learning how to celebrate

Creating our 70-foot long banana split was a group effort!

Ben, Michael, Dawn and I spent time praying on campus before our Mustard Seed retreat with our student leaders. As I sat on a bench across from the Memorial Union, the words of Luke 15 were running through my head.

Three parables about lost things/people being found and the celebrations that follow.

The celebrations caught my attention. I began to pray that we would become known as a community on campus that knows how to celebrate well. What if our fellowship had a reputation as the place to party?

Students at OSU know how to party. Choosing to follow Jesus conflicts with the typical party lifestyle, but what if students knew that it was an invitation to the best party ever?

We're working on creating a culture of celebration in our fellowship. We want OSU to know that when Jesus shows up the party gets good. Really good.

Whether we're inviting new students to eat a 70-foot long banana split or delivering "Welcome to the Family" cupcakes to a freshman who decided to follow Jesus last Friday night, we're taking every opportunity we can to celebrate!

meet the team

Michael and Dawn DeGarmo - our fabulous staff partners at OSU

Joining a new staff team is a big deal.

My staff friends in St. Louis lived within a ten-minute drive from each other. This is not true of my Oregon staff team. We're spread out from Portland to Eugene. I knew this reality would be a big change for me.

Getting to work on a team of four at OSU has made all the difference. Ben and I get to work with another couple as we figure out how to do campus ministry together. I really appreciate the partnership that we have with Dawn and Michael. They are both gifted leaders and the students love them! They are responsible for all of the leaders who are hosting Bible studies in four of the residence halls at OSU.

I can't wait to see the fruit of their leadership as the year continues.

Most of the Oregon Staff Team at Dawn and Michael's wedding in August

While I get to interact with Dawn and Michael regularly, I am also enjoying getting to know the rest of the IV staff team in Oregon. We spent three days together at the beginning of September and I quickly felt like I fit in. What a good gift!

I am excited to partner with my new staff team in increasing ways as the school year progresses.

OSU student leaders rule

Studying Ephesians together during Mustard Seed

The last two weeks have been filled with getting to know the OSU student leaders and prepping them to welcome new students to campus and InterVarsity.

September 14-17 our OSU staff team hosted a pre-Fall retreat for the leaders: Mustard Seed.

A local church in Corvallis housed us for four days of great food, Scripture study, New Student Outreach (NSO) planning, community building and training for The Red Cup - our primary NSO outreach event.

I was so impressed with the student leaders' excitement for the coming school year and their willingness to embrace the changes of a larger staff team and a few adjustments to fellowship structures.

We spent one morning of Mustard Seed at the Oregon coast and the weather was be-a-utiful! Not a cloud in the sky!

Ben and I were super pumped to get to introduce all of them to The Red Cup, since we were able to experience it for ourselves during the Intern Trek.

Basically, The Red Cup is a proxé station that uses the iconic college image of red, plastic cups - the kind typically used to hold alcohol at parties - to start conversations about the deep "thirsts" in our lives. It's a really creative idea that allows us to hear students' stories, talk about their thirsts and connect them to the story of Jesus, the ultimate thirst-quencher!

Ben and I worked together during our Red Cup training

The OSU students ate up the initial training that we led during Mustard Seed. Then they turned around and invited other students from the fellowship to join us for a second training last Tuesday, just prior to the actual outreach at the OSU freshman picnic on Tuesday evening.

So, in addition to our 13 students leaders, we had 7 students who joined us to lead new students through The Red Cup at the picnic. One of those students is a new freshman who decided to follow Jesus four months ago!

Our Red Cup tent was a hit at OSU. Students were literally lining up to be led through it. Praise God!

At the end of nearly three hours of leading people through The Red Cup, we had over 100 contact cards to follow-up with. Each of those cards represent someone who had a significant conversation with an InterVarsity student at the tent. All of our students at the tent got to share the Gospel multiple times. It was a great night of ministry!

Last night I spent time with a new East Asian graduate student who loved the tent and told me he is anxious to learn more about Jesus. He's looking forward to studying the gospel of Mark with the off-campus Bible study that I am helping to lead.

It's been incredibly faith-building for our student leaders to see God show up as we've risked trying something new during NSO. We've built a lot of momentum going into this first week of classes.

homecoming

I am embracing my new state. We're a good match for each other.

Moving across the country and getting settled in Oregon has been a really good experience. While there have been some bumps and hiccoughs along the way - not surprising - when I think back over the last month+ since I arrived in Corvallis, I feel so grateful for how quickly my new city and campus are feeling like home.

I'm living with a ridiculously hospitable couple in a gorgeous house north of town. Ben met them when he served as a guest worship leader at their church. When he mentioned that we were looking for a place for me to live until our wedding, they immediately offered their home. Talk about hosting strangers! I am enjoying getting to know them and I appreciate how graciously they've welcomed me into their home and how willing they are to let me host gatherings of staff and student in their space.

Corvallis is a small college town, which has made finding my way around fairly simple. I love that I can walk or take the free bus to many locations - saving gas money is the best! I love discovering local businesses and restaurants. I love dreaming up ways to spruce up the apartment where Ben is currently living and where I get to live, too, after November 12!

God's been really good to me. As Ben and I made the decision about our location for the next couple of years I had a strong sense that God was inviting us to experience redemption in new ways. This led us to feel free to settle where we most wanted to be: Corvallis. While I had a lot of anxiety before the move, I am so glad we chose to be here.

It's a great fit so far.

summer highlight - intern trek 2011

40+ interns and staff from the Western states in Flagstaff, AZ this July - Intern Trek 2011

Intern Trek 2011 was the highlight of my summer. Period.

I was worried that staffing the Intern Trek would be too much in the midst of a summer filled with personal transition, but it turns out that the Trek was exactly what I needed.

God knew that I needed a crazy 3500 mile roadtrip. He knew that I needed to connect with the interns from the Northwest. He knew that I need the chance to partner with former staff and supervisors from the Arizona staff team. He knew that Ben and I needed an opportunity to do ministry together.

Our staff panel dropped some veteran staff wisdom on the interns one afternoon.

I love investing in new staff! It was such a privilege to coach them as they took evangelistic risks during our Red Cup outreach at the University of New Mexico. It was a gift to pray with them through issues of calling and fear. It was a joy to laugh with them and share stories during long rides in the van.

The experience was really great for Ben and me, particularly as it provided an opportunity to lead together. The Northwest interns started referring to us as 'Mom and Dad' after the second day. Our coworker, Christian, from Seattle received the title of 'Uncle'. It was hugely encouraging to bond with staff who are part of my new region and to have a ton of fun working with Ben in the process. It was a double win!

Northwest interns and staff = my new family

hitting the road

Tomorrow morning Ben and I will begin the first leg of the drive for the 2011 Intern Trek!

Pray for us.

Pray for the 38 interns who have committed the next year of their lives to ministry with IV.

Intern Trek 2011

Ben and I will work together for the first time this summer. That seems like good practice for the future! Back in November we were both invited to staff the 2011 Intern Trek.

What is the Intern Trek? Well, I am so glad you asked!

The Intern Trek is a training experience for new interns in the Western US. You can learn more about it here.

Fun fact: Ben and I met on the 2004 Intern Trek. Here is the proof:

It took many years before a romantic relationship blossomed,
but this is technically the first time we appear in the same photograph.

The Trek involves a lot of travel (we'll be driving 3,000 miles when all is said and done) and great training by some incredible IV staff. We'll each be responsible for leading a small group during the Trek and helping out with some evangelism coaching during a proxé outreach in Albuquerque.

The Trek itself begins in Albuquerque and ends in Flagstaff, but we'll be driving down from Portland with the Northwest interns and back up once the Trek is over.

But what's summer without a roadtrip?

Oregon Trail

New campus. New city. New friends and co-workers. Newlyweds.

New is pretty much the word to described most of my life for the next six months.

Some of you might be wondering what's going to be different about my IV staff role at Oregon State. Allow we to attempt to fill you in on some of what I am anticipating.

The major difference is that I'll be working on a campus staff team.

Dawn and Michael, two of my new teammates, are getting married in August. Ben and I comprise the other 50% of our team and we're getting married in November. Two newly married couples trying to figure out how to work with each other and as a team? That's a lot of new relational and team dynamics to tackle at once. We need your prayers!

Michael + Dawn

Ben + me

It's going to be a completely different experience working more closely with other staff. I'm looking forward to that! I also expect that it will be a challenging adjustment after four years of flying solo in a replanting/planting ministry context.

With that in mind I'm grateful that Birch, my new supervisor, wants to give me space in the Fall to get to know Oregon State and continue to test out my planting abilities. I'll get to invest in the student leaders of the off-campus Bible study (all of the other Bible studies are in the dorms) and help them figure out how to reach out to their friends and neighbors in their classes, clubs and apartment complexes.

I have also been praying for open doors into the Black and Latino student communities at OSU. I am looking forward to discovering where God is at work on my new campus! I am also looking forward to the continuing development of my planting skills/experience even in the midst of an established IV chapter. That feels like a really good fit for my gifts!

OSU students at Winter Conference in February

The Oregon staff team = my new co-workers

Q & A: WUCF's future

You've got questions. Well, I've got answers!

Q. Andrea, you're transferring to work with IV at Oregon State University and getting married in the Fall. Congratulations! Who is going to staff WUCF in your absence?

A. Thanks! I'm excited for this MAJOR transition in my life and ministry. Choosing to transfer, however, has some costs. One of those costs is that there is no one to take over as full-time staff with WUCF.

Q. What does that mean for the students who were connected with WUCF this past year?

A. Christian freshmen at Wash U are an interesting bunch. Many of them get involved with multiple ministries on campus their first year and it takes a personal invitation and some good vision casting to help them see the value of committing to one community more deeply. I chose to challenge the students I gathered into WUCF to fully commit to lead and serve in another ministry that they were most connected with.

This does not mean that they won't continue to be connected with InterVarsity. A few are being invited to participate in the MOmentum, our evangelism cohort, next year. They are also invited to Fall Conference.

As I considered the history of InterVarsity at Wash U - which includes a lot of staff transition - I felt like this was the best move for the future.

Q. What does this mean for InterVarsity at Wash U?

A. The two other undergraduate fellowships - Asian Christian Fellowship and Harambee - will continue to develop missional student leaders and seek ways for their students to partner together as they reach out on campus.

Pray for wisdom for the Wash U staff team as they seek God's guidance for the future of multiethnic ministry on campus.

Q. Any highlights from this year of planting?

A. There were lots of ups and downs in the planting process. Fall semester was particularly rough as I experienced some rejection by students I had a lot of hope for in terms of their involvement.

Spring was a different story.

The fruit of perseverance was a huge gift: I gathered a group of students and they were growing together as we took risks to apply what we were learning from Jesus in our Bible study. It was such a privilege to get to lead them!

As I shared about my departure with them individually I received the unexpected feedback that some of my hopes for the year were becoming a reality. They felt like I consistently challenged them. They were discovering new things about God as we dove into Scripture. They were beginning to view the campus as their mission field.

I can't think of a better highlight!

May 2011 - Wash U Graduation
(I wish I could take credit for this photo. I cannot)

i said yes

tales of text messaging

One of my favorite parts of my job is receiving text messages from students that sharing something encouraging that God has been showing them.

Here are the highlights from the past week:

1. "So I'm sitting here soaking a hangnail in water for 15 minutes and I stumbled upon Habakkuk 3:17-19. Pretty tiiight!"

2. "Guess what? My friend Megan is interested in doing a GIG with me! She lives on the second floor."

3. A series of 5 texts from the same student - "Andrea! I forgot to share the hugest God moment I had this weekend w/ Chi O! :) He is working! Showed me what he's up to because I was not feeling very invested in it. :) But a Chi O Bible study in the future is a definite idea I have been thinking about a bunch these past few days. Except I am not mentioning it yet to anyone in Chi O...just in my head. :) Thank u for your prayers!"

I seriously have the best job in the world!

pointing to jesus

I was recently given the opportunity to preach at my church in St. Louis, Community Covenant Church. The message was the same one that I shared at our first MOmentum gathering at the beginning of the semester.

I am realizing more and more how much life I find in pointing people to Jesus! Just last weekend I met a Muslim post-doc research fellow who is working at Wash U's med school. He was curious about the work I do with students and curious about Jesus, so we're meeting for lunch on Sunday to talk more about his questions. Pray that he would continue to be open to learning more about Jesus.

no secrets

The secrets we displayed were anonymously shared by Wash U students.

MOmentum has been an incredible experience for staff and students alike. Our staff team has worked together to put on top-notch training experiences and students have stepped up in big ways in order to take risks that point their friends toward Jesus.

On Sunday night 25 InterVarsity students from ACF, Harambee and Wash U Christian Fellowship gathered to learn how to lead people through the No Secrets proxé station. We spent a week collecting secrets from Wash U students and then we displayed them on campus Monday and Tuesday along with a three-paneled display board where students could respond to questions about secrets and Jesus. We trained the InterVarsity students on leading someone through the questions on the display board and we helped them think through sharing the story of Jesus interacting with the woman caught in adultery in John 8.

We had some great conversations about Jesus as we applied what we learned in the next two days. Several people heard the Gospel and others were challenged by Jesus' response to the woman in John 8 and how it differed from their expectations. I think that all of us involved also realized that many of our friends on campus are walking around carrying painful secrets. The number of secret cards on display that confessed loneliness, depression, and suicidal thoughts was staggering.

Pray for Wash U and pray for us as we invited our friends to know the hope that only Jesus provides.

IV students leading their peers through questions about secrets and Jesus.

Staff partnership is fun! Kale and I are ready to paint a mattress for another proxé station.

creativity matters

I've been published in a fun, new e-book called Creative Matters. You can download it for FREE here. You can check out the fantastic folk who are publishing it here.

All of this energy focused on creativity has me wondering how to empower the students I work with to embrace the way God has wired them to create.

created to create

We are smack dab in the middle of Spring Break! While many Wash U students have fled en masse to (hopefully) sunny locations from coast to coast, I've been handed the incredible opportunity to do some freelance writing work with Clark.

In a brainstorming session yesterday afternoon I found myself feeling pretty darn humbled by the sheer amount of talent, insight, and outside-of-the-box thinking going on in the room.

So here I sit in suburban Atlanta, playing around with words on my computer screen, and pondering the gift of the Story that begins with a Creator who called creation into being with his words.

GIGapalooza

GIGs are the buzz around these parts. What's a GIG? I am oh-so-glad you asked.

A GIG is essentially a small group for folks who are curious about Jesus. We invite our curious friends to look at a story about Jesus from Scripture, we ask our questions in a safe environment, and we apply what we're discovering.

This past Sunday evening our second all MOmentum training was all about GIGs. We were challenged to set up a GIG with at least one friend within 48 hours.

Damion, one of my WUCF students, approached me after the group was dismissed. "I don't think I can do this," he said.

"Yes, you can, Damion. We're going to lead a GIG together and we're going to invite people together," I replied.

Pray that our friends on campus meet Jesus in a powerful way as they encounter him in Scripture.

future

The mystery man's name is Ben.

Are you a sucker for a good story? I sure am.

Once upon a time over six years ago Ben and I met when we were both InterVarsity interns in different regions. I harbored a crush for the duration of our 10-day intern trek, but only confessed as much to my journal. We said "hi" to each other at Urbana 06 and then he said "hi" again via facebook after I met one of his co-workers in July 2009. His Urbana 09 staff role landed him in a morning Bible study two rooms down from where I was teaching mine. We kept running into each other. Imagine that! Conversations grew longer and the rest, as we often say, is history.

Now that you have a bit of the scoop on our past I want to fill you on our future. After a year of making a long-distance relationship thrive we're ready to be in the same place and begin our life together. The first decision in that process involves whether we want to start that life in St. Louis or in Corvallis, Oregon where he's on staff at Oregon State University. We've got great ministry options in both locations, which makes the decision more challenging in some ways. While we haven't landed on anything solid yet, I am happy to report that the decision-making process has been a truly healthy and mostly peaceful one - considering my propensity for anxiety. I'll add that to the list of redemptive characteristics that continue to mark our relationship.

It was so fun to watch him gain the approval of my family and some dear friends when we spent time in Arizona in December. In particular my two nieces, who are remarkably good judges of character, were quite taken with him. Does convincing them that his thumb is detachable count as a form of bribery?

I find myself reveling in the goodness of this gift.

MOmentum

This semester our staff team has launched an area-wide evangelism training for students on our campuses across Missouri: MOmentum. Clever, right?

We've been growing in excitement for how God is going to use our times together to equip us all to grow as more effective witnesses on campus. Participation in MOmentum is by invitation only and given that Wash U Christian Fellowship is still in the early stages of a chapter plant I really struggled with whether or not I should even invite the students I connected with during the Fall to be a part of it. After some encouragement from my wise supervisor I invited 6 students to attend the first MOmentum gathering on January 23, in order to give them a taste of MOmentum. Much to my amazement 5 of them decided to attend and they loved it!

I'm still in the midst of follow-up conversations with them to determine who is ready to commit to MOmentum for the semester, but at least 3 of the 5 have told me that they want in.

Kale helped us learn new ways to point to Jesus without
using 'Christianese' words and phrases during our first MOmentum.

return

Greetings from St. Louis and a belated welcome to 2011! I've been back on campus at Wash U for the past two weeks and I must say that the spring semester is off to an exciting start.

After a wonderfully encouraging week at InterVarsity's National Staff Conference in early January, held in downtown St. Louis, I dove back into ministry on campus with a renewed sense that I have been called to love the university and to be a part of bringing renewal to its people, structures, and ideas. I've forgotten that far too easily in the past as I've faced challenges and found myself tempted to believe the lie that the soil at Wash U is simply too hard.

I'm done paying attention to lies.

I've spent more time in prayer for Wash U's students, faculty, and administration in the past two weeks than ever before and it's making all the difference. I walk on campus each day asking God to show me how I can join Him in what He's already doing on campus.

I kept hearing the phrase, "sowing in tears, reaping in laughter," as I was hanging out at Wash U last week. I couldn't remember the reference, but I was delighted to discover that it comes from Psalm 126.

I've spent a lot of time in the Psalms of Ascent over the past three years. I love that they are the songs of a journey, with all of the ups and downs that come with it. I've cried a lot of tears over Wash U during my time on staff here, but God is using this campus and its people to give me new reasons to sing. This is a beautiful thing and I am deeply grateful to the One who is allowing me to experience it.

Psalm 126

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with sounds of joy. Then it was said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them." The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.

Restore our fortunes, LORD, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.

I feel like doing this a lot. Does anyone have a spare trampoline that I could borrow?