NewWay Now 
Volume 1 Issue 2 November 2007
Issue Highlights
WOO, MOM and POP Weekends
From Rachael's Pen
VoCRABBuLARRY

2008 Calendar

      WOO Weekend  Colorado Springs, CO  Feb. 14-17
 
MOM and POP (2)  Weekend
(Age 12-25)
Colorado Springs, CO
March 27-30
 
MOM and POP (1)  Weekend 
(Age 0-12) 
Colorado Springs, CO
April 3-6
 
School Of Spiritual Direction
Colorado Springs, CO
April 18-25
 
Mariners Church
Marriage Weekend
Irvine, CA
May 2-3
 
Life on the Narrow Road Conference,
Tentative-FYI
Toronto, Canada,  
Date TBD
 
School Of Spiritual Direction
The Cove in Ashville, NC
June 6-13
 
NextStep SSD 
(SSD Alumni -Only)
Colorado Springs, CO
August 16-23
 
Life on The Narrow Road Conference 
Tentative-FYI
Orlando, FL
Sept. 25-27
 
School Of Spiritual Direction
Colorado Springs, CO
October 3-10
 
School Of Spiritual Direction
Colorado Springs, CO
November 7-14
 
Note: All Colorado Springs, Co locations are held at the Glen Eyrie Conference Center

PLEASE NOTE:

The 2008 dates for WOO and the MOM and POP weekends as well as the NextStep SSD is to serve only as a "Save the date" notice.  We are NOT YET accepting applications. 
 

When details are finalized (costs, application process, etc), we will send out another e-mail. 

 

We ask that you do not e-mail us or inquire further about these opportunities at this time. We're not able to respond to any questions until we send out our next general announcement. Thanks for understanding.  We anticipate strong interest in these conferences and want to manage them effectively, efficiently, and fairly.
In The Works
   

Age has a way of sharpening focus.  It was Samuel Johnson who said "Nothing quite clears the mind like a walk up the gallows".  Well, I don't think I'm about to be hanged, but I am getting older.  And an increase in years is certainly making changes in my perspective on the Christian life and ministry.  I am sensing movement toward a greater clarity of purpose and toward a stronger resolve to stay true to that purpose.

Here's one thing that's come into focus for me:  with all my heart, I want to keep NewWay Ministries from yielding to the appeal of our common culture.  The good news of Christ remains good without accommodating our wrong understanding of the good life.  I long to spend the rest of my life delving deeper into the simple gospel as it is revealed in all the Scriptures, and to do all that I can to bring that good news into the reality of our lives.

So, with that as my ambition, here's what's in the works at NewWay.  First, my next book.  Perhaps my greatest challenge is to know the Bible well enough for its message to determine how I live and the counsel I provide to others.  And perhaps the greatest weakness in today's church, as well as in our counseling and spiritually directing community, is a limited grasp of the Bible's story that keeps us from knowing how to flow in its rhythm and advance its plot. About a year ago, I got up at 2 one morning and begged God to tell me in a few words what He was saying to me in each book of the Bible.  That early morning conversation with God birthed the idea for my next book:  66 Love Letters: From God to You.  I open my Bible to each book, ask God what He wants me to hear, discern His response, ask Him to let me know how that message is conveyed in that book, and then I describe the impact of what I hear Him saying to me.  As of this writing, I just finished Malachi and am ready to tackle Matthew.  So, that's in the works.

A few other burdens have risen to the surface.  Four age-old problems are stirring my heart with new intensity:  husbands and wives who don't know the joy of real connection in their relationships; parents of little kids and grown children whose hearts are breaking and don't know how to respond to their concerns with spiritual wisdom and godly passion; pastors, especially of smaller churches, who long to seize the opportunity of smallness to build true community but feel worn out and frustrated; and caring Christians who want to enter the battles raging fiercely in the souls of people they love, and do real good.

With those burdens compelling the NewWay team, here's what's in the works:

First, WOO and MOM and POP weekends, to begin in 2008

·         For a limited number of couples, perhaps 15, we're planning a WOO weekend: Weekend Of Oneness - I'll lead our way through an honest, deeply personal, thoroughly biblical and , for many, perhaps a paradigm-changing 4 day weekend, from Thursday evening till Sunday noon.

·         For parents of kids up to 12 years of age, another weekend is planned, and still another for parents of kids ages 13 to 25.  These two parenting weekends we're calling Mom and Pop retreats: Movement Of Mystery toward the Purpose Of Parenting.

Our plan is to hold all three weekends at Glen Eyrie, and to treat them as "pilots", opportunities for me to present unfinished, in-progress ideas and exercises that will be honed at a later date into DVD curriculum series for use in Sunday School classes, home groups, and personal or family study.  Housing and travel expenses, plus a fee appropriate to a pilot weekend, will be the cost to participants.  These three weekends are in the works.

Second, NextStep School of Spiritual Direction

More than 700 folks have gone through our one week intensive School of Spiritual Direction (SSD).  We have already held on Advanced SSD, where nearly 300 SSD grads came to study how to bring spiritual formation into the church.  What's now in the works is a weeklong NextStep SSD, open only to 30 SSD grads, where we focus on translating the teaching of SSD into conversations that matter, through modeling, critique of videoed conversations, and supervision.  This will be a more experiential than didactic time, a week of intensive and personal interaction in community.

Third, Pastor Chats

Nothing planned yet, just a dream.  I'd love to mobilize pastors of small churches to dialogue how their congregations can move toward becoming true spiritual community.  My burden deepened when my publisher decided to repackage The Safest Place on Earth and re-released that book with a new title, Becoming a True Spiritual Community.  Again, nothing in the active works here, just a burden.  Time and energy are key issues.

THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST AND PRAYERS.  You now know WHAT'S IN THE WORKS.
On the Lighter Side:

VoCRABBuLARRY

1. an existing, yet rarely heard, word used by Larry Crabb 2.  a new word created by Larry Crabb 3. an existing word used by Larry Crabb that most don't understand

 
Please share any of your voCRABBuLARRY words that others (or you) might need help defining. Send to andi@newwayministries.org
 
We will publish in the next newsletter.  No need to worry all names will be kept confidential.
From Rachael's Pen
 
Greetings!
 
Many of you, over 3000, are already on the list to receive my e-mail PRAYER INITIATIVIES for NewWay Ministries.  If you would like to be added to that list, go to your personal profile with constant contact and select the NWM Prayer team button.  We're eager to have all the prayer partners we can get!  Thanks for building up our sometimes weary but always grateful arms.  And know that we are honored to hold up your arms in prayer whenever you let us know a concern.
 

As I write this, I have been reflecting on Psalm 62: 1, 2:

"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine upon us, that Your ways may be known on earth."

As I pray for our ministry, I personalize that psalm in this way:

"Lord, be gracious to Larry as he prioritizes his time; bless him and our team with a clear vision of Your calling on this ministry. Direct all that we do so that the NewWay to live made possible by the Cross becomes known throughout the world."

Our team has been working hard to pray through all the good and worthwhile opportunities for ministry that come our way, and to discern where best to devote our time and resources.  Larry wants to do what God calls him to do, not what others may want or expect.

These thoughts came to mind as I read Psalm 46:10: "Be still and know that I am God."  I read those words and realize how I long to lead an uncluttered life.  I'm making progress.  I've even started to "unclutter" the room in our home that our grandkids refer to as "Nana's playroom".  With Larry and Kep and Andi, I want to put first things first as I schedule my time and decide how to invest my energies.

An uncluttered life, ruled by the passion to know Christ and make Him known: that's our prayer for you and we ask that it be your prayer for all of us at NewWay Ministries.

Until our next NewWay Now,

Rachael

TWO BOARDS: Guided by Community

#1: The NWM Board of Directors:

NewWay Ministries enjoys the guidance of our Board of Directors, four couples who meet annually and offer input (business and professional) and encouragement regularly, as they fulfill the duties of a board for a non-profit ministry.
 
Far beyond their duties, they offer spiritual companionship and accountability as we seek to discern the Spirit's direction for our work and to operate on a sound organizational basis.
 
 #2: The NWM Board of Spiritual Advisors:
 
I have invited a handful of friends to gather around me as I open my inner world to the discerning input of fellow journeyers on the narrow road to life.  In August of 2007, we met for four days to explore, disclose, encounter, and pray.  At my invitation, my soul friends talked about me for nearly two hours as if I wasn't there, as I sat quietly and listened.  A revealing and deepening time.
 
WHY? Discernment is community business!
 
A quick note from one of our board members to the other members:
 
Gentlemen,

Just a note which I have been meaning to get off to you guys for about a week now to let you all know that I appreciated being with you guys for three days in the mountains! Being with a group of men who deep down care to pursue walking with God through thick and thin - that was a privilege for me. Thank you each one for your pursuit of walking the narrow way with the Trinity. I am inspired and encouraged to stay true to the path, knowing that you guys are each walking it as well.

May God be with you,

David

PAPA Prayer Update
 

I have four grandkids: 3 gorgeous girls (10, almost 4, and 2) and one "all boy" boy (7).  I see both their potential and their inclination toward self-protection, their vulnerability to being sucked into the devil's approach to life.  Especially for girls (though no less for boys), I see an almost omnipresent culture that idolizes terrible values.  Girls kissing girls on TV.  Sexy clothing as the mark of femininity.  Success. Power. Personal happiness.  And I get scared. I want to pray for my grandkids, and of course I do, but I realize my petitions don't control God.

The more I lose confidence in my power to control God (my natural hopes in petitionary prayer), the more I'm resting in my calling to trust God.  And the more I trust, the more I begin to see the character of the God I am trusting.  And that makes me want to get on the floor and weep before God on behalf of my grandkids, against the devil, against the world's values, against the fleshly inclinations in their far from innocent little hearts. I long for heaven's kingdom to spread into their lives.

The more I relationally pray the more I seem to be seeing the battle between the God I'm coming to know in Christ and all the anti-Christ energy in this world.  As a result, to petition and intercede feels less like a spoiled child whining "Gimme! Gimme!" and more like a friend and lover of God longing to see His kingdom come, into the hearts of people I love, hearts that are a cosmic battlefield.  It's a battle I can enter; as I rest in silence with my PAPA, I can fight with the spiritual power of petitionary prayer for His purposes.

Keep relating to God.

Right relating leads to right petitioning.

GOOD READING: Larry's Book List

·         Mother Teresa:   Come Be My Light

Ed Brain Kolodiejchuk, M.C.  Doubleday, 2007

Important book!  Those who live for God do not always enjoy an experience of God.  Never before published letters from the "Saint of Calcutta" reveal Mother Teresa's 50 year struggle with darkness and her thirst for God that not only survived her dark years but became more intense because of them.  Great reading for honest Christians.

 

  ·      Joyful Exiles: Life in Christ on the Dangerous Edge of Things
 

James M. Houston, IVP, 2006.

I am among many who claim Dr. Houston as a mentor.  This is his most personal book yet, narrating Dr. Houston's "inner world" pursuit of knowing, serving, and being formed into the image of Christ.  Warmly and powerfully challenges what I call "good enough Christianity", and guides us toward a counter-cultural way to live in a post-modern world, toward the NEWWAY of the Spirit and Word.

Until the Next NewWay Now Newsletter
 
For addititonal information or questions please contact:

Andi Sawin, Director of Operations and Conferences
4887 Silver Spruce Lane, Evergreen, CO 80439                  
303.670.9900 (p) 303.670.3015 (f) www.newwayministries.org  (w) andi@newwayministries.org(e)
 
NewWay Ministries | 4887 Silver Spruce Lane | Evergreen | CO | 80439