I returned from New Zealand a few days ago, and I am more or less recovered from the trip (perhaps less than more).  Real life and the level of activity that accompanies it have flooded in immediately upon my return, making my time away seem even more “otherworldly” than it already did.  Both last year and this, NZ has seemed to exist in a parallel reality—not quite real, but not just a dream either.  I cannot explain it.

The bulk of this letter is going to be dry information.  I apologize if it is dull, but I need to let you all know what is going on and what may be coming up; I have some important decisions to make, and I believe this is a pivotal time.  However, I am also including a “devotional” of sorts to offset the tedium.  More on that later.   

The leaders of Steiger International, David and Jodi Pierce, wanted me in NZ this year to meet with a new international team they are forming.  This team is designed to look after the mission of Steiger as a whole, rather than on a local level.  It will include things like how the ministry should grow, how we can be faithful with what we already have in place, how to present ourselves in various forms of media, etc.  The team includes people with a range of talents and interests, so different people will have responsibilities in different areas.  My role is going to be to orchestrate the team itself—to know what who on the team is doing what, to make sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing, and to report directly to David and Jodi.  They have also asked me to oversee any written material that goes out representing Steiger: communication, books that are published in the future, promotional material, and the like.  (Last summer, I edited a book Jodi wrote and thus, I believe, have been pegged as the Steiger editor!  While in NZ, I also re-edited a book of David’s that he wrote years ago.)  

Steiger is expanding, growing, and moving into a new phase of its existence that requires much more organization.  We hope to finally have a real office staffed with a number of full-time administrators.  This fact means that I need a great deal of guidance and discernment.  See, David would like someone to make a commitment to work as a full-time administrator for the next two years, to get through this transition and establish the office well.  Because Steiger attracts very few people with administrative skills, I am the person who automatically comes to mind for this role.  However, it is also possible that I could simply help get the ball rolling with the office but not do significant work there myself—find administrators, help train them and give them duties to perform, set them in motion, etc.  This decision is important, because I have been hoping to cut back from full-time “regular” work in order to pursue more hands-on ministry; in fact, I had begun to feel that this fall would be a good time to drop to half-time.  I am helping start a three-month discipleship school in this September in Minneapolis, and I would like to have time to invest in the students, rather than simply drop in, teach, and leave.  For this to be possible, I will need twenty consistent supporters at $50 per month (or another combination totaling $1000 per month).  

This all means that I need to know if I am supposed to take the administrative position with Steiger (which should eventually be a paid position) or begin aggressively raising support.  I have many things that I believe God wants me to do that would fill the extra 20 hours per week after the discipleship school is over (I want to finish the book I have started, I have an idea for another one, and I have many other dreams for ministries that interact with people in the world; while I do not mind doing organizational tasks, I do not want to be stuck in an office my whole life.).  So would you please pray for clear guidance—that God would open the proper doors and close the others—and, if I am supposed to drop to half-time, that God would provide consistent supporters?  Perhaps you could pray and ask if you are meant to be one of them.  This is very important!  Regardless of what happens, I will still need significant prayer, because I continue to add new duties in ministry without adding any more hours to the day (funny how that works).  I love everything I am doing, but I do not want to , so please pray for strength and continued passion.  I can do a lot when I’m passionate!

While in NZ, I spent a lot of time walking on the beach, praying and worshiping.  God did not do what I was expecting, but I believe that as time goes on and things begin to settle in my mind, I will realize that I learned a lot about how I relate to Him.  I know that my overall perspective has already changed, though I have trouble defining how.  Perhaps the devotional I am including will help explain.  I had been pondering the topic it addresses quite a bit (you may recognize some of the thoughts from my last letter), and then a friend of mine in NZ asked me to give a short opening talk for a prayer meeting she leads.  She felt like the theme of the night was supposed to be “breathing,” which correlated well with my thoughts.  The included meditation is what I said.  I hope it blesses you.  It describes a concept that I want to incorporate more into my daily life, and a reality that I believe will actually make a difference to the people around us.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.  Here are a few photos to give you an idea of where I just was, and where I will probably be again next year (David and Jodi want me to help with the school I attended last year… yet another thing to pray about).  The last one is me, hard at work, editing David’s book.  I know, it can be a rough life.

Take hold of the life that is truly life!


Molly S. Waggoner



Reflection on Breathing
By Molly S. Waggoner
March 15, 2006
Waikanae, New Zealand


When I landed at the airport in Auckland this year, I decided to walk to the domestic terminal to catch my connecting flight.  When I stepped outside, I took a deep breath and realized that I recognized the smell of the air here in New Zealand.  Last year when I was here, I hadn’t noticed any difference, but when I smelled it again, I knew it was familiar.  And it smelled like home.

Paul told the Athenians that it is in God that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).   I want to really think about that for a minute.  The very air we breathe is saturated with the presence of the divine.  When I see other people, I see them not simply through air or empty space, but through the Spirit of God.  When I move, I cause ripples in the fabric of the divine.  When I take a breath, I receive life not just because my body needs oxygen, but because I am inhaling the one who is Life (John 14:6).

Jesus said that that Kingdom of God is among us (Mark 1:15) and elsewhere (Luke 17:21) and that it is even within us.   I believe this is true.  The Kingdom of God is at hand.  And if I open my eyes to that fact, I can breathe in and receive life that is more alive than our everyday existence.  I can breathe in and be filled with the Spirit.  I can breathe in and be inwardly renewed (2 Corinthians 4:16).  My entire being can be saturated with the breath of God.

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