christ” story.

A little about this area of Spain: Madrid is a key European city with a huge influx of people, many of whom come from closed countries (countries that are difficult to get into for Americans, especially Christians) where the name of Jesus isn’t even spoken. The main people groups living or vacationing in this region are Pakistanis and Saudis, as well as others. This is a huge opportunity for the gospel to be shared, with the hope that these people can take it back to their home countries.

 

Please join me in praying for this trip. We will be planting as many seeds of the gospel story as possible, but also obeying Jesus’ words in Luke 10:2, trusting that He is already calling many of them to Himself.

Financial need: 

The cost of the trip is $2,200. This covers everything for the trip. I am inviting you to give a one-time special gift to be a part of this ministry in Spain this summer. Suggested amounts are $50, $100, $150, or $200, but please give in the capacity that you feel led (more details on back).

A one-time donation can be made through this link:

https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=b1af4b

Please be in prayer for how the Lord would have you join in this ministry this summer. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at (713) 446-9324.

**Please be sure to put “Callie Edmonds” in the “Reference Name” box

 

Raised to LIFE!

 Baptisms

Baptism, or "baptismo" is the Greek word meaning "to immerse". This spring our church has done a sermon series called Raised to Life, in which we dug into Ephesians 1, explicitly dealing with what the gospel is and how our lives are to reflect it. Understanding that, as those who are saved, we are not only saved from our sin and given eternal life (INCREDIBLE news), but are adopted as God's own sons and daughters. To be adopted. To be chosen. There is nothing we can say or do that will affect His love for us. We cannot earn it, nor lose it.

In response to this truth, Jesus modeled baptism as a picture of what has taken place in our lives. As a symbol of being dead to our own sin and shortcomings, and then being raised to life we are called to share our story with those closest to us. We know that there is nothing "saving" about the act of baptism, but we see the importance in sharing what Christ has done in our own hearts and lives for those around us, allowing them to encourage and support us as we walk this life-long journey of being a Christ follower.

It has been my absolute joy to see dear friends share their stories and to celebrate what Christ has uniquely done in their lives. These pictures are but a glimpse of the tears and celebration that I've gotten to be a part of.

 
 "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory." - Ephesians 1:1-14

Gathering and Growing

The first of a few updates to come...

West Campus Move

 
Our campus moved! This might not sound like much at first, but it has been one of the biggest parts of this spring for me--as far as work goes. In early part of this year, the decision was officially made to make the move from the centrally-located middle school we had been in, to a more permanent campus right in the heart of Westlake (hence, our name "West"). These are the hearts our church sought after for West. A crazy ride to say the least, but I have loved getting to be a part of the vision, design, and overall planning for all that this new location would be. Even through all of our careful planning, we knew that the people would not come without the Lord's movement. With constant prayer and a hopeful hearts, our leadership team walked forward in obedience. He was faithful! Easter Sunday was our first week to hold service in the Westlake Performing Arts Center (part of Westlake High School), and we had over 1000 come through our doors (about a 300% increase)! Packed to the back walls, new faces worshiped the King as active participants, rather than just attending a concert or show. As with any complete re-design and location change, there are still a lot of tweeks and ends to be tied up. I am thankful to have the opportunity to coach and lead the team that welcomes His children in and connects them to the body of Christ. Lives are being impacted by the gospel in mighty ways, and deep and lasting change is taking place! Please continue for patience as we build teams and continue to make this campus the best it can be for all who come through our doors.





 Some of my family were also able to come in for this weekend, which made it even more special! There's nothing like a visit from those you love to make you feel absolutely loved and supported. I am thankful for the laughter and time spent with each one of them!

 

  IF: Gathering
 This group of women. Not just another conference; to gather, equip, and unleash. The weekend of Feb. 7-8 was just the first step of a movement that calls for more. I had the opportunity to take a backstage view of all that this time entailed. My little logistics-loving mind soaked up every minute, seeing the leadership behind it all. Prayer soaked, these women believe wholeheartedly in the Lord's leadership and power to bridge areas that, for decades, have stripped the Christian community of its effectiveness. These women understand that Gospel centrality is key to fighting the sin of generations past and present, as well as challenging the status quo in all that life as a believer is meant to exemplify.