Special Kramertribe update

He’s here!!!

Introducing Shiloh Isaac Kramer! Shiloh arrived Friday November 20, 2009 at 4:13pm. He was 7lbs. 4oz. and 20 inches long. He is absolutely wonderful and adjusting very well to life outside the womb. Dana is a champ! She endured 36 hours of intense labor with only 2 ½ hours of sleep in 2 days. She is recovering well.

Shiloh means long awaited one and God’s gift. Shiloh is also the first place that was set aside as a dwelling place for God’s name. It was at Shiloh that Hannah dedicated her promised child Samuel to the Lord.

Isaac means laughter. Isaac was the promised child of Abraham and Sarah who believed in God’s promise though they had to wait so long to receive it. Together Shiloh Isaac means the long awaited gift of God’s laughter. Hallelu Yah!

As most of you know we have been on quite the journey the last 2 years. Being parents has been such a desire of our hearts but it was delayed in being fulfilled. Through all the trials we have held on to God’s promises. One passage of encouragement has been Psalm 126. Verses 5 and 6 say, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.”

Here are some pictures of the little fella for you all to enjoy. Please continue to pray for us as we adjust to life together. We love you and all and rejoice with you in this great gift.

Kramertribe

October 2009 kramertribe update

Hey everyone!

Here is what happened in this last month of Tim and Dana

2 year Anniversary
On October 7th we celebrated our 2 year anniversary of living in Minneapolis and working at Source. In some ways it is hard to believe it has been 2 years already but it also seems like we have been here a decade. We are very thankful for the last 2 years and excited for what God has in our future. Thank you all so much for your consistent prayers and support over the last 2 years. We are grateful for God's provision through you to be able to live and work in Minneapolis.
There have been many ups and downs in the last 2 years as well as many surprises. One of the main lessons we have learned, and are still learning, is that God is good. There have been times in the last 2 years that we have questioned and wrestled with this but we can confidently say that God is good. We really do not know what the future holds for us but we are sure it is good!
Here are some random pictures from our last 2 years...

































Mohamoud
Tim got to spend some time with Mohamoud on a Saturday morning in October. It had been a few months since we had seen Mohamoud so it was great to be with him again. Tim got to experience his first ever Somali breakfast which was delicious! Mohamoud served a crepe like thing called 'Anjali' with vegetable soup to dip it in as well as Somali Chai. While we ate we talked about the Qu'ran, Sufi teachings, Jesus and the cross. Muslims believe in Jesus, that he is a prophet of Allah and that he is coming back to establish a kingdom of justice and peace. However, they do not believe that Jesus died on the cross. They believe that Judas, or another was transfigured to look like Jesus, was crucified and that Jesus ascended to heaven. Mohamoud and I (Tim) had a great conversation about why Christians believe Jesus died on the cross and the nature of our need for salvation. Thank you for your prayers for Mohamoud.

Wedding
On October 30th we had the privilege of attending our friend Mandi's wedding. It was a surprise wedding that her fiancee planned and it was a costume wedding! Needless to say it was very unique and a lot of fun. Dana went as a 'Bun in the Oven' and Tim went as a monk. It was very joyful to see Mandi get hitched!





Baby Kramer
Baby kramer is doing great and coming soon. We are just 1 1/2 weeks from our 'due' date. Our family and friends here hosted a marvelous baby shower for us here October 4th. We had a really great time and felt very loved. We were blessed to have Tim's family finally meet a lot of our friends that we live and work with. Here are some pictures from the shower!

kramertribe september 2009 update

hey beloved family and friends! here is our newest update. it is hard to believe another month has flown by in the life of kramertribe. below are some snipets and highlights from September.

24/7 Prayer week

We hosted another week of prayer September 19-26. Each week of prayer we ask God for different themes to pray about. One of the main ones this week of prayer had to do with repentance and regathering. The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah actually started sundown September 18th. This directed our prayers as we asked God to bring revelation and grace for the next year for Source. The week was pretty slim in numbers but provided a lot of time for us to spend alone in prayer.

The heart of these weeks of prayer is to regather as a community and focus on intimacy with God. Each week of prayer we have new people come through to get food, prayer, friendship, etc. We are so grateful to provide a place of rest, safety and prayer for our neighbors and friends.

Fall at Source
This fall is a crucial time for Source. It is a season of transition and rebuilding. It is a very difficult season as some of our favorite people are 'moving on.' It is a stressful season as Source is not doing well financially. As a result we are cutting back on outreach and things a bit. In the midst of all of this we are looking to Jesus for direction, hope and peace. Go here to watch a video about our homeless youth outreach, B4-48.
Some of the transition comes from Peter and Jessica believing it is time to go from a para-church mindset to the mindset of a church. Source has always been a para-church ministry but Peter and Jessica want to build a church community that does homeless youth outreach, creative things with the arts, etc. Also, they are not sure how to share the ownership and vision of Source. Needless to say, Source needs a lot of prayer in this season. Dana and I are still committed to Source and hopeful of the outcome of this season. Pray for the conversations and prayers happening in the next several months.
Another part of this fall is a joint Bible study on Wednesday nights. We are going through the book, Stomping out the Darkness. The book looks a lot at our journey from being apart from God to having our identity in Christ.
Tim has been able to do some teaching as a part of this. Last week Tim taught on our sonship and adoption through Christ. The teaching centered around the good news of the gospel that reveals God plan to adopt us as his children through Christ. Tim taught from Romans 8 and other passages that speak about God's love and grace. It is truly amazing that God provided a way through Jesus for us to become his children. After the teaching Dana facilitated a time to reflect on times we have not felt significant, secure or that we belong. Then we got into small groups to pray for one another.

Kramers
~ 6 more weeks until baby kramer arrives! We are very excited for the arrival of this baby. Obviously everything is going to change and we are feeling mostly prepared. One of the major prayer concerns right now is that this baby would turn as it is still breech. We are joyfully welcoming the beginning of a new season for us. Our role at Source will be different but we don't know exactly what it will look like. We will have mid-November to mid-January off to be new parents, love our newborn and pray about our involvement at Source.

We continue to enjoy living in community and are growing a lot. Andrew and Sara, the other family at the house, are expecting their second child in February, so the house is going to get very crazy! We are preparing to harvest our garden for the second year. This year we got a lot more produce including some from last year's compost! Unfortunately we are down to only 2 chickens after losing 2 chicks and 1 hen in the last month!
Above is a picture of Andrew and Sara's son Ezekiel (Zeke) hanging out with Sybil (dog) and Benedict (cat) who like to cuddle.

We love you all and thank you for your prayers and support!

Tim, Dana and baby aka krametribe

July/August 2009 Kramertribe update

Cornerstone

Every year Source goes to Cornerstone Festival in Illinois. This year Dana and I went because the Cornerstone staff invited 24-7 Prayer to run a prayer tent and do some teaching about 24-7 prayer. We had a small team go, set up a prayer tent, run a booth and do some teaching. Tim got to fill in for one of Peter's teachings which was an honor because Peter has taught for the last 10 years. Tim taught on one of Source's core values which is being accessible. His teaching ended with a call for the Church to wake up, be a place of belonging so youth don't have to go to sub-cultures such as gangs in search of family and home.

It was great to be able to share the story of 24-7 prayer with people at Cornerstone as well as to pray with many new friends. We were also excited to have conversations with a few people about B4-48, our homeless youth outreach. Several peoples' hearts were stirred with the reality of life for youth on the streets. We hope to see this passion spread across the country and world. The picture to the left is Tim trying to get in conversations at our booth at Cornerstone.

Mom's 60th
The weekend before our biggest event of the year we had the joy of joining Tim's family in Missouri to celebrate his mom's 60th birthday. Tim's family (parents, siblings, spouses and kids) all made it which was great because they had not all been together since our wedding 3 years ago. We had a wonderful and restful time.

Tim's mom was honored to have her kids and grandkids there. Tim's brother put together a slide show with lots of pictures and some videos. What a joy to look back over the years and celebrate together! Tim's dad will be turning 60 next year so we hope to be able to gather together again then.

Art Fest

July 20-25 we hosted an Art Intensive week. We had people from Georgia, Chicago and Texas. It was a week of workshops, teachings and outreach. On Friday night we hosted an independent film festival that kicked off our annual Art Fest. On Saturday, July 25th we hosted our 7th Art Fest. We block off a street and a half, have 4 stages, free food, kids activities and lots of interactive art stations. Despite some rain it was a great day and we had a decent turn out. Everyone was really exhausted after a summer of lots of events. We ended the night with worship and prayer out on the streets. Tim was super excited to invite Grupo Raices, a band that plays the traditional music of the Andes, to play at Art Fest (see picture to left).

Dana did a cameo appearance during Art Intensive week. She played Juliet in Josh's performance of the book Blue Like Jazz.

Kramers
Kramertribe is doing well. Baby is growing and moving a lot. We are so grateful for this gift from God. This summer was really busy, stressful and good all at the same time. We grew a lot in the area of leadership through all the event coordination, teaching, leading outreach, etc. We went on a small trip to OK, AR and MO where we got to see several of you. The rest of August was spent in Minneapolis with friends, working in the garden, labor/birth classes and lots of fun.

This fall is going to look different for us as we prepare for the arrival of this baby. We are in need of a season of restoration and healing. We are in need of a season of refreshing through prayer and intimacy with God. This is our hope for the fall for us as well as all the staff at Source. Please join us in prayer for this fall and what God desires at Source. August was a 'make it or break it' month financially for Source. We (Source) were able to get some money but not as much as we need. We are trusting God but uncertain of what will happen in the coming months. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. See below for random pictures of Art Fest and such.

Tim and Dana and baby Kramer

June 2009 Kramertribe update!

UMT
The last week of June we hosted our annual Urban Ministry Training week. It is a week where we invite people from across the country to spend a week with us in Minneapolis to learn about 24/7 prayer, urban missions, art, etc. This year Dana and I were the coordinators of UMT. We had a small intimate group and had a great time. Some of the highlights were each of us getting to teach, community times of worship, and our friends Seth and Tracy sharing about God's vision of restoration.

Compassion 48
The week after UMT we hosted a week of 24/7 prayer and then hosted a week called Compassion 48. The idea behind Compassion 48 was to raise awareness about homelessness globally as well as our own backyard. We had a group of 10 from the Wesley Foundation at Louisiana Tech join us for the week. They went in groups of 3 to spend 24 hours on the streets with nothing but sleeping bags and water. These 24 hours changed their lives as they got just a glimpse of what being on the streets is like. Tim had the privilege of teaching three times throughout the week on the Kingdom of God, Jesus: a life of Compassion and The Gift of the Poor.

Friday, June 20th we hosted a B4 48 Service which consisted of a meal, spoken word, teaching and worship. We had close to 100 people come with a desire to learn about homeless youth and what they can do to help in their own backyard. God was very present throughout the night and we had a great response. We plan to host weeks like this throughout the year.

"Within 48 hours of a homeless youth hitting the streets they will be propositioned by a member of the sex or drug industry."

What if we could reach them first?

Project Earth
Last year we were invited to be a part of a local festival called Project Earth. It is a jam band, eco-village festival, or at least is advertised as such. In reality it is a weekend party. We were invited back this year and brought a team of a dozen or so. We set up camp, hosted a 24/7 prayer tent and did one of our interactive giant puzzle murals. The atmosphere at the festival seemed a lot darker and more closed this year than last. Nevertheless, we were glad to be light in the midst of darkness.


Baby Kramer
That's right folks, you are looking at baby kramer! We are 4 1/2 months pregnant! Both Dana and baby are doing great. This ultrasound was from a few weeks ago. Baby is holding its hand up by its face. As you can tell by the vague pronouns we are not disclosing the gender of baby or any possible names. You will all just have to wait till mid-November.

Thanks everyone who has been praying for us through these last few years. Please continue to pray for us as we prepare for our lives to be changed forever!

August Travels
We have three busy weeks left of summer and then will get some time off in August. We hope to be sharing at East Cross in Bartlesville the morning of Sunday, August 2nd. We will be sharing at Antioch Chruch in Siloam Springs the morning of Sunday, August 9th. We will be in Siloam August 8th-10th and stopping by Kansas City August 10-11th. We look forward to seeing many of you then.

May 2009 Kramertribe update

well, the month of may flew by and it is hard to believe it is june already! in the NCAA world they talk about March Madness, but we think in Source it would be more appropriate to talk about 'May Madness.'

Mayday
The first Sunday of May is a big day for Minneapolis. Every year Heart of the Beast Theater hosts the Mayday Parade and Festival. Picture this: 20-30,000 people, around 100 floats made of various materials and no motors allowed, puppets, activist groups, families, punks, homosexuals, trans-gender folks, pagans, Wiccans, art, music, theater, venders, etc. Got it? This is MayDay. We are one of the only Christian groups invited to participate. We are part of the parade and then host an interactive art area with mosaics, face painting, mask making, a puzzle mural and drumming.

This year we went with the theme of Trouble. We build a Trouble board float and collected prayer requests of what is troubling people. It was a really great day and gave us the chance to invite people to the Fallout and to conversation about the kingdom.

Below is a video from MayDay




24/7 prayer gathering
This year we had the privilege of hosting the national 24/7 prayer gathering in Minneapolis. Dana put in a ton of work to help host and feed about 50 people before the gathering. There were around 150 people total who joined us for the actual gathering. It was a really encouraging week as we got to fellowship together with people from England, Tulsa, Grand Rapids, Kansas City and several other places.

The gathering was focused on communion with Jesus and all that means. There was a big focus on being family together and not just working with or managing one another. The worship was powerful and we had the honor of having Ben Pasley from Enter the Worship Circle lead the main worship sessions. Dana and I also had the honor of helping lead the Prayer Track for the weekend. It was a great time of teaching, fellowship and of course prayer. For the Friday night of the gathering we hosted a mini-art fest at the Fallout. This was a great way to share the heart of the Source Boiler Room with other 24-7 prayer communities. There was live music, live drama, a puzzle mural, drum jam, worship and lots of food. We also got to share about our Homeless Youth outreach, B4-48. More on that later...

B4-48 (homeless youth outreach)
There is a shocking statistic about homeless youth in America. That statistic is that within 48 hours of being on the streets a homeless youth will be approached and propositioned by a gang member, drug dealer or pimp. We have taken up the slogan, 'Before 48 (B4-48) in our homeless youth outreach. What if, in those first 48 hours, the homeless youth encountered Christians who cared?

As part of this we have just finished a compilation CD from those who have been homeless youth or are advocates for them. They are available for a $10 donation that will all go towards our homeless youth outreach. If you want one please email us and we can ship one to you. Please be praying for us as we seek to help homeless youth.

One couple that we met during a recent outreach are Joe and Melanie. They spent the night at the Fallout, had a great time with some of the staff and have stopped by several times since. They are at a place in their lives where they want to lay down some roots. They seem very open to learning about the kingdom. Please pray for us as we love them and wait to see what the next step is in our friendship.

Kramers
We are doing well. We celebrated 3 years of marriage May 27th. Woohoo!! These months are crazy busy and go by really fast. We continue to grow in our areas of leadership at Source. One highlight of this month was helping to lead the Prayer Track during the 24/7 prayer gathering. On one hand it is not that big of a deal but on the other it is. We were significantly younger than others who were co-leading and some of those who were part of the track. But regardless God has given us favor and grace to impart to others his heart for prayer. We love sharing stories and hearing stories of others who are part of 24-7 prayer.

Our house is going through transitions as we wait to see what will happen with roommates. We have hosted a lot of people in the last few months but no one has moved in. There are several who are seriously considering moving in and we need a lot of prayer for wisdom. We got to plant our second garden at our house this month too! Yay! Thank you so much for your prayer and support. You are part of all we are doing here. We love you!

Tim and Dana

24-7 prayer

We thought it would be good to give a little blurb about 24-7 prayer for those who are not familiar with 24-7 prayer. We are also going to put a lot of pictures of our prayer room to give visuals of what we do.

'Welcome home' is a phrase we use around Source a lot. During our last week of prayer a lady wrote that she felt like she was coming home. Here is our prayer room!


24-7 Prayer history

A brief history of 24-7 prayer. You can read much more in the book Red Moon Rising or by going to www.24-7prayer.com
24-7 Prayer started in September 1999 in England, but really it started much before then. The OT hints at 24-7 prayer as early as the priesthood and tabernacle. God wanted a lamp burning in the tabernacle all day and night. Throughout Church history there have been different expressions of 24-7 prayer. Probably the most well known was Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians in Germany who prayed for 100 years! The result of 100 years of prayer was an explosion of missions all across the world. We hope to see the same in our generation. Well, all of this history has influenced the group of friends we find ourselves a part of. The idea of 24-7 prayer is that we set aside time and space to simply be with God.

Source 24-7 prayer Boiler Room

At Source we do a week of non-stop prayer every 3 months. We have an Urban Prayer Room that is open for a whole week, night and day. We have the week broken down by 1 hour time slots, people sign up to come pray-individually and corporately, and we pray for a week. It is a way to practice intimacy with God, to bring our hearts before him, to be still, to learn, to grow in love for God and for people. It is a way of practicing Sabbath together as a community. We do our best to rest from other activities, events, etc. in order to simply focus on God.

Having an Urban Prayer Room also creates space for people to encounter God. We love having people from all faith backgrounds feel welcomed to pray with us. We love pausing as a family to prayer together throughout the days. Most everyone has a sense of sacred space and respect that we have a room set aside for prayer. As we live and love our neighbors we hope for opportunities to pray with them.

Trouble

This summer we believe God has given us a theme for prayer and outreach. The theme is 'Trouble.' As you all know there is trouble all around us-the economy, family, personal. When Jesus came proclaiming the kingdom of God is near it meant trouble. At the same time God is our source of help in time of trouble. As a way of bringing this theme to the people of Minneapolis we have been collecting peoples' prayer requests of what troubles them. It is a great way of connecting and opening peoples' hearts to prayer and God.

Anyway, we hope this gives you a better glimpse of 24-7 prayer and our involvement with 24-7 prayer. Please email us if you have any questions at all concerning 24-7 prayer or Source Boiler Room. Enjoy the pictures!!!

tim's poetry

just a reminder. Tim has a poetry blog that he updates often with lots of poems.

http://mplspoetree.blogspot.com/

April 2009 Kramertribe update!!!!!!! !!!!!!! !!!!!!

Disgrace
Every year we do a Good Friday service called Disgrace. This year we had the help of several students from Crown College. Disgrace consists of 17 stations of the cross depicted by visual art in our gallery as well as a performance that goes with each station. We had around 150 people come this year and it is a wonderful night. Dana painted an oil painting for the gallery and Tim performed some spoken word. It was a powerful and stunning night. It was a great way to re-experience the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The picture is of Studio 3 in our Co-op building where we hosted Disgrace.

One of the interactive stations we do every year is a mugshot station. The mugshots represent the station of the cross where Jesus is condemned to die. We have each person get their mugshot but don't tell them what it will be used for. Then, during the performance we flash up every person's mugshot. The connection is made that we are all condemned to die but Jesus took our place. So, here are our mugshots!

April 24/7 week
We did another week of prayer April 18-25. Some of the themes we prayed about included: the kingdom of God, abiding in Christ, God's provision and the tragedy of fatherlessness. It was a good week of prayer. There seemed to be less people around for this week of prayer but it was still a really good time of abiding in Christ. We practiced a day of silence on Monday of the week of prayer. It was challenging for some who have never done anything like it before. It was a great way to practice being still before the Lord as a community.

One highlight was at the community night that wrapped up the week of prayer. We had a time open for people to share what God had been teaching them through the week of prayer. Two people shared who had not been a part of the week of prayer. They both have some social awkwardness and took a long time to say a little bit. It was awkward. It was uncomfortable. It was very raw. And it was good. In order to be a kingdom community we need to be inclusive and welcome people. The fact that people feel safe enough to sit in front of strangers and tell a story is a great thing.


Homeless youth outreach
In January through March we had a group from North Heights Lutheran Church come to the Fallout to participate in Homeless Youth outreach training. In April we picked 6 people to lead teams and they went out for the first time during our week of prayer. They connected with several homeless folk a few of which are youth. There are more travelers and homeless coming back up north for the summer.

It is great to have leaders and teams who can step up for homeless youth outreach. As much as it is our heart and a passion of ours, the reality is that we have a lot of things to do at Source. These leaders are a huge answer to prayer and we are excited to see God at work through them.

Jimmy
One of the guys who has been at the Joshua House for the last few months is Jimmy. He just turned 18 April 30th and we threw what may have been his 1st real birthday party Wednesday night! He was kicked out of his house at age 15. He thought it would be for a few weeks but came back only to find his family had moved without telling him. He was homeless for 2 years before coming to know Christ last August. He is such a great joy and blessing to our community. Psalm 68:5-6 says God is a father to the fatherless and puts the lonely in families. We are honored to be Jimmy's new family.

He is finishing up high school and hopes to go to Crown College afterward. God is doing a lot of deep healing in his life as he is a part of our community. He is being built up, given a new identity as God's child and a new family that loves him. Connie, Peter's mother in law, recently asked Jimmy if he knew his grandparents. He said he did not. Connie asked him if she could be his grandma! That is the kingdom of God! Pray for Jimmy to be encouraged as he finishes school this fall and grows in Christ.

Kramers
Well, it's official, Tim and Dana are 50 years old!!! Ha! We each turned 25 on April 26th. For our birthday we went up north to a cabin for a rest. It was a really refreshing time to get out of the city and spend time together. The cabin was a huge blessing because they usually rent it out for $250 a night, but let us stay 3 nights for free!!! We got to go on a few hikes, enjoy the beautiful spring weather, read a lot and got a lot of sleep.

The crazy Source summer begins this weekend with MayDay parade and festival. We are feeling pretty rested and good about this summer. It will be busy but hopefully not too stressful. We are looking forward to attending a friend's wedding in May and celebrating Tim's mom's 60th Birthday in July. These should be nice breaks in the midst of our busy summer. Pray for God to be present in all we are doing. Pray for God to bring the lost to him in his great love. Pray for us to have a great balance of rest and work in the kingdom.



To the above right is a picture from a recent Friday night. We are enjoying a spring evening and one of our weekly community meals.



To the left is the painting Dana did for this year's disgrace gallery. It was her first oil painting and turned out amazing!