Video Intro to our campaign

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Prayer Rooms and Keytars

The following is a blog written by Kylee on our personal blogsite (philandkylee.blogspot.com) but is definitely a story that you, our supporters, should hear. So I took the liberty of posting it to this site. God is truly incredible and is always faithful:


This last month I've been putting together a prayer room: the first thing ever to happen in our new building.

And...at every junction there was something standing in the way. The date I could get into the building kept getting pushed back. They found mold. Had to wait for mold tests...etc. Finally, last Friday (after some pushiness), a couple guys from the church and staff went over to help me seal off entrances and hang curtains. The city inspector rolls up and strolls in...does not even respond to my hello...and starts asking what we are doing there. He's talking about permits we don't have, how the labels on the fabric don't specify that they are flame resistant...on and on. Randomly, the guy in charge of that part of our building project pulled up and smoothed things out a little.

On Saturday we went back in to work some more. A couple hours in a guy from our church who is an Environmental Specialist pulled up and told me the mold tests weren't back, and we shouldn't be in there. After some clarification took place, they somehow got that worked out.

So, on the edge as it was...I wasn't able to get back to the prayer room setup until Wednesday. It started Thursday. I got a call on Wednesday from my pastor saying that the city inspector was being a thorn...that he wanted to set up a fire inspection on Thursday before he would let us be in there. Chris said I couldn't work on it anymore until after that. Umm...does anyone realize this starts TOMORROW?

I went into Reagan's office really angry. And I said, "You know, I have to believe that God wants this to happen. It's HIS prayer room, right? I wish he would get going on it. I've done all I can."

Wouldn't you know...

Chris somehow got a fireman from our church and the city inspector to meet on Wednesday. They walked through and the city inspector started talking about prayer. ...he teared up. ...he asked Chris to pray with him (there. in the prayer room). And then he said, "Eh, just put a fire extinguisher in here, and we'll call it good."

Really? Do I have any case to doubt Him? It happens time and time again. He is so faithful, and suprising...and...funny, right? Of course it would happen like that.

So, God is still bigger than Kylee...that's the report today.

In other news, Phil is preaching this week at Aftershock and just acquired a "keytar" which is flippin' sweet.

We are also needing some prayer on some decisions we need to make about my degree program and our future for the next couple of years. Stresses me out to make decisions that launch me into adulthood. :)

Definition of a Nation and a Faith Without Worldly Representation

Election day yesterday brought out a lot of feelings. I saw the worst and I saw the best in people. People coming together and people splitting a part. I'm convinced the no matter what election outcome, the reaction would have been the same. Some people extremely happy, some people extremely distressed. As far as I'm concerned, the world's going to keep rotating and God will not be limited.

God does not NEED a certain outcome... NO political party is the "Christian Way." God doesn't NEED a political party in order for Him to do His work and for His works to be good. We are NOT a nation defined by one person. A nation IS defined by it's people, both figuratively and literally: "Nation - a large aggregate of people united by common decent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory."

Come on, people, where do we place our faith? In Country? In family? In the presidency? If we place our faith in ANYTHING of this world, our faith will crumble as easily as the world does. BUT if your faith is BEYOND this world, nothing can touch it; if faith is beyond this world, doubt may come and go as in any faith (and I think any and all doubt should be embraced), but it (doubt) will NOT TOUCH IT (faith). But you have the ability to decide whether your doubt will either rock your faith or push you to a deeper understanding of it by where you choose to place your faith.

Is your faith in God or in things of this world that "represent" God? For a long time I've been hearing that republicans "represent" God and those who are a part of a republican party "represent" the Christian way in going about things. Now, I liked and disliked certain things about BOTH candidates and NEITHER will EVER be a good representation of God and all the things that Jesus stood for because at some point they're going to fail us. Even if they may not fail you, they may fail me and vice versa.

A message to the world: Stop limiting your faith by letting it be represented by worldly things that will only pass with time. Let it be represented by the God who is beyond this world of rust and decay. Only there will we find an unwavering foundation.

A message to our nation: Let our nation be not defined by the abilities or inabilities of a president but by selfless acts of love among our neighbors, promoting peace by use of our lips, hands, and feet.

2 am beautiful (standing)

2 am, again. Some things can be found at this hour that cannot be found elsewhere. Like, my husband's beautiful sleep breathing. Sometimes answers, conclusions, clarity. Sometimes the opposite. Sometimes Jesus.

I am just so tired.

I am tired of running. I'm running out of self. I have been for awhile. I think to myself, "lean on Jesus, and you can do it. Look at all of these people making it...your life is beautiful: challenging, creative, full of people that love you, full of things you love. Get it together."

This weekend, I will organize the pulling off of the creative end of a new series, a foot washing service, and a prayer room. Not just any prayer room either: a prayer room in a mold infested, dilapidated building. I will write three papers. I will not read all my reading and then I will feel guilty. I will talk to people, pray for people, and look forward to the next week of all the same intensity. Part of me loves this. Part of me is dying.

In the middle of this season of low lows and high highs...of knowing that if I could just get out of bed, then I can do it...if I can just push past tears one more time, then I will make it...if I can just get started, I'll feel better...Jesus has found me. Right here at 2 am.

Yesterday, I yelled at God. It might be the first time. I tell people it's okay to do. He already knows what you are feeling. I even used the word "freaking." I said to him, "JESUS. IF YOU WANT THIS TO HAPPEN, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO HELP. PITCH IN. OPEN YOUR EYES AND SEE WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE. AND FREAKING GET ON IT. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM ME? YOU PUT ME HERE. NOW TAKE CARE OF IT."

I screamed it, right there in my car driving behind Mounds Mall, crying like a maniac.

Today, as I painted in my moldy, dilapidated prayer room (with more people than I ever would have expected who just showed up to help me)...the city inspector walked in. He said we couldn't be there. He said we were against fire code. I rolled paint on the wall, and I fought back tears. He talked and he talked, and I rolled and I rolled. Phil stayed steady beside me. And we stood there, and we rolled paint.

And that's when I understood what it means to stand. Having done all to stand: stand. Stand because God promised he wouldn't leave me. Stand because God is bigger than me. Stand because he put me there, it's his work, and because he is "freaking getting on it."

And he did. And my prayer room is up. A lot of work yet, but it is up and it is okay and it is going to happen. Not by my strength, but by my standing.

Tonight, at 2 am, I sat at my drawing desk with Phil asleep in the bedroom. I could hear him breathing (can now) as I tried to draw up floor plans for the setup tomorrow and lists for Sunday. And I said, "Jesus, I am so tired." And he said, "Kylee, go to sleep."

So I wrote this note because I am moved to tears by my Jesus. My strength to stand. ...my strength to go to bed, wake up tomorrow, and stand some more.