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!

M-A-R-C-H 2009!!!!!!!

Spring Break Extravaganza
This month we had a group of Northwestern College young ladies spend their Spring Break week with us. 4 RAs and one RD spent the week with us-serving, learning, praying and just being a part of our community. Tim had the privilege of teaching them about prayer and community throughout their week with us. They had a really good time and have been telling lots of other people about their experience.

Two of our friends, Lisa and Lindsey, also decided to spend their Spring Break week with us. They stayed at our house and hung out with us during a normal week at the Source Boiler Room. It was great to host them and be a part of what God is doing in their lives. Tim knows Lisa from FBC Camdenton way back in the day. Lisa and Lindsey at a concert ---------------->

Seder, Passover
Every year Source hosts a traditional Jewish Passover meal called a Seder. It is a great way to gather as a community and reflect on God's faithfulness throughout history. This year we had about 60 people celebrate the Seder together. A Seder involves traditional foods, many of which symbolize the bitterness of slavery and sweetness of redemption. The particular script that we follow points to Jesus as the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb. Dana did an amazing job of organizing all the food and arrangements for this years Seder.

12 Hour Prayer Vigil
Last May God spoke to us about doing more periods of 24 hour prayer at the Source Boiler Room. Though it has been almost a year we have not seen much of a change. While the Northwestern ladies were with us we did a 12-hour prayer vigil to give them a taste of 24/7 prayer. They loved it and so did we. We decided to do another one a few weeks later. Now we are hoping to do at least a 12-hour, if not 24-hour, prayer vigil every month that we aren't already doing a week of prayer. As the prayer coordinators we are really excited to equip and stir the body into more prayer.
St. Stephen's
We finally did an overnight at St. Stephen's shelter Tuesday, March 31st. We had not done an overnight since the Tuesday before Thanksgiving! It was a really good night as we met new friends and caught up with some old friends too. We hope to do an overnight once a month at St. Stephen's and continue to pray for the men in the shelter.
Every time we get to be with friends who are poor or homeless God teaches us about his kingdom. The church needs to realize that proximity to the poor is not an option. We need to realize that the poor are a gift from God to the body of Christ. It is in relationship and proximity to the poor that we realize our true need of God. There is something about seeing unhidden needs that exposes our false sense of self-sufficiency.
Kramertribe
We have survived another rough winter in Minneapolis and are ready for Spring. We got to start our garden by planting seeds inside a few weeks ago. Lots of our seeds are sprouting already and we are anxious for the day we get to plant them in our garden.
Dana discovered oil paints and painted a piece for this year's Disgrace (Good Friday service). Tim will be sharing some of his poetry for Disgrace again this year. We will have pictures in next month's update. Tim has had many opportunities to teach in the last few weeks and is grateful for them.
We are bracing ourselves for the busyness of Source summers. Interns will be arriving mid-May, every week the end of May through the end of July will have many things happening around the Source Boiler Room. Please pray for the staff as we seek God for direction concerning this summer. We hope it is the best summer Source has had yet!

Tim and Dana Kramer

February 2009 Kramertribe update

Greetings beloved family and friends! We are so grateful for each of you and excited to share with you what has been happening in our lives this last month.

Homeless Youth Benefit
Friday, February 27, 2009, we hosted a Homeless Youth benefit at the Fallout. It was a great collaboration of artists, musicians, ministries and non-profits. We had between 150-200 people show up for the benefit and raised nearly $1000! Local bands played for free, some of our staff did an excellent drama that educated people on the realities of homelessness and we got a lot of socks to give away. It was an encouraging night and a great testimony to Jesus since a bunch of Christians hosted the event. Jesus really loves when his bride does what he does and lets the world know of his great love.
You can see pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/falloutminneapolis

Homeless Youth outreach update
In February we continued to see an increase of people who have a heart to join us in homeless youth outreach. A college group from a church has been coming twice a month and will finish up their training in March. A group from Bethel College has also joined us. They had been cooking food and bringing it to Loring Park and are now going to help us.
A few months ago we started a donation closet with the hopes that it could be a ‘Free Store’ for our homeless friends. In the last 2 months it has not only been filled but is overflowing! However, we know it won’t stay this way for long. Recently one of our homeless brothers stopped by and was excited to find the donation closet full. He said he is going to spread the word. Once spring gets here we have a feeling the closet will be emptying quickly.

Mohamoud update
Thank you all for your continued prayers for our dear friend Mohamoud. I, Tim, was able to visit him this month at his apartment. It had been several months and I knew it was time to see him. When I got to his apartment it was one of the five daily times of prayer for Muslims. I sat in the living room while he went to his room to pray. When he was done he came out and his daughter made us some Somali tea. We chatted about art and I helped him look up some stuff regarding art classes on the Internet.
He saw some calligraphy in Arabic and read it to me, “Allah alone is God and Muhammad is his messenger.” He told me the core beliefs of Islam and I asked him some questions. His daughter interjected comments, quoting the Qu’ran. I was able to share with him the good news of how we are saved by grace not works. I spoke to him about Jesus’ sacrifice and for the first time he said, ‘This is where Muslims and Christians disagree.’ As I left he said he really enjoyed our conversation and wants to continue our conversation. Please pray for Mohamoud and his family to know God and his son Isa. I know I cannot convince him, but our Father can reveal truth.

Kramertribe
This has month has been pretty good for us. There have been some rough days as we continue to grieve the loss of children in the last year and a half. We are also ready for spring to be here! Dana started mentoring Maj, whom we have written of in other updates. See prayer request below for how you can pray.
Tim is getting more opportunities to teach. He recently taught on Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This verse can be translated as saying, “Happy, fortunate, free from daily cares and worries are those who are spiritually poor as a beggar, because theirs is the reign, rule and authority of heaven.” This concept is the complete opposite of what most people strive for. We strive to be spiritually strong and self-sufficient. We think the kingdom will come to those who help themselves and are strong. Jesus teaches the opposite. Many Jewish people believed the kingdom and Messiah would come only by a great war and force of arms. In the Beatitudes Jesus says the kingdom will come to the poor in spirit, the meek and the peacemakers. Rather than seeking to be self-sufficient in our relationship with God we need to seek to be spiritually poor. There will never be a ‘height’ in our Christian walk where we are no longer dependent on Jesus. Those who truly mature in Christ find that the more they walk with him the more aware they are of their desperate need of him.

Prayer Requests
- Summer interns: pray for God to provide for those he wants here for the summer.
- Disgrace, our Good Friday service- April 10th: Pray for the lost to come and experience God.
- Summer in general: Pray for direction, discernment and obedience.
- Peter and Jessica (baby due March 30th): Pray for the Wohlers as they welcome their 4th child and take some much needed time off. Pray for the staff as we will be carrying a lot of their weight in their absence.
- Dana mentoring Maj: Pray for confidence, wisdom and grace as Dana goes through the story of God with Maj. Pray for protection as Maj carries a lot of wounds and spiritual baggage.
- Spring break: We have two groups of college girls coming for their spring breaks. One will be here March 6-14 and the other March 21-28. Pray for them to encounter God and be changed by their time with us.
- Mohamoud: Pray for Tim as he continues to speak with Mohamoud about Jesus (Isa). Pray for Mohamoud and his family to know God and his Son. Pray for more opportunities to visit Mohamoud.
-Joshua House guys: Pray for the Joshua House guys to be encouraged, to find jobs and to seek Jesus as their Life. Pray for protection from any work of the enemy to discourage them.

We are exceedingly thankful for you and your support. There is no way we could do what we do without your prayers, financial support and encouragement. Thank you! We love you and pray you are well. Take time during this Lenten season to really reflect on the cross and sacrifice of Jesus. Peace be with you in Christ.

Tim and Dana Kramer

tim playing drums at our Drum and Easel

Kramertribe January 2009 update

In this month's edition of kramertribe you will read about the following:

Ocala Homeless Youth trip
24/7 Prayer

and maybe a few other exciting things. Thanks for staying tuned, here's the latest!

Ocala
January 2-12 we made a trip with Source to Florida. The purpose of the trip was to reach out to some folks who live in the Ocala National Forest for a Rainbow Gathering. Rainbow gatherings started in the 70s in the high of the 'hippie' movement. These gatherings consisted of anywhere from 100 to 20,000 people living in the woods, sharing free food, playing music, doing drugs, etc. There greeting to each person who comes is 'Welcome home.'

Every year in the Ocala National Forest several thousand homeless youth, travelers and old hippies gather together. Source has gone to this gathering twice previously-once in 2005 and again in 2007. This year we had a team of 12 who set up a kitchen, cooked and served three meals a day as well as maintaining a 24/7 prayer tent in the woods. We also kept a journal while we were in the woods. You can read about it on Source's website. The link is: http://sourcemn.org/OUTREACH/florida/florida09jrnl.htm.

God really blessed us on the trip, even before we got into the woods. A vineyard church hosted us before and after the gathering. A couple, Tom and Anita (pictured above), that have been involved with Christian community for years hosted us at their home. We were encouraged by their hospitality and felt like family instantly! Once we got into the woods God really gave us grace and favor. We met a lot of people, prayed with a lot of them, cooked and served some great food and saw God move in great ways. Many of the people have been hurt by the church and are turned off by Christians.

By the end of our week in the woods our new friends, who knew we were Christians and had been around while we prayed or even prayed with us, did not want us to leave. We had become family in just a few days. One of the young men even decided to come back with us to Minneapolis! The last day we were in Florida we went to the beach. It was a cold rainy day. Tom, our host, told the young man, 'if you are ready to follow Jesus i'll baptize you today in the ocean.' He thought about it for a while and decided he wanted to do that. We gathered around him, prayed for him and then Peter and Tom baptized him in the ocean. Please pray for this young man as he is trying to follow God and looking for a job. His name is Jacob. He is the shirtless one in the picture. Our friend has posted a lot of pictures on his facebook. If you have facebook Go here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015051&id=1126284533#/album.php?aid=2015051&id=1126284533.

24/7 Prayer
January 24-31 we hosted another week of prayer at the Fallout. We value these weeks of prayer because we see them as a time to refocus on what really matters. And what really matters? Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Loving our neighbor as ourself. The week went really well and as usual God surprised us. The last night of the week of prayer was our community night. We had around 60 people, a great time of worship, a great time of sharing about the week and also had an opportunity to share about our trip to Ocala.
God brought new friends to the Fallout to pray with us, he brought some people in crisis through our doors and overall was very present. The result of the week of prayer for many of us is a renewed hunger to prayer and to study the Word of God. We continue to maintain rhythms of prayer and are encouraging people to use the prayer room more often! Prayer really is the foundation of everything that God does.

Source
2009 is going to be a very good and crucial year for Source. As a non-profit things are challenging but we are trusting God in all things. Peter and Jessica, the directors of Source, are having their 4th child in March. As a result they are going to be stepping back from a lot of their responsibilities. This is good but it also challenging as they are used to being deeply involved with every aspect of Source. So, this month, February, is going to be very important. We need your prayers as all of us on staff try to step up, understand our roles and hear God. We are excited for Peter and Jessica as God has been speaking to them for years about this. We are also anxious as it means even more responsibilities for everyone on staff. Needless to say, things are exciting here! Thanks for your prayers and your support!

Tim and Dana Kramer