Making good on my promise to God
My goodness, it's been ages!!!
For as long as I can remember (in my adult life), I’ve always had a deal with God: if God gives me stories to tell, I will tell them. I’d been wondering why I’ve felt so disoriented and mis-calibrated in 2022, and I realize, that I have not been diligent with this promise I made with God. Today, I want to make an effort to be focused, disciplined, and organized enough to share the stories that God’s been telling through my life. And, of course, if you feel led and you think of me, please cover these stories in prayer.
I believe this practice of having prayer-lists started back in 2012, when we were first planning to have Heidi Baker visit Stanford. The mailing-list started with a group of 12 pastors and intercessors, had grown considerably since, but then lost touch in 2020. For now, this Substack is public, but I will make it invite-only at some point (make sure to SUBSCRIBE, if you want to stay connected). If you aren’t familiar with Christian language and customs, this might be a bit foreign, but feel free to comment, if you have any questions. Apologies in advanced for any off-putting/triggering Christian-ese and imagery; I’m still trying to figure it out myself as well.
Let’s be honest, January 6th, 2021 kinda shook me in regards to how we flex our privileges (in Jesus AND historically), not to mention the division that arose from the November 2016 election results. I’ve been attributing the current events to be the cause of spiritual disorientation; however, we’re not in Kansas anymore, and I don’t think we are gonna go back.
All of you (intercessors) were with me while I was on the path to figure myself out — some of my loneliest and most confusing times in life. I thank God regularly for all of your compassion, prayers, and quality time. Thinking back, I was so unruly and brash at times. Thank goodness that all your efforts have yielded so much fruit in my life (and thank goodness we are called to be gracious, merciful, and forgiving 😂). Even if I’ve never told you, please know my gratitude ❤️.
I don’t know how this is all going to shape up, but what was previously reserved for private-group emails, will now be on this semi-public (soon to be private) website. If you want to connect with my other newsletters/sites:
sherol.substack.com - is going to be my regular/general-audience updates (aiming for quarterly to yearly posts)
complicated.substack.com - is going to be where I post ideas— like a more verbose Twitter (aiming for weekly to monthly posts)
expressive.substack.com - is going to be where I post on Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (aiming for weekly to monthly posts)
sherol.org - is going to be my main landing page
“The mark of a master is to select only a few moments but give us a lifetime.” ― Robert McKee, Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting
I’ve been telling people that my love language is to be understood, but I also feel like life’s always been so complicated that it becomes a high cost. As an attempt towards maturity, I want to try my best to select the few moments to capture my lifetime. I’m hardly on Facebook/Instagram anymore, hardly being social, and while trying to move to Twitter, I’m a bit thrown off by Elon’s thought-leadership (and actions) around social media.
Why such an involved reconfiguration? Basically, I can’t use the same language with Christians as to everyone else; nor are people THAT interested in Artificial Intelligence research. The only thing I can manage to do regularly these days is become a Squirrel YouTuber (like, comment, subscribe!!! 🐿). Turns out, it is that deep (.com)….. Onwards!
Praise Reports (since 2020):
The theme for this season, and maybe the rest of my life is trying to understand and explain what it means to love God with our minds (Matt 22:37). I’ve spoken about this on a few occasions this year.
I spoke at a Sunday Service in SoCal! I don’t know how pastors regularly give the SAME stories 2-3 times on a Sunday. I was a total newbie 😂. The first service was the best (in my opinion, and thankfully the one that got posted). The jokes just don’t land the same way after that 😵💫!
I was part of a Nehemiah Team Think Tank (of marketplace leaders) for the Lausanne Movement to help imagine a unified strategy for the given needs and solutions we have available towards the Great Commission. It’s been an interesting range of feeling privileged to be invited to the table to wondering how much we are willing to let go of the advantages gained from our colonial missteps.
Upgrades: I’m somehow on the Board of Directors of the Monterey Jazz Festival and the Academic Advisory board for Pre-collegiate Pathways. I’ve thus far mostly been on a few ministry advisory boards, and this year, I have been increasingly asked to serve in Non-Christian spheres.
Passion Talks: 2020 and 2021 were both virtual. We even printed our proceedings (available on Amazon). (At a friend’s baby shower, there were some long-time leaders that I hadn’t seen in over a decade, who’d been following Passion Talks since it all began!) I’ve been trying to set aside my fears to explore/experiment what better can look like. In addition to the usual annual conferences, we pulled together two communities (both of which have greatly informed future directions for Passion Talks):
PhD Friends - As stated in the email image above, I’ve always felt like a connector to the people at the forefronts of knowledge and discovery (except we aren’t students anymore). This group worked out well during shelter-in-place, with some meaningful connections, safety, and vulnerability.
Christians in AI (CHAI) - This was also an interesting exploration. We started this before the pandemic, and it’s taken on a few forms: from fellowship to guest lectures to discussion to paper readings.
We managed to host a Leadership Summit with leaders from Meta and Google. It’d been a while since stepping into leadership (without officially being a leader). I think the concepts of leading through your actions and not your position/title is starting to sink in for me.
I was in a NY Times article on Artificial Intelligence and God. To be honest, it was quite scary being interviewed and not knowing what they were going to write: “We’re seeing these answers and these solutions from heaven come through us into our code, into our strategies, into our planning, into our design,” she said. “May we pray for every meeting we have, may we take captive every keystroke we make, everything that we type.”
By the way, they mistakenly quoted me as Ms. Chen, but they ACTUALLY should have printed Dr. Chen, because I had already turned in my paperwork, finally! So many of you sat with me and prayed for that!
Additionally, I made a general 2021 year-end update post here about a few Christian talks I gave.
Finally, some updates from back in 2020 on what Christians circles I was running in.
Prayer Requests:
What I hear God saying about 2022 is that this is a maker’s year, and that there is a special grace for creation and invention. We’ve had the comfort of familiarity and traditions, but now we’ve made room for more of the Living Word and the New Wine. I feel like God is going to show us (with new revelation on) how to fully love Him with our minds this decade (2020’s). It’s also probably why I’m starting to write again:
Artificial Intelligence Research - I have an AMAZING testimony about how God came through last year. I will need to share more on this later, but please do continue to pray for wisdom, focus, and productivity as we continue to love with our minds 😊.
Monterey Jazz Festival - We are doing some pretty amazing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work, bridging between tech executives and students from underrepresented communities through jazz. In fact, we are able to kick off the first Sunday Morning Worship Service at the Jazz Fest this year. More on this later, but please pray for all those involved in this project. As far as spiritual matters go, this has been the most scale-tipping. (bit.ly/project-tandem)
Passion Talks - This year, we are going to host an entirely virtual Poster Session for Passion Talks. It’s going to be the most radical change to date, but I really believe we need to evolve beyond speakers and talks and towards shaping the spaces around us. Please pray for courage, encouragement, and clarity! (bit.ly/passiontalks22)
Leadership - I was kind of always a leader’s nightmare, but now that I’ve experienced leadership from the leading side, I’ve been majorly humbled. Please continue to pray that I can run the race well and steward the aspects of creation that I’m called.
Personal - I got a word from a sister at Google that I’m not just remodeling my house, but also my life. You (intercessors) all know my story better than anyone. I really believe that God is restoring the years that the locusts have eaten. Please pray for efficient healing, that I continue to hear God more clearly each day, and that I can pour these stories into books (or something).
I once told a mentor that if my life was a stock, I’ve been a pretty good investment. I don’t know why so many of you took time to show me love and to pray and counsel me (cuz I can be a bit extra sometimes!), but I am forever grateful, will continue to pray for you all, and will never cease to remind you that my harvest is your harvest, in Him 🙏.
🐿❤️🧠 - Sherol
