The Importance of Being Hosted
We love hosting!
Overnight guests at Pasteje have included Magnus, Carlos, Nelson and Charlotte, Travis and Connie (and family), Austin and Griselda, Brenden and Angie (and family), Tita, Steve and Cheri, Chalene, Courtlyn and Kim (and family), Fred and Jolyn, Michelle and Anthony (and family), Martin and Yvette (and family), Wes and Cindy, Mike and Angelica (and family), Steven and Allison, Mark and Jennifer (and family), John and Cindy… we’ve enjoyed every single one.
But this weekend was the first time someone I didn’t know had hosted me. Todd and Dawn welcomed me into their Ohio home while I taught at a Cedarville University worship conference.
After serving 25 years in China, the pandemic brought them to the US for (what they thought would be) about two months. Four years later, they are about to head to Thailand for their next assignment. Todd joked about how the clothes their kids left behind wouldn’t even fit them anymore; it’d been so long.
We sat around the living room on the first night, watched Jeopardy, shared stories, and had a family devotional time. They asked me to play a worship song in Spanish and then showed me one in Mandarin. He closed the time with a reading from Our Daily Bread.
They welcomed me into their family.
Breakfast was scrambled eggs, toast, homemade apple butter sent from a grandpa in Virginia, and instant coffee. (Their Chinese culturalization had them preferring tea.)
I found them through the Candle in the Window network, a non-denominational version of Mennonite Your Way. We’ve hosted several families through Candle. In fact, on the second night, they welcomed another overnight guest - Joshua, who had come with his parents to our home in Costa Rica a few months ago! Small world!
Of course, I showered in their shower.
I know that’s what you do, but I was struck by the intimacy of bathing in someone’s bathroom. You see their shampoo, conditioner, soap, razor, and step on their bath mat, notice their broken vent fan cover, and see what toiletries they use. I don’t know why it struck me, but hosting is a vulnerable thing. I guess that’s why not everyone does it.
As a “serial hoster,” this experience was so good for me. It reminded me of the gift it is for both the host and the hosted.
The Worship 4:24 conference went great, too!
I taught a session on the Five Faders, pictured above (you can listen to it here), and one on 7 Identities of a Worship Team Member.
I hosted a meetup for people interested in joining the newly formed Worship Educators Association I’m on the board with
I met Jared, a leader from Ohio who said his church would pay for me to coach a church they are connected to in Costa Rica. This invitation officially launches my idea about having US churches sponsor coaching for Costa Rican churches! I just found out today that the leader here is a guy I’d met at the Vida220 school I taught in 2011…where the dream to live in Costa Rica first began!
I was so encouraged to experience a literally packed auditorium of worshiping students, giving me such hope for the future of the Church. I even ugly-cried as we declared, “All the earth will shout Your praise, our hearts will cry, these bones will sing, ‘Great are You, Lord!’”
After learning that Cedarville sends about half of its students on missions trips each year, I opened a conversation with Roger (the worship department chair who invited me to teach at the conference) about bringing a team of worship students to Costa Rica.
I met lots of leaders who stopped by the Ad Lib Music table, where I explained what we do as worship coaches this way: “When you get home from this conference, we come to your church and help you integrate what you learned.”
I met Adam and Nathan from The Worship Initiative, whom I had hoped to connect with.
I snuck away several times to worship the Lord on a real acoustic piano in one of the classrooms. I can’t wait until He provides one for us at home!
I had a great conversation with Lexi, the director of Worship Leader, about a shared heart to have events for worship leaders to build community, more than simply training them. Of course, I invited her to consider having a leaders’ retreat on Pasteje!
I caught a ride back to Columbus with Ken, one of the conference speakers and a fellow author. In our conversation, I told him how we try to serve as mirrors for the worship leaders we coach and how asking questions is the core of our coaching method. He perked up and encouraged me to write a book about that…which I started that night!
I ended each session by sharing my email and phone number and inviting people to consider bringing their worship team for a missions trip. When I got home, I received an email from Jonas about information on a short-term trip to Costa Rica.
I’m so grateful to the Lord for all that happened in just two short days!
Love,
Dave, Heather, Aspen, Clementine, Louis, Juliana, Huxley, and Caspian Helmuth
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