Team Burgess
Prayer Requests
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Ways to Pray for Us:
1. Danielle's surgery on June 9 that will remove almost all of her remaining colon.
2. Mike as he takes care of Danielle for the summer.
3. Mission: Ignition at The Avenue. We have another service weekend the first of June.
4. Support raising. It's tough in this economy and under these circumstances, and it gets the back burner too often. But, it's important and we must persevere because it's what we're called to do.
5. Mike as he teaches the second session of summer school in Lee's Summit, starting the last week in June.
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This Month's Quote
When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Photo Gallery
On May 7, we were married FOUR years! We had an awesome getaway in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. We stayed in a tree house and enjoyed the natural springs, great food and awesome hiking the city had to offer!
We found some great hiking spots in Arkansas! I strapped on my camel pack and boots as we hit the natural beauty of the War Eagle Creek Trail.
I encouraged my mom a few years ago to check out Fort Hays State University for her Master's Degree. They had an affordable program that was all online. She did, and now she's finished! I'm so proud of her not only for finishing her Master's, but for being the first one in our family to get a higher-ed degree. Go Mom!
Part of the deal was that if Mom finished at FHSU, I would travel to Hays, Kansas to watch her get her degree. That was easily done. I think my end of the deal was much easier.
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Dear Friends,
May is one of our favorite months. We get to kick off May with our anniversary and then follow up the celebration with Mother's Day, graduations and weddings. Please enjoy this update from the Burgess household!
Danielle
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A Welly Good Time
We've had another great month at The Avenue. We're still meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Independence, MO and seeing new faces each week. Our average attendance in April was 136 (including kiddos), and our life groups continue to grow! We have seven life groups meeting each week and two more forming this summer.
 Out of a great month for our church, the highlight for me was At The Well, our first womens' retreat. I worked with an awesome group of women to plan this one-day event for gals at our church. Our goal was to have 40 women sign up, and we were blown away when over 50 registered to attend!
We met at a conference center in Blue Springs and had a packed day. Debi Stack, a humorous author/speaker/awesome friend, spoke to our ladies about how to 'draw from the well,' and 'pour from the overflow.' She had some great teaching points and challenges for us as church planting women!
 Our day also consisted of rubbing shoulders with other women at the church. We were divided into teams and had icebreakers, discussion tables, prayer stations and an amazing race activity in the afternoon to help everyone get to know other people.
It turned out to be a great day, and a cup-filler for so many women. So many of the ladies walked away with huge smiles and so many encouraging words and testimonies of what they enjoyed about the retreat. It was a also huge-eye opener for me to realize a few things:
1) We are blessed with some amazing women at our church! I always knew they were cool, but they are even more awesome than I realized.
 2) I'm not the only one who is feeling the effects of church planting. Although I am called to work for The Avenue in a full-time setting, there are about 50 other women at the church who are also called to be a CPL - church planting lady. This was so encouraging to me. They feel it too, they have poured out just as I have and also need times to fill up.
3) Never neglect to get your cup filled. It's so hard to operate when you're dry. Filling up is the most important thing. |
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The Flip-Side of the Coin
It's been tough to ask for financial support these past few months. One encouragement the Lord has continued to give me is a reminder that I am living as an American missionary, and that just as He provides for anyone called out of the country or on special trips, He will provide for me too. And the way He's going to provide is through His people.
Before I felt led to work in full-time ministry, God called me to support several other missionaries. I would receive letters or updates of friends (or strangers) called to college campuses, youth work, distant cities and other countries who were casting their nets and asking me to pray about becoming a financial supporter of their ministries. It was exciting for me to have a role in what God led them to do, and to have my own personal calling come from it. By supporting them, I followed in obedience to God's calling on my life to financially and prayerfully support them as they lived out their callings to serve as missionaries in the field.
I'm on the other side of that coin now, as I am that friend who sends out updates each month asking for financial support and prayer for the mission work God has called me to. Now that I've been on both sides of this coin, I would say that both sides are equally as hard. It's hard to be on this side and be the "asker," knowing that my next paycheck is dependent on people supporting me. It's tempting to feel lazy,
selfish or anything else negative Satan hurls my way because of the ministry role He's called me to do.
On the flip side though, I know it's just as challenging to be the "supporter," working hard at a job everyday with so many financial obligations already. Supporting a person who's been called to ministry is tough, especially when you're already finacially giving to other ministries. It's hard to understand other's needs and how you can help with them. I know in the past, I just wanted everything to go away and everyone to have enough money for everything and not need me to do anything about it. But it didn't quite work that way, and I eventually learned that both sides of this coin are hard, but both produce wonderful blessings.
I am confident that God calls us each to unique and specific things. He's like an awesome botique store and has a special outfit for each of our lives. He's called me to help start The Avenue, a church who's reaching out to a postmodern culture in the KC area and changing people's minds about God and the church. That's my unique calling, it started out as simple as supporting others, and has now evolved into this.
I know He also has a unique botique-style calling on some of your lives, and part of that might include a step toward being the other side of this coin for me and helping provide financial support for our ministry at The Avenue. I have faith that He might be stirring the hearts of some of you guys who resonnate with the mission of The Avenue and asking you to follow in obedience to give. If you feel like He's called you to be part of my flip-side, I pray for strength for you as you follow in obedience. I know and empathize that it's really hard, but it's also really worth it. And I thank you so much for coming on this journey with us.
If you feel led to be on the flip-side for me, here are some ways to give: Support Danielle Online (click the link to donate through PayPal)
You may also send a donation to:
The Avenue
PO Box 2213
Lee's Summit, MO 64063
ATTN: #03
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Bon Voyage, Colon.
 Well, the six months that I've had to prepare for my surgery have now whittled down to two weeks. June 9 is my scheduled date. Because I've started to grow polyps rapidly again, the doctors feel the best course of action for me is to remove (almost) the rest of the problem area. I won't have a colosomy bag, but I will have just a few cm of storage left after this, which means the safe place to stand will NOT be between me and the bathroom.
To be completely honest, I've had a harder time getting ready for this surgery. It was not fun when I was 17, but I'm also seeing the blessings from going through this back then, I didn't have a mortgage, bills, husband, household, dogs, job, or church plant. Things are a little different now. I just realize there's more on the table, and the risks and consequences are more obvious to me.
I'm going through the stages of coping with this. A few weeks ago I was freaked and burdened, last week I was mad, this week I'm in a 'live for the moment' phase, and we'll see what next week brings. As any cancer survivor can relate, the nervousness of having one cell from the pathology reports come back with cancer can change your entire life. Not that I'm expecting this, but the threat is always there. I'm praying against this, and hoping for a quick removal and easy recovery.
 This has rocked my faith more than ever before, and I've been asking "Why!?!" more now than ever. While I'm dealing with feelings of frustration, doubt, anxiousness, and more, I have been comforted by a few things. I have a great support system of friends and family, and especially co-workers from The Avenue, who have allowed me to be transparent and open with how I feel. They've assured me that I don't have to be 'super women' all of the time, and that it's OK, and expected to be shaken because of this. Mike and I have been through this once, and so we're prepared for what's coming. He's amazing, and a true Godsend in all of this. The reassurance from Mike and my support system has also reminded me that even beyond them, I've got Jesus going through this with me too. He's listening to my complaints and holding my hand as we get through this. It started out as our journey, and as much as I want to butt Him out, it will continue to be our journey.
I appreciate everyone's prayers as we head into this. I am having surgery at St. Joseph Hospital in Kansas City, but need to limit my visitors to family only right now. If you'd like to keep up with my surgery and receive updates, you can visit our Caring Bridge website we set up. Mike will be updating this frequently in a few weeks. I'd love to have visitors once I get back home!
Here's the website: www.caringbridge.org/visit/danielleb
Thank you again!
danielle |
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