The Schallert Tribe

[theschallerts-blog]

Songs of Sorrow / Songs of Hope

Let's join together to create more space for truth-telling and struggle within the church by smashing protest & worship music together.

MY KICKSTARTER & PRE-ORDER'S CAMPAIGN FOR "SONGS of SORROW / SONGS of HOPE" HAS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED!!! To Do List: 1. VISIT THE CAMPAIGN PAGE 2. WATCH & READ 3. PLEDGE & PRE-ORDER (anything over $15 is a pre-order!) 4. SHARE SHARE SHARE THE LINK EVERYWHERE! We got 30 days to raise $8,000 to make this record a reality. I can't do it without you so come join the fun, pledge and be an advocate for Songs of Sorrow / Songs of Hope. So much love to you all! PEACE TO YOU AS WE AWAIT THE RESURRECTION TONIGHT! 

[theschallerts-blog]

For those who couldn't make it to YWAM, Kona Ministry Night last night and to all our friends around the world, here is a (iPhone) recording of the evenings session. Was such a blast to join this community in protest/worship and proclaim the reality of a new world breaking into the shell of the old. Thanks for everyone who helped make it a special night!

Note the first three songs are all from my upcoming worship/protest full length record titled "Songs of Sorrow / Songs of Hope" due out this fall. Little sneak peak at what is to come. I'll be launching the Kickstarter and pre-orders for the project within the next two weeks. So keep your eyes peeled and join me if you find it a valuable contribution to the world.

PEACE TO YOU ALL FRIENDS!

Recorded LIVE @ YWAM, Kona - March 17th

Thanks to the 300+ folks who came out for an epic night of worship/protest.

Steve Schallert - Vocals, Guitar Mika McClurkin - Vocals Carly Peterson - Vocals Drew Simpson - Vocals, Floor Tom Graham Malinowski - Drums Christian Fox - Bass David Goetter - Electric Guitar Jared Karpa - Keys

Keep your eyes open for Steve Schallert's new protest/worship record "SONGS OF SORROW / SONGS OF HOPE" available fall 2014! (including a full studio versions of "Son of Sorrows", "The Word" & "A Song of Lamentation") PRE-ORDERS AVAILABLE SOON!

[theschallerts-blog]

A Year Behind, A Year Ahead 2013-2014

/// Trying to recap this year on one page has been like trying to fit an ocean into a raindrop. This year has been the most heart-wrenching, painful, lonely, refining, transitional year of our lives. It has also been a year marked by the joy that comes through trial and the faithfulness of a Father. We have welcomed the struggle and are still walking through refinement. We started out 2013 on an airplane South Africa bound-Vera in utero and a bright eyed Margot Day on our lap (well, sort of bright eyed. She caught the flu from the kids seated in front of us and threw up for 14 hours). Our excitement felt unmatched, our zeal untamable. We carried peace in our hearts and fire in our eyes for what we felt the Lord was leading us into- missions in South Africa. A new nation. A new home. A new baby on the way. 

There is an African Proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”. With a commitment to “going together” we set out with our community of eleven adults (and six kids under three years old); We have learned to love this community deeply. We have succeeded in many areas and failed miserably in more. We used to think “short term missions” was a few weeks or months. We are learning that “short term missions” can be a year...or five years or thirty for that matter. Fact is, one either gives their heart to a people or one doesn't and time simply creates a deeper capacity to love those people if you let it and bear with it. So we press on. Not for our own glory or gratification, but because we are slowly through all the struggles beginning to fall in love and ultimately so that Christ would be glorified through us and in the beautiful nation of South Africa.

///  LAST YEAR (2013)

+ Vera Lizz was born at our home in Muizenberg.

+ We lived in a one room hostel for a month. 

+ We were robbed three times. Sigh.

+ We lived in a home with Jase, Max and Cambria for ten months.

+ We hosted 15 visitors at our home.

+ We celebrated 5 years of marriage.

+ We helped facilitate Bible studies in a struggling neighborhood called Lavender Hill.

+ We helps facilitate two camping trips with about 30 high school boys to talk about manhood and provide a listening ear.

+ We traveled to the United States (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Memphis and Colorado) to visit family and be part of the wedding of some of our closest friends/housemates/community-mates, Cambria and Max.

+ We shifted our ministry focus to a Xhosa township called Masiphumelele (Masi).

+ We took over the stewardship of a property within Masi called the Jesus House and are believing God has some beautiful purpose for it... speak Lord speak!

+ We moved to Kommetjie (to be in close proximity to Masi) with (newlywed) Max and Cambria in November.

+ We gathered for worship, Eucharist and Liturgy at The Jesus House in Masi every Sunday night. We saw beautiful things begin to ferment in the process. 

+ We hosted two short term outreach teams from YWAM Kona at The Jesus House in Masi.

+ We tilled the soil to prepare for community gardens in Masi.

+ We watched some of those projects shrivel up and die, but remain hopeful that they can take root again in 2014!

+ We celebrated our first Christmas (ever) away from our families.

+ We said goodbye to our dear friends, The Brooks family, who moved back to the USA on Christmas day.

THIS YEAR (2014)  ///

+ We will (currently are in fact) host a DTS outreach team from YWAM Kona for three months at Jesus House in Masi.

+ We plan to begin taking Xhosa (pronounced co-suh...but with a “click”) language lessons because at this point we believe solidarity is next to impossible to build without embracing indigenous language fully. 

+ We will, at the invitation of YWAM Muizenberg, co-lead a Discipleship Training School with Cambria and Max Melchert in Kommetjie come September that will focus on the interplay of faith and community! (Much more to share about this soon... come join us!)

+ Our community as a whole will continue to develop our budding relationship with Axiom Global Monastic Community (christouraxiom.com) and explore the possibility of becoming full partners within this global network. (Much more to share about this as well... for now check out Axiom’s website)

+ We will take the month of March as a “family sabbatical” in Kona, Hawaii thanks to the financial support of dozens of folks from around the world who bought us tickets (we love you all). Steve will be lecturing at a couple UofN Kona schools, but beyond that this will be the first real “vacation” we have ever taken as a family in our last six years in missions.

+ Margot will continue going to a Waldorf “toddler circle” with Diane once a week. It’s been a great way for her to meet playmates and for Di to meet other moms.

+ Steve is in the process of writing a worship record. It’s been a longtime coming and we’re excited to set aside time for him to focus on it’s creation this year. He hopes to fundraise for and record the project in the summer/fall month of 2014.

/// As we delve into 2014 with sober, humble hearts we are ever more aware of our need to completely rely on Jesus. Our hearts are so thankful that he has put you in our lives to share in the journey with us - no matter how close or far we find ourselves in proximity. 

GRACE & PEACE, STEVE, DIANE, MARGOT, VERA PS - We have been so encouraged to receive an influx of “snail mail” and Christmas cards in the last few months! We love to hear from you. If you’d like to write, send us an email or send something the “old fashioned way” to:

The Schallerts 11 Rubbi Rd. Kommetjie 7965 WC South Africa

[theschallerts-blog]

Onward Mutual Mission

It's hard to believe we just passed the six month mark of living in South Africa! What a wild and crazy ride it has been transitioning our family to the very bottom of this remarkable continent. New baby, new friends, new cultures, new languages, a new YWAM base context, new ministries popping up... and yet life in Africa moves at its own steady but crawling pace. In the midst of it all, God is so good. We are falling more and more in love with the beloved country the longer we call it home and the more we root our lives into its amazing story.

/// WHEN GOD CLOSES A DOOR HE GIVES YOU.... A HOUSE?

  Well to be fair the above statement isn't 100% true because Jesus has been opening all kinds of doors for our community these past six months. It really has been such a good (heart wrenching and reality checking) season of transition. Our community is learning so much in such a short period of time. We're learning that if we can't love each other very well it will be really tough to love the people around us. We're learning that the implications of discipleship in the way of Jesus aren't always easy to discern. But we're also learning that so long as we stick together as a community we seem to be able to push through a lot of hardship. We're learning that we are good at listening to the Lord TOGETHER and that embarking on a life of faith and missions in the context of committed community just makes sense. We have taken time over the past few months to discover who we are as a community and to ask some questions that we feel are key in moving forward - what strengths do we carry? What are we actually passionate about? What does the message of Jesus mean to such a economically polarized society? What is true compassion? While we have had some opportunities to serve in different capacities individually since moving to Muizenberg, we have lacked mutual mission as a group. Yet we're excited to share that our prayers and the Lord's leading have finally given way to some deepening ministry focus. Three weeks ago our community entered into a conversation about a YWAM property within a Xhosa township called Masiphumulele (Say it with us: Ma-see-poom-ah-lay-lee) - about 15 minutes from where we currently live. Our YWAM friends and founders of the Community Transformations ministry have spent the past few years serving in Masi which eventually lead them to purchase the property (from one of the primary drug-lords of Masi in fact) right in the middle of the community. This house, which goes by the simple name of "The Jesus House", has become a "safe place" in the community for people to be prayed for, worship together and encounter Jesus. It has been a central location where short term DTS teams have lived as they have served the people in the township. As our missionary friends are moving to the United States we have decided to enter into this story and feel that this house is an answer to our communities prayer for "mutual mission".  It is not easy to gain property as foreigners within a township, so the offer from YWAM Muizenberg and all those invested over the years for our community to take over the stewardship and direction of the property is a serious answer to our prayers. Our heart as a community, to live in solidarity with disenfranchised communities and live an ethic of reconciliation and peace, has given birth to a number of ministry visions all of which require space. Over the coming months we will share more and more details about these specific ministry efforts and how you are welcome to get involved with them, but for now we simply rejoice in seeing God provide our community a space to build that which He has laid on our hearts.  So, to make a long story short, our community will soon start a process of transitioning the majority of our ministry focus towards Masiphumulele and take on the responsibility of building up and stewarding of The Jesus House. We welcome your prayer amid this season of focusing. /// IF YOU PRAY, PRAY... + Pray for our community as we start a new chapter of ministry together. May we find a lot of life in the formation of "mutual mission" just as we have in our formation of a "mutual Christ". + Pray for a spirit to humilty and slowness. May we enter the story of Masiphumulele relationally and incarnationally (pray also for our language learning as many of us will begin the process of learning to speak Xhosa).  + Pray for the logistics of Jesus House as our community takes on the responsibility of fundraising the final $30,000 to pay off the no-interest personal loan which purchased the property to begin with. This personal loan given to YWAM Muiz is due the end of 2013... more on that to come later ;-)

  + Finally, pray for grace, grace and more grace...and throw some mercy in there too. We aren't perfect people, we are broken people seeking to share the love of God with other broken people. So may Christ in all His goodness make himself known to the people of Masi and to us. 

/// UP, UP & AWAY

In just over a week we will be heading to the US mainland for a month of support raising, visiting and celebrating! Our dear friends, community members and housemates,Cambria and Max, are getting married in Denver at the end of August and we are so excited to stand with them and support them as they enter into marriage! After they are married they will return to South Africa. Steve will play music for their ceremony and Diane will stand with Cambria as a bridesmaid. The trip provides us with the opportunity to show off our new darling Vera Lizz to our very patient, yet eagerly waiting, family and friends. Our travel details are below. We would so love to connect, have a coffee, make a play date for the kids, reconnect, connect for the first time, talk shop about our work in Masiphumulele, South Africa or about nothing at all. Please shoot us an email if you would like to try and carve out some time with our family as we make the rounds.

  steve - [email protected] | diane - [email protected]

  THE SCHALLERT TRIBE /// TRAVEL DETAILS July 27th - Aug 7th: Hackettstown, NJ Aug 2nd - 5th: Harrisburg, PA Aug 7th - 18th: Memphis, TN Aug 18th - 27th: Grand Haven/Rapids, MI Aug 27th - Sep 1st: Denver, CO Sep 1st - 3rd: Hackettstown, NJ

  /// PARTNER WITH OUR FAMILY

  We are ever grateful for the way that the Lord has provided "our daily bread" over the past five years - He uses people! Thank you to all of our faithful monthly supporters, random blessers, and encouraging email senders. As our growing family continues to embrace a life of missions in South Africa we simply want to share our needs with you and welcome you into the story of what God is doing in our community and family in Masi. These past couple months have been a little tighter than normal for us because a few of our long time monthly supporters have had to put their financial support on hold for the moment. That fact, coupled with recently adding a second baby (boy, she's cute) to the hustle, has made us pinch pennies like never before.  While one-time gifts are ALWAYS a huge help, committed monthly pledges is what sustains our family, community and ministry for the long haul. At the moment our family needs to raise about $500/m of new pledges to be functionally sustainable. So be it $10, $20, $50, or $100... per month - we invite you (either personally, or with a few friends together, or your small group, or your home church, or your office... you get the picture ;-) to prayerfully consider joining the story of our ministry here in Cape Town with a monthly donation.  ***Note - All donations (one-time or reoccurring) are 100% tax deductible. Follow the link below to make a pledge via Paypal, direct deposit, cc, etc. 

  TO MAKE A PLEDGE VISIT OUR DONATION PAGE ON OUR WEBSITE.

[theschallerts-blog]

Well happy day, Steve is finally coming out of the "forest of unused and wasted talents" to write music again. Excited to announce Steve's new musical endeavor - "SONGS OF SORRW / SONGS OF HOPE" a forthcoming collection of songs and liturgy inspired by the formation of our community in Cape Town, South Africa and the context of suffering in which we find ourselves. Taking it's queue from the black church tradition of "sorrow songs", protest music, congregational singing, Anglo-Catholic liturgy and Lord knows what else we hope these songs and prayers can help the journey of other believers, doubters, individuals, communities, saints, sinners and alike as we all wander towards Jesus. Keep your eyes and ears open for lots of updates, promos, sneak peaks and other fun stuff. Looking at a 2014 release. LOVE YOU ALL!

[theschallerts-blog]

And then there were four...

I was sure she would come early. Everyone was. My midwife bet on it. And then, 37 weeks...38...39...40. On my due date we decided to have a family day. Just the three of us while there was still only three of us. We went to the aquarium. We played at the park. We got frozen yogurt. No signs of labor. Nothin’. But I needed that day. I needed to intentionally take the time to be “just three” and I think Margot needed it to say goodbye to being the only “one”. Vera let us have our special day and then... The next morning around 4am I started having consistent contractions. They weren’t painful or bothersome, just 5 minutes apart and lasting about a minute. I had contractions like these when my labor started with Margot, which landed me at the birthing center at 4am only to be told I wasn’t in labor and sent home. So, I tried to pretend that they weren’t so regular. I tried to sleep (yeah right).  A few hours later I lost my mucous plug (there is no eloquent way to phrase that. I tried ten times. But, this is a story about childbirth so I will just tell it like it is). I didn’t think much of it (still trying not to get my hopes up that this could be “the day”) since I had heard of people losing it and then not going into labor for a week. Since I was scheduled for a 40 week checkup that day, I called my midwife and told her about my contractions. She told me not to come in and that she was sure she would see my later that day. I wasn’t so sure. When Steve woke up I told him about my contractions and that if I didn’t go into “real” labor that day that I wanted to go for a pedicure. A few hours later I changed my mind and decided that I just wanted to stay home. He made me go. He said I should get out of the house, get my mind off of “things”. My mother-in-law and I went to get pedicures. The nail technicians asked when I was due. I told them I was in labor. They were astonished and told everyone who walked by that I was in labor. We came home and I tried to rest. I couldn’t rest. All I could think about was how this could be the last time that I had to have a tea party in Margot’s room while she was my only little girl. So, we had tea. She served me fake toast from her little wooden toaster and then she came and sat on my lap and put her hands on my belly and prayed the way that she prays. “praypraypray AMEN!”. Amen.  Around 6:30 I was having contractions that I couldn’t sit still for. I was pacing. So familiar. Steve looked at me and knew. He told me to call the midwife. Steve got Margot ready to have her first sleep over at Omi and Opa’s house (his parents) who were visiting us in South Africa and staying about 5 minutes away. Margot was stoked. She gave me a kiss, shouted “bye Mama!!!” and walked out the door. It was like she went from baby to “big kid” in a matter of moments. My midwife, Ciska, came over and I walked down our huge flight of stairs to answer the door. On my way back up the stairs I thought, “there is NO way I am in actual labor right now doing these stairs so fast”. Ciska made a joke about how her husband told her she had a 2am curfew and we laughed. She checked my dilation and I was at 4cm. I didn’t really know what to think about this since I wasn’t checked with Margot until right before I started pushing. Steve came home and went into baby mode. Ciska went out to get dinner. I was glad she did. I was so grateful to have time with just Steve. A moment to connect and realize “THIS is happening”. He set up the room for the birth (oh yeah, did I mention that we were planning a home birth?). I tried to rest. No way. I tried to sit. No way. I tried to lay down. No way. I paced and paced. So familiar. After a while I started to feel like I was actually in labor. The contractions were more intense that I remembered with Margot’s labor. I wasn’t sure that I could do it this time, my legs were so shaky. I kept asking Steve to breathe with me. (That man can breathe. He can exhale for ages. I think it’s why he is such a good singer). Ciska checked my dilation again and I was at 7cm. I took the hottest shower of my life and when I got out, things changed. “Transition” I think they call it. Another midwife, Lydia, showed up to assist. She introduced herself and I shook her hand and thought, “what a strange way to meet someone”. I was hot. I was cold. I was shaky. I wanted Steve to rub my back and then when he did I wanted him to stop. I felt out of my mind and present at the same time. This controlled madness is what happens before I have babies. I started to “bear down” and I couldn’t believe it was happening. I thought it was too soon to push. A few minutes later Ciska said something about breaking my waters and then they broke on their own. I was so shaky that I had to sit. With Steve by my side, in the same place that he was when Margot was born, I started to push. About a minute later I saw an entire head and yelled, “OH MY GOD, I am having a baby RIGHT NOW!”. I pushed for a total of ten minutes and the baby was born! Steve cut the cord and we just stared at each other and at our baby girl. It felt like she had always been part of us. I didn’t cry, I actually didn’t have much emotion at all. It felt so natural, so right. This little baby girl who slipped into our world in the quiet sanctuary of our bedroom. My heart had never felt so full. I took a bath with Vera and then nursed for a while. Ciska packed up her things and I jokingly told her to thank her husband for giving me a deadline, I work well under pressure. An hour later I was making myself food in the kitchen and then Vera slept almost the whole night. So many people prayed that this would be a labor and delivery marked by peace and it undoubtedly was. (from Diane.)

The next morning Margot came home to meet her sister and couldn’t stop giggling. She knew it was baby Vera (or Wewa as she says).  And then, we were four.

 Vera means "faith". We wanted to continue the tradition of our kids middle names passing on a legacy and we chose "Lizz" after Steve's sister (Elizabeth meaning "God's promise") who is a feisty, hopeful woman in the midst of writing a powerful legacy into the world. Welcome to the world, sweet Vera Lizz.

[theschallerts-blog]

(A truth we are learning daily here in South Africa...) Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated… Desegregation will break down the legal barriers and bring men together physically, but something must touch the hearts and souls of men so that they will come together spiritually because it is natural and right. A vigorous enforcement of civil rights laws will bring an end to segregated public facilities, which are barriers to a truly desegregated society, but it cannot bring an end to fear, prejudice, pride, and irrationality, which are barriers to a truly integrated society. These dark and demonic responses will be removed only as men are possessed by the invisible, inner law which etches on their hearts the conviction that all men are brothers and that love is mankind’s most potent weapon for personal and social transformation. True integration will be achieved by true neighbors who are willingly obedient to unenforceable obligations.

 - Martin Luther King Jr.