Soulation | Seasonal - Winter/Spring 2009

seasonal

Winter/Spring '09

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. - Hebrews 11:1

In the middle of a global economic crisis such as ours, we practice our doubting whether we like it or not. When we see our lives drift, we wonder why the anchor moved. We cry out with the prophets, "What have You abandoned me, Anchor of my salvation?"

Doubt comes to us in different ways. One kind of doubt is intellectual doubt. This is living with questions, a heart puzzled and suffering to understand and know, to have some evidence that this pathway is true. This kind of doubt wonders whether you renewed your car registration (because you don't remember seeing the form in the mail) or wonders if God is good because you haven't studied the Scriptures nor walked with God long enough or far enough to know his character. But you're on the road. Your heart is open. You desire to know, be taught, grow in self-awareness, seeking out answers.

Intellectual doubt is what we see from Nicodemus in John 3. He wants to know. So he pursues. The Bible is full of encouragement for this kind of doubt as it tells us to grow in knowledge and understanding and to taste and see that the Lord is good.

Another kind of doubt is relational doubt. This hesitates to be open to another, not for lack of evidence, but out of fear of being hurt. It's the fear of risk that breeds this doubt. If your friend's character is trustworthy, yet you still feel hesitant to trust, you have to step back and think about your own heart.

Relational doubt is what we see from Abraham in Genesis 12. When Abraham and Sarah seek economic refuge in Egypt, Abraham doesn't trust God. He tells the king that the beautiful woman at his side is his sister so as to avoid the Pharoah putting him six feet under to get to his wife. Abraham's lie ends up bringing plagues upon Pharoah's house. Then he distrusts God's provision by doing it all over again in Genesis 20!

The difference between these kinds of doubts is the posture of our heart toward God. Thomas is an borderline example in John 20, for, on our view, Jesus rebukes him for not trusting what his friends have seen. he wants to know but he refuses to trust which is why Jesus later says, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." The testimonies of the eyewitnesses is enough for both Thomas and us.. When Jesus does appear to Thomas, it breaks his gridlock of doubt and he bursts with believing exclamations!

Jude 22 says to be merciful on those who doubt. Questions are not a problem; refusing to hold God's hand in the dark is.

In Hebrews 11, the writer gives us a long list of the faithful, painting a picture of what faith looks like. Faith is trust in relationship. Faith is not simply an act of believing, hoping, gritting our teeth and closing our eyes and wishing things were different. When the writer says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see," he is referring to a faith born from the evidence of God's existence and God's goodness, as every Jewish reader at the time understood. Because we know this about God, we can trust him, or have faith in him. We know that our hope in the future (which is always unseen) is secure because of the millennia of promises spoken and made good by the God of Israel.

As the economic crisis looms over our heads like a dark cloud, we can stand sure in the relationship we have to this God of Israel. Though our boat is drifting, we can again remind ourselves of the goodness of God in the land of the living. Maybe our boat needs to drift. Maybe we need to be in a place beyond what we could ask or think. Look again at how faithful God is to Israel throughout the Scriptures. Take a look down the page of Hebrews 11 and the cast of real people standing on the brink, their face pointing toward God's often hidden pathway, with but their trust in him leading the way.

This is often how God works in our suffering. Like Isaac, we may feel led to an altar, uncertain of the outcome. Like Job, we may be in senseless suffering with ugly voices in our ears. Like Joseph's brothers, we may not know what's going on behind the scenes for the good of many. Like Lazarus, we may find ourselves to the brink of death with our deliverer a long way off.*

But these are for the glory of God. As the winter thaws into spring, our suffering may neither be punishment nor curses. There may not be "lessons" in it for many of us. Our suffering may be to refresh the world again of what God is like, through you and us. Whether his hand is visible or invisible, he is with us all the way.

This has been evident this winter, even as we turned to the New Year. God has impressed on us several times that raising funds in the traditional way is not what he has for us right now. We sent out 20 grant letters in November requesting applications to request money. Only 3 replied, all negative. In addition, we decided not to send out end-of-the-year donation requests, as we did last year.

But even as we did not send out donor letters, we still received funds. We received from many of your generous hands over 75% what we received from last year's request. And that was without making a request! Couple that together with how much time we saved writing letters, formatting printings, stuffing envelopes, and we agree that we came out ahead this year even as the winter of the economy was in full blizzard (and it continues... some are even using part of their 'tithe' to share with Soulation as an arm of the church).

We call this Holy Spirit Marketing. He is the best networker and helps open the eyes of others to see and believe in the need Soulation fills in this country of spiritual dryness. The church has a lot of preachers and speakers and leadership conferences with flashy lights and celebrity stature. But today, we need less glitz and more humanity to bridge the gap, to give the life of Jesus to quasi-spiritualists that make up the majority of our population (yes, many Christians fall into this category). We believe much of this happens through the internet when people are poised in their quiet homes by the computer. We also believe this happens over conversations, by being present with people wherever we go and you go. It's a slow, long work, but worth it. If you would like to give, even as little as $5, it goes a long way with us. The link is here. If you'd like to join our weekly prayer updates and commit to praying for us every week, you can sign up here: http://prayer.soulation.org. Regardless, know that we are committed to what the Spirit is doing with us and Soulation.

Maybe you are looking to be refreshed with a little more hope this Spring. Let us give you two recommendations. One is a talk we gave for Easter a couple of years ago, called, "Hope is..." You can download it here. The other is a book Jonalyn read at the beginning of summer. The title is, Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping. We don't necessarily side with the author's political views, but we think anyone striving to be appropriately human can see the gems in this book, the disciplines to remove ourselves from "stuff" and reconsider permanent things. See Jonalyn's review of the book on her blog here.

In January, we were invited by the Young Messianic Jewish Alliance to speak to their annual youth leaders retreat on imparting a strong believing worldview. As Jews, they are sensitive to a lot of theology over the last 2,000 years that has replaced the Jews. Some Christian groups say that the Old Testament is outdated or that the Church replaced Israel and God's promises to her. This is the difference between a "Christian" worldview and a "Biblical" one sometimes, and the Messianic Jews help us all see it. We were well received this weekend, making new friends, and continuing to follow up with youth pastors around the country, engaging ideas of faith, gender, and God's work in the world. Read some of Jonalyn's personal reflections of our time in Atlanta.

A week later, Jonalyn was invited to Irving Bible Church in Dallas, TX, to be on a panel of women theologians answering hard questions. As the only apologist on the panel she was able to give distinctly clear answers to important cultural questions. Many of the women connected with her afterwards to talk about how they felt our faith really can make sense and that Jesus cares about us asking hard questions. More than any event Jonalyn felt confirmed in her work speaking as an apologist.

Through these events, we finished up our co-written manuscript for a new book about faith and friendship. It's a how-to book that gives tools to inviting others into the life you enjoy with Jesus without making conversations awkward or pressured. Focusing on the confusion of supermarket spirituality, we're helping the reader think more clearly about the life Jesus has invited us into and how to help others see it too. This includes understanding our own Scriptures and seeing others, not as different from us, but as humans who, like us, are lost in the wild and looking to find their humanity in appropriate ways. Of course, we think Jesus is the only fully human person, and his power assists us in being resurrected from the inside out. This book, our first co-written manuscript, will be published through Zondervan in early 2010.

Speaking of releasing books, Apologetics for a New Generation, is hitting the shelves now, edited by our friend, Sean McDowell. In this compilation published by Harvest House, we both have separate articles pertinent to reaching the college and teen generation with the good news. Dale's chapter is called "A Human Apologetic: Tilling the Soul" and Jonalyn's is "Defending Femininity: Why Jesus is Good News for Women" You can find it on Amazon or your local bookstore.

We just returned from a whirlwind week in the Pacific Northwest, networking with various leaders and creatives. We spent the weekend with radio personality and pastor, Dick Staub, followed by coffee with novelist and movie-critic Jeffrey Overstreet, visited the Image Journal headquarters, met with a very successful organization that rehabilitates the homeless, led a small group going through Dale's book, Living with Questions, followed by gender discussions with Kimberly George (gender justice advocate) and Christine Lowder (evangelical gender author and blogger). Along the way, we also connected with students we've met on the road who are now off to college. Soulation grows through relationships, awareness, and conversations. This trip last week was encouraging and vitalizing as we take our vision forward.

You may be wondering where we are next... glad you asked. And this is a good opportunity to let you know about our new website if you haven't noticed it yet. We are still working out bugs, but the new web platform will give us lots of room to grow. Surf over to www.soulation.org and notice the newly organized library. We hope you'll find some helpful resources to listen or read.

One of our favorite new features is a calendar map. Since our goal on speaking trips is to maximize our time in an area, we've arranged our speaking according to region. Now you can see if we'll be in your area at a glance! That way, if you know of opportunities for us to speak, you can notify those venues that Soulation will be in the area. Already the new calendar setup is creating opportunities. You can see it here.

Special thanks to able-bodied volunteers who worked during their free-time for Soulation's website, David Holman, Joaquin Valdez, and Eric Nielsen.

On the calendar you'll see we'll be in Kansas for the Truth Revealed Conference (if you are in the area, get some tickets!). Then for two weeks in California (south and north) and onto Texas again to share at a large rally for the Salvation Army, then Memphis, Utah, Malibu, and Ohio.

Despite the downturn in our economy, God is still on the move. His message is being heard and the opportunities are growing. We are confident in things unseen, not because we close our eyes and hope against all odds, but because we follow a God who is the odds-breaker, who has shown himself good through even more difficult circumstances, and brings his people out the other side of the shadow. Hope is only as good as the one who can deliver it. And we serve a God who can!

Thanks for your generosity to us, your prayers for us, and your commitment to the work.

With you on the journey,

Dale & Jonalyn

* These motifs are borrowed from Julia Blum's, If You Be The Son of God, Come Down from the Cross. She insightfully uses them to explain the unreasonable suffering of Israel. But similar ideas can be considered for all the suffering saints who are in pursuit of God, though Israel is our older sibling and model.