Spiritual Formation

Prayer begins with the inhale.  Before we are able to utter anything with our lips we must first draw through them the air that fills us, enabling not only our speech but also our life.  And we must remember that humanity did not take the first breath but that it was given to us.  God’s exhale became humanity’s first inhale, filling us not only with life, but the ability to participate in the creative power of breathing.  For it was God’s breath that uttered the world into existence, and God’s breath that filled humanity with life.

And so before we gather words to give to our God, we must first realize that this activity of prayer is itself a gift from God.  It is the very breath that God breathed into humanity that we in turn direct back to God.  Taking in and breathing out this breath of God is no trifling matter. “This is not an enterprise to be entered into lightly,” Eugene Peterson notes. “When we pray we are using words that bring us into proximity with words that break cedars, shake the wilderness, make the oaks whirl, and strip forests bare (Ps. 29:5-9).”

     Adoration services are underway at 9:00PM on Tuesdays. This service consists of an hour of singing, prayer, preaching, meditation, Communion, ministry to those with needs, and fellowship. It’s completely understandable that many at Hopwood have only heard tales of these Tuesday nights when our little church is filled with worshipers from neighboring campuses and churches. Some of us look back on our college years and wonder how it was we were able to cram all sorts of study and activities into the late watches of the night, and still get up for class the next morning! Ah, Youth!

“Like one untimely born.

Praise the Lord! On December 1, 2006, the Turkana Bible Training Institute (TBTI) was pleased to celebrate its first ever graduation! Let me share some highlights....

We are amazed at the way everything worked out for the graduation to even happen. We are always thankful for rain in Turkana, and give thanks to God for a very abundant rainy season this October and November. However, rain also forces plans to change. For us, it disrupted our graduation plans in about three different ways.

First, our guest speaker, former missionary to Turkana and currently working with the Urban Poor in Nairobi, Keith Ham, and his son Jonathan (Patrick's friend), were flying up on Thursday and were forced to return to Nairobi due to dangerous storm clouds. They were able to reschedule a flight on Friday, and were due to arrive at 10AM, the same time graduation was scheduled to begin; we were grateful they could arrive at all.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.