athletes + the chosen people

The InterVarsity interns from the Central Region were in St. Louis in early August for training. Part of that training involved prayer walking the campus of Wash U. As they were praying several students had a sense that God wanted to open doors among two communities on campus: athletes and Jewish students.

My internal response upon hearing both of those communities named was less than enthusiastic. I often describe myself as "athletically challenged" and I didn't grow up playing team sports so the prospect of hanging out with students from the other end of that spectrum was intimidating. Reaching out to Jewish students also sounded intimidating. A significant percentage of Wash U's undergrad population identifies as Jewish and there has been tension on campus in the past over Christian outreach efforts aimed at the Jewish community. I've been willing to pray for open doors, but I've lacked faith since planning for a door to actually open didn't make my list of strategic moves.

I am grateful that God continues to invite me into situations that require more faith than I can muster. I am grateful that He is committed to freeing my from the fear that keeps me paralyzed in my comfort zone. I am grateful that He promises to lead the blind, "by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them" (Isaiah 42:16).

Andrew, the freshman football player, and I met for lunch last week and I asked him what he thought about inviting some of his teammates to study Scripture on Monday nights. "That sounds great!" he responded. I mentioned the idea to Jess, a senior on the cross country team and she immediately started inviting some of the freshmen girls from the team. I also invited another freshman from the swim team.

Andrew, Jess, and I met last night to study the first fifteen verses of Mark's Gospel and talk about how to invite our friends to the official launch of our athlete Bible study next week.

I think I'm going to have to learn a thing or two about football.

BUT that's not the end of it! Wouldn't it be just like God to show up in another crazy way? Yes, yes it would.

I met up with Jonathan, another freshman, last week and discovered that he identifies himself as a Messianic Jew. His parents independently came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah prior to their marriage and two of his grandparents, both Holocaust survivors, came to the same belief later in life. I could hardly believe what I was hearing.

Torah study? It just might be in my future.

Your prayers for wisdom and direction are very much appreciated as I continue to build relationship with Andrew and Jonathan and invite them to explore these open doors with me.

battle

I shouldn't be surprised at the way that God uses the work that He calls us into to highlight the inner work of transformation that He's committed to completing in us. I shouldn't be surprised, but I still am. I have experienced a roller coaster of emotions in the last three weeks, but much of that has come in the form of anxiety. As I've processed what I am feeling with people I trust it has become increasingly evident that too much of my sense of worth is tied to the response I am receiving from other people. In my case those people are students I am meeting. Again, this is not a new struggle, but it feels more acute than usual. It is a daily battle to trust that my identity is actually fixed in who Jesus says that I am and nothing else. As I continue to invite students to join Wash U Christian Fellowship in order to proclaim freedom to the captives on our campus I am asking Jesus to free me from the chains of anxiety and people pleasing.

The awareness of my internal battle to believe what is true ties into my sense that launching into this new school year has felt like more of a spiritual battle than ever before. As I've been spending more time interceding for campus I am aware of some of the oppressive spiritual realities of Wash U. Again, this is not new to me, but I feel keenly aware of the ways that a culture steeped in achievement, perfection, and pluralism operates as a kind of bondage that has spiritual implications. I am also aware that it is only a movement of God's Spirit that causes blind eyes to receive sight and hearts to hunger and thirst for truth. I've told several people that I am praying more than I've ever prayed in my life! Will you join me in fighting this spiritual battle through prayer?

a good start

The work of planting Wash U Christian Fellowship is giving me
new reasons to appreciate all of the farming metaphors found in Scripture.

Classes at Wash U are in full swing and students are settling into their routines. I glanced at the calendar today and realized that I've been meeting new students for nearly three weeks! Each day I experience moments that convince me that I've been at this for much longer than that and then other moments when it feels like move-in day just happened.

I am quickly learning that starting something new is hard work: lots of new relationships, sharing and modeling the vision for this fellowship, and not knowing who will join me to reach out on campus. Yes, I am very much aware of my own stretching and growing as I've stepped into this planting adventure, yet I am also discovering that God has been working harder than I ever will! He's been preparing students to encounter Him. Each day I step on campus asking Him to show me where He is at work and how I can be a faithful partner, joining in what He's already been doing. Here are a few highlights from the last couple of weeks:

• I met Corrie in one of the residence halls on campus as I was knocking on her neighbor's door to invite her to our first outreach event, ice blocking. I invited Corrie to join us, too. She wasn't able to come, but when she ran into me on campus later in the week she asked if I would make sure to invite her to our next event. I decided to risk asking her about her spiritual background as we continued to chat. She said that she didn't have one, but that she was interested in exploring what that might look like. We met for lunch early last week and after hearing more of her story I asked if she would be interested in checking out Jesus for the next few weeks by looking at some stories about him from the Gospels. She agreed and said, "Yeah, I should figure out if this is for me."
  

• Kurt is a sophomore at Wash U who identifies as a Christian, but did not find a fellowship that was a good fit for him on campus last year. Howie, my planting coach, and I were visiting some other students in a residence hall when we met Kurt as he was posting some fliers for his acapella group. He asked why we are launching Wash U Christian Fellowship, but as I shared the vision and invited him to join us he said he was too busy to be a part of something new. Honestly, I didn't think much more about that interaction except that it highlighted my need for a good response to the question Kurt posed. Two days ago I received an email from Kurt. He wrote, "I just wanted to let you know that I'm still looking for a faith community at Wash U, and as I've though about it more, the prospect of being able to shape that community, even in some small way, since it's just in its formative time, has become more exciting to me." What a fun surprise to find in my inbox!
  

• I met Andrew on move-in day when he stopped by my table looking for information on another campus ministry and then asking about InterVarsity. He's a freshman from Hawaii and he plays on the football team. This year's InterVarsity interns from the Central Region had spent time praying on campus at Wash U as part of their summer training and they had a sense that God wanted to move in the athletic community. As soon as I met Andrew I thought, "I'm going to stalk that kid, but in a good way. I'll stalk him for Jesus." I visited his room multiple times, but I had not been able to reconnect with him. Yesterday I decided it would be worth inviting him to Cross Training - my attempt at gathering some potentially missional students for experiences in Scripture, missional prayer, and evangelism - via text message. He responded and indicated that he was interested in joining us. I am really excited to pursue helping him reach out to his teammates on the football team!

Whew! There are more stories to tell and this is just the beginning! God is at work!