February '06 prayer letter

Hello! Here's my February prayer letter to supporters. Sorry this is getting out so late, everyone! I was hoping it would be a mid-month update, but it looks like it's turned into more of a end-of-month update. :o) Enjoy!

Dated February 19, 2006:

"It is a good season for the movement of h2o. I just feel like we are beginning to hit on all the cylinders we should be. Here are some of the reasons I am joyful:

1. New canvas groups. I’m not sure if I’ve explained what ‘canvas groups’ are before, but even if I have, it’s good to reiterate because they really foster the heartbeat value of our faith community, which is ‘soul connection.’ Some of you might grasp the nature of these groups if I simply said they were ‘Bible studies,’ and while it’s true that we study the Bible in them, I think the images that canvas brings to mind more fully reflects who we are in these groups. If you were asked to describe three main purposes for canvas, you would probably find yourself thinking of canvas that’s used for art and a material utilized for tents to camp in and sails on a ship. We believe these to be good images for us as we seek to grow together in our walks with Christ. Like paint on a canvas, we are God’s work of art in progress, His ‘masterpiece.’ Like a tent temporarily set up in the wilderness, we are sojourners, people on a journey with God. And like the sails on a ship, we let the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit guide and breathe into us. The image below is something I made for use on business cards for students to hand out when inviting people to the groups. The back of the card would reflect the four values of the groups and would contain information relative to each canvas group like time and location of the meeting. Here’s the back for the new canvas group that meets at my house:

'Exsatio' is Latin for 'satisfy, glut' and we chose it to show the kind of satisfaction in God we will seek together: satisfaction to excess. John Piper has a quote that goes, ‘God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.’ It has been a sweet time of fellowship, prayer and study so far and has grown to around 15 people this semester, which is just about the ideal size for the purposes of the group; if we get above 20 we’ll probably encourage some to branch off and start another group somewhere else in town or on campus. That’s a big part of the vision we have at h2o: to see these little communities pop up everywhere and affect a small part of the world around them. Right now we have three: Renovaré (which means ‘renovate’) on Monday, Veritas (which means ‘truth’) on Tuesday, and Exsatio on Wednesday. Please pray for these canvas groups, that they grow and multiply, and that the people in them sharpen each other and ‘encourage and spur one another on toward love and good deeds’ as they live out the values we uphold. I believe I’ve mentioned the four values (authentic worship, soul connection, faith ventures, and creative expression) before as well; I’ll write more on them in a future letter.

2. New soul groups. Well, I’m just blasting you with our crazy fresh lingo in this letter! A deeper mode of connection and growth is realized in our soul groups, which are even smaller gatherings of only 2 or 3 guys or 2 or 3 girls. If they grow to 4, the group should branch off into two new groups. This small size and same-gender atmosphere is really the only way to experience intense discipleship and mentorship. At our retreat earlier this semester (which I wrote about last time), we looked at how Jesus used mentorship to multiply his ministry. He had various levels of contact with different groups of people, from his 1 ‘main man’ Peter to 2 his inner group of three to 3 his twelve disciples to 4 the seventy he sent out to 5 the group of hundreds or thousands who followed Him. We were encouraged to look at the connections we had with people in our own lives and begin to be purposeful about maintaining these five levels of influence or mentorship. Jesus really was the most brilliant man to walk the earth!

I am now meeting regularly in my own soul group with Jacob and Joseph (who I call ‘Jake’ and ‘Joe’). I had wanted to do this for quite a while; in fact, I believe I asked for prayer about it a few months ago. I guess God works in His own timing (or else my timing was a little slow)! I am excited as we begin to sharpen each other in three major areas: the Word, prayer, and evangelism. We’ll have goals each week in one or more of these areas, and if we all together don’t meet them, we will repeat the same goals the following and every week until we all attain them (for instance, a goal might be to read 25 chapters of the Bible before we meet again). If we’re all easily fulfilling our goals, then we’ll ‘up the ante’ and increase them to something more challenging. It’s a joy to work with guys who have such open and willing hearts, and I’m looking forward to the growth we’ll all take part in. Please pray for us and the soul groups that are forming all over.

3. New drive in leadership. I’ve mentioned some of our leaders by name and in general before, and I continue to be thankful for the commitment I see from them. We’ve decided to meet every Wednesday morning at 6:30 AM because that early is one of the only times we can all meet together because of how busy our schedules are! Those of you who know me well may remember that I’m not much of a morning person, but I tell you, God has woken me up and given me energy and I’ve had some great times getting ‘in the trenches’ with my co-laborers. We discuss areas of the ministry we need to get working on and logistics of upcoming events, and then at 7:15 we open up the time to anyone who wants to come in and pray with us (we meet at the Waterhouse) and let our praises and requests rise to God like the morning mist we see at that time of day. Please pray for some great events coming up that have real potential to reach people and show them kindness (specifically, this Tuesday we’re inviting people in to the Waterhouse for a free ‘Fat Stack O’ Tuesday’ pancake dinner; then all through March we’re going to show EVERY March Madness NCAA basketball tournament game, including the Big East tournament, on big screens at the Waterhouse; any of you in town are welcome to come and be a part of that if you like!). And pray for our student leaders, that they continue to balance well all their responsibilities with school and work and the ministry.


So you can see why I have great cause to praise God and thank Him for moving among the hearts of people who have become quite dear to me! Please keep lifting up this ministry. And please keep faith in me with your support; I’m young and have a lot of growing to do, but I’m committed to that journey with all I am. :o)


In Christ,
Cameron"

Stay tuned for upcoming posts!

Invisible Children and the King's Way

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Some of you may have heard about Invisible Children already, and I hope it's had the impact on your life that it's had on mine. I'm still sorting out what exactly I'm best suited to do about it, but for now I will definitely at least support my sister Colleen's endeavors and passion in this matter. The link to her xanga blog is on my page here, and now I've added the link to the Invisible Children website at her request.

Invisible Children is a documentary that was made a couple years ago by three young American men, and this December it's hitting theaters nationwide in a fuller version (the documentary that now exists is considered a 'rough cut,' but it's what I've seen and it's quite moving; I can't wait for the feature-length one!). These guys went to Africa with the mission of exposing many of the unknown effects of war in the Sudan region and ended up finding a story in Uganda that they couldn't believe. Their lives were changed and now they're using their lives and great talents to let the world know about the conditions of many people, especially children, that until now were virtually invisible.

The rough cut is being shown around the nation mostly at college campuses; my sister was able to bring it to WVU a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the guys couldn't make it themselves, which they usually do, but it still had a great impact and many more people are on board now in the Morgantown area to help in any way they can. There's contact info on the site if you have the vision to bring it to your town.

When you see it, you will have the pervasive wrenching in your gut that says, 'This is not right. This isn't the way the world is supposed to be.' It awakens something that is inside all of us, something that is able to discern between right and wrong and realizes that we are in a place where right is not prevailing for the most part. And yet it springs hope that right can prevail, and that perhaps even I, in some small way, can be a part of that change. Keep searching this Way, as I have, and you will find that there is a King who has already come into this world and has shown us how to live it...

Recommended blog

Hello! I just wanted to post a quick word on my friend Adam Shaffer's blog. He's been a friend of mine a long time (way back to kindergarten and 'extended studies') and when I moved from Elkins in 1994, I didn't get to see him as much until one unexpected night in 2002 at This Generation, the college church service that was a precursor to h2o. He had recently come to know Jesus and, though the same in many ways, I could tell that his life had changed; there was a joy and light in his eyes.

Since then we've seen each other a lot and were even roommates a short while, and our friendship has been a great part of my life. Adam has a very introspective and thoughtful mind, like me, and our conversations often have a bit of the 'epic' in them. He's also a creative writer, and we've joined his lyrical and my songwriting abilities to create or begin work on at least (correct me if I'm wrong, Adam) 6 songs so far. One of these is Lord, We Believe, which has been featured the last two years (and will be again this year) in The Passion, the musical production Chestnut Ridge Church here in Morgantown puts on each year. I'm sure I'll blog more on that later (I have somewhat of a role in it). :o)

Anyway, Adam has a blog that he started last summer. He's only posted a few entries, but they're very well-written and insightful, and I think they're worth checking out. Plus I thought if enough of you read them and leave comments, maybe we can get him to start writing again! By the way, bloggers love when people leave comments, so feel free to leave me some anytime. Here's Adam's website: adamshaffer.blogspot.com. I've added him to my links section too. Enjoy!

(Oh yeah, here's a picture with me and Adam [he's the one on the far left] and some of my other good friends [Josh, then Johnny on the far right] from my wedding day.)

adam, josh, me & johnny on the wedding day