November 2008 Kramertribe Update

Tim chillin' with Tanner and Chris (guys from the Joshua House)

Immigration Art Show

November 7, we had an art opening entitled, “Immigration,” at the Fallout. It featured different pieces of art, clothing, decorations, etc. from about 7 countries. The hope of the show was to celebrate the incredible diversity we have in Minneapolis. We hosted an open mic along with the art opening which had songs from Holland and Thailand. Our friend Mohamoud had four new paintings featured in the show as well.

Baha’i update

A few updates ago we talked about some of our friends who are part of the Baha’i Center. During our last open mic one of our friends told Dana she was reconsidering Christianity again. She had been gone for a few months. During this time she stayed with her dad who is a pastor. She told Dana that she thinks she is coming back to her senses. She longs for fellowship and wants to visit some churches. We are really excited to walk with her through this process. Please continue to pray for our friends and all those of the Baha’i faith.

Fall Benefit

Every November Source hosts a Fall Benefit that gives highlights from the previous year, introduces new people to Source and gives us an excuse to dress up nicely. This year we did things different in hopes that it would be more informative and inspiring. We had lots of yummy food, great music and then gave people the opportunity to choose three areas of Source they wanted to know more about. As staff we divided into 6 different stations that highlighted: transitional housing, prayer, outreach, training, development and our Fallout arts initiative. Dana and I led the one on prayer. The response was great and we are thankful for another opportunity to share Source with folks.

Bethany Group

The Monday before Thanksgiving Dana and I, with the help of some other staff, hosted a group of 9 students from Bethany College of Missions who were experiencing a homeless excursion in Minneapolis. They were given envelopes with assignments and times at which to open them. They had no food, bedding or money. We brought them to two different free meals in order to meet homeless people and hear their stories. We then came back and prayed for individuals we had met by name. They slept on couches at the Fallout and helped us with various work projects Tuesday morning. The students learned a lot from their experience and God revealed more of his heart for the poor.

Holiday Season

We got to go to Missouri to spend Thanksgiving weekend with Tim’s brothers, sister-in-law and nephew. We are in Minneapolis for two weeks before we leave for a much needed trip to Bartlesville and Albuquerque to be with our families. The end of our vacation will be a homeless youth outreach trip in Ocala, Florida, January 2-11. We definitely still need prayers as we continue to grieve and try to figure out why we have had miscarriages. We are hoping that our time off will provide opportunity for God to heal and teach us. We truly could not do this without all of your prayers, encouragement and support. Thank you!!!

Tim and Dana Kramer

Minneapolis

We love this city a lot.
Fall/Winter or Falter has arrived. Gone are the unusually warm days of late October/early November.
Snow. Ice. Sleet. Freezing Temperatures.

I love Falter. In Arkansas or Missouri you experience a kind of Falter, but not quite the same as Minneapolis. Here the leaves change, Fall is present and beautiful. Then a few days later the temperature drops quickly and it begins to snow. And is stays this way, only getting colder, until March, April or May.

The temptation is to withdraw inside yourself and inside your house. The temptation is to not interact, go outside or do much of anything. But this is not good. We need to be outside. We need to be with people. All the same, I feel this is a season for solitude. I hear God speaking to the depth of my soul to come be with him and only him. I awaken earlier in the mornings naturally because i go to bed earlier. It is dark here by 5:30pm. Rather than being down about this i choose to embrace the natural season changes.

I am reading John 15 a lot lately. Along with it i am reading Andrew Murray's Abide in Christ. If you have not read this book, or any book by Andrew Murray, i strongly recommend it. This particular book is broken up into 31 short chapters. The idea is that you read one a day for a month. This is what i am hoping to do. The chapters are short but profoundly deep. One thing is for sure, Jesus never called us to a one-time 'salvation prayer.' He called us to a life of deepening abiding in him. It has to be constant! If we stop abiding for a second we die because as the True Vine, he is our only life source.


So, this winter, or Falter, as we have right now in Minneapolis, listen for God's voice calling you away from busyness, distractions and lesser loves. Respond by setting aside time each day to be still, to pray, to reflect, to read. He will meet with you. He will strengthen you. He will break you. He will set you free.

Peace be with you.

Did you vote today?

no, i am not mistaken on what day it is. the question i am asking you is did you vote today? you see, voting is not some right or entitlement that you use once a year and are free of your duties. voting is something you do every day. you vote with your wallet, you vote with your clothes, with your time and resources. you vote by what your allegiance is to. who or what are you voting for today?

me? i'm voting for Jesus. why? because he is the only hope we have for change in this earth. why? because he is both God and man, he is the only Mediator. if he were only a man, no matter how great of a man, he would not be able to be our only hope for change. he would be great, but he would be man, he would fail, he would let us down. But he is both fully God and fully man. Because of this he is our only hope. Because of this he is the only true King.

So, what does it mean to vote for Jesus?
It means our allegiance and obedience is to him. It means we look to him for leadership, peace, joy, hope and freedom. To have him as our president/king is to give all honor, glory, power, tribute to him and him alone. To vote for Jesus means our lives are fully dedicated to him. It means laying down our rights and entitlements for his sake. Voting for Jesus means dignity, equality and compassion for all our fellow humans. It means a cross on which we die rather than by which we kill others. It means eradicating competition with generous compassion. It means 'Election Day' is every day of the year. It means being peacemakers and those who hunger for righteousness. Jesus as our King means the works of evil are being destroyed. So, November 5th is just as important as November 4th. Go to the 'polls' tomorrow, the next day and each day. Go to the throne of grace boldly to receive mercy and grace in your time of need.

Today, tomorrow, each day 'vote' for Jesus as King. He already is so 'voting' really means complete submission to him as your only Lord. The more people who 'vote' for Jesus, the more peace, hope, change and freedom there will be.

I hope this provokes you to thought. if you disagree please let me know, let's talk and pray about these things. Now is the time to arise. Now is the time for the body of Christ to stop hiding behind the governments but actually be the body of Christ. Jesus' plan was never for the state to take care of the poor, sick, homeless and needy. It has always been his plan that his children would do what he did. Wake up, O bride of Christ! Arise, for your light has come!

Peace be with you all.

October 2008 Kramertribe update

Another month has come and gone! This month has been a lot different than we could imagine both in the sense of joy and of sorrow.

Loss/Grieving

For those of you who have not heard, we had our second miscarriage of the year October 19th. Everything had been going great with our pregnancy until Saturday, October 18. We had heard the heartbeat the week before and everything seemed to be great. Then some bleeding started and didn't stop. A trip to the ER revealed that our baby's heart was no longer beating. The next day Dana passed the baby. We never thought we would experience this once let alone twice in one year. It has been a shock and disappointment to say the least.

We took last week off to grieve, rest and just be together. We were able to go on a lot of walks and a few dates. Last Thursday we made a short trip to Stillwater, MN, which is a beautiful town on the St. Croix River. We had a wonderful day there which included a hike and lunch at a bistro. We are easing back into things at Source this week. Though we are sad, disappointed and confused we are holding on to God's faithfulness and goodness. Please keep us in your prayers during this season.

Homeless Youth

This month we have seen a very encouraging increase in outreact to homeless youth. Every Friday night and two Tuesday nights of the month some of our staff are going out in search of homeless youth. A few weeks ago we cooked a big pot of soup, grabbed some coats and a few pastries and headed to Uptown. Unfortunately, the police had been cracking down on people that week and we didn't run into any homeless youth. Nevertheless, we shared the soup, coats and pastries with some other local homeless men and women.

We have definitely seen in increase of contact with homeless youth, travelers and older homeless people this month. The energy and momentum is growing as college students and others join us on this outreach nights. We have been able to host a few homeless couples and travelers at the Fallout for a night or two this month as well. Please continue to pray for the homeless youth, not only in Minneapolis, but in the world. Please pray for us and the other Source staff as we seek God's direction and creativity in reaching these young people.

Human Trafficking
Some of you may be aware that there are currently an estimated 27 million slaves in the world. This is more slaves than any other time in history! Much of these slaves are bought, sold and trafficked illegal to other countries. This last month God has burdened our hearts to pray and get involved in stopping human trafficking. A few of our staff and volunteers were able to attend a conference this month as well as a showing of the film, 'Call and Response.' The national and international 24/7 prayer family is also beginning to get very involved with stopping human trafficking. We are excited to see how God leads us and the doors he opens up in the coming months. To learn more about Human Trafficking please check out the following websites:
http://www.callandresponse.com/
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
http://www.humantrafficking.org/

This is one of the major 'issues' of our time and the church must respond! If you want to know more about human trafficking please email us and/or check out the websites above.

Our House
This month our house has gone through a lot of transitions. At the end of September our housemate, Kelsey, moved out after living in our house for 1 1/2 years! We were sad to see her go but knew that God had her in another season. After she moved out we felt the Lord leading us to leave her room open as a hospitality/prayer room. Within a few weeks of her moving out we ran into our friend Germ who was at our wedding. He, his girlfriend Val and his puppy, Dream have been staying with us for the last 2 1/2 weeks. They are both homeless travelers. It has been great to practice hospitality, share meals with them and just hangout with them. Though it can be straining at times it is worth it. Please pray for Germ and Val to know the Lord of Jesus. Also prayer for them as they will both be leaving to travel within the next week.

Our house also had the opportunity to go on a camping trip together this month. We headed up north to the Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth. The leaves were still vibrant and it was a beautiful weekend. It felt so good to get out of the city, to be in God's creation and to be together as a house. We continue to be so blessed by the relationships in our house. We are especially grateful in seasons like this when we are going through a lot of hardships. Everyone at the house has been so supportive and helpful. We know it would be nearly impossible to endure what we have without close brothers and sisters. Please pray for our house as we continue to seek to love God and to love our neighbors.

some thoughts for election time

Christ for President


Let's have Christ our President
Let us have him for our king
Cast your vote for the Carpenter
That they call the Nazarene

The only way
We could ever beat
These crooked politician men

Is to cast the moneychangers
Out of the temple
Put the Carpenter in

Oh it's Jesus Christ our President
God above our king
With a job and pension for young and old
We will make hallelujah ring

Every year we waste enough
To feed the ones who starve
We build our civilization up
And we shoot it down with wars

But with the Carpenter
On the seat
Way up in the capitol town

The USA
Be on the way
Prosperity bound

Song by Woody Guthrie.

Probably one of the best songs i have heard. Hmmm.

Spectacular September update

Hello again dear family, friends and fellow bloggers. Another month has come and gone in the life of Tim and Dana Kramer.

We are doing well and enjoyed a month of vacation in August. Upon our return we had a Source Boiler Room retreat. It was a lot of fun and included: our own Olympics (see picture), lots of great worship, fellowship, teaching and of course food. It was a nice way to gather ourselves together as we begin the Fall/Winter season at Source.

This month has been a lot of readjusting to work and praying/planning for the Fall and Winter. We are really excited to be back in the full swing of things and for our relationships to keep growing.

An update on Mohamoud
We have not seen Mohamoud in 2 months due to our travels and because he is an assistant art teacher! You may remember that Tim wrote him a letter of recommendation in the Winter for an art teacher position. While he did not get that position, he was hired as the assistant art teacher. Mohamoud has been very excited and busy with his job. We hope to see him again soon.

24/7 Prayer week
September 20-27 we hosted a week of nonstop prayer at the Fallout. As a community we try to host one of these every 3 months. This week of prayer we focused on praying for homeless youth, human trafficking, Muslims during Ramadan and families/marriages. It was a great week! During the week of prayer we had 4 traveler/homeless youth come through our building, two of which spent the night! What a quick answer to prayer!

Another neat experience during the week of prayer was a trip with friends to a local mosque. We went to prayer walk around the mosque Thursday night. The atmosphere went from peaceful to tense quickly. A security person told us it was private property and that we could not be there. We began walking around the mosque. As we approached two more young Somali men with security guests i wanted to greet them with the Muslim greeting, "Assalamu Alaikum," which means may peace be upon you. Instead they asked us to answer a question. "Are you from the university or mission?" We said we were just on a walk and they said thank you. "Assalamu Alaikum,' said Tim as we walked away. They responsed, "Aleykum As-Salaam...Wait! Are you Muslim?" It opened up a great conversation but then the first security person spotted us and explained why the tension was there. Some people had been assaulted near by that week and they didn't know who we were or what we are doing. They asked us to leave immediately. We came back to the Fallout and prayed for Muslims.

Gretchen
A few weeks ago as we were getting ready for midday prayer two young ladies walked into the Fallout. Peter and Jeff talked with them and told them what we do at the Fallout. They then invited them to stay for midday prayers and they said yes even though one, Gretchen, had stated that she was of the Baha'i faith. She enjoyed the Celtic Daily Prayer and asked if she could say a healing prayer from the Baha'i faith for her sister and others. It was a beautiful prayer. She told Jeff that we were the first Christian place to invite her to pray. She has been back several times, gotten in great conversations and gratefully received a Bible to read. The B'hai faith blends all major religions together and believes they all are from God. Though she spoke of Moses and Jesus, she had never actually read the Bible. Please pray for our relationship with Gretchen and for her as she thinks about who Jesus really is.

Opal
Opal is an 85 year old neighbor of the Fallout who has lived there since 1935. We had the opportunity as a community to patch a hole in her ceiling, paint her kitchen and paint her entire front porch. It was part of a Compassion Service weekend that our house church community is doing once a month. As we worked at her house we were able to hear her story, give her some company and begin a relationship. She said in all the years she has lived her she has had no good neighbors. What a testimony to God's love that we were able to serve her in this way. Please pray for our new relationship with Opal to grow. Also pray for Opal as she feels lonely and we have many people who could simply be a listening ear. Here is a picture of Libbie, one of the staff, with Opal in her newly painted kitchen.

Pilgrimage: a reflection

My wife and I recently took a pilgrimage in a unique way. A pilgrimage is a journey to a foreign place or a journey to a shrine or holy place as a devotee. The holy place we sought was a more intimate knowledge of God. We had three and a half weeks of vacation, many people to see, a desire for adventure and a desire to save money. So, after much prayer, thought and conversation we decided to hitchhike. Our conviction was that we would: meet God in a deeper way, grow closer together through an adventure, see family and friends, celebrate and boast in the abundant faithfulness of God. All of these things happened along our pilgrimage journey.

“How did we meet God in a deeper way by hitchhiking?” some of you may be asking. There is a principle in the kingdom of God that when we are in need we are close to God. The end of ourselves is the beginning of God’s mercy. Voluntarily putting ourselves in a place of dependency opened up a greater intimacy with God. It was kind of like being a child again. We were dependent on God through others for rides, shelter, food, etc. We experienced the faithfulness and goodness of God through the kindness of strangers. When we were tired, hungry and sore we were given rides, cold water and places to rest.

We had a very restful pilgrimage that strengthened our marriage. Being in a place of need together can be stressful but it can also be a freeing adventure that gives opportunity for strengthened communication. Dana and I spent lots of time together, prayed together more often and grow closer together through this trip. It reminded me of the times Jesus sent us his disciples by twos with nothing so they were dependent on the hospitality of strangers. Our society races towards self-dependency but Jesus taught us to resist this by living in dependency on God and one another. What is really more dangerous-the deception of luxury, comfort and having everything or being dependent on a loving faithful Father who provides everything for our enjoyment?

So, we traveled hundreds of miles through Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri and the total trip costs us nothing. We got rides from 7 strangers, had great conversations and overall a wonderful vacation.Thank you to everyone who gave us rides, gave us food and gave us places to stay. It was wonderful to see many of you and enjoy fellowship together.

We are excited as Source gears up for our fall/winter season. In this season we are excited for some new initiatives with homeless youth. Please pray for us as we try to meet these young people and gain their trust. There are around 1,850 people under 21 on the streets in Minnesota, most of them in the Twin Cities area. The Source staff have a heart to befriend these young people and offer any help we can.Thank you for your prayers and constant support of us.

July Update

We are wrapping up some things for the summer today and tomorrow we are heading out for 3 weeks of vacation/travel/update. We will be in Nebraska, Oklahoma (August 3-6), Arkansas (August 7-11) and Missouri. We will be sharing an update at East Cross United Methodist Church in Bartlesville, August 3rd at 9:40am in Room 325. We will also hopefully be sharing an update at Antioch Church in Siloam Springs, AR, August 10th. So come on out and hear what we've been up to, see some sweet pictures and give us a hug!

July has been one busy month. Here is a list of just some of the things that have happened:

Dana’s Parents visited
Concerts
Crown College Students on inner city mission trip
Drum & Easel Art Party
Art Intensive Week
Art Fest
3.5 Days of 24 hour prayer

The first week of July Dana’s parents visited. They even helped Dana paint one of the murals we are working on outside the Fallout! It was fun to have them around and to experience our daily life.

We have continued to have a weekly rhythm of morning, noon, and evening prayer 5 days a week as well as having the Fallout open on Friday’s for concerts and outreach.

Twice this month we went to Loaves and Fishes, the largest free meal in the city to throw and interactive art party, playing drums and instruments outside as well as painting inside with those who are eating.

Crown College students joined us for two weeks as we prepared for the Art Fest. Every year we host what’s called a Drum & Easel Art Intensive week. This is comprised of workshops, discussions, and seminars on how to be an artist and a Christian.

The culmination of the Art Intensive week was Source's 6th annual Fallout Art Fest. We block off 2 blocks around the Fallout and Artist Co-op building to host a free Art Fest. Below are pictures and a description of what the Fallout Art Fest consists of.

3 STAGES + INDOOR/OUTDOOR + INTERACTIVE STATIONS + DRUM JAMS + 50 ARTISTS + 50 PERFORMERS + GALLERY/ARTIST BOOTHS + KIDS ACTIVITIES + COMMUNITY MURALS + FREE FOOD + PUPPET SHOW + ARTIST BOOTHS + PUZZLE MURAL + GIANT INFLATABLE TITANIC + SCREENPRINT YOU OWN SHIRT + HIP HOP + DANCE TEAMS + FLAMENCO DANCING + DRUMMING + COMMUNITY MURAL +

AND MUCH MUCH MORE!

Following the Fallout Art Fest we hosted 77 hours of nonstop prayer at the Fallout. This was a great opportunity to reflect on the summer, everyone we had met, talked to, prayed for, etc. It also was a great opportunity to recover from the multiple 10+ hour days we put in in preparation the Art Fest. We also were able to pray for each of the interns before the headed home after our summer wrap up party!


We hope to see many of you during our travels. Thank you for your prayers and encouraging e-mails.


Love,

Tim & Dana

Project Earth

Here is the scoop on Project Earth, the festival we went to this last weekend in Harmony Park. There is a band from Minnesota who is quite popular in the midwest. There name is Wookie Foot. They have charities that are building schools and orphanages around the world. Project Earth is an experiemental mix between music festival, rainbow gathering and eco-village. There were a little more than 1000 in attendances and we were invited to be a part of it. We hosted an interactive puzzle mural where people come and paint a random puzzle piece. As the day goes by we put the puzzle together until it is complete. No one who is painting knows the design or the piece they have. We have never had such a great response to any puzzle mural before!


We also set up a prayer tent and prayed from Friday at 10pm till Sunday at 10am. We got into a lot of amazing conversations, got to pray blessings over people and share meals with them as well. God was so present and gracious to us. Below is an account of the weekend put together by some of us as well as some pictures. You can see more pictures at http://www.falloutminneapolis.com/pastevents/project%20earth/index.html

below is an account of the weekend some of us put together.
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Project Earth 2008

“I’m not sure what you were doing in that circle, but when you were doing it I felt something real, and it was wonderful, and I began to cry.”

We had just finished having a final prayer circle of the weekend. We had packed everything up and were ready to return. We took time to process, pray and give thanks to all that God had done. A girl that was with a group of young adults that had camped adjacent to us who frequented our camp throughout the weekend came up to me and said the above quote. I told her it was not any “magic” we were doing but that we were simply praying to Jesus, and that it was the Holy Spirit that wanted to tell her that she was wonderful and wanted to touch her.

It was one of a handful incredibly significant prayer times and conversations we experienced through the weekend. We were there less than 48 hours and we got to see God do so much. We really were able to see God move in so many ways. There was quite a few spiritually significant conversations that allowed us to share Biblical understanding of Jesus and/or allowed us to pray with young adults very significant prayers of worth, revelation, and conviction. We even saw some brought to the point of seeing tears as they sensed the Holy Spirit come to be with them.

As some of you know most of our staff and interns traveled the hour and a half concrete trail to Harmony Park to participate in the Project Earth event. Over the course of less than 48 hours we found ourselves with a very busy schedule between the prayer tent, the puzzle mural, several significant conversations, and feeding a few more mouths than we brought with us. We found little time to rest and due to our proximity to the two main stages, we didn't have to move to hear all the great bands. Oh yes, and on the note of our location, we were incredibly blessed to be placed at the crossroads! Yes, to you who are familiar with the Aidan story you know how significant it is not only in our history, but also in our mission. We had our share of drunken masses shouting as they walk by, crazy all night drum jams, and those who used our campsite as a shortcut, all of which we consider a great privilege to be able to bless. It is so encouraging to watch people's faces brighten as they paint a ridiculously huge puzzle piece, and as they eat a hot cup of soup, or just stand round our fire.

It is not always easy to balance the passions of prayer and mission but God has called us to it nonetheless. On Friday we busily set up our camp which included tents to sleep in, a kitchen tent and a prayer tent we had the sense that God was with us. From the beginning of the festival it was evident that God was already at work. As we drove down the gravel road we were greeted by free CDs of two Christian bands. The first band that played started out with a gospel song which declared, “Lord have mercy on me a poor sinner.” Even in the midst of a subculture of wounded, marginalized addict hippies you cannot get away from God’s love.
We ran a prayer tent from Friday night at 10pm until Sunday morning at 10am. This included morning, mid-day and evening prayers together as well as individuals praying throughout the day and night. As the opening quote shows, God was definitely present through our prayers. It was especially significant to prayer night and day as the partying and drum circles also went night and day. We praise God for his grace and nearness as we practiced prayer and mission.

There were conversations in which we have recognized the fact that we are communicating with someone who may never remember this conversation because of their hindered mental state, but in this realization does not give way to hopelessness, no, it merely spurs on the knowledge of the truth of the words in Isaiah 55:10-11 "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." So we trust that God had a plan for the mission on which He has sent us.

may/june update, finally!

hey everyone, we are finally giving you an update. we know you have been on the edge of your seats waiting to here what we have been up to.

"Hey dread!"

This is what Tim heard last Monday as he was working on the garden on a lovely spring morning. My initial reaction was to ignore the person in hopes of continued solitude while pulling weeds. Instead the man parked his car and walked toward the front gate. "Devon, Devon, Devon," he said with his hand extended. DevonEvans is 64, has survived cancer and a stroke, is an activist, loves gardening, builds drums and traveled with Bob Marley and the Wailers!!!! He was looking for his friend's house but was on the wrong block when he saw a man with dreadlocks working in a garden! We are excited about this new friendship and are once again blown away by how God choses to work. Pray for Devon as he has had a rough life and has many eccentric spiritual beliefs. He is hopefully going to be coming around the fallout, playing music and wants to come cook us a Caribbean feast at our house!

May
Is it July already?! Where did May go or June for that matter! May 4th we were part of the May Day parade and festival. This annual event draws thousands of people, mostly the 'liberals' of liberal minneapolis. We built a giant goose bridge float for the parade and had an interactive art station in the park. The goose is the symbol of the Holy Spirit used by Celtic Christians, perhaps because they thought the dove was too wimpy! The float and crew are shown in the picture to the right.

In May we also attended the first ever USA 24/7 Prayer national gathering in Kansas. There were a couple hundred people who attended from all across the US. it was encouraging to hear and share stories, worship, prayer and fellowship together. We had a group of about 20 from Minneapolis. It was a special weekend as we got to host a theatrical performance of St. Aidan, drumming and worship near a campfire as well as being commissioned as an official 24-7 Prayer Boiler Room!

UMT

May 31st-June 8th we hosted our 10th Urban Ministry Training week. It was a full week of teaching, worship, electives, outreach and fun. There were about 15 students this year and we had a blast. The last Saturday of UMT, June 7th, we were part of Minneapolis' downtown block party called MOSAIC. MOSAIC is a celebration of the diversity of cultures and arts in minneapolis. we were given a great spot right next to main stage and hosted an interactive art station including a drum circle, make your own mosaic and a huge community mural. The mayor of Minneapolis stopped by and helped paint the mural. This was just one of the highlights of UMT. UMT ended with a great time of worship and a baptism of one of the girls who came to UMT from Indianapolis.This is a picture of a neighborhood Somalian girl spray painting at our Gloria Dei graffiti hip-hop event during UMT. Only at the Fallout do you have a Somalian girl with her head covering doing graffiti!!!



June

After recovering from the madness of May we began our June adventures. June has been a lot slower of a pace as we have 6 summer interns, a new weekly schedule and preparations for our 6th annual Fallout Art Fest which happens July 19th. Our weekly rhythm consists of three times of prayer Tuesday-Saturday, weekly drum and easels at Loaves and Fishes (part of St. Stephen's), Boiler Room prayer and share Wednesday evenings, teaching, story collecting, Fallout Fridays and much more. The last weekend of June, 13 of us traveled down to Harmony Park outside Geneva, MN, for a festival called Project Earth. We are going to put a post on Project Earth so you can read more about it there.

We are doing well although we are definitely looking forward to having a few weeks off in August. Tim's parents were in Minneapolis the first week of June for a short visit. Dana's parents are here right now for a few days. It is nice to be able to spend time with family in the midst of the busy Source summer. We know there are just a few short weeks left and then the summer will be over. You can pray for us to have energy for all the work before us. You can pray for us to have grace and patience with one another in the midst of very stressful weeks. You can pray for us to have wisdom in what to do with our 2 1/2 weeks off in August. We love you very much!!!

may and june?

hey friends,

sorry for our delay in updates. we are planning on doing a may and june update combo in the next few days. things have been very busy and very good. the weather in minneapolis has been great. we have some really exciting stories to share and hopefully pictures to accompany them.

guess which famous person we recently met? no cheating those who have heard the story!


stay tuned beloved family and friends.

2 years of marriage!!!!

on tuesday dana and i celebrated 2 years of marriage. we had a great day off of work, a wonderful greek lunch, a long bike ride and rest. the past 2 years have been wonderful as we continue to get to know one another and Jesus through each other. we have a little tradition of watching our wedding DVD each anniversary to remind ourselves of our vows. i am so grateful for such a great wife!!!!

for those of you who are awaiting our may update, it will be coming, but not till next week. we are in our second day of our Urban Ministry Training which is really busy and really awesome.

may update coming soon!

may madness

well, we are only 9 days into may but it has been crazy already. we worked really hard last week building a giant goose bridge float for MayDay parade as well as lots of prep work for the festival. it was our first MayDay experience and was exhausting. it would have been nice to do only the float or the booth.

the last few weeks have been beautiful. we started tilling up our front yard this week to put in a big vegetable garden. we have been biking almost every day instead of driving which has been wonderful. i feel new life within me. i have been getting in a lot of conversations lately with many different people. one of the most encouraging conversations was with two men in a park. they overheard my friend and i talking about paul and his life. they came over and asked if they could listen. we ended up have an amazing conversation about the kingdom of God and losing our lives for Jesus that we can truly find them. these brothers have renounced all things in order to seek the kingdom of God first.

today i did something i don't usually enjoy doing-i went flyering. i went to intermedia arts, the alt bike and board shop and 5th element. it was great to bike and adventure around the city. i look forward to doing it more.

dana and i are way too busy yet we still make time for dates and rest. this summer is going to be great!

and to top things off here is a picture i found of me from 3 years ago when i did my internship at source. yarg!

April Update

"That's a good feeling"

Last night we had our usual monday night Boiler Room meeting. It was a typical night of gathering for a meal, lots of conversation and laughter followed by a discussion of a chapter of PunkMonk and praying together. One of our friends, Kamp, came in, left, came back, left and came back again. Kamp is a friend and 'regular' at our open mic nights. He is in his 50s, his wife is in a nursing home with alzheimers, he lives in assisted housing and takes classes at U of M. He carries a lot of baggage from bad church experiences and lets everyone know. Last night Kamp told Tim that this place (the Fallout) means a lot to him and has been really good for him. He talked about previous seasons of life where he was alone in his apartment but now he comes here regularly. He said here he feels important, needed, wanted. He said, "You know, i come here and do my open mic thing and feel like if i missed one people would say, 'Hey, where's Kamp?' That's a good feeling." This is what our heart is and a great story of how God is healing a heart through friendship and a place of belonging. Here is a picture of Kamp playing at our Good Friday service called disgrace.

Prayer Prodigal Pilgrimage

This month we had another one of our full weeks of nonstop prayer. Long before we had the dates, April 19-26, set our friend Jeremy planned a Prodigal Party for April 20th. This date is significant because it marks his one year of returning to the Father. Sunday, April 20th, started out cold and grey but ended up warm and sunny. A thin layer of ice covered Lake Calhoun when we arrived but was blown away within an hour. Prodigal Party included a BBQ feast, delivering parables of Jesus through drumming and spoken word, testimonies of some prodigals and two baptisms in very frigid water. It was a joyful celebration of prodigals returning to the Father.

Praying for prodigals was also one of the main themes of our week of prayer. One of the stations was a 'family tree' where people wrote names of family, friends, etc. who are prodigals. People then prayed for them by name to know the Father's love and desire to welcome them home. The week of prayer was great and gave us a great chance to simply rest and pray. It was very timely as we are entering our busiest season at Source. To read the journal, see pictures and read about 24/7 prayer visit our website http:/www.sourcemn.org/247prayer/247april08/index.htm.

Mohamoud
A week ago Thursday we moved Mohamoud into a studio space in our Art Co-op building and are able to give him the space for free. Tim has had some great converstions with him lately. Please continue to pray for him. We are also looking into visiting a local mosque to learn more about Islam and building relationships with more Somalian muslims. Mohamoud came over to our house for a dinner last night and here is a picture of Tim and him!

Our Birthday

For those of you who were unaware. Our birthday is on the same day, Apr. 26th. We turned 24. It was a great day of celebration with friends. We enjoyed a wonderful Indian meal together and great fellowship as the community night and wrap up of 24/7 fell on our birthday.

We are doing well. The weather has been slowly but surely getting better. We have been able to bike a lot. We are putting in a garden at our house and have been able to do some yard work finally.

Tim and Dana Kramer

birthday

today is dana and i's birthday. that is right, we have the same one! we have enjoyed being together, being with God and being with friends. we had a good chat over indian food today about purpose and hope. every since we began following Jesus we are excited about each new day and new year. we have experienced a lot in the last year and are excited to see what this year holds. it is a gift to enjoy life and look forward to it. there are many who do not feel this way.

who knows what this next year may hold. lots of growth, maturing, learning to love. children. trials. joys. new friends. old friends. art. music. silence. life. death.

one thing that never changes is that God is with us always.

experiment

we are going to experiment with a blog so that more people can hear what we are doing more often. will it survive? will it work? you only determine the outcome..... er, sorry, i don't know what that was.




just experimenting with pictures.