Meet Tami Gaupp!
Tami, I shared with my readers in a previous post that I felt like I had found my people in the circle of Christian women bloggers. So many times, personal comments from you reflect such grace and wisdom, that I am drawn to you as a friend. Your light is shining, and I feel so blessed to have met you! Please share with my readers, something about your background.
Hello friends! My name is Tami Gaupp and I live in Boise, Idaho. I have loved God as far back as I can remember, and have enjoyed a special friendship with Jesus and a continued relationship with the Holy Spirit in my daily life since I was seven years old. During my first two years of grade school my family lived in a very large home with 22 other people, named "The Yellow House of Jesus”. My Dad shared in the counseling and Mom helped keep the household running. It was a discipleship ministry that coached people who were no longer addicts, and those leaving dysfunctional lifestyles to learn new life skills. It was an intense time of spiritual and emotional growth for everyone involved, and the relationships were thriving so much that a new fellowship was birthed from it.
I have been a pastor’s kid since I was 3 years old. My school years were filled with memories of living in close fellowship with other believers, as our home was always filled with people socializing, eating, playing games, singing, praying, and getting counseling. This took place during the Charismatic Movement of the 70s. I witnessed the impact of a loving God meeting people where they were, doing the miraculous and transforming lives. One thing about that time in history, there was no pretense. People wanted to be real & authentic and that is how they found God.
After graduation I went to Liberty Bible College in Pensacola, Florida. I drove my little Datson 280z 3000 miles, from the great Northwest to the Florida panhandle. I'm so thankful I obeyed God and had the courage to follow where He led me. My plan to attend one year and then go to Portugal to help our missionary friends changed when I meet Lee Gaupp. God had told me to boldly obey Him and He would be a match-maker for me, little did I know it would be so soon. We met in September and were married in July, just 10 months later! I saw that Lee had a heart like David, of the Bible, and had the ability to passionately lead others into the presence of the Lord in worship. I was drawn to Him because he had no pretense and lived out his walk with the Lord in a real, authentic way. We lived in Pensacola 3 more years, before we moved home. I missed the Idaho mountains, the Boise valley, and the wide open spaces.
I’ve been in Church leadership with women’s ministry, youth, worship, dance and prayer ministry but my heart’s passion is living a lifestyle of full-time attentiveness to God’s call and availability to be His hands & feet wherever I go. In 2003, God gave me an interesting opportunity to learn this when we helped start an all-ages concert venue in downtown Boise, with the purpose to show God's love to the young "poets & musical artists” of our day. I remember saying to my husband, “I just don’t like screaming guitars”, and he said, “if you want to reach this generation you may want to rethink that”. There has never been a truer statement! God took me on quite a journey that taught me to relax and just be; be open to people around me and connect with strangers I meet out and about. He used this time to erase the lines I had in my head between “me and them”. We are all on life’s journey, and if I hadn’t experienced the reality of a loving God in my life I may have the same view of life “they” do. No matter what lifestyle people are in, theology they believe or don’t believe, or their political views, I sense how much God loves them and can call them friends.
I spent some time in the blog. It is a rich collection of speaking of HOPE and representing wisdom and light in a world of darkness. I went to the Lanyap facebook page and enjoyed many photos of smiling, happy people. Something that occurred to me is that this family has been involved in church-life, with church-people, long enough to experience ruffled feathers, bruised egos, possibly staunch disagreements... but obviously this has not turned them away from their mission. We "church-people" are by no means perfect or near perfect, but generally we are trying and doing the best that we can. Please speak to the issue of focusing on God, and managing the human relationships to stay on course and in fellowship through it all.
That’s a great question! It doesn’t take long before the enemy tries to cause offense and misunderstanding between friends, those ministering together and the leadership functioning within the walls of a church. I have personally experienced the heartbreak of betrayal, judgement, and accusation from those I had expected to cheer me on in my faith, as most of us have at some point.
The poster-child for a typical pastor’s kid tends to be those that have seen vast inconsistencies functioning within the church environment, got offended, and encountered that religious spirit of judgement and condemnation that caused them to fall away. I have encountered all these things, but I learned early on that it had nothing to do with how God related to me. I am blessed that I never saw any inconsistencies in how my parents ministered, lived their faith, related to each other or treated me. I have been witness to how they take every offense to the cross and continually find God’s help in the midst of every tough time they’ve been through. So how can I do any less if I want the same result of God’s manifest presence in my life? No matter if people hurt us accidentally or on purpose, our response is to follow God and obey Him only. I’ve had times I had to force myself to turn my head and my weeping eyes toward Jesus when I felt the crushing of relational betrayal. The hardest thing is to let go and move on when others are not open to reconciliation or resolution. But, He always redeems, heals and renews my heart as I choose to give Him all my hurts. This is not a vague concept. This is where the rubber meets the road, and I experience the reality of God’s compassion as I am laying in the street all bloodied up with skinned knees. Because of this, I trust Him completely.
But I will say just one more thing about conflict in church. I am grateful for boldly following God’s lead even when people were closing doors to me in settings I expected them to be open. Learning to recognize God speaking to me has been my anchor. In my situation, God confirmed to me I had heard Him, but His plans for me were different than I expected. Now I recognize I would not have ventured outside the church walls if I hadn’t experienced a certain level of discomfort. Looking back, I see they were merely growing pains as I was stepping out in faith to follow the Lord into new areas. Many of my experiences would not have happened if I had not recognized the tactics of the enemy, or if I had been easily talked out of the vision God had given me. I allowed God to lead me out of shyness to demonstrate bold expressions of His love, and develop areas in my character He wanted to work on.
You have shared something with me before about your father's ministry and experience. I saw that he may have a course in book form, sometime this year. Honestly, it sounds like something of interest to me. Please tell us more about it.
My Dad is a gifted counselor, with a M. A. in Psychology and Theology, and I have witnessed the healing and restorative power of God flow through Him as He meets with people. Whether it be individual counseling appointments, group counseling workshops, seminars, or just meeting people for coffee, he is able to be used as an instrument of emotional and spiritual health. He had a Christian counseling service for 15 years, and was a resource in our area for Pastors to send their people who hadn’t found help anywhere else. The Journey To Wholeness course is the material he developed to identify and remove the obstacles keeping people trapped in cycles of crisis, hurt, anger, depression and rejection. Removing these obstacles enables people to experience the value, peace and joy that is available through Jesus.
A few years ago, I told God I no longer wanted to be so consumed with my own struggles that I wasn’t any help to those who were hurting around me. I just wasn’t content to keep the miraculous work of God in my life to myself, so I asked Him to make me useful to the health and well-being of others. I know making the content available digitally with an online course, as well as printed material is one aspect of God answering my prayer to be useful to others. My Dad is still available for speaking engagements, and travels to edify and train the Body of Christ… but I’m working to have the same resources available online and in printed form.
So you are very involved in being wife, mother to grown men, a grandmother, and supportive daughter. That right there is a lot to juggle. What are your passions, pursuits, and dreams, going forward?
I finally feel acclimated to this newer season in my life, called Empty Nest. It wasn’t as busy as I thought it would be… until I got my own life. I’m looking ahead to increase my knowledge and skill in the publishing world, with the purpose of providing booklets that can be used for small groups and bookclubs to go through Journey To Wholeness series, and other helpful resources.
My purpose is to show value to everyone I meet, and be useful to those hurting around me. I want to pursue hospitality, meet new people God sets in my path, and press on to live in the Extra of God, as I invite others to join me in living The Lanyap Life.