Jon Heisterkamp
Jon in Real Life
Catalyst Conference 2011–Be Present
0127 days
I go to Catalyst every year. This conference continually refreshes my perspective and moves me forward in ministry. I am really looking forward to this conference. I feel God has been teaching me about time with Him and what He wants to do with my life. When I wrote my previous post about the experience I had on the Boundary Waters trip I had no idea that the theme for this year’s conference was “Be Present.”
@Prairie Ridge has 5 additional tickets to this conference that need to be used. Please watch the video below and consider taking the trip to Atlanta, GA with me for this conference. You will not regret it. If you would like to go, email me at jon.heisterkamp@gmail.com.
Catalyst Atlanta 2011 {Be Present} Preview from Catalyst on Vimeo.
Solitude-Community-Ministry
0128 days
Recently I went on a trip with eight men from my church (Prairie Ridge) to the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota. I have never done anything like what we did over the 4 night 5 day trip. We canoed in crystal clear lakes, we hiked (carrying 160 pound canoes, and huge backpacks) over miles of tough terrain, and slept under a tarp. We “roughed” it. We cooked over a fire every night. We spent time away from work, computers, iPhones, and all the other gadgets that so often eat up our time. We spent time together–learning about one another, teaching one another, praying for each other, and sharing what God was working in our lives. I pray that the relationships built on this trip keep growing!
One of the best things that happened on this trip was on Sunday afternoon. We had made camp the day before and stayed there through Monday morning. Sunday was ours for the taking. A little before lunch time we all split up, 1×1, to spend 5-6 hours in solitude–alone with God. I have never been alone with God for much more than an hour, and this isn’t a discipline I’ve been very intentional about lately…how was I suppose to do this for 6 hours! All I can say is, God led me through it.
I read through most of the minor prophets and meditated on what God was saying through them. For me, I kept hearing from God, “Recognize My presence. I am here with you. I love you.” I probably spent 3 hours just thinking about that! I don’t really know though, because I didn’t really have any concept of the time passing. That was amazing.
Later on in my solo time I read an article by Henri Nouwen called Moving from Solitude to Community to Ministry. In it he writes if we are not spending time along with God, we are missing out on hearing him call us His beloved. If we are missing out on that we cannot see or tell others that they are beloved–leaving our community and ministry lacking. Solitude leads us to say, “I am His beloved. You are His beloved. Together we can build a home (or community).”
One of my goals is to make space for solitude in order to build up this discipline in my life and in the lives of my family. Are you making space for solitude? Have you experienced God calling you his beloved in a time of solitude? How has this practice changed you?
Merry Christmas
0406 days
by Jon Heisterkamp
in Uncategorized
Merry Christmas everyone! We join with you as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!
This has probably been one of the most exciting years of my life–I mean how could it not be! My first born son, Matthew David, came into the world on May 4th at 4:08pm. He has grown so much already! At seven months old he is just over 20 lbs and seems to be approaching 30 inches long. He is a little stud as you can see in the picture below:
I just fed him and put him down for a nap and he took 10 oz of milk! He also just had about a 1/3 of a sippy-cup full of Apple Juice. He loves his sweet potatoes, squash and peas too!
Heidi has been loving staying home with Matthew this year–we truly value and feel blessed that God has allowed us, financially speaking, to let Heidi stay home. That being said, Heidi has taken a part-time job at the new Olive Garden here in town–she is looking forward to getting some fun people-interaction besides her boys. Plus, she will make some extra cash!
I am still working at Wells Fargo as a manager in their Loss Mitigation deparment–trying to help people keep their homes, avoid foreclosure, and find a payment that fits their budget. It isn’t always easy and working in a call center is not the most desirable job in the world, however it has been a very humbling and teaching experience. While that has been going on, there have been quite a few opportunities for ministry and mission that have come across our laps this year. For most of the year we though we might be heading back to Panama or to Africa to work in the mission field, however God revealed that wasn’t part of the plan. While there are still options on the table, we are just trusting that if God wants us to do something else He will make it very clear!
We are looking forward to spending time with family over the next two holiday weekends and catching up with what has been going on in everyone else’s lives through 2010! Dear friends, we pray that all of you will be touched by His Holy Spirit this Christmas season and that your New Year is filled with transformation that comes only from knowing Christ as your Savior!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
As time goes by
0456 days
by Jon Heisterkamp
in Uncategorized
Wow! I cannot believe that we are at the end of October now and looking at the “holiday season” being upon us. I love this time of year, but I am not sure I am ready for the cold weather! Tonight we are suppose to get our first hard freeze of the year. I think that really only matters if you have important plants you want to save. It just means that I don’t have to mow the year anymore this year–however it also means that I will be raking leaves more….and, unfortunately, scooping snow in the not so distant future
The last few weeks have been pretty busy, but at the same time I don’t really know what we did! I know that all three of us were sick for almost two weeks and just now getting over everything. We went to the doctor and got antibiotics, but I am not sure the medication really helped us “heal” any faster–I mean it was two weeks! I am glad, though, that Matthew came through it well and seems to be feeling really good.
The big news is that he is now eating some foods. We did rice cereal to start off and now he is eating peas (puree of course). He also LOVES apple juice! His motor skills are getting really good too, as he can almost hold the bottle himself when he drinks his juice.
Here are a few pictures of the little guy:
I have to say that there is nothing greater than coming home and seeing him smile when I walk through the door from the garage. Or if he is upstairs eating with mommy, and I walk into the room he stops and looks to find me! I love how social he is becoming. He has been such a good boy for me when I have stayed home with on some weeknights when Heidi goes to ladies group or worship team practice. We are very blessed to have a very chill little man!
