Why I love SCPx...

Last August I went through a 10-day training called SCPx, Student Church Planting Experience. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced, and Jesus completely rocked my life during it. If you are college student, I strongly encourage you to look into this training. It is one the best things I ever did.


Why I love SCPx...

1. SCPx is a hands-on training, not a conference.-- I have been to many conferences. It seems that most end with a sore butt from sitting for 3 days straight and a headache from the information overload. Consumption, not always followed by action. At SCPx, you experience interactive teaching every morning and then immediately you are "sent out" into the city or campus to apply it that day! Fruit is seen instantly. No better way to learn than to trust the Holy Spirit and get your hands dirty.
   
2. SCPx feels like family-- Usually anywhere from 15-40 students go through SCPx. It is not large scale. You can imagine the deep relationships that are formed over 10 days of living, eating, praying, and loving people together. The SCPx I attended last year in Austin birthed a community that has felt more like family as we have continued to live out church over the past year. I have never felt closer to the church in Acts.
3. SCPx is not just about the campus, but the nations.-- After SCPx, I saw disciples made, new believers, baptisms, simple church lived out, and signs and wonders on the UT campus. But God also broke my heart deeply for the nations. Because of the church planting training I received at SCPx, I felt equipped and empowered to go to South Asia in January of this year. Now, some of the other SCPx "grads" and I will return there to train young people in the same way to reach their country!
4. SCPx fosters an atmosphere of freedom.-- God showed His power by healing me physically and setting me free of a life-long battle of allergies and asthma during those 10 days. Also, many bondages and sin struggles I had carried for a year were broken off of me at SCPx. This is because, more than church planting curriculum, SCPx is about knowing how much God loves us and our identity in Him. Then we were freed to love people radically. I have heard many SCPx "grads" say it was as if they received "permission" to live in freedom and walk in radical obedience.
   
5. SCPx is a challenge.-- This is the disclaimer I give to students interested in SCPx... this training will challenge you. It will challenge you physically. It will stretch you. It will cause you to trust the Holy Spirit in a way you have never done before. It will put you completely out of your comfort zone at times. It will probably challenge your theology at some point. It will confront your ideas of what "church" is. It will wreck you out in all the best ways possible. It will push you closer to Jesus and others. If your experience is anything like mine, it will be the best challenge of your life.
   

Check out this site for more info, or go to studentcpx.org for info and the registration application!

For all the Austinites, SCPx Austin is August 6-15. Registration is filling up and there are limited spots, so apply soon.

Back on the blog scene...

I've told several people I would get at this blog game again...
so here we go.


Look out for Jesus stories, recaps from the past year of my life, original thoughts, encouragement and more. :)


Blessings,
Meghan

atx, i love you.

so i'm back in atx.  and austin never looked so beautiful.  maybe one day i'll get tired of this city... but right now, i love every inch of it.  it just makes me smile being here.  (sorry friends, i know you get sick of hearing me).  jesus definitely gave me a heart for this city... and for my campus.

god has some serious business in the works for me and some friends to jump into.  and i'm so ready.  i've been waiting all break for some sense of direction... as to where i should filter my heart for UT and this city.  and its coming.

not sure yet what his plan will exactly look like. 

it will involve a progression with girls on our hall of the house church he so graciously allowed us to "start" last semester.  we want to really grasp community and missional living.  

it will also involve hanging out with non-believers... not 'to convert', but because i have so much to learn and i need it and they are people.

it may involve me working with a non-profit to reach this city and meet the needs of the poor.

it may involve something crazy that jesus throws at me...

i'm ready.

  

turkey and grace.

my good friend anne had me and a friend over for dinner and a movie a few nights ago.

she grew up in turkey

her parents were missionaries there for about 12 years

having house church...

and drinking turkish tea.

so we ate a legit turkish dinner.

complete with lentil soup

cucumber tomato salad

bread

rice

lamb

and later...

tea and tea cake.

take me to turkey.

then we watched the movie in which anne has been convinced that i will not be complete until i see it... amazing grace.  i have to say, it definitely became one of my favorites.  a beautiful film exhibiting the story of ending the slave trade in the british empire.  an incredible look into the hard fight of a handful of revolutionaries fighting for social injustice... never relenting until change happens.

sweet quotes from the movie.  go see it.  if you've already seen it, go see it.  again.

"no one of our age has ever taken power."

"which is why we're too young to realize certain things are impossible.  which is why we will do them anyway."

"it seems to me, that if there is a bad taste in your mouth, you spit it out.  you don't constantly swallow it back."

"God sometimes does His work with gentle drizzle, not storms.  drip.  drip.  drip."

"though i have lost my memory, two things i know.  i am a great sinner and Christ is a great savior."

ouch.

aunt slash babydaddy.

kristian terrance breen was born at 5:44 p.m. on 1.12.08.  

7 lbs 15.2 ounces.

a beautiful healthy baby.

with a strong incredible mother.

last night... me and kiley went to her restaurant of choice for her "last meal"...

el super taco off royal and harry hines is where we ended up.

one of those genuine mexican food restaurants where you actually have to order in spanish and where they sell perfume at the register (still not sure...).

we drove around afterwards, having our usual fun... 

then, "where are we going?"  

'oh yea... the baby.'

so off to the hospital we went.

we checked in

and got settled.

they started the iv and plugged her up to the monitor

and the inducing began.

i stayed most the night... then crashed at a friend's nearby in oak cliff.

i came this morning... she was progressing slowly... more contractions... more dilation... 

details spared.

later...

water broke (although we didnt even know, because of the epidural).

and finally, time to push.

i stepped out... and the doc came out about 45 minutes later

and i came back in the room to my girl with her child in her arms...

i'm still freaked out by the whole miracle of it all.

i got to hold kristian briefly before they had to take him.

one of the most beautiful experiences of my life...

finally holding the child i prayed everyday for since conception basically.

kiley's mom tells him that i'm 'aunt meghan'.

kiley tells him that i'm her babydaddy.

i'm honored to simply play a roll in the life of this precious child.

i will do anything for this boy and his mom.

to the strongest mother i know...

kiley, you are a champ.

some days it's hard to see...

i spent most of my morning and afternoon at mercy house...

a homeless outreach ministry, but more than that

my family.

there isn't a time i go that i don't encounter jesus.

today i met jesus in the face of a man named kevin...

kevin is one of many black middle-aged homeless men in dallas.  but this man isn't just homeless, experiencing all the struggles that come along with being poor.   this man also has cancer.  he just recently had surgery to remove the cancer in his stomach.  and he now has a feeding tube that is taped to his stomach under his shirt.  he gets nourishment by pumping food himself directly into his belly... and by eating very soft foods like mashed potatoes or soup (not easy to come by considering there is only so many options at the shelters).  he is in constant pain from his stomach.  but this man also has cancer.  yes again.  kevin has cancer in his mouth.  he can only talk for about ten seconds before he has to pause and let the pain in the right side of his mouth subside.  

you may not know from looking at kevin that he was suffering.  he holds himself up very strongly.  but if you watch him, you can see the strain it takes for him to simply walk to the next room.  or the way he squeezes his eyes shut when a sharp stomach pain comes on.  or the exhausted expression you feel when you look him directly in the eyes.

as i talked with kevin today, he told me he couldnt find a word to describe what he was feeling.  his mom died years ago to cancer at 47.  kevin is 45.  almost all of his family has died from cancer as well.  but it isnt really the physical pain that hurts.  the emotional strain is almost unbearable.  he had to quit his job because he literally cannot work.  so now he was to beg for money to get a bus ticket to his appointments.  he doesnt have the $14 it takes to fill his prescription for his pain medication.  he has to wait patiently on a list to get the medical assistance he desperately needs right now.  he tells me of the countless nights he goes to bed hungry because 'the bridge' didnt have anything soft for him to eat that day.  he has lost an unbelievable amount of weight.  he is constantly dehydrated.  

and as he tells me this... i know this isnt a pity party.  its a deep deep hurt... that like the cancer itself, literally is infecting his life and plauging him.  at one point, the pain is too much, and he begins to sob.  all i can do muster an "i'm sorry" and hand him a napkin.  i watch his pain, and i wish so badly i could take some of it.  i wish i could think of some sort of encouragement.  because no "everything happens for a reason" is going to help this one.  this is real nasty hardcore job-like junk.

so i let god talk... whatever that means.  and i tell kevin what an encouragement he is to me.  because throughout our whole conversation he continues to say that he knows the lord has a plan.. and that he has a purpose for his life... and that he is a living testimony.  and kevin praises god... with the very mouth that is infected with cancer.  this is a very spiritual battle.  kevin goes on to tell how good the lord is.  and he begins to smile and laugh.  and he tells me one of the most beautiful definitions of love i've ever heard.. 

he said love is:

an unconditional 

self-sacrificing 

commitment to the truth.  

and thats the best gift ever,

thats what keeps him going.

kevin doesnt just have cancer in his mouth and stomach.  it is spiritual warfare.  satan literally wants to shut this man up.  and he literally wants to stop him from getting physically and spiritually fed.  and kevin is not going to stop.  

kevin will forever be an encouragement to me.  he told me to always remember him... when i am at my lowest of the lowest point in life... to think of him and be encouraged.  and you better believe i will.  

tonight my spirit grieves for my brother.. as i know he is out on the streets on this cold night... holding his stomach with one hand... and his mouth with the other... waiting for the darkness to turn to daylight again... crying inside because the tears are just all dried up...

all the while praising sweet jesus for another day to be a soldier for his namesake.