along the way

from here on out

2012-01-31T13:35:00.002-06:00

Ben and I sent out a communication survey to our ministry supporters a couple of weeks ago. We wanted feedback on how our partners prefer receiving communication from us.

It is said that numbers don't lie. According to the numbers of our survey results, this ministry update blog is not a primary source of information for those of you who pray for and financially support work on campus. As a result we won't be updating this blog in the future.

Instead we will continue to send out monthly e-letter updates.

If you are not on that distribution list and would enjoy receiving our e-letters, please let us know. Send an email to andrea.garner@gmail.com and we'll get you signed up!

transition

2012-01-10T14:04:00.003-06:00

Now that I'm a married lady figuring out how to do ministry with my husband, Ben, who is also on staff with InterVarsity, I anticipate this update blog will go through some kind of transition. You see, he's been updating folks who have supported his ministry via his own ministry blog.

I can foresee a few possibilities:

We might start posting here together.

We might post on his ministry blog together.

We might start an entirely new joint blog to post about ministry happenings.

I will let you all know how we decide to proceed!

In the meantime we appreciate your prayers as we begin Winter Term in Corvallis. The weather is gloomy and as I prayed with some students last night we had the collective sense that God wants to break through some of the metaphorical clouds in students' lives with His light.

May it be so!

learning how to celebrate

2011-10-04T12:27:00.003-05:00

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

2011-09-27T15:40:00.007-05:00

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

2011-09-27T15:13:00.010-05:00

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

2011-09-27T14:45:00.004-05:00

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

2011-09-27T13:04:00.009-05:00

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

2011-07-07T17:47:00.002-05:00

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

2011-06-24T16:38:00.004-05:00

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

2011-06-24T15:26:00.007-05:00

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

2011-06-21T17:24:00.009-05:00

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

2011-04-18T17:20:00.001-05:00

tales of text messaging

2011-03-31T15:59:00.001-05:00

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

2011-03-31T15:49:00.004-05:00

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

2011-03-31T15:25:00.003-05:00

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

2011-03-23T09:37:00.002-05:00

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

2011-03-16T12:32:00.003-05:00

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

2011-02-22T11:21:00.005-06:00

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

2011-02-01T22:40:00.015-06:00

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

2011-02-01T22:11:00.007-06:00

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

2011-02-01T21:30:00.006-06:00

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?

pigs

2010-12-03T10:10:00.008-06:00

Pigs as part of a metaphor for healing and deliverance? Yes, indeed. I'm speaking tonight at Asian Christian Fellowship's Large Group at Wash U. I'll be sharing the story of Jesus healing the Gerasene Demoniac in Mark 5.

Please pray that students will respond to the invitation to experience more healing so that we can tell our friends the story of what He's done for us.

the feast

2010-11-23T17:44:00.006-06:00

good food + studying Scripture = a truly great feast

Last Friday 6 Wash U students gathered in my living room - 5 freshmen and 1 sophomore. I had invited them to share an evening of food and Scripture. Looking around the room I realized that only a couple of them had ever met each other before. I realized that they each met me at some point in the past couple of months. It was fun to realize that God had gathered a group of people who might not otherwise be in the same room together.

As of 10 PM on Thursday evening, the night prior to this gathering event that I dubbed The Feast, only 2 students had committed to attending. I woke up on Friday morning to text messages with confirmations of 3 more and another text message late Friday afternoon rounded out the 6 who said "yes".

We studied the parable of the great banquet in Luke 14. We marveled at a God who is always inviting new people to his party. We talked about it hosting another dinner and Scripture study on campus in a couple of weeks. What would it be like to invite as many people as we can? What would it be like to be generous with our invitations?

It was an encouraging night.

going public

2010-10-26T15:53:00.008-05:00

Wash U Christian Fellowship is a community of Jesus followers free to love God and to make His love known at Wash U. That's the vision that I have been sharing with the students I am meeting. There is something in particular about the public nature of making God's love known to others that presents the challenge for students to choose faith instead of fear. I continue to hear that invitation for myself as well and so I've been experimenting with some creative ways to engage students in conversations about spiritual reality. This kind of public outreach has been helpful because it's a tangible way to invite students to join me in mission on campus and it allows me to gauge their openness to risk-taking.

The week after Fall Conference I planned to run a Proxé Station for two afternoons on campus as a way to publicly invite students to consider the God who loves them. A Proxé Station is an interactive experience used to clearly explain the Gospel and help people to respond appropriately. The Proxé Station that I decided to use involved asking students to respond to questions about how they have been both victims and perpetrators of injustice. I had a few solid conversations with students who stopped by the display on the first day, but I left campus feeling tired and lonely. The thought of trying it again the next day just felt daunting.

I called my supervisor that evening and as I shared how tiring and lonely my experience of the day had been she offered to join me at the Proxé Station for an hour the following day along with one of our other teammates. Esther, my friend and staff with Asian Christian Fellowship (ACF), was able to join us as well. If having three staff partners with me wasn't enough, two students from Wash U Christian Fellowship's sister chapters, ACF and Harambee, ran the station with me for the second half of the afternoon and changed their plans at the last minute in order to do so. Together we were able to engage so many more students in conversation than the first day and many conversations revealed the spiritual hunger that exists among students at Wash U.

Isn't God's provision incredibly timely?

That same day I received a call from Howie with the idea to bring a team of staff to Wash U to run multiple Proxé Stations on campus on November 2 as part of their evangelism training. Pray for open hearts and minds next Tuesday as we confront students with the evil of human trafficking, invite them to consider the things that they are enslaved by in the process, and point them toward Jesus as the one who brings freedom.

Partnering with friends from Asian Christian Fellowship to
start conversations about Jesus and social justice.

momentum

2010-10-26T14:10:00.005-05:00

Debriefing our John 9 Bible study at Fall Conference with Jenn and Valerie.

According to the dictionary I just consulted momentum is,"strength or force gained by motion or through the development of events." Momentum is definitely my buzz word these days. In fact my planting coach, Howie, and I spend most of our conversations discussing where I am seeing momentum on campus and how to capitalize on that. I notice that the momentum has shifted around a lot in the first half of the semester, but there are a couple of locations where momentum has been building consistently. Here is where I am seeing momentum:

Athlete Bible Study - 3 freshmen football players, 1 cross country runner, and 1 swimmer joined me to study a passage from Mark two weeks ago. Our discussion was lively and somewhere in the middle of it one of the football players, EJ, expressed his doubt about God's existence. EJ is one of Andrew's roommates and Andrew texted me later that night to let me know that they had a great conversation about faith when they returned to their dorm room.

Catholic students - Several of the students I've met through hanging out in various freshmen dorms come from a Catholic background. Three students who came to our first two events of the school year happened to be Catholic. I was so excited about their initial interest, but when they stopped responding to my invitations for further connection I was rather disappointed. Despite that disappointment I continue to meet Catholic students and I am asking God for wisdom on how to invite them to get involved in the mission of Wash U Christian Fellowship.

Being present - I spent one recent evening hanging out in a fort that some freshmen had constructed in their common room out of stacked furniture, bed sheets, and duct tape. Their RA had hoped that the night would involve discussing faith and so he invited me to join them. The conversation didn't end up there, but I did get to meet more students and share what I am doing on campus. I ran into a couple of these new students on campus last week and found myself feeling surprised as they recognized me. I realized that simply choosing to be present with them in that fort has potentially opened up a door for ministry.

I am encouraged by the evidence of momentum and I am praying for wisdom as I plan the next steps.

aftermath

2010-10-12T14:44:00.003-05:00

Missouri Area staff and students at Fall Con 2010

Fall Conference was pretty great! I think it stretched our staff team to pull the whole thing off and lead in different capacities. I think it stretched students as they were called to live as bold witnesses for Jesus on campus. It's good to be stretched.

We talked a lot about how easy it is to say "yes" to Jesus when you're spending a weekend surrounded by other students who are excited to respond to God's call. It's not always so easy when the retreat is over and you're back on campus surrounded by friends who haven't had the same experience that you've just had. Before we all went our separate ways on Sunday afternoon each fellowship had a chance to meet together to plan how we would apply what we had learned.

I sat down with the two students, Jenn and Valerie, from Wash U Christian Fellowship to come up with outreach ideas that we could do on campus. We ended up deciding to host a game night for Valerie's floor in her dorm. Valerie is a freshman at Wash U and she is fairly quiet and reserved. I wasn't sure how she'd fare when it came to inviting her neighbors to a game night so that we could build more relationship with them, but she was enthusiastic about the idea and so we went for it.

Last Friday night I showed up in the lobby of Valerie's dorm with homemade cookies and Apples to Apples. Students from her floor began to gather and everyone who walked through the lobby was invited to play with us. We played for four hours with a rotating group of 8-12 students. At the end of the night one of the students commented that this was the most social the floor had been since before classes began. I am excited to help Valerie continue to build relationships with her neighbors and to discover those who are curious about Jesus.

do you know him?

2010-10-01T09:52:00.002-05:00

At 7 PM this evening over 170 students from schools in St. Louis and Columbia, MO will descend on Potosi, MO for Fall Conference 2010. We're asking the question, "Do You Know Him?" as the theme of the conference. Pray that many students would indeed be able to say that they know Jesus in a new way because of our time together this weekend.

I will be leading the group through an inductive Bible study in John 9 on Saturday morning. It's a powerful passage and I am excited for the way that God wants to use it to empower us to be His witnesses even when it's costly. I would appreciate your prayers for clarity and the ability to discern how the Spirit is at work in the room as I lead. I am so excited for what God wants to do!

This is my 9th InterVarsity Fall Conference. One October weekend in 2000 I decided to commit to following Jesus at a Fall Conference in Arizona. Ten years later I am convinced that it was the best decision I've ever made! As our staff team has been making final preparations for this weekend I have been marveling at what a privilege it is to be a part of a movement that is continuing to invite students to follow Jesus.

I'm ready for a great weekend!

athletes + the chosen people

2010-09-28T11:27:00.005-05:00

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

2010-09-14T16:29:00.006-05:00

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

2010-09-14T15:43:00.004-05:00

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!

a new start

2010-08-25T11:48:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM more than 1600 freshmen students will begin moving into their residence halls at Wash U and their orientation program will begin.

Pray for me. Pray with me.

pruning

2010-08-08T21:27:00.006-05:00

And every branch that is grape-bearing he cuts back so it will bear even more.
John 15:2b, The Message

Tonight I was walloped with the realization that it feels risky to believe that all of the pruning I've been experiencing, particularly in the past year, will result in an abundance of fruit. That hoped-for-fruit has made the painful removal of dead weight feel worthwhile. Tonight I crumpled in a sobbing heap and confessed the toxic seed of doubt that has been making itself at home in my heart: maybe barrenness is my lot.

Yes, the anticipation of planting something new has me feeling like I'm riding an emotional roller coaster. One minute I'm loving the ride and I'm convinced that there's nowhere else I'd rather be because this ride is forcing me to trust Jesus with abandon. The next minute I'm clinging white-knuckled to the safety bar with clenched teeth and I'm convinced that getting on this ride was a huge mistake.

The pruning is not over. If my understanding of Scripture is on point, it won't be over this side of eternity! The mercy in all of this is that I don't have to spend time agonizing over what my continued pruning will look like or what it will feel like. I can also ask Jesus to fight off my fear of fruitlessness because he says that fruit will be the organic result of remaining in Him.

This remaining business is an art and I would very much like to be a more devoted student of it.

freedom

2010-07-31T14:28:00.005-05:00

They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.

Isaiah 61:3b

The words of Isaiah 61 have echoed in my head and in my heart since January 2008 when I heard them clearly during a time of prayer at InterVarsity's National Staff Conference. As I think about the twists and turns of my life and my ministry over the past three years I can see evidence of the way that the images and themes present in this passage have begun to take shape in me and around me. As I've spent time this summer preparing for a significant relaunch of the ministry at Wash U I can't get away from this passage. That's not a complaint, just an observation!

At the beginning of July I had the incredible opportunity to receive training as a guest in IV's Chapter Planting Cohort. While I've been at the work of "re-planting" the One Voice fellowship since joining the staff team in St. Louis, some key factors have me feeling that this fall is a game changer. One of those factors is having the right training!

I am so grateful for the wealth of information I received as I learned about what InterVarsity has been learning about planting new chapters across the country for the past several years. One of our assignments during the training was to write a 7-minute vision talk that we could use on campus to invite students to become fellow co-laborers in the mission field. As I worked on my talk the themes of Isaiah 61 continued to swirl around my mind.

Luke sets the stage for Jesus's earthly ministry in chapter 4 of his Gospel. Jesus shows up on his home turf in Nazareth, rolls into the synagogue and reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,

because he has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for

the prisoners

And recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

As I pray for this new witnessing community that I will work to plant this fall I am convinced that we are to be a community that joins Jesus in proclaiming freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind. I long to call students to experience the freedom that Jesus is offering to them and that he continues to invite you and me to experience, too!

Even before the students arrive on campus at the end of August will you join me now in praying that God would direct us to students at Wash U who are desperate to be free?

howdy, partner

2010-07-19T15:53:00.005-05:00

I found this posted on the website of our Regional Director. He, in turn, discovered it on someone else's blog. Check it out!

I was encouraged by this pastor's perspective on what it means for the church to partner with a campus ministry like InterVarsity. It reminded me of how grateful I am for the churches who are already involved with what God is doing at Wash U.

It also challenged me to desire a kingdom perspective in the midst of planting a movement on campus. I want to know that I am raising up leaders for what God is doing in the world, not just in my tiny corner of the world.

further up and further in

2010-06-17T19:27:00.007-05:00

God answers prayer. In January I asked you to join me in praying that God would direct me towards missional students at Wash U who could be a part of re-planting One Voice. I have to confess that a part of me didn't believe that He would answer.

But He did.

Enter Jenn. I met Jenn in one of the freshmen residence halls at the end of January and had a gut sense that I needed to get to know her. It was an exciting moment!

It took a few weeks before our schedules lined up and we were able to meet for breakfast. I asked her about her time in college so far and why she wasn't connected with one of the other Christian fellowships on campus. She said that she had tried a few out but that none of them felt like places she would feel comfortable bringing her non-Christians friends. The more we talked the more it became clear that she had a lot of those and she was consistently finding ways to communicate God's love for them. She firmly believed that her ministry as a college student was to be the kind of friend that introduces people to Jesus.

Needless to say, this was a really fun conversation to be in the middle of!

I shared with her about my sense that God was calling One Voice to be a conversion community, a place where we were being transformed because of our obedience to Jesus and inviting our friends to experience the same thing. Jenn exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! You're the first person I've met at Wash U that has that kind of vision. That's what I want to see happen, too!"

Jenn is a missional Christian. She knows that God wants to uniquely use her in His mission to draw her friends into a relationship with Him.

Jenn and I are praying big, bold prayers for the incoming class of freshmen. We can't wait to see who Jesus is going to call us to serve in this Fall.

God answers prayer.

Jenn (on the far right) desires to see her friends and other
students at Wash U understand that they are deeply loved by God.

2009-2010 images

2010-06-17T18:08:00.022-05:00

I hope you enjoy this photo summary of the past school year as much as I enjoyed putting it together! I feel a little overwhelmed by the awareness that each person in each of these photos has a story. I smiled and teared up as I compiled these images, recounting the moments throughout the year when I had the privilege of witnessing their stories interacting with the epic story of the Kingdom. That, my friends, is such a gift!

I invite you to celebrate with me because you have been a part of making these moments possible:

One Voice serving the city with WULF - I will always remember this school year as the year that the WULF atheists became my friends. How I long for them to know their true identity as friends of God!

Hmmmm...I find it suspicious that it's a One Voicer attempting to choke me in the above photo. :)

You mean to tell me that we can serve together more than once? Get outta here! :)

Nothing says, "Merry Christmas!" quite like this photo. One Voice has a tradition of inviting friends to a party involving a gingerbread house design contest. My team dominated this year. Yes!

There was some serious Bible study going down at this table! In February I had the incredible fun of leading three of my staff co-workers through an inductive study in the first two chapters of Mark's Gospel as we prepared for Catalyst, our summer training camp for students. The opportunities I've had to lead groups in Scripture study have been such a blessing to me this year.

Spending time at a local elementary school tutoring kids during the CityLights Spring Break Urban Project - our team included students from St. Louis, Minnesota and Georgia.

Christy just graduated from Wash U and she served as a leader in One Voice for three years. Fun fact: her mom was an InterVarsity student leader during her college days. Christy, on the other hand, arrived at Wash U pretty well determined to avoid InterVarsity. That didn't really work out for her. I am convinced that God has a sense of humor! She and her fiancée, Jonathan, are CityLights alumni and served as summer interns in 2009. It has been an absolute joy to watch their hearts expand to love the city of St. Louis.

It was hugely significant for me to be a part of the team that organized Wash U's first Veritas Forum. As I stood at the back of the room as over 200 students heard two opposing perspectives on selflessness, one of which was a thoroughly Christian worldview, I was so grateful. That evening represented over two years of dreaming and praying. Let me assure you that it was worth it!

InterVarsity was just one of the groups sponsoring The Veritas Forum. I had so much fun partnering with students from other fellowships on campus. I also enjoyed welcoming people at the door. :)

Wash U students engaged with the dialogue between two respected professors with two very different worldviews.

The best conversations happened after the dialogue had ended! What a good God we serve!

In April the Wash U staff hosted three leadership trainings for next year's leaders in our fellowships. Here I am reminding students that challenging those we lead is an integral part of actually loving them.

Catalyst 2010 - these students and staff studied Mark for a total of fourteen hours at our summer training camp in May! It is always exciting to experience community forming around Scripture. One of the students pictured above decided to commit his life to Jesus on the third night of camp and then shared his testimony in our study time the next day. Thanks be to God for good soil and new life!

Three cheers for partnership! Part of the fun of Catalyst is that our Central Region staff team gets to work together to serve all of our students. It's a community effort and we get to see God show up in a big way as students hear the call to be missionaries on their campuses. It's a good reminder for us, too!

Veritas Forum first fruit

2010-04-05T10:10:00.004-05:00

250 students, faculty, and other inquiring minds packed into the largest lecture hall in the Lab Sciences building for the first ever Veritas Forum at Wash U last Monday night. I will post a link to the audio and video files as soon as they become available.

It is partially true that the evening came together thanks to the hard work and dedication of the students on the planning team and some surprising partnerships within the campus community. I think it is more true that the success of the event bears witness to the faithfulness of God.

The conversation between the two presenting professors was incredibly cordial. While there was much that they agreed on when it came to the science behind the topic, the divide between the Christian worldview and an atheistic worldview was made evident. As the event came to a close and I thanked people for their attendance as they were leaving several people asked when the next Forum was taking place and commented on what a thought-provoking dialogue this first Forum had been.

On Thursday morning I met with three Christian professors from Wash U to pray and encourage one another. Two of these professors attended the Forum and one of them just happens to teach in the same department as the non-Christian professor who participated as one of the Forum presenters. Already this Christian professor had sent an email to his non-Christian colleague, thanking him for his presentation. He also plans on having lunch with his non-Christian colleague to further the conversation about belief that the Forum began. "It was clear to me that [the non-Christian professor] knew how to talk about what he does not believe, but when he was asked to articulate what he does believe he didn't have a well-thought through response. I'd love to talk more with him about the basis for what he does, in fact, believe," my Christian professor friend said.

It appears that some of the first fruit of hosting a Veritas Forum on campus is taking the form of faculty members inspired to minister to their peers. Praise God!

true life

2010-03-18T21:13:00.005-05:00

I've had several moments on campus this year when I have had to remind myself that I did not graduate from Wash U. That's how much it feels like home! This is a total answer to pray and I could not be more grateful for the way that God has allowed my heart to love this institution and its students. In my time here I have been challenged to pray and discover the needs unique to this place. What are the big questions that students at Wash U are asking? Part of InterVarsity's vision is to see campuses renewed. What might that look like? Before I had even stepped foot on campus I remember thinking, "I bet Wash U would be a great place to host a Veritas Forum."

The Veritas Forum exists to "inspire the shapers of tomorrow's culture to connect their hardest questions with the person and story of Jesus Christ." Founded in 1992 at Harvard University, The Veritas Forum has spread to campuses across the country. I am thrilled to announce that the first Veritas Forum at Washington University in St. Louis is taking place on the evening of March 29, 2010.

It has been two years in the making. Initial plans for the inaugural event had to be scrapped in late 2008. The fact that we are on the cusp of seeing it come to fruition is hugely significant as hosting a Veritas Forum requires partnership between Christian student leaders from multiple ministries, campus ministers, and faculty. I believe that the event next Monday night will be the first of many opportunities to elevate the conversation about Jesus on campus and engage students with questions that they are actually asking.

Needless to say the next couple of weeks are going to be full of excitement as we finalize logistical details for the 29th, host the event, and create some strategic follow-up plans to capitalize on the momentum for outreach on campus.

shining lights

2010-03-18T21:11:00.006-05:00

On Friday, March 12, CityLights was coming to a close and Gerry Chappeau, project director, was leading the students in sharing their reflections from the week. Sanjay*, a Wash U senior who has been friends with a couple of One Voice students since his freshman year raised his hand. "This week has helped me understand more of what Christianity is all about...getting to see it in action. I didn't understand before why people could be so passionate about it, but I think I get it now. It's made me take a look at my own faith and why I believe what I believe," he shared.

Sanjay comes from a Hindu background and describes himself as a Hindu/Buddhist. As his friends from One Voice have continued to engage in conversation about spiritual matters his posture towards Christianity has become more positive. I must confess that I was pretty surprised when I learned that he had signed up for CityLights. I fully believe that the experience of living in community, serving the city, and learning about God's response to injustice and oppression have helped Sanjay take a couple of steps closer to Jesus. He told his One Voice friends that spending Spring Break at CityLights was the best week he's had in the past year and a half!

Returning to the "real world" after any spiritually significant experience is challenging. Diving back into life and study on campus after CityLights is no exception. Would you join me in praying specifically that Sanjay's heart and mind would remain open to the Gospel in this spiritually vulnerable time? Please pray for wisdom for those of us in his life who will continue to talk to him about Jesus and help him process what he has been experiencing.

* Name changed to protect student's identity

suspect

2010-03-18T19:03:00.004-05:00

There is something new brewing in my internal world. I am grateful for the way that Jesus knows exactly what dark corner of my heart He wants to excavate next. He seems to slowly make that evident to me as some kind of repeated theme emerges over the course of weeks, or months, or even years. In the initial stages of each excavation (and really it's more like multiple excavations in progress all at once) I find that I also experience fear in addition to gratitude.

There is something a wee bit frightening of letting go of what is familiar and "safe" even when it becomes clear that it's destructive and you know that it's out of His grace and goodness that Jesus is saying, "Time for this mess to go!"

Here's a recent and unfolding discovery: I have a serious problem with receiving. In fact, I harbor some suspicion that God's good gifts to me are not actually good. What a mess! Who wants to help me sort through the roots and growth of that foul line of thinking?

Jesus does.

Today I received an exciting invitation and my first response was to burst into tears. This invitation represents a clear affirmation of gifting and calling, but my thoughts went something like, "I don't deserve this."

Oh, I am reminded that we are in relationship with a God who does not relate to us on the basis of what we deserve and that is a truly good gift.

identity

2010-03-08T14:10:00.004-06:00

I had the privilege of spending the last four days near San Fransisco at InterVarsity's Asian American Staff Conference.

I was initially nervous about attending. As I've continued to explore what it means to feel free to embrace my Korean-American side I consistently find myself wishing that I were half-Korean. If I were half I'd feel more entitled to that identity. I imagine that an even split is easier to navigate. I imagine that if my dad had kept his Korean name I'd be Andrea Kim and there would be far fewer questions. I imagine that my high cheekbones would be set even higher and my small feet would fit in smaller shoes.

Jesus continues to invite me to experience healing and to embrace an identity that is far less fragmented. I don't fully know how He plans on using this Scotch-Irish-German-Korean-Jewish vessel, but I know that He'll use all of me. Not one bit of my tangled ethnic identity is out of place or a mistake.

Post-conference conclusion: I am grateful to be caught up in the Story written by a God who wastes nothing.

teamwork

2010-03-01T12:01:00.005-06:00

Adam is one of my wonderful Missouri Area teammates.

I've been thinking about teams recently. I grew up with very little appreciation for the value of teamwork. Team sports were not really part of the picture. I wasn't blessed with much athletic ability and what little I had was channeled toward more individualistic ventures like ballet and tennis. I dreaded group projects in elementary school and I developed the reputation of taking on the bulk of the work because I simply couldn't imagine that anyone else would get it done right. The early signs of trust and control issues? Check.

Old habits die hard. Looking back I can see that there was some growth in my understanding of teamwork throughout high school and college, but I had (and still have) a long way to go. My intern year with InterVarsity was extremely rough in terms of team dynamics. I left that year with some battle wounds and the understanding that being on a team is hard work. Each of us bring a pile of sin and selfishness to the proverbial table that is enough to make us incompatible with every other human being we come in contact with. Bleak outlook? Perhaps, but I think there is a lot of truth in there. Put two or more of us in a room and there is bound to be conflict at some point!

The good/hard news is that we are called to minister in teams. I just love it when I am reminded that most of the New Testament was written with a group audience in mind, a "you all" rather than "you" as an individual. Teams are the context in which our gifts are best utilized and where we experience the potential for exponential impact as our individual gifts come together. A healthy team is also the context through which we are challenged to grow as our sin and selfishness are exposed and dealt with, hopefully with generous helpings of grace and humility.

I am learning to love the joy and the pain that come with being a part of a team. When my former supervisor told me that he thought I was a great person to have on a team I immediately recalled my past and my gut-level response was, "That cannot possibly be true."

I may have been wrong.

springing up

2010-02-22T16:30:00.004-06:00

Isaiah 43:19 continues to come to mind as I consider what God is doing in my life and on campus this season:

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

My emergence from a period of trial by fire and by flood has resulted in a kind of freedom that I did not imagine possible. I feel free to embrace my identity as a dearly beloved child of God. I feel free to fully invest my heart and my energy into replanting One Voice. I feel free to hope and pray towards its future as a thriving conversion community at Wash U. I feel free to run with the Spirit's leading.

What's a girl to do with all of this freedom?

I find myself giving thanks. I know that what I am experiencing is the direct result of the healing that Jesus has been doing in my life and in my ministry over the past couple of years. As I read through my old journal entries I find that many of my words form a collective crying out to be healed. So, it would appear, this freedom is no accident. It is an answer to prayer. My response is to thank my Healer.

I walk on campus these days aware that I am experiencing the goodness of God. There are many at Wash U who have yet to experience such authentic goodness. There are many who have yet to hear of Him. I get to partner with my students to make Him known.

This sounds like the beginning of a great story.

restoration

2010-02-22T14:32:00.005-06:00

March is just around the corner and with it comes the arrival of something in addition to spring: the CityLights St. Louis Urban Project.

I love getting to tell students the story of my first CityLights experience and how God used it to further my desire to learn what it means to seek justice and to love mercy. That was eight years ago! This year I'm particularly excited because we have at least one non-Christian signed up for join us for the week and I am working on recruiting a few more participants in the next week or so.

The strength of the CityLights experience is that students get to live and serve in community, living out the Gospel in an urban context even as they are invited to dream about what it means to follow Jesus in their neighborhoods on campus. It's a breeding ground for catalytic moments and transformation.

I'm really excited to see how God uses the project this March to further the work that He's doing in the lives of the students who will be participating. It's going to be a wonderfully challenging week!

open

2010-02-22T10:03:00.003-06:00

Friday afternoon I received a text message from a freshman international student. I hadn't seen her in awhile. She studied the Bible with a couple of other students in one of our GIGs at the end of the last semester. Her text message asked if I wanted to meet her for dinner. I jumped at the opportunity.

In the midst of eating and catching up I asked her if she wanted to continue to explore more about Jesus. She said that she is really curious and she wants to keep learning about the possibility that God exists and that He cares about us.

I know where I'll be on Friday afternoons: studying Mark's Gospel with this student and one of her close friends. Praise God for open doors and the chance to discover where He's been at work!

lost

2010-02-01T10:39:00.006-06:00

I am a fan of the show Lost. Tomorrow night is the premiere of the show's sixth and final season. As I was coming up with a list of creative ways to gather students on campus and maybe meet some new ones, hosting a Lost premiere party was at the top of my list. A couple of One Voice students, who shall remain nameless, were not sold on the idea and one even said, albeit in a somewhat jocular manner, "No one is going to come to your party because no one here likes that show. It's soooooo dumb!"

Remaining undeterred in the face of criticism is something I am getting better at and so I ignored the dissenting views.

Fast forward to this past Friday. As one of the One Voice seniors and I are visiting freshmen and bringing them homemade chocolate chip cookies we intentionally go to meet a student who has been emailing us and trying to get connected with our fellowship. As we talked about the coming week she mentions apologetically that she will not be able to come to our prayer gathering on Tuesday night because several of her friends from the dorm are planning on watching the Lost premiere together. The timing was impeccable.

"Hey! That's what we were planning on doing, too! Could we bring our premiere party to your dorm?" I asked.

She agreed and so that is what we will be up to on Tuesday night.

Now that was a fun lead to follow.

leads

2010-01-28T10:35:00.005-06:00

I feel like a detective these days. If you were to ask me how I've been spending my time on campus I would respond, "I'm following leads."

It's all rather exhilarating. I meet a potentially missional Christian or a leader from a community that we want to intentionally engage with and then I get to scope them out. It takes energy and some serious intentionality, but I find myself excited about where it could lead and confident that Jesus already knows the people he's drawing together.

One of those potential people is a student named Jamie. At Urbana she committed to leading a GIG using John 1-4 with some of her non-Christian friends on campus. I'm meeting up with her tomorrow to chat about her Urbana experience and to ask if she'd like me to co-lead her GIG. Partnership and risk-taking with a potential student leader? Sounds like fun!

urbana reflections

2010-01-21T17:18:00.006-06:00

What would it be like if thousands of people eager to hear about God's mission in the world took over your city for five days? What would that look like? I will venture to guess that it might look a lot like what we in St. Louis experienced during Urbana 09. There really is no accurate way to describe the thrill of watching as the downtown area began to fill with the 16,000 people, mostly students, ready to hear and respond to God's call to join His work in our neighborhoods, both local and global.

Experiencing Urbana from the staff perspective was something new for me. A lot of my energy went into my teaching role during the morning Bible studies and I absolutely loved it! It was an incredible privilege to serve with my assistants, all of whom are InterVarsity alumni. I also appreciated that the participants in our study were a diverse group of U.S. and Canadian college students, InterVarsity staff from around the country, InterVarsity alumni, and even a few folks from the Pastor and Church Leader Track. We had a lot of fun together digging into the first four chapters of John's Gospel. It was such an honor to serve as a teacher.

Stepping back from my job assignment and getting to hear how God was moving through other elements of the conference was equally exciting! Over 300 conference attendees (and even several stadium workers employed by the convention center) responded to an altar call on December 30. 2000 students committed to serving in long-term, cross-cultural ministry. A few thousand more committed themselves to short-term assignments. The stories of responses made in the light of the calls issued will continue to be lived out in the coming years. The kingdom will advance as a result of many saying "yes" to God's invitation to them at Urbana 09!

And in the midst of all of the excitement I found that God had some specific invitations for me, too. Even as I write about them they don't strike me as exciting or as alluring as trekking off to a distant land for the sake of the gospel and yet they are infused with so much gospel truth! I heard the invitation to forgive as I have been forgiven. I heard the invitation to love extravagantly. I heard the invitation to faithfully point the way to Jesus again and again.

I hope I never get over being amazed at how He knows exactly what we need.

wanted: missional students

2010-01-21T14:07:00.006-06:00

According to InterVarsity's Chapter Planting material a missional Christian is, "a student or faculty who is motivated by their relationship with Jesus to advance the gospel on their campus, someone who is willing to devote time and resources to take risks for Jesus' sake." Missional Christians are essential to the health and vitality of a fellowship and they are particularly crucial in the start-up phases. At our Central Region Staff Conference in December I had the opportunity to interact with one of the staff who coaches chapter planters in New England. As I shared a bit about the history of One Voice with him and some of the current realities and challenges of working to replant the fellowship, he began to ask some really good questions.

"What kind of evangelistic risks are you willing to take?" "Are there students in the group who are pushing you to raise the bar when it comes to evangelism?" As I shared my responses he thought for a moment and then said, "It sounds like you need to pray. You need to pray that you will encounter missional students on campus who will join you in the evangelism that you're already doing and even lead out in greater risks. You need start praying for conversions. It sounds like God could be shaping your group to be a community built around conversion.

As soon as he said that I was reminded of the words that I've been holding onto for the past couple of years. As I prayed for One Voice in the summer of 2007, prior to knowing very much about the chapter or its students, I heard God saying that the chapter would not grow because we were attractive to all of the Christian students at Wash U. Rather, One Voice would grow through conversion - students encountering Jesus, perhaps for the first time in their lives, and choosing to follow him.

I am committing myself to prayer towards this vision even as we continue to experiment with creative outreach this semester. I am asking the current core of One Voice to spend more time praying towards this vision. In particular I am asking Jesus for some divine appointments with missional students. I believe they're out there.

Will you pray with us?

experience urbana

2010-01-19T11:19:00.003-06:00

Check out the videos from Urbana 09! Here are a few of my favorites that I would recommend to you:

Day 2 - Interview with Patrick Fung

Day 3 - Money and Power: Oscar Muriu

Day 4 - Pray Big and Pray Bold: Sunder Krishnan

Day 5 - Michael Oh

Day 5 - I've Got A River of Life: Brenda Salter-McNeil

among the wolves

2009-12-10T12:27:00.004-06:00

Last Saturday at 3 PM I gathered with nine students to study John 3:1-21. Seven of those students were part of WULF - Wash U's League of Freethinkers. With the end of the semester rapidly approaching and no guarantee that they would want to continue to study Scripture with me in the spring I gave three of their leaders the choice of which passage we would explore and they chose John 3 - Jesus and Nicodemus.

Needless to say as I stood in front of the group and shared some background information on the passage and the basic ground rules of inductive Bible Study I felt like I was about to be fed to the wolves. Facilitation wise, it was probably one of the most difficult studies I've ever led. They had a really tough time actually making observations and kept diving directly into interpreting the passage. After a couple of hours I was exhausted and unsure if any of the main points were coming across. In hindsight, however, I can see some of the things that were happening:

A couple of the students were clearly wrestling with the idea that spiritual birth is something that comes from "above" rather than something we can manufacture on our own.

The tension created by the location of a verse about God's love as it is expressed in sending Jesus (3:16) and a verse about the condemnation of those who persist in unbelief (3:18) evoked a very strong negative reaction from one student in particular. Again, this gave me insight into his spiritual questions and struggle with the Gospel.

Several of the students thanked me afterward and expressed that they had never actually studied any part of the Bible.

I expected hard questions and I definitely had those in abundance. I also expected that we wouldn't be able to answer them all adequately in the time allowed. This was also true but it provides an opportunity for further conversation with individuals who participated.

I would very much appreciate your prayers as I follow-up with the WULF students and challenge them to continue to explore Scripture with me this spring.

advent

2009-12-01T19:17:00.004-06:00

Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.

Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art:
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

The lines of Charles Wesley's hymn have been running through my head for the past couple of weeks. I am more thoughtful about this season of expectant waiting than I have been in the past. Clear identification of the unmet longings lying buried in your heart will do that to you.

And so I find myself desperately hoping for the arrival of this long-expected Jesus all over again.

proxé station

2009-11-09T17:05:00.006-06:00

Extreme Makeover: Campus Edition

"If you could makeover one aspect of your external appearance what would it be?"

We had the opportunity to ask that question to dozens of Wash U students recently. Two weeks ago we experimented with a form of campus outreach known around InterVarsity as the Proxé Station. According to the guidebook that I used to train students prior to our event a Proxé Station is a guided experience that is used to clearly explain the Gospel and help people respond appropriately. It uses interactive art, questions, and conversation to enable participants to discover realities about God, themselves, and their world, which move them to respond to Jesus.

Students who responded to our opening question about their external reality were invited to respond to a question about their internal reality and it was fascinating to listen to their responses. While a few students said that they were completely happy with their physical appearance all of them had things about their inner realities that they wanted to see change. Quite a few were open to hearing us share the Gospel and explain how Jesus offers hope for true transformation of our internal realities. Good stuff!

The response was extremely positive and I am excited about doing more Proxé Station outreach at Wash U in the spring as a collaborative effort between all of the InterVarsity chapters on campus. Several students expressed interest in taking a look at Scripture with us after they were guided through the proxé experience. Please pray for fruitful conversations as we continue to pursue follow up interactions with these new friends who desire to learn more about Jesus.

Allison and Ly guide a Wash U student through the Proxé experience.

eager feet

2009-10-26T10:30:00.006-05:00

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And wither then? I cannot say.

- J.R.R. Tolkien

Tomorrow we're setting up an interactive display on campus for a couple of hours in order to engage students in conversation about their internal realities and how the good news of the Gospel offers hope for transformation. Pray for good connections and the cultivating of much curiosity about Jesus.

This week One Voice is also committing to inviting our friends to study three passages out of John's Gospel over the first three weeks of November. These GIGs (Groups Investigating God) are a change to invite our curious friends to consider the things we've been learning about Jesus this semester. Pray for boldness as we invite and build community around the Word.

As we press on into the second half of this semester I am mindful that we are not always sure where the road is leading, but we are sure who is walking ahead of us. That makes all the difference.

sufficient

2009-10-15T19:22:00.003-05:00

Confidence in the sufficiency of Jesus - my pastor in Tucson defined faith as such. I find myself agreeing with him more and more, especially as I step out into greater risks and invite students to do the same.

Tonight I am having to remind myself of this as I prepare to work on fundraising after a week full of other relational risks on campus. I am confident in his sufficiency.

living water

2009-10-05T10:08:00.005-05:00

Yup, that's me - looking terrified in the last row and leaning forward.

Last weekend I fulfilled a lifelong dream: whitewater rafting on a legitimate river. I survived - thrived, actually - through the experience and it was every bit as exciting as I had hoped it would be.

Earlier in the week I had the opportunity to spend three days studying John 1-4 in the company of the Urbana Bible Study teaching team. In the final session we dove into Jesus' interaction with the woman at the well. While I am keenly aware of the way Jesus has been using this preparation time in each of the four passages to refine me, I've been mulling over the 4th chapter of John's Gospel for months now. This time Jesus' offer of "living water" stood out. We talked about living water carrying the cultural understanding of moving water as opposed to water from a well or cistern. For some reason I'd always associated that phrase with something tame, like a fountain. As soon as moving water came up in the conversation, however, the fountain image in my head gave way to a river: wild, untamed, and rapid.

As I rafted the living water of the Ocoee River I couldn't help but marvel at the invitation that Jesus offers us.

Our fitting response is to give it away.

On the last and greatest day of the Festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."
John 7:37-38 (TNIV)

i will draw all people to myself

2009-09-03T14:56:00.007-05:00

Visions Gospel Choir

I am spending a lot of time reading/meditating/studying Scripture these days. The Gospel of John gets a significant chunk of my time, thanks to Urbana. I am fascinated by Jesus' words about himself. He makes a particularly bold claim in John 12:32 - "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." (TNIV)

Last Saturday night Wash U hosted a huge party for the Class of 2013 at the St. Louis Science Center. Visions Gospel Choir, part of InterVarsity's Harambee chapter at Wash U, was invited to perform. I've been singing with Visions since last fall and it has been a great way to build cross-fellowship relationships and manage to have a musical outlet for myself!

There is something incredibly powerful about speaking - or singing - truth in front of a crowd. As I surveyed the freshmen gathering around us and leaning over the railings of the upper levels of the Science Center to listen to us on Saturday night it hit me that we were lifting up the name of Jesus in a public place and at the invitation of the university administration! Crazy, right?

I believe that Jesus speaks the truth. The drawing people to himself is his job, but we get to play our part in lifting him up!

i heart my staff team

2009-08-18T13:23:00.004-05:00

2009-2010 Missouri Area Team

I love these people. No, really I do. I'm realizing how often I use that phrase flippantly, as in, "I love my new dress!" or "I just love New York-style pizza!" But when it comes right down to it I aim for sincerity when talking about love in relationship to other people, so it feels fitting to confess how much I appreciate and care about the people on this team that I get to serve alongside.

God calls us into partnership with him and with each other. It's a beautiful, life-giving gift if we can learn to accept that our relationships are one of the primary tools he uses to refine each of us. We have much to learn from each other and much to give so that the whole Body is built up.

I am looking forward to this year of ministry with this team as we encourage, challenge, and serve one another for the sake of the Kingdom.

dependence and hospitality

2009-08-14T11:40:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was our first meeting of the new school year as the Missouri Area Team. We studied Luke 9:1-16 and as the themes of dependence on Jesus and those we serve, coupled with radical hospitality emerged I felt so much hope welling up inside of myself. The past couple of years have been a journey of learning deep dependence on Jesus - it's definitely not over, but some really good work has taken place. In the midst of that work I've also discovered that one of my gifts is hospitality: making space in my life and heart for new relationships. During our reflection time after the study I spent time thanking Jesus for the way he's been transforming my life and ministry in the time since I moved to St. Louis and I asked how he wanted to use this particular passage to shape ministry on campus in the coming year.

"Get ready!" he said.

My sense is that Jesus is going to show up in incredible ways as we order our lives and our fellowship around dependence and hospitality this year.

soar

2009-08-03T15:42:00.004-05:00

Taking flight: my favorite mural in the Roosevelt Arts District in Phoenix

It is good to be back in St. Louis after three wonderful weeks in sunny Arizona. I am getting settled into my new home and continuing to reflect on the goodness of God in the midst of a loss that is propelling me into a new year of ministry on Wash U's campus.

If you had asked me in June how I felt about the fall semester I probably would have told you that I didn't have the emotional capacity to even think about it, but such is not the case at the beginning of August. I believe that God has incredibly good things in store as I lead students to engage with His mission. I believe that the new life He wants to bring on our campus is going to be overwhelm us in the best possible way. I believe that He knows what He is doing.

I've been seeing a counselor since January and today she paid me the highest compliment. "Andrea," she said, "You make me love Jesus more. The best part about it is that you're not even trying to get that kind of response, but you're so transparent that it just happens as I get to hear about the way you are letting him transform you. Thank you for letting me be a part of it."

I am treasuring those words and asking Jesus to make transparency a mark of my ministry this year.

sleep patterns

2009-06-17T08:30:00.003-05:00

I haven't slept well since the end of April. This is usually one area of my life where I can count on some consistency, but that has not been the case for the last several weeks. My counselor suggested that it might be time to look into an over the counter sleep aid and I'm willing to admit that she might be right. Really though, I just hate the idea of having to take medication and so I'm dragging my feet. Would you pray that I would be given sound advice as I explore this option and that I would begin to sleep through the night soon?

fog

2009-06-10T18:15:00.003-05:00

I feel really burdened to share with you all some specific ways that you can be praying right now. In the midst of sorting through my own hurt I have heard very clearly that I am to continue to pray for Paul and invite others to do so as well. A couple of people who were praying yesterday had a strong sense that he is experiencing a lot of confusion right now. Would you join us in praying that God's voice would cut through all of that for him?

Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope.
Zechariah 9:12a

dreams

2009-06-07T14:29:00.005-05:00

God is demonstrating his love for me in the most tangible ways. Within a couple of hours of sending out my update email on Friday, which included a prayer request for housing, I found a place to live beginning at the end of July! I will be sharing this charming, two bedroom, brick bungalow with my friend Amanda. I met Amanda seven years ago during the CityLights Urban Plunge over a spring break and I am really looking forward to living with her. I've harbored a not-so-secret dream of living in a brick house with real hardwood floors and space in the backyard for a garden for awhile now. Would you believe that this house is exactly that? It is! Talk about divine provision and an unexpected gift.

There it is: my new home! The lighting is not the best since we're about to experience a thunderstorm, but you get the general idea.

Interestingly enough, this house is located just a block down the street from the duplex where I lived during my first year in St. Louis. I don't have a clear sense of what God is up to, but I don't think it's an accident that I am returning to the beginning of so many things at once, even down to the street where I spent my first year on staff.

I am praying that every day that I spend in this little house of dreams will serve as a reminder for me that my Father knows the deepest desires of my heart. Truly he knows how to give good, good gifts to his children.

care

2009-06-05T13:42:00.003-05:00

I am confident in just a few things these days, but one of them is that my Father sees me and he knows what I need. That is enough for today.

coincidental

2009-04-22T12:20:00.005-05:00

I believe in the sovereignty of God. That makes the coincidental seem less of a coincidence! Last Tuesday Guillermo and I engaged in an evangelistic conversation with a freshman at Wash U. Turns out that her hometown is Chandler, AZ and that we graduated from the same high school.

Coincidence? I think not.

Last Wednesday I sent her a quick email to thank her for sharing her thoughts with us. She had mentioned that she'd be traveling to Uganda this summer to do economic development work with an NGOShe mentioned that she would be spending two months in Uganda this summer doing economic development work with an NGO. In my email I included a Bible verse about God's heart for justice and told her that I will continue to pray for her trip. I also offered to meet up with her if she wanted to look at Scripture that specifically outlines God's desire for us to spend ourselves on behalf of the poor.

She responded within five minutes and asked if we could meet for lunch. We're getting together tomorrow and I encouraged her to invite her friends. I haven't decided what passage we'll look at, but I'm leaning towards the story of Jesus healing the leper in Mark 1.

Yes, I believe in the sovereignty of God.

teaser

2009-04-07T23:14:00.003-05:00

I just returned to St. Louis from sunny Santa Barbara where I was visiting Paul. We have some news to share, but you'll have to wait for the release of my April e-letter to get the details...

scattering seeds

2009-03-28T11:16:00.006-05:00

I am learning to love our call to scatter seeds. We don't know which ones will take root and flourish. We don't know which ones will land on rocky soil. We don't get to micromanage the outcome. We do get to learn much along the way and discover the places where God has already been at work in peoples' lives. We get to communicate the Gospel story in ways that intersect with the stories of the people we are talking with.

I met a student two weeks ago at Wash U who was very open to sharing his thoughts on spirituality. He grew up Lutheran, but now hesitates to associate himself with any one faith tradition. "Organized religion just creates an 'us' and 'them' mentality that is destructive. Besides, as long as people are believing in something I think that all roads lead to the same God," he said to me. I gently challenged his assumption by suggesting that such a view takes as much faith as believing in the exclusivity of Jesus as the way to God. He paused for a moment and then agreed. "I never thought of that," he conceded. I asked if he would be interested in studying Scripture with a small group of curious thinkers and I told him that I thought his perspective would really add to our discussion. He said yes.

Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop - a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let them hear.
Matthew 13:8-9

be faithful

2009-02-25T16:33:00.004-06:00

This is the second year that I've attended an Ash Wednesday Mass at a local Catholic church. Just like last year I was struck by the words that the priest spoke as he marked my forehead with a smudge of ash: turn from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.

Being faithful to the Gospel is taking on new meaning for me as I devote more of my schedule to evangelism on campus. Today I had lunch with a non-Christian student and we talked about his spiritual background and some of the questions he has about the Bible. I asked if he would like to meet with me over lunch for four weeks after Spring Break to look at some passages in Mark and talk about what we see the text saying about Jesus. He agreed. Please pray that his eyes would be opened to the hope that we have through Jesus as we study small sections of Mark's Gospel together.

On Friday afternoon I will be striking up conversations with strangers on campus. Three of my student leaders will be joining me and we're excited about the chance to practice some of what we learned during an evangelism training last weekend. Please pray that Jesus would give us boldness as we share his story and that we would encounter people who are truly seeking.

the doctor will see you now

2009-02-15T16:10:00.003-06:00

Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I'm hear inviting the sin-sick, not the spiritually fit." Mark 2:17 from The Message

This is really good news and as a person willing to admit my sickness I qualify! No insurance needed.

Urbana is coming

2009-02-13T13:52:00.000-06:00

Check it out.

light

2009-02-05T15:22:00.003-06:00

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:1-5 TNIV

Urbana is still several months away, but in preparation for my role as part of the Scripture teaching team I am trying to spend as much time in the first four chapters of John's Gospel between now and December 27. I decided that I will meditate on the same 4-5 verses for a week and then move on to the next section. My roommate and I did that together this morning in an attempt to practice spiritual discipline in community. It was so encouraging and I am looking forward to more as we continue.

I was struck by the truth that the beginning of each of our stories is not the actual beginning. God is the beginning. That gives me a lot of hope!

hiatus

2008-12-01T14:25:00.003-06:00

I've done a deplorable job of keeping this blog updated over the last couple of months. I think I need to put a reminder on my calendar each week so that I will keep up with it.

As I look back at this semester and begin to look forward to my return to campus in the spring, I find much to be deeply grateful for. Tomorrow morning I get to head to Chicago with my friend/supervisor, Tammy, for three days of training as a potential Bible study leader during next December's Urbana convention. One of the hallmarks of InterVarsity has been our inductive Bible study method. I feel honored to have the opportunity to learn how to better lead students as they encounter Scripture from veteran staff whom I greatly admire!

God has been very gracious to me as I've stepped away from campus in order to be faithful in my fundraising efforts. I can recount his provision of weekly and sometimes daily reminders that I've been called into this ministry. One of those reminders came in the form of an email from one of my student leaders:

So what have you been studying recently between fundraising? With large group meeting less frequently recently I've been getting things to read off of a favorite site of mine, reachrecords.com, but I'm interested in what you've been studying too. Also, knowing you are out there doing hard fundraising every day is really encouraging to me when our small group has trouble getting off the ground, it inspires me to keep working hard and trying different things to reach people =).

I am so incredibly blessed.

affirmation

2008-10-07T17:21:00.002-05:00

We got back from FC08 on Sunday evening. I will post pictures as soon as they become available. It was an incredibly powerful weekend for the staff and students of the Central Region. I had the privilege of co-leading a seminar with Gerry Chappeau about mobilizing chapters to integrate social justice into their ministries both on campus and in the community where their school is located. Serving in a teaching capacity was so good for my heart in the midst of being off campus. The icing on the cake was that I received an invitation from our Associate Regional Director to attend training for prospective manuscript Bible study teachers for Urbana 09, InterVarsity's triennial student mission convention that will take place in St. Louis in December 2009.

I am grateful that God knows what I need before I even ask for it.

turning blessings back to praise

2008-10-01T14:46:00.004-05:00

It's Wednesday and as a reflective person I like to take stock of things on a regular basis. As I look back on the past three days it is clear that God is proving himself faithful in the midst of my internal storm. Stepping into full-time fundraising has felt like walking onto a battleground. I spent a good chunk of last week feeling deeply discouraged and the whispered lies that I am not really called to advance the kingdom at Wash U sounded more like shouts. In the midst of the storm I have experienced God's provision in the following ways:

1. People have been available to pray for me in the moments when I have felt most discouraged.

2. An additional 7% of my budget has been raised in the past 48 hours. I am nearly to 50%!

3. I get to hang out with my students and help lead a seminar on social justice at FC08 this weekend. This is a huge gift that I do not take for granted since I am not able to hang out with them while I am off-campus fundraising.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

a line allows progress

2008-09-23T12:24:00.008-05:00

I have been so proud of my student leaders. They are totally stepping up to the plate to make sure that One Voice continues on the course we set for the year at the start of NSO in August. It has been such a good reminder for me that my presence on campus is not necessary for God's work to continue in them and in the group as a whole.. Now, I still want to be present on campus in order to be a part of that work, but it is thoroughly his. How quickly I forget that.

The parents of two of my students are interested in joining my support team, which is an unexpected blessing. God is raising up some advocates on my behalf and I am very grateful.

Your continued prayers are very much appreciated as my "40 Days of Fundraising" continues to gain momentum.

Photo: One Voice students went boating in Forest Park on Friday evening.

hope vs. trust

2008-09-14T14:35:00.003-05:00

I was praying this morning about what book(s) of Scripture I ought to marinate in over the next two months. The Psalms emerged as the winner!

Psalm 31:24 jumped off the page - Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD (NIV). I was curious at the use of the word hope as opposed to trust. I am well aware that I need to embody both of those traits these days, but I am not always clear on the distinction. I busted out the concordance to do some detective work. It turns out that the Hebrew root for hope as it is used in this verse is yachal (there should be a little carrot over the first a, but I don't know how to type that). It means "to wait; by implication be patient" and the synonyms are "be pained, stay, tarry, trust, wait". On the other hand, the word translated as trust in many of the psalms is from the Hebrew root batach which means "to be confident or sure".

I like the distinction. I am also appreciative of the timely reminder that the difficulty of hope lies in the painful reality that it involves waiting for what is lacking, what is yet to be. Hope is not the necessarily warm and fuzzy feeling that I imagine. I will be mulling that over for a while.

In the meantime, I want to practice the discipline of active, expectant waiting. I want to leap.

one mountain behind me, one up ahead

2008-09-11T13:35:00.014-05:00

New Student Outreach has wrapped up more or less. We've got a good group of new freshmen who are connected with One Voice and they had their first small group Bible study last night. I so excited! I am also extremely tired from late night activities on campus, baking up a storm (homemade cookies are a great way to meet new students!), and pushing myself to be as extroverted as possible!

Even as the busiest part of the school year comes to a close there is a big change on the horizon. It's official: I will spend the next seven weeks off campus raising the rest of my budget for this year. The hope is that I will be able to be on campus full-time by the beginning of November. It's a high cost. I've met so many students over the past three weeks of NSO that I am anxious to invest in, but the reality is that my ministry on campus will be severely hindered in the long run if I have not kept up with this part of the work that God has called me into for this season. So far I have raised 41% of my budget for the 2008 fiscal year. I covet your prayers as I work diligently in the coming weeks and trust God to provide. He continues to prove just how faithful he is!

Leaders from One Voice, Harambee, and Asian Christian Fellowship track God's mission throughout Scripture during our undergrad leader retreat two weeks ago.

We packed a lot of material into our 12 hour retreat,
so we ended the day with some fun!

taking stock

2008-08-18T13:55:00.004-05:00

The summer has flown by like I knew it would. I wondered if I would be sad at it's passing, but I am not. It's been a nearly perfect blend of work and play - so much so that I am looking forward to Thursday and the arrival of the new freshmen at Wash U. What a gift to know that God is already at work in this class of students and that we get to go on a treasure hunt to discover what He has been up to!

Here are some photos from my recent vacation in Washinton D.C. My mom and her company made it all possible. Thanks, Mom!

The back porch at Mount Vernon - George Washington's plantation.

My mom and I on the lawn at Mount Vernon. Pity that my eyes are very much shut for this photo.

July so far

2008-07-16T14:43:00.006-05:00

My sister and I enjoyed some quality time together.

My daily routine is turning out to be a mix of organizing my contacts, sending out letters and emails, making calls, and meeting with people who are potentially interested in joining my support team. It doesn't always seem like I am getting a lot done each day, but I am learning to rejoice over the small, faithful steps forward. They represent victory over fear and the choice to live each day learning what it means to depend on God. It's an uphill climb, but a very good one for me to be making.

Last week my sister, Susan, came out for a visit. She helped me organize my apartment a bit and even volunteered to address envelopes for me one evening. It was such an encouragement to have her around and we managed to take in some of the sights of St. Louis during her stay.

Encouragement seems to be a recurring theme these days and I am mindful that each example is evidence of God's provision. Yesterday morning in prayer I kept thinking of the verse that calls Jesus our "great high priest". As I read the rest of that passage in Hebrews I found myself feeling grateful for the timing of a reminder that God is ready to "help us in our time of need". It felt like an exhortation as well: we are instructed to "boldly approach the throne of grace". I want to practice that more as I learn to fight the temptation to let discouragement take hold.

Now that we know what we have - Jesus this Great High Priest with ready access to God - let's not let it slip through our fingers. We don't have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He's been through weakness and testing, experienced it all - all but the sin. So let's walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help.
Hebrews 4:14-16, The Message

many nations

2008-06-23T14:16:00.005-05:00

One of the highlights of wrapping up my first school year on staff took place the last week in May. My co-worker Allison and I traveled to Colorado Springs with nine international students to attend the International House Party at InterVarsity's Bear Trap Ranch. Students learned about Jesus as we studied the parable of the prodigal son all week in small groups and had ample opportunies for fun, including hiking, rock climbing, square dancing, etc. It was a wonderful week and a great reminder of how much I enjoy serving in a cross-cultural context. I've become pretty accustomed to working with American students!

Last week one of the students hosted a reunion potluck for all of us. As great as it was to see everyone again, I was even more excited to learn from Allison that the four non-Christian students who were a part of our trip were all eager to continue studying scripture over the summer. Friday night they showed up at Allison's GIG (Group Investigating God) for dinner, fellowship, and a Bible study/discussion.

Praise God for the mysterious way He is at work drawing people into His kingdom from every tribe, tongue, and nation!

Enjoying the spectacular view from the top made up for a grueling climb.

Reunited - post dinner visit to Creve Coeur Lake.

summer staff life

2008-06-18T21:25:00.004-05:00

Leading a scripture study from Nehemiah 2 at Catalyst 08, our week-long student leadership camp that happened in May.

I'm back from an unintentional blogging hiatus. Two student camps, a move to a new apartment, and a visit from Paul have kept me busy for the past four weeks. I am still getting settled into my apartment and figuring out what my schedule for the summer will look like as I work full-time to raise my full budget so that I will be able to focus fully on campus work once school starts up again! That's a lot of "full" for one summer.

I plan to post stories of God's provision as I dive into this process and your prayers for encouragement and boldness are very much appreciated.

Someone told me recently that raising financial support is one of the sharpest tools in God's discipleship shed. I am beginning to understand just what that means, but I can also honestly say that I know how good it is for me and the internal work that He is doing on my character.

house party

2008-05-24T23:12:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow afternoon I will embark on a trek to the mountains surrounding Colorado Springs, CO. My co-worker Allison and I are taking nine international students to the International House Party, a week long camp for international students held at InterVarsity's Bear Trap Ranch. Most of the students attending are not yet followers of Jesus, but they will be encountering him through scripture each morning and through our interactions during the week.

Please pray for safe travel, loads of fun, and for many of our guests to make decisions to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord.

the plot thickens

2008-05-12T16:13:00.005-05:00

Meet Paul. He's on staff with InterVarsity at UC Santa Barbara. We met at our staff conference in January and now we're dating.

Here's to another unexpected twist in the plot! It gets added to a long list of plot twists from the past several months.

Your prayers for wisdom are valued as we continue to get to know each other. We're definitely putting the "long" in long distance relationship, but I spent a week in Santa Barbara last month and he'll be in St. Louis for a week in June.

Unlooked for, unmerited gifts...

new life

2008-05-01T13:00:00.005-05:00

...it's just like you to bring light into darkness / it's just like you / lord, it's just like you / it's just like you to bring beauty to ashes / it's just like you / lord, it's just like you...

Spring has arrived in St. Louis and it is a stunning sight to behold. There is something incredible about seeing new life in full bloom: God's story of resurrection on full display.

Wednesdays are typically my Sabbath - a time for rest and extended time in prayer and Scripture. I find myself returning to the Missouri Botanical Garden again and again - such a different environment from Wash U's campus and truly a place where I connect with the One in whom I live and move and have my being.

Here's a sample of what I observed during a recent visit.

As this academic year comes to a close, I am clinging to the promises of God for the students I've met this year who have yet to experience new life in Jesus. Our God is might to save and I am choosing to have faith that resurrection is possible in their lives.

I am praying, speaking, and walking with hope because the Spirit of God can cause skeptical hearts to become curious.

desperately seeking

2008-04-04T17:13:00.002-05:00

This morning I met up with a student and her friend for breakfast. Her friend is not a student at Wash U, but he's visiting for the next week before heading to Massachusetts where he'll spend some time at a psychiatric treatment center. He was supposed to start college last fall, but he entered rehab instead. He's been in and out three times since.

He is one among countless. As I heard some of his story I was struck by the reality that we were created to worship, but there are a million ways that can get distorted as we decide where we will surrender our allegiance. My student's friend is still searching and I am hopeful because he wants to be healed. I told him that I will be praying for his time in Massachusetts as we parted ways. Will you join me in doing likewise?

This week I've been asked to mourn with those who mourn. It's brought me to my knees. I think that is a good place for me to be.

spring sprint

2008-04-02T14:49:00.005-05:00

Less than four weeks of classes are left in this semester. Where has the time gone? Here are some highlights from the past few weeks, as well as what comes next:

1. CityLights 2008 - God showed up in a big way! The five One Voice students who participated are still talking about the the things that they learned. As a fellowship, we want to integrate the gospel and social justice, both on campus and in the surrounding community. Pray for us as we begin the process of planning for Fall 2008 - we want to our connection with the urban poor in St. Louis to go beyond a week-long experience each spring break!

Aya, Olivia, and Joy - CityLights is a great opportunity for students to connect with each other across fellowship, ethnic, and campus lines.

2. Spanish language Bible study - Guillermo (junior) and Asenath (freshman) are launching a new small group that will study scriptures in Spanish. Both are well connected with the small Latino community on campus and have a desire to reach out to their peers. Pray that God would be glorified as His word is preached to a specific culture on campus in their heart language.

3. Invitation to lead - Between now and the end of the semester I will be inviting four students to join our leadership team for the 2008-2009 school year. Pray that they would be sensitive to God's leading and direction as they consider this opportunity to join us in advancing the kingdom on the campus at Wash U.

CityLights

2008-03-08T08:41:00.002-06:00

Your prayers are appreciated this week as I help to staff CityLights - InterVarsity's St. Louis Urban Project.

Five One Voice students from Wash U will be participating and I long for them to encounter Jesus in significant ways.

This week-long project has changed the lives of countless students, mine included. It is an absolute joy to get to walk with my students as they experience it for themselves!

missio dei

2008-02-25T14:15:00.005-06:00

Times have changed. As my students and I talk about how to share the gospel on campus we continue to ask God to empower us by the Spirit to speak languages that are foreign to us. We've also been experimenting with how to step out into situations where we're forced to rely on Him. Two weeks ago we hung out with Chinese grad students to celebrate Chinese New Year. Last week we attended a speech by former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - half of the students stayed outside the venue to talk to the protesters who were picketing the event.

These have been risky steps for my students. Breaking out of the Christian subculture bubble is hard to do!

All of the new staff in the Central Region met in Des Moines last week for a few days of evangelism training. It was in incredible time of diving into scripture and wrestling with what it means to invite postmoderns to examine the claims of Jesus.

I am more convinced than ever before that my call is to learn how to contextualize the message of Jesus for students at Wash U. It is a challenging call, but it is worth it!

Tim and Rachel L. work on creating a comprehensive witness strategy for Rachel's campus, Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

We hunkered down in a Des Moines coffee shop to get work done on our last day of training: Rachel D. and Amy looking especially productive!

tongues

2008-01-31T14:22:00.000-06:00

We studied the first half of Acts 2 on Tuesday night. While I am eager for students to catch a vision for what life and ministry to their peers can look like when the Spirit is leading, I found myself apprehensive at the possible directions that they could take with the passage. Interdenominational ministry is a beautiful thing: we get to experience a kind of Body life that the average churchgoer might not. At the same time, it means that we all enter the study of Scripture with very different perspectives and church traditions. So, I was a little nervous that it would dissolve into a debate about the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and whether or not what happened at Pentecost still happens today.

Oh, me of little faith.

God showed up in a beautiful way. We responded to the passage using art and Guillermo's drawing gave us some profound insights. In his drawing, God was bringing people who spoke different languages, different tongues to our fellowship: they spoke the languages of science, art, literature, anthropology, etc. I was blown away by that very tangible application of God's word. He was speaking to us directly!

We ended the evening by praying that the Spirit would empower us to speak the languages of our friends on campus, across academic disciplines. Amen!

back in action

2008-01-22T13:55:00.000-06:00

I've fallen quite short of my commitment to post weekly updates. Working on fixing that for the spring semester. It's going to be necessary because so many exciting things are developing!

I left St. Louis in mid-December for a trip home to AZ for Christmas. Honestly, I was not in a good place emotionally or spiritually. As I looked back on my first few months on campus I had a hard time identifying where God was working. I felt frustrated by the lack of fruit and equally frustrated by my apparent inability to sustain reasonable expectations for this new season of life and ministry. My struggle with perfectionism was on full display!

One Voice student leaders at our last gathering for the fall semester.

Plans to spend ample time with Jesus over the break didn't pan out - I spent most of my two weeks at home lying on the couch trying to get over a sinus infection. The thought of returning to campus for another semester of scrambling to do something, anything to prove that my ministry is worthwhile felt overwhelming to say the least.

I flew back into St. Louis on January 2 in order to attend InterVarsity's National Staff Conference. It happens once every three years and it is the only time when all 1500 or so of us are together. The theme of this year's conference was "I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel". I came into the week feeling so weary, but expectant that God would speak to my heart in a significant way. He did.

As I listened to powerfully convicting teaching from Romans and had the privilege of engaging in praise and worship with my coworkers, I heard Jesus reminding me that He is attractive enough just as He is. I get so hung up on contextualizing truth for a postmodern college audience. Until that moment I hadn't realized that part of my preoccupation was evidence of my fear that He is not able to do what He's been doing for all of history. I feel the the crippling need to make it look right, say it the right way - as if that is enough to convince people into the Kingdom! I heard Jesus say, "The Gospel is powerful enough. My Spirit is at work. Move forward in faith." The Spirit was truly at work in our midst and it was incredible!

That just scratches the surface of what God did in me at staff conference, but I hope it give you some insight. Students began classes again last week. I hosted our first leader gathering for the spring at my apartment on Saturday and something was different. As I shared about my hope that we would be in tune with the Spirit's leading, rather than simply continuing to plan programs and events in the hope that others will show up when invited, there was excitement among the team. We're moving forward with a unity of purpose that I don't think ever fully crystallized during the fall. Praise God for fresh vision and new life!

I can't wait to see where this leads...

meet the team

2007-11-27T15:09:00.001-06:00

These are my co-workers. We're spread across Missouri and Iowa with a small contingent in Kansas, but all that will change in the next few years. We're growing and expanding despite our small numbers, trusting that God has ushered in a season of harvest at college campuses across the Great Plains.

I feel so privileged to be a part of this team.

wrapping up

2007-11-26T13:23:00.000-06:00

It is really hard to believe that this semester is coming to a close in just a couple of weeks. As I have been working with the students in One Voice it has become clear that the rigorous academic pace at Wash U pulls them in a lot of different directions. We talked at a leader gathering a couple of weeks ago about how to be good stewards of our time so that we actually have room in our schedules to reach out to the people around us.

In the midst of studying for finals and finishing up projects it would be easy for students to turn inward and neglect the opportunities to minister to their peers that God is placing in front of them. Please pray that God would continue to challenge us to be sacrificial with our time and view it as another resource that we can be generous with.

I was able to spend Thanksgiving in AZ with family. It was so good to get a break from the "transition" mode that I've been in for the last five months. I am looking forward to spending more time with them in three weeks when I return for Christmas break.

Hanging out with my silly nieces was one of the highlights of my visit home!

telling the story

2007-11-14T09:00:00.000-06:00

Pray for our staff team this afternoon. We are heading out on campus to have spiritual conversations and share the gospel.

the kingdom is near

2007-11-07T09:31:00.000-06:00

Rohit is a freshman at Wash U majoring in chemical engineering. His family is Hindu. I remember meeting him on move-in day when he came up to our InterVarsity table and wrote down his contact information. A couple of our chapter members began visiting him regularly in September. Three weeks ago he showed up at our Bible study on Tuesday night and he's been coming ever since!

Please pray that Rohit would continue to want to learn more about the kingdom of God. I sense that he is intrigued by our fellowship and the way that we've welcomed him. Pray that he would find Jesus intriguing as well!

I met Kevin at Praise Night. He is a sophomore at Wash U, but his hometown is Scottsdale, AZ. If that is not enough of a coincidence, he is also half-Korean! As soon as I met Kevin I felt prompted to pray for him. I started asking other students about his openness to spirituality. My inquiries were met with the affirmation that he is seeking. In fact, he spent the majority of his freshman year attending a prayer meeting for Asian Christian Fellowship, one of the four InterVarsity chapters at Wash U. As I've continued to pray for him, asking God for specific spiritual insight that will help me care for Kevin, I believe that I've been given the invitation to challenge him - to point blank ask Kevin why he is not yet following Jesus.

I don't run into Kevin very often, so the obedient response to this invitation feels tricky. Pray that I will have an opportunity to spend time with him in the next month and that his heart will be open to the God he's been searching for in the past 18 months.

God is at work and we're running to catch up with Him!

update

2007-10-24T09:53:00.000-05:00

I am experiencing some technical difficulties with the e-mail version of my October prayer update. I've posted it below as an alternative. Thank you for your prayers!

InterVarsity at Washington University in St. Louis - October 2007 update

Dear ministry team,
As I scan the list of those of you receiving this letter in the coming week, I am so grateful for the truth that God does not call un into His mission alone - He uses teams! I am thrilled that you are a part of the work that He is doing on campus, specifically where He has placed me at Washington University in St. Louis.

NSO

Our official New Student Outreach events and activities for the 2007-2008 school year have come and gone, but the work of building relationships with new students never ends! More than 1300 freshmen arrived on campus at the end of August. For many of them, this is the first time they have spent extended time away from home and many are looking for community as well as people who will engage with them on a spiritual level. As a witnessing community on campus, One Voice desires to share the Gospel as the "big story" of God's redemption. It's a story worth getting caught up in! Pray for our leadership team as we learn what it means to communicate the depth and mystery of our journey as Christ-followers with students who have grown up in a post-Christian world.

FCO7 in Kansas City, MO

13 One Voice students joined 240 other InterVarsity students from across the Central Region for our inaugural Regional Fall Conference - FC07. We heard teaching that challenged us to consider the areas in our lives where Jesus does not yet have lordship and the echoed invitation to drop our nets and follow Him. In addition, my students were encouraged to pursue our vision to be a group that is marked by hospitality to non-believers, especially those who have had negative interactions with Christians in the past. What an answer to prayer!

Perseverance

One Voice has undergone several staff transitions in the past five years, the most recent being my arrival. The task of stabilizing the fellowship structurally is a big job by itself, but it needs to happen while simultaneously coaxing students out of their comfort zones so that we are embodying our mission to make disciples on campus. The challenge is huge! Please pray for God to encourage and empower us as a team. His spirit is moving and we want to partner with what He is doing. I will continue to post more regular prayer requests and stories about God's work in our midst on my ministry blog: agarnergirl.blogspot.com.

In Him,
Andrea
andrea.garner@gmail.com

Preparing to feed 100+ hungry college students following
Praise Night, one of our joint fellowship NSO events.

Sitting at the desk of Tom Lin, our new Regional Director.
I'm trying to look visionary.

expanding

2007-10-17T11:07:00.001-05:00

The past several weeks have been full. I've been asking other IV staff folk when I can expect the pace to slow down and they just laugh. Reality is that there will always be too many things to do and not enough time to do them, so I get to learn how to discern where God would have me focus my energy on a daily basis! Not an easy lesson for a recovering people pleaser who cringes at the thought of having to say "no". Differentiating between what is good and what is best has never been my strong suit!

The weight of the job that I have taken on feels heavy right now. I have been reminded of the truth in Psalm 127:1 - Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain (NRSV). I want to build this ministry with Him, rather than relying on my own ideas and vision.

Praise God with me for:

Cat - a freshman student who has been hanging out with us and has a lot of leadership potential
One Voice student leaders excitement about bringing their cynical friends one step closer to Jesus

Prayer requests:

clarity for the One Voice student leaders and myself as we seek God's guidance regarding how to best use our time and energy resources for the remainder of the semester
wisdom as I learn how to disciple individual students
grace to make the choice to spend time in prayer as a team, even when our instincts tell us to rush forward and "do" tasks

2007-09-24T14:46:00.001-05:00

Fall Conference was an amazing time of training and fellowship for the students in One Voice. On Friday night we were challenged by Tom Lin, our IV Regional Director, to ask Jesus to reveal the "nets" that we are holding onto. He described nets as the things in our lives that are keeping us from fully following Jesus' call. Like the fishermen that Jesus invited to be his disciples, each of us have to wrestle with the cost of leaving those nets behind.

The weekend continued with great worship and further teaching from Dr. Bernard Franklin. Dr. Franklin serves as President of Metropolitan Community College - Penn Valley in Kansas City. He helped us dig deeper into the theme of the conference: a life together, a campus renewed. His talks on the beautiful mess of Christian community and how our fellowship are called to bring new life on campus were both challenging and inspirational.

We are returning to campus with a renewed vision for One Voice and a commitment to praying for God's further direction as we begin inviting our friends to explore more about Jesus. What a blessing!

conference

2007-09-17T17:31:00.002-05:00

240 InterVarsity students from Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska will be descending on Kansas City, MO this coming weekend for a regional fall conference. This is a huge answer to prayer because it's the the first time that we've attempted fall conference regionally and we created the budget based on an estimate of 250 registrations. What provision! You can learn about what the students will be experiencing here.

All of the staff were assigned various tracks to serve on. I have been working with three other staff over the summer to plan the evangelism track. While we were hoping for a good number of attendees to sign up for the track, we were also unsure of what to expect - the idea of evangelism can be scary! I just received an email this morning: 82 students are signed up for the evangelism track. As a result we will work this week to restructure some of our plans to accommodate such a large crowd and adjust to the idea of presenting in the room used for the plenary sessions. We are trusting that God is going to use our time with these students on Saturday to serve as a catalyst for region-wide evangelism efforts on campus.

Please join us in praying that the Spirit would be working in our hearts as we present and teach, as well as the hearts of the students who receive our invitation to begin trusting Jesus and stepping out to advance his kingdom.

2007-09-12T17:07:00.000-05:00

Ministry is not an equation. X amount of effort plus Y amount of planning does not automatically result in the Z results that I was hoping for. It's not as if I didn't know this in theory, it's just that the experience of it is a lot more jarring.

As this reality has played out in my ministry on campus I have found myself contrasting it with the manageable tasks that I find myself involved with at the coffeehouse where I work part-time. There is something satisfying about knowing what I'll get when I start making a latte. Not a lot of surprises. Satisfying in some regards, but I also find that it lacks the deeper sense of fulfillment that I am seeking.

So I will press on. Pray that my student leaders and I will fix our eyes on Jesus and refuse to take what we see around us in the residence halls at face value. God is at work and we long to join him.

persistence

2007-08-28T15:43:00.000-05:00

God is a pursuer. I feel like we're experiencing just a sliver of his character as we visit and revisit freshmen. I'm realizing that I tend to feel like I'm imposing or that they're tired of seeing me again. I just need to get over that. I've heard a couple of stories of people who are now a part of our fellowship because they were personally invited repeated and over the course of an entire semester. Now that's persistence!

Lord, continue to call us to follow you in ways that feel risky and outside of our comfort zones.