I like matches best

I’m not one for kindles… old books smell too good.

I use lighters but I like matches best.

Post offices… post offices. Maybe it’s the stamps that get me.

I still use spiral notebooks.

Libraries, sometimes I go in just to walk

Up and down, up and down

the stacks.

G, C, E, D.. that’s all I seem to play.

Coffee and cream please,

Some days I like sugar.

Signs and wonders woo me... but times that brand me

Are the simple ones with you.

South Asia Trip Postponed

Hello Faithful Friends, Family and Supporters!

Starting this summer, God had begun to give us vision for what He wanted to do in the South Asian nation. Over the last several months, He has continued to give us a lot of specifics about what a trip would look like.. the unreached people groups to go to, the areas to visit, the importance of follow-up with our students/friends there, etc.

As you know, over the last several months, we have been preparing and working hard to send a team this January. We have put all our faith toward this trip... trusting that if this is not the time then God would make that clear. We have continued to come to Papa God throughout the whole planning process and surrender this trip to Him. I am so amazed at our team and everyone involved in the way each person has been open-handed to whatever God wants to do. All we want is God and His ways!

The last week, we spent a lot of time in prayer and talking with spiritual mentors. And as of a few days ago, we feel that God has indeed made it clear that now is not the time to go on this trip.

Our team still feels strongly about going back to this nation. However, we feel at this point that now is not the time, therefore the trip to South Asia will not proceed this January.

Melissa Scott will be in touch with those of you who gave financially.

I want to thank you, dear friends and fam, for all your support already in prayer and financially for our trip to South Asia. Thank you for sticking by us and partnering with us to see the people of this nation know our beautiful Jesus! Throughout the last few months, my heart for this nation and its people has only grown bigger and bigger. I know that God is in love with His people there, and He wants to see this nation come to Him! And I so appreciate your support in that effort!

I love you all! Please feel free to contact me with any questions!

Meghan

To South Asia!

A team of myself and 6 others from the Austin family are headed to South Asia in January. God spoke to my friend Lauren Nanson in 2009 about a small unreached nation near India and Nepal. We had vision to go into this nation and plant churches among the unreached peoples of this nation. We have made 2 trips since 2009 to the region. The first trip was a preparatory trip, where Papa set us up with divine connections in the region. On the second trip, we did a Student CPx with 41 students from this nation.. equipping them in church-planting. Both trips were crucial, BUT we have yet to set foot in this nation. This 3rd trip is finally the time for us to see the original vision God gave us realized!

This January, we will be meeting up with the students we trained last year in their nation this time! Then we will take students with us and go into villages... to the unreached! We will be focusing on discipling the students along the way, so that they can follow up with these villages and live a lifestyle of the discipling others!

We long with Papa's heart for the peoples of this Buddhist nation to know Jesus!!

I am telling you this to ask you to please consider partnering with us financially and/or in prayer. Because of the $250 per day visa cost, this trip is unusually expensive. But we are putting our faith in Papa! Our goal for raising the funds is Nov 25, next Friday.

If you would like to pay online, you can go to http://www.intentionalgatherings.com/blog/donategive/ (click "SE Asia team" from the drop down menu)

If you would like to pay by check, make checks out to Intentional Gatherings and send to:

Intentional Gatherings

7211 Bethune Ave.

Austin, TX. 78752

If you would like to pray for us, please email me and let me know.

Check out this video. Three of us share about our trip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hRgq7BBtO4&feature=player_embedded

It's not a mirage..

It's not a mirage..
this open-armed Man.
Walk up to Him..
you'll see.
But you can't receive
unless you believe.
It's a guarantee
when you believe.
Walk up to Him.
Faith isn't faith
unless there's movement.
Friendship & enjoyment
He did the bloodwork for it.
But He's not going to force it.

When you're ready...
the paperwork's been filled out.
There's nothing you can do
but say OK.
Say Yes,
say Yes!
Uninterrupted friendship
enjoyment never ends
with this friend.
The worst of days He's had too.
You'll never be alone.
And wise He is,
He knows just what to do.

in the hammock...

here I sit, or here I lay rather...
in the hammock.
my last evening here for a while.
i remember
i've found myself here, alone, a few times before...

one time, many months ago..
with many tears, crying
a bad cry, as my friends would call it
feeling "so utterly alone"...
maybe a bit dramatic..
nonetheless
unsure of what to do with the pain
from relationship wounds that seeped..
relationships with those
who lived inside the little white adobe beside me.
so unsure of where to go.

in the hammock
another time, a little later
laughing, belly laughing in fact.
enjoying every living thing around me,
my heart so full of love for these friends of mine
my mind so forgetful of the gloom
and my soul full of excitement for adventures ahead.

in the hammock
now I am yet again
not sure what to think.
knowing that what has been
will not be again...
in quite the same way at least.
reality setting in
like the setting of mr. sun..
2 dear friends will be gone
from this white residence when I return "home".
that's alright though,
i'll see them again soon i'm sure of it.

truly,
my heart is full as I lay.
life here has been like a dream,
oh a wonderful dream
some days, yes a nightmare...
but only some days.
and those are days i mostly forget
because of the goodness of the good days,
the great days...
days full of music, laughter, dancing, shouting,
and hugging...
always hugging.
the hugs never seem to stop here.
4 in 1 room and you think we'd get tired.
ha!

life in the kingdom is not quite the same,
as life elsewhere.
in a kingdom house,
let's call it a house on king st.,
the impossible is always possible
and the hard stuff is always overcome
and love always wins.
love always wins..
yes, there's one i know now..
deep deep deep inside this little heart of mine.
still going deeper of course.

sometimes i wish things are as they were,
but then i see things as they are
and what they are becoming
and i say
OK!

greater things to come
i do believe it.
in fact, i know it.
greater,
not because they're better than today
per se,
but because tomorrow is a new today
and that's where i like be.
in the present
in His presence,
and when i can,
in the hammock.

Summer in KC Inner-city

Dear friends!

My heart is leaping in my chest as I write this! Those of you who know me well know how much my heart beats for the African American community and for "the hood" of America. Life in Austin and at UT has been and continues to be nothing short of incredible!!! But I have not felt an outlet here for this particular burning desire in my heart for the Black community and for restoration to inner-city areas.

God loves to give us the desires of hearts in His perfect timing. Over the last month, God opened the doors for me to spend my summer in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Kansas City, MO. I will be moving in with 2 of my dear friends, Linsday Ellyson and Myles Hamby. I met both of them through the Student Church family over the past year. God has been moving in their neighborhood. They have seen many folks getting touched and transformed by God's love, and they are believing for the transformation of their hood this summer! They have invited me to join in on this, and God has orchestrated so many details to allow to me to go.

What exactly I will be doing this summer looks a little bit like this:

1. Kansas City Summer Internship - I will be helping Lindsay and Myles put on an internship for high school/college-age students, training them to make disciples/plant simple churches/live as family in our KC neighborhood. (*If this sounds of interest to you, check it out and consider joining!)
   
2. While I will be helping train these interns, I will also get the opportunity to do an internship myself through Student Church with Erik Fish, one of the national elders in the Student Church Movement. The internship will be geared toward my ministry in the neighborhood, and will also include mentorship with Erik.
   
3. As a part of my internship with Erik, I will be leading/helping with several SCPx trainings for the summer. One will be in Oklahoma on the OSU campus on June 10-15. I will also be doing a Kansas City SCPx June 26-July 5, and possibly a few others around the nation. Our interns will also get the opportunity to be trained and equipped to lead as they go through these SCPx's.
4. Most importantly, this summer will be filled with pursuing Jesus along side friends and sharing the love of Jesus with others!!

If you all would like to know more or support me, you can email me at megstricko@yahoo.com.

Our first love..

God has really shaped our community here in Austin this semester. In the aftermath of SCPx Austin this summer, our spiritual family so desired to see new communities like ours birth! We wanted more than just one student house church... we wanted the love to spread. And it finally felt like the time had come. We felt as if we were all equipped to GO and do it.

So we made some changes and started the semester with a strong "sent out" mentality. As one of the shepherds, I really tried to steer things the "right way", always pounding home the apostolic mission any time we would meet together as a family. We deeply desired to see new disciples, more miracles, new churches, more baptisms, and all of these glorious things that Jesus has set out for all of His kids to take part in.

Over the course of the semester, however Jesus began to bring our family back to His heart. It was as if we were the church in Ephesus and we had received a letter from Jesus commending us for our hard work, but reminding us of the true prize, namely Him.

"I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance... You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first." Revelation 2:2-4.

After a good and somewhat messy family chat, our hearts began to join together to love Jesus and love each other. Revelation of the Gospel began to hit us deep (and has been ever since). It has brought true freedom, individual heart healing, refinement, closer family bonds... and funny enough, the sprouting up of new communities, new disciples, and powerful moves of the Spirit.

I have watched students at UT this semester "get it" by no convincing/teaching, but simply because they are encountering God. I have been humbled hearing of students encountering Holy Spirit within their own sphere of influence without ever even setting foot there to "make it happen". I have been humbled witnessing friends (never going through a day of formal church planting training) get God's heart and "strategy" (better known as LOVE) for the lost.

Don't hear me wrong... I believe in training. My heart longs to see new disciples made and new churches planted. I get so excited talking about how God is moving on college campuses... how new communities of faith are birthing! I celebrate and laugh when I witness or hear about signs, wonders, and miracles happening each day. I love everything Student Church and SCPx is about. I love equipping others to do the same.

But as much as these beautiful things make me giddy and excited... I have come to realize more than ever that it is Jesus is who truly makes me come alive! It seems like such a blatant truth, for He is the author of life indeed. But it is the one truth that the enemy is so threatened by if the family of God GETS IT.. that he will do anything to twist the focus.

I am at such peace now knowing that our family has its eyes on our first love. I am confident that He is taking care of everything else... and that HE is the one building His church.

Our family is not defined by the fact that we do "house church" or "simple church". Or that we heal the sick and cast out demons. Or that we multiply, multiply, multiply. Our family is defined by our absolute infatuation with our first love. And Holy Spirit seems to lead the rest! :)


Also, posted this on www.studentchurch.org. Great place to stay connected with other student church planters. http://bit.ly/cYUlIz