If you get this you get me

The first bible verse I ever learned was in Revelation. I was going along to a summer club at 'the mission' for all the kids on our estate and in order to have the privilege of sticking your hand into a big fake brick wall to pull out some kind of scripture stationery (I am and always have been a stationery junkie - the smell of the inside of a new pencil case sets me off every time) you had to learn a memory verse.

Mine was "Be thou faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life."

As a kid, a wee girl in fact, this was awesome. I didn't know anybody from our 'scheme' to wear a crown - except the gala day queen! 

But as an adult I have reflected on that so many times of the years that I've come to realise it has shaped me.

You see back then - age six or seven - God gave me that call. He told me to be loyal and unswerving in my beliefs - knowing that I would one day be making my living in journlism. Need I say more?

In that call - that one wee verse - for me, is God's belief of me - he told me to go the distance - and he surely would not set me up to fail?

But I also know that verse was not just for me - it's in the Bible - God's living breathing word. It's for everyone.

And if you get that - you'll get me.

Why I am so often accused of 'expecting too much of people'? Easy - because I believe you can do it.

Why do i find myself feeling hurt when people don't accept an  opportunity to step up? Because I believe more for them and want more for them.

And it's for that reason that I know I am planted in the right church. I love that we believe that everyONE has a part to play and everyONE can contribute.

Of course within that there will be mistakes made - hands up, I've made them. I've given people things to do that they just couldn't handle and it's ended more often than not in tears. 

But in those times - please hear me if you find yourself in a similar situation - instead of feeling useless or hard done to or any of the other plethora of emotions involved (I've been there too btw - ask Nathan about my baptism preach where I walked off the stage crying!) - why not ask why?

Why did my leaders ask me to do that when they know I'm so busy / not skilled / not ready? Answer - because we believe in you and the great BIG god in you.

Instead of being hurt or offended at the mere suggestion of you having a part to play - why not thank God you are planted in such a great place where the leaders start from a baseline of believing in your value and your contribution to the House - not a starting point of being in negative equity having to prove yourself.

And what if you're reading this and you can't relate because you have never even had an opportunity to fail at...

Well - one, this week ask your pastor or youth worker or whoever, what can I do? And decide before hand that if it involves a toilet and a brush that you're ok with that.

Two - get on their radar. In Eph 4:11 it says Jesus gave gifts of evangelists, prophets, apostles pastors and teachers to the church to raise God's people up - why - for works of service.

If you want to step up, step out.

So there you go. Blog number 2. Sorry it's long but when my pastor spoke last night he affirmed his belief in me. I want you to know the same.

To quote our Glllllooorrriiioooussss senior pastor, Brian Houston, 'the best is yet to come.' so come on let's go the distance - you can do it!

Let me introduce myself

Well as my profile tells you I am a wife (to Nathan - who is a campus pastor part of Newcastle CLC and also works in the volunteer sector), a mum to two of the world's most gorgeous (and strong willed) boys that God ever thought up , I am a campus pastor, alongside my husband, as part of a great church (www.mynclc.co.uk) under incredible leadership and I'm also a journalist for a daily newspaper. An interesting combo!

Why the blog? It's quite simple really. A little bit of it comes from creative frustration - I love to write but spend way too much time social networking - this will probably quench some of that. The biggest reason though is borne out of pastoral frustration. It's the tension of being the seemingly strong woman leader alongside the regular (more often irregular) girl who does normal mummy things tackling life alongside everybody else.

If I have heard once - I've heard it a million times, "But you're so strong Linz." Pah - ask my husband... by rights I should have a saline deficiency given the inordinate amount of time I spend crying. Neither have I a shortage of reasons to bow out, duck out, give up or chill out. I am a working mum. The thing is... I got saved. I got absolutely, unequivocally changed by surrendering myself to Christ (first at 12 and properly at 19) and was utterly transformed by Jesus. And in getting to know the head of it all - I fell in love with the body. I cannot tell you how much I love the Church. Being a part of it fills me with purpose and passion.

And so this will be my blog. It will centre around my domestic chaos, my marriage, my position as a leader, my place as a servant in our church and in His kingdom and my absolute love for the Church.

I'm just an ordinary gal, in a very ordinary house, surrounded by very ordinary people - people who when collected form the extraordinary organisation called the Church - which when functioning as it should sustains the transformed and transforms the lost.

Welcome to the purpose driven wife.