{"id":32106,"date":"2020-07-13T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T18:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/?p=32106"},"modified":"2020-07-13T15:08:14","modified_gmt":"2020-07-13T21:08:14","slug":"new-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/blog\/new-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"More Ministry is the New Normal"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Navigators Workplace<\/a> staff Karen Warin<\/a> used to disciple from Albuquerque coffee shop booths and living room circles. Now she sees her disciples live on a screen and daily Zoom calls are the new normal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThe amazing thing is that it\u2019s working\u2014really well,\u201d Karen says. \u201cMinistry is going ahead full steam. I\u2019ve found that connecting with people virtually actually gives me more<\/em> opportunity to minister. No travel time. Everyone is now available. Just in the past week I\u2019ve walked with women through marriage struggles, depression issues, anxiety over current events, and feelings of uselessness.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"Woman<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

One of the young women that Karen is discipling is a flight attendant with a major airline reeling from COVID-19<\/a>\u2019s impact on the travel industry. After meeting for several years, the two currently connect via Facetime.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cShe recently texted me from a hotel room in Houston after having a hard couple of days,\u201d Karen says. \u201cShe said, \u2018I just started praying and I had this thought\u2014what a wonderful time to grow closer to God and trust in Him! I really felt it deep down. I\u2019ve been praying for opportunity to be a witness for Christ and He\u2019s answering!\u2019 She went on to share excitedly about an opportunity she had shortly after to share her faith with nonbelieving friends.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Karen does group Zoom calls with other women she disciples to hear stories of intentional relationship building. One-on-one calls allow her to hear how others are doing in more detail and pray for them.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThe ideas are endless, and I can\u2019t even keep up with what I want to do to connect with people,\u201d Karen says.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m busier than ever!\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

One thing keeping her busy these days is meeting virtually once a week with a group of millennials who are eager to grow in their walk with Christ.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cA common theme among more than a few of the women I meet with is depression and anxiety,\u201d Karen says. \u201cFrom general worry and anxiety over the \u2018what-ifs\u2019 of the future, to full-blown panic attacks and bouts of depression, these women struggle and seek help in the Word and in godly counsel.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The struggle is real.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So, recently, Karen decided to host a series of Zoom calls with qualified Christian guest speakers sharing about depression and anxiety. Their first call two weeks ago included around 10 women.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThe women seemed genuinely engaged and encouraged by the conversations,\u201d Karen says. \u201cSeveral have asked if they can invite a friend to the next one.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What may have seemed at first to be disabling restriction has become a launching pad for creativity and holy investment.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cGod is at work during these turbulent times,\u201d Karen says. \u201cInvesting in the lives of others makes an eternal difference!\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n

Please pray<\/strong> for creative ways to reach out to those in your life who may be struggling and who need encouragement. God is opening doors for transformation\u2014we need only listen to His leading.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Karen Warin, COVID-19 may have seemed at first to be disabling restriction but has become a launching pad for creativity and holy invest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_helpful_pro_status":1,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6337],"tags":[1483],"mission":[64],"topic":[44],"class_list":["post-32106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry-impact-stories","tag-disciple","mission-navigators-workplace","topic-discipleship"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Article-Image_1500X1000.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"The Navigators","author_link":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/staff\/thenavigators\/"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32106"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35913,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32106\/revisions\/35913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32106"},{"taxonomy":"mission","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mission?post=32106"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navigators.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=32106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}