new life

...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

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

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

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

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

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

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...