Henriet's Blog

Happy 1st Birthday!

My blog turned 1 this month. My inaugural post appeared on January 15, 2007!Reaching the one year mark is apparently a milestone in this medium. I've written 138 posts over the last 12 months.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED

Writing is a discipline. One that I've been struggling with in the last few months. I vow to get back on track as I start on this second year of blogging life.

It takes time to develop your voice. Looking back over the blog posts, I notice that I've been "all over the place" in some ways. It's funny to see what I wrote about a year ago. I think I'm still developing the voice of this blog. This next year I'll be writing about people's stories, discussing current topics in light of faith, and I'll throw in the odd "unrelated" piece.

Popular is not predictable. Some posts that I though would really hit-didn't. Others that were just fun posts were well read. Some people just come for the pictures I choose.

CHANGES AND ADVENTURES

This past year life has been exciting. I expect that this year will be full of adventures as well. As Semper Vita gains momentum there will be lots of stories, interesting events, and opportunities to learn and grow. I hope you'll stay tuned as we  start a new year of blogging.

YOUR INPUT

What have you enjoyed on this blog? What would you like to see more of? What are topics you'd want me to address?

I'd love your input.

Thanks Timberlake

How good it is when people live together in unity and praise God together.

A Celebration

Yesterday felt that way. The Timberlake staff and board honored me with a celebration during the Sunday services and a reception in the foyer between services. Both during the celebration and at the reception, I had the opportunity to share publicly about Semper Vita-it was the first time that most people at Timberlake heard about it. It was well received.

During the reception, there were lots of hugs, some tears and many well wishes. I've known some of these people for a long time-my family has attended and served at Timberlake since February 1994. We'll continue to attend and will still help out in various ways as God leads.

They Asked, "What Will Semper Vita Do?"

My simple explanation is that we will help people (both those inside and outside churches) to find ways to give back. Specifically, we'll connect people with opportunities to serve outside church ministries in ways that fit their skills, passions and life circumstances. Not everyone wants to help out at church or serve at the local charity. However, almost everyone would like to give back in some way. Most of us don't know where to start, who to call or how to put our gifts and skills to work.

Semper Vita's goal is to connect like-minded people with each other and with easily accessible and appropriate existing service opportunities. To make those connections, we need to establish an alliance of non-profit organizations, churches, businesses and ministries. This alliance will provide access to service opportunities and people who want to serve. Several people shared ideas of organizations that might want to partner with us-which is great! Know of any? Let me know!

Thanks For Everything

Thanks Timberlake for celebrating my time on staff and for sending me out to lead this new venture!

Semper Vita Lives

For almost a year I've had the privilege of writing this Semper Vita blog, known as Henriet's Blog. Last week, I announced the start of a new chapter in my life--the launch of Semper Vita and my opportunity to lead it full-time. (For Tamara Dull's take on this, click here.)

Not doing this alone

I have the privilege of leading a team of incredible people. All of them Christian leaders in business, non-profit and technology jobs. Together we are crafting what Semper Vita is all about.

Semper Vita was officially registered as a non-profit at the end of last year. Our vision is for "everyone to experience Jesus Christ through the love and service of others." We want to exist as a caring community of connected people serving together.

How do we do that?

Last year I wrote several stories that illustrated what service, Semper Vita-style, looks like. One of them was Serving Tent City. Another was On Mission With Tim. These posts told the stories of people finding their own way to serve. Semper Vita will help people to easily connect to opportunities that suit them and make a difference.

New Year, New Beginning, New Life

New Year

I love to celebrate the start of a new year. The idea of starting over. A new date: 1.1.08. A new journal--clean pages waiting to be filled with new adventures. I love the idea of a fresh start--leaving the old behind and starting over. This new year started like the others with a celebration, a count down and champagne--except it had even more new starts.

New Beginning

Besides a new day, a new month and a new year, it was also a new beginning on the job and ministry front. My job as Pastor of Adult Ministries at Timberlake Christian Fellowship in Redmond ended as of December 31. I knew about this change during December and was ready for this new beginning.

It really IS a new beginning. I'm not sitting at home wondering what to do next. I'm already doing it. What is it? This new year starts with the new beginning of an organization called Semper Vita. Semper Vita means "always life." (Yep, it's the name of my blog's web site address.) This isn't a sudden start--I've been preparing for this new beginning since last January (actually October 2006).  However, with the end of my full-time job, I now have the chance to start it in earnest.

During this past year a group of missional leaders, including Tamara Dull and I, started thinking and planning for the launch of Semper Vita. We met several times in the Fall. By the end of December we filed for non-profit status, filed a Form 1023, and received our non-profit tax I.D. We even received some donations from early supporters and believers of this vision for new life.

New Life

Semper Vita will mean a new life for me and all those who resonate with our vision and passion. The goal is to connect like-minded people who love God to serve people who need help. We will not start a new social service organization. Semper Vita will be about aligning with other organizations to connect people to each other and to existing service opportunities. We will be a missional partnership group that connects and trains individuals and organizations to better serve people in their communities with the love of Christ.

I can't wait to see what this year will bring! Want to join us? Write a comment on this post or send me an email by using the link below my picture.

More stories to come...