Prayer Requests

Dear Friends,

Rob and I have just returned from a wonderful trip to Virginia. We were able to see family and dear friends, worship with our church family Trinity in Norfolk, and take our kids on a few cultural and sentimental tours. We have shared with many of you what God has done over the past year and how blessed we are to be a part of his kingdom work in Queen Anne, Seattle. Now, we have a few URGENT prayer requests. Can you read these over and spend a few minutes interceding on our behalf?

• On July 4th, we expect up to 75 people at our house for a party hosted by the church plant. Please pray that the Gospel community that Christ is building here would be palpable to those who come and would build bridges to deeper relationships and questions about Christ.

• On our return home, we found out that we must move out of our house by August 15. Pray for a house for us that we can use as a hub for the plant. Pray that it would be the same price, or less, than we are paying now. Pray for the many details that go into moving. Pray that we would not despair, but trust and hope. Pray for shalom.


In Him whom we rely on,
Claudia (for the Woottons)

Seven Pounds

*SPOILER ALERT*

Have you seen Will Smith's new movie? Like most Americans, Rob and I love Will Smith and have watched him since The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Besides I Am Legend, I am generally pleased with his acting and the stories he chooses to tell. Seven Pounds did not disappoint. It was a well acted and well told story.

My issue with the movie is the story itself. Was it a good story? Rotten Tomatoes called it "grim and morose." Did I think it was grim and morose? Sure, but I love grim and morose. However, I also thought it was beautiful and selfless, but was it beautiful and selfless enough?

The plot is listed to be "An IRS agent with a fateful secret embarks on an extraordinary journey of redemption by forever changing the lives of seven strangers." The problem is Will's condition on the "seven strangers," his demand that they be good people in order to receive his redemptive gifts. I could never be worthy. If someone called me and berated me on the phone, I am sure 2 out of 10 times, I would give them a piece of my mind. Furthermore, I hate when someone gives me a conditional gift. It makes me feel bound and guilty. Imagine living with that after someone has died for you? Guilt that you can't meet the condition that was set to receive the gift.

I need a more beautiful story, a more beautiful gift. I needed someone willing to die for a jerk and a selfish girl. That's a better story. That someone would sacrifice them-self for someone completely undeserving and unable to repay the gift. That would truly be a grim, morose, beautiful, and selfless story. I know a story like that....

Greetings!

It's been a long time since we have posted on this blog. Not because it has not been forgotten, but like most of my life, the more time that passed, the harder it was to write.

I write today because we have asked many of you to pray with us for Seattle and the church plant. It is hard to pray, but knowing that even one of you could be praying, has helped me persevere.

Here is a reminder of our specific requests:

December 13: Our first mezzanine (entry level) event & Christmas party- please pray that the un-churched and de-churched would feel welcome in our home and that relationships would be formed with the Christians who have invited them.

Launch Team: Pray for a family with children to commit to being a part of our launch team. Thank God for the 7 folks who have committed to partner with us. Pray that they would have courage to love their friends and co-workers. Pray that God would condescend to use them to spread the gospel. Pray that we would see folks come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Small Groups: Pray that more people would fold into our small group ministry and that another group would form in the New Year. Thank God for the two groups we have going and the 30 or so folks involved. Thank God for John & Libby Scrofano who lead a group in lower Queen Anne. Pray that these groups would experience Jesus’ love and grow in grace and knowledge.

Finances: We need approximately $40,000 more to fund the first few years of the plant. Please pray that God would raise up new partners in giving. We have included an envelope if you are interested in beginning to partner with us in this way or you wanted to make an end of the year contribution. Praise God for all that he has provided!

Latest Update

(we send updates through e-mail with more details and stories than we post here, if you don't get one and would like to please email me, rob@crosspointchurches.org)

Dear Friends & Family,

Summer is coming to a close and Rob and I hope that it has been a good one for you! We have had an exciting and encouraging beginning to what we hope will be a long and fruitful ministry in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle.

Many of you are wondering, and have asked, how we spend our time and what it looks like to start a new church. Currently, our time is spent getting to know the neighborhood: its culture and its people. This has meant drinking a lot of coffee, eating plenty of food, and hearing many stories.

Aside from meetings and meals, we are beginning to lay the ground work for more formal ministry. In Sept., we are beginning a Community Group at our house. We are excited about who has expressed interest. Please pray that the presence of Jesus would be evident, that the Gospel would change hearts, and that relationships would be formed. Rob and I will also be teaching a Sunday school at CrossPoint Green Lake. We hope that we would continue to build relationships with this church that has so faithfully pursued and supported our desire to church plant. We also hope that God will call a few co-laborers to partner with us in Queen Anne. Please pray to that end.

Lastly, as some of you already know, in the midst of amazing opportunities for the Gospel, we have also been tempted to despair and be discouraged. Our house was broken into two Sundays ago during worship. Our laptops, my purse, Rob's wallet, and a spattering of other things were stolen. We have written several posts about it on our blog, below. We invite you to read through our process with God in the midst of fear and violation.

Furthermore, this last Sunday, our car wouldn't start, Nate swallowed a tooth, cracked open his head and received stitches in the fellowship hall. I tell you these things not to complain, but because I realize that life and ministry is hard and will be hard. We will suffer for the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and in a real sense, there is a spiritual warfare that battles to thwart our work and the Truth.

However, I give thanks for you because I know you must be praying for us. I still want to be here, I still smile when I think of this city and this neighborhood, and our present sufferings have not assuaged our desire to see God build his church here.

Please continue to pray for us. Pray against the work of the evil one. Pray for continued peace and hope. This work cannot happen without you!

Grace and Peace to you and to your family,

Claudia (for the Woottons)

What God Wants

The first few days after our break in, I thought a lot about fear. I found every passage in the Scripture about fear and the promises of God's presence in the midst of fear. My fear was not eliminated, but it was comforted. Out of prudence and not paranoia, I am still living with the alarm always "on". Each day gets better.

I have also been thinking a lot about my stuff. I check craigslist and ebay and look at people on the street for my purse. I have felt guilty and materialistic for wanting my things replaced AND through my "hyper-vigilant criticism radar", I have thought other Christians were judging my sadness over the loss of my things.

It's funny that I hadn't looked up any passages on stealing until my counselor urged me to do so. In Exodus 22, it talks about the need for restitution for victims of stealing. Why? Why does God not only require the original goods to be returned, but in some cases, 2-4x the amount stolen. The only reason can be that getting back my original items is not enough to assuage my sense of violation and fear. But, if I got 8 computers back and 4 purses, then I might not mind being robbed again.

I am NOT saying I need 8 computers and I don't want to be robbed again.

I am saying that God knows that I feel violated and vulnerable. He knows that I feel afraid. There will be justice and there will be restitution. I'm not crazy to want my things back. It is a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. It is part of feeling whole and human again.

Although we did not have insurance, God has provided the means to replace our computers and even some of our other things. I am humbled and grateful.

Comfort and Obedience

I should be working on other things (this is Rob writing) but I find myself a little sad this morning and thought I might work it out on-line for the world to see, or at least for the handful of people that check this blog.  

As Claudia wrote below, we were broken into Sunday morning, and I think this is part of the source of my sadness.  I'm sad about the material losses, but saddened more by the fall and brokenness of this world. Forgive me for spiritualizing.  I'm sad for my wife who sits uneasily in her own house, I'm sad for my children who don't have the capacity to make sense of this violation of their home.

However, what does a soon to be pastor have to say in a situation like this?  I do think that this is the work of the evil one.  Our pastor here said that what happened is an affront to God.  He's right, and it would make sense that the devil would want to attack people who are trying to start a new church of Jesus Christ in an city that has long been under the sway of the world, the flesh, and the devil.  I know this is a minor attack and I would like to think that it was minor and remains so because the people of God pray for us and our work.

There's another side to it as well.  As a good Presbyterian, and someone who believes unapologetically in the sovereignty of God, I know that even as this was the work of the evil one, in and through a fallen broken person (the one who broke into our home), it was at the same time allowed by God.  Again, I know in the grand scheme of all the brokenness of this world that what happened is a minor aspect of the fall: minor compared to my father's death and the brokenness of my past,  but this is where I am now, right now.  This is what happened this week and it shouldn't have. It's not the way the world is supposed to work!  An affront to God indeed!  

Yet, still allowed by him.  Why?

I don't know.

Maybe I'll never know.  

One of the best things I learned in seminary was in Psalms and Wisdom.  The best way to read the wisdom books like Job, Ecclesiastics and Lamentations is to remember that 

a full understanding of all of God's ways is not a prerequisite for following hard after Him.

I follow him because he loves me, he gives me life like nothing else has.  My life is fuller, more meaningful, and makes more sense when I follow him and try to live faithful to all he has called me to.

So where is the comfort? I've been reading 2 Corinthians lately and Paul begins the letter by talking about the comfort that comes from God in Jesus.  Comfort in suffering.  I don't know about you but my idea of comfort doesn't necessarily sound like the type of comfort that God would give.  I don't want to minimize the good worldly gifts that God gives people, (food, drink, sleep, sex, books, movies, the olympics), but I think there's more to the comfort of God.  What comfort can the things above really give? Maybe for a moment, but they don't last.  I think the comfort that God gives in suffering is his presence.  In counseling, they talk about being a non-anxious presence for someone, and I think that that is part of it, but not all of it.  God does more that just offer a non-anxious presence, he offers a perfectly loving presence. He offers the presence of truth and real holiness, not holiness that condemns, but holiness that draws us in and makes us holy.  Truth that reminds us of his goodness and love despite, in, and through the brokenness of this world.

Real comfort that even we don't understand all of our suffering.

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B & E

As some of you have heard on Facebook, our house was broken into Sunday morning.  Rob was home sick with the flu and the kids and I left to go to church.  I did not set the alarm.  Someone came through the window of our living room, stealing our laptops, Rob's wallet, and my purse with its contents.  It's been difficult.  We had not gotten renter's insurance- lesson learned.  

That night, we had about 25 neighbors & about 8 kids over for a "wine and cheese" or "grape juice and cheese sticks" for our younger friends.  What could have been a skeptical evening was a sympathetic and neighborly time.  

I'm glad we went ahead with the party.   

I'm thankful Rob did not wake up and that the kids weren't home.

I'll have to trust for the rest: a renewed sense of peace, safety, and provision.