No, we're not starting a house church

When we decided to leave the Vineyard we had acquired a taste for the house church movement. There seemed to be so many benefits of following a New Testament model for church life.

• Small house church = intimate relationships


• Tithes go directly to community needs rather than paying for church expenses


• No more burn out on over serving in a big church


• Fewer deeper relationships with no place to hide...


• No politics of a church "organization" to deal with


• Shared responsibility = empowerment AND accountability

Those are among some of the enticements that were on the surface of house church mentality. We did a little research, felt like it would be a natural step once leaving a church to start again with something small and intimate. We tried worshipping a couple of times with some friends and felt overwhelmed by all the decisions that had to go into creating something as simple and little as a house church. What was the meeting going to look like? When would we meet? What about worship? What about the kids? Do we do a teaching or just talk and pray? The list went on and on. And then we realized that we were looking to each other to make the decisions. Big No-No when the whole point is to seek God.

So we began to pray. As Cam and I prayed we were surprised by the answers we got. Everything we were trying was the opposite of what we were hearing God say. It was really obvious that we had missed the boat. Thank goodness it only took two weeks to figure this out, and that was even before we officially left the Vineyard!

Because of what we hear God saying, where He is leading us and what we are learning through iBethel.tv we just know that a house church isn't going to work for us right now. Maybe not ever. Heidi Baker was preaching one night on the people who are saved and she said, "this is why we need buildings... where else would these people go?" and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Only a short while before Cam had a dream in which he saw our church being built from the ground up. It was just foundation and studs. He knew it wasn't the Vineyard, and he knew it was a church (the church we would be a part of building someday). When he told me about it he said, "I think we're supposed to plant a Bethel church" and I responded, "I think you're right."

That's about all I've got folks. I don't know how to plant a church. I don't know how to build a church from ground up. I have a feeling it doesn't really matter as long as I'm willing to say, "tell me what to do God, and I'll do it".

2009 has been a powerful year for our family so far. Cam and I have been on a path of radical transformation over the past several months. Our hunger for God has been amplified as we seek and find blessings of hope and revelation through a variety of ministries, especially that of Bethel Church in Redding, CA. This process of renewal is both exciting and bewildering at times. We've found intense personal healing and spiritual growth as individuals and in our marriage and family life.

We continue to seek and grow. We feel that we're being led down a new path, one that is less familiar and may require sacrifices but we're willing to take the risk knowing that God is with us. I recently heard a teaching that pinpointed exactly where we are right now. The speaker taught on Abraham (Abram) , and how his first prophecy from God did not tell him where he was to go but where he could not stay.

Genesis 12

The Call of Abram

1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.

God had promises for Abraham that could not be fulfilled if he stayed where he was. When God called Abraham to leave, Abraham obeyed and trusted that the Lord would guide him. This is exactly how our experience feels right now. We don't really know where we are going or how we will get there, but we do know where we can not stay.

We love and bless the Vineyard. We will miss our church family, but know that God will reward us for our faithfulness and willingness to give up the comfort of the first church we called home in pursuit of His Kingdom. We wanted to communicate that we will no longer be attending the Vineyard Community Church. I was going to send out an email much like what I've written here but that felt weird and expectant. We've spoken with those closest to us and our official last day with the Vineyard was August 2nd.

We've been praying and pressing into the Lord searching for answers to our questions of "what now" but the truth is we only have inklings of what's to come. Sometimes we receive dreams or visions, sometimes we feel ministered to through sermons we watch online but the most impact comes from choosing to keep Jesus in sight, every day. We don't have any definitive answers yet, but trust that God is right beside us every step of the way. One day Adi said to me, "Mama, Jesus touched you." I said, "He did? Why?" She responded, "He touched you because He's giving you courage." She didn't know how much I needed courage that day but God sure did.

So as hard as it feels to be doing faith "on our own" so to speak, we have many like-minded friends that love to talk about the the ways our hearts and minds are being changed and the impact that Jesus has on our every breath. We're truly blessed.

1st Annual Driscoll Reunion

Summer Flies By

Summer always flies by with so much to do. This year has been really different for me since my partial-year position was taken away and my position requires me to work 12 months out of the year like the rest of the non-teachers in the country. I really liked having my summers off to spend with Adi but with the state of the economy it is encouraging to know that Pearson in insourcing a bunch of artwork that used to be outsourced which means that people like me are in higher demand, not lower. That's good news.
Our garden is producing a wide variety of heirloom tomatoes and they are as always amazingly delicious. We're getting close to needing to start dehydrating and may even can a few this year if our CSA delivers any... now that I think of it I'm not sure if I saw tomatoes on the list. Hmmm.

The flower garden is amazing this year. The flowers we planted two years ago are really filling out now and complement the originals so well. I love the range of flowers in our garden.

The stargazer lilies are the sweetest, most wonderful smelling flowers of all in our garden. I just love them. The color is amazing and catching a wiff of sweet air makes me oh so happy! Adi has really developed a wonderful friendship with her friend John who lives directly behind us. He's 3 almost 3 years older than Adi but is the youngest in his family which means that when he hangs out with Adi he gets to be the oldest and he takes the responsibility quite seriously. He really strives to protect her and is an amazing friend to her. Adi says John is her best best best best best best best best friend. So sweet.

John told Adi about the tooth fairy and they found something that slightly resembled a tooth to put under Adi's pillow yesterday. She was pretty excited to see that it was gone (of course it was - I changed the sheets before she went to bed and had no idea that John had taught her about the tooth fairy). She asked, "what do you think the Tooth Fairy will bring me, Mommy?" I had a thought that perhaps she would bring Adi something golden, like a golden dollar coin. Adi quickly looked under the pillow to see if anything was there (I hadn't had time to think any of this out or act on something golden) and when she saw that there wasn't anything under her pillow she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! The Tooth Fairy gave me the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is under there!!" Wow. That came from her mouth, I had nothing to do with it. Wow. She kept putting the pillow down and lifting it again and with delight would yell, "More Holy Spirit!" It was so much fun. I am one blessed Mommy. Holy holy.

Here's the princess with little cheebie Belly-bell. We love our Bella kitty. Miss Adilyn just got done with swim lessons. She need some work on going all the way under water but she's more interested right now in taking gymnastics or dance classes. Since we're going to do home pre-school we like the idea of enrolling her in low-pressure, fun classes at the Rec Center to get her exposed to social interaction as well as paying attention and being led by a teacher in general. We have a whole other year before we have to decide yea or nay on public kindergarten - she knows for sure that she isn't quite ready for preschool and we are respecting that.