There is so much that I don't even know where to begin unpacking. Each day is a learning experience. Every time I have met with someone to share about the ministry, I come out of the conversation with a different perspective. This process is shaping me in ways I did not expect - and I have always tried to be prepared for the unexpected.
I have flaws
I'll begin with the honest reflection I have been doing lately. The way I reflect on my character weaknesses is often a stumbling block in itself. I have always held myself to a high standard and I have always enacted harsh mental rebuking on myself whenever I falter. I make a mountain out of a molehill, to resurrect an old cliche I remember. So to be led by God to expose a couple of these wounds is something I'm not usually excited to do because of the fear of my own rebuking.
And many of you thought I was such a nice guy. I usually am, but I guess we can all be our own worst critic. Oops, there goes another cliche. So here are a couple areas God is working on.
Discipline
With college, I had a structure to keep me accountable. If I didn't feel like turning a paper in when it was due, there would be serious consequences. If I slept in through too many classes or didn't go into work, someone would usually notice eventually or it would show up on my grades. Basically, managing my schedule was a different story than it is today. Now, my schedule is my own and I have to create structure out of very little. I'm learning what my big distractions are and I'm learning that the Satan's secret weapon is that very distraction. The easiest way to get us out of the game is to get us to forget about the game. What game? I'm just some kid trying to get money so he can hang out with college students and be a good influence.
If that is my attitude then I will never get back to campus. I have to realistically understand that there is a spiritual battle going on here. There is much more at stake than whether students have a good group of friends here. If our gospel has amounted to just "a good message" then we lose our urgency, and our motivation and discipline is soon to follow.
So he is showing me a lot about the importance of maintaining that attitude - understanding that meeting with people is about furthering the kingdom. This is not just a good thing, but the path that my God has chosen for me to take. It is of uttermost importance and my daily actions and efforts absolutely must reflect that.
Patience
Honestly, the way that God is teaching me patience is by having me drive around in Springfield traffic seven days a week. In Columbia, I got away with a bike for two years because of proximity to campus. But driving in traffic and keeping my cool is a definite patience test in which I have failed more than a few times. Working with a computer on which I am now pretty dependent that is a few years old is another test. Seeing the Tigers lose to Oklahoma State and Texas requires patience. Communicating with Aimee while she's been in Honduras has been challenging. My own transitioning into the support raising journey requires that I am patient with myself. Every day I am learning this trait.
Patience and self-control are difficult to learn at the same time. Yet, these are just two areas God is helping me to grow in lately. I am so grateful for the meals, the cups of coffee, the times in your homes, even the 30-minute short conversations I have had with all of you. Thank you for your support, your encouragement, your wisdom, your questions, challenges and prayers. I know now more than ever that this is going to be quite the journey but that this is all part of the process.
And what a ride it's been so far.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Motivation
In most of my appointments, I spend a considerable amount of time expressing what motivates me to take on the path that God has put on my life. Sometimes I do not get to express fully what I see as a great need on the college campuses today. Most of the churches whom GCM serves are campus churches, including The Rock, so let me share some of the reasons why I see such a need for what I am doing.
Critical Window of Time
During the college years, most people decide (either knowingly or unknowingly) what sort of lifestyle decisions they want to make. Myself included, students embrace the college scene on their own (usually) for the first time. They are bombarded with thousand of messages telling them what is important, who they should be, what they should look like, what they should give their lives to and what they should do with their foundation. We live in a world that has an increasingly negative attitude and skepticism toward Christianity. In a time where students themselves are deciding what to do with faith in an America that is shifting toward a more pluralistic society, it is crucial to introduce students to the love and truth of Christ and to build the moral foundation before they step out into their next phase in life.
Baggage
Bottom line, students tend to have a lot of issues (emotional, spiritual and even physical) that they carry around with them below the surface. It is my strong desire to help drag those out to the surface where they can be dealt with in a loving, God-honoring way. Many students question their identity, who they are, why they are important, what their purpose is, and they need to be asking those questions. We want to help them discover God's abundant grace and acceptance of who they are, and then to help them find out God's purpose for them and become who they are meant to be. Whether they need someone to talk to, a teaching to speak to their hearts, counseling we can direct them to or just someone who believes in them, that is what we are about.
Spiritual Growth
God's love and truth are what I cling to very strongly. Our country, whether we want to face it or not, is losing it's grip on moral foundations and absolute truth. Spirituality may be an interest of people, but the importance of discipline, reverence, commitment and integrity are losing the standing they once had. If God's Word is not taught, then we have failed in what we are trying to do. In their next step, students will face even greater struggles than the ones they find in college. As an Eagle Scout, I have seen the importance of the qualities I mentioned above and, as the leaders of tomorrow, we hope to instill those in students. Now, while moral character is a high emphasis, we also must look to evangelism (sharing faith with others) when talking about spiritual growth. Scripture says that "faith without deeds is dead" but also to "be prepared to give a reason for the hope that you have." So learning how to share our faith in an effective way is also paramount.
Love
The Barna Group, conducted a three-year study of nonbelievers' perceptions of Christianity today. The top three answers: judgmental, antihomosexual, hypocritical. We, as a church, need to relearn love. Paul writes, "If I have the gift of prophesy...and faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." With a growingly negative reputation, I find it crucial for us to represent Christ to these students in a way that demonstrates love in all we do.
Leaders of Tomorrow
To a great extent, the students in universities and college today are tomorrow's leaders. We call ourselves Great Commission Ministies because we have a very strong call to make disciples of these students who will, quite literally, be going to all nations pursuing all sorts of careers after graduation. We want to instill the importance, not only of surrenduring our lives, our careers and passions to God and let him lead those, but also the importance of how we live every day. The way we treat people, especially those who we don't have anything to gain from, what happens behind closed doors, the way we respond to the world's massive problems - are all incredibly relevant to our faith. We want to train people to be leaders in their respective fields while representing Christ in a beautiful way. We want them to get plugged into churches wherever they go and to continue to see the urgency of the gospel.
Authentic Faith
Finally, as you can see, we are not interested primarily in getting people to come to our weekly service. Instead, we care more about our purpose statement of "Making fully devoted followers of Christ out of college students." It's essential to who we are. We want students to see what it means to live as a Christian in today's world and to continually strive to be more like Christ each day. We live in a broken world and people need to experience a loving, authentic, driven community. We want to see life change and to glorify God. Christ is the hope of the world and we want to live like we believe that.
Critical Window of Time
During the college years, most people decide (either knowingly or unknowingly) what sort of lifestyle decisions they want to make. Myself included, students embrace the college scene on their own (usually) for the first time. They are bombarded with thousand of messages telling them what is important, who they should be, what they should look like, what they should give their lives to and what they should do with their foundation. We live in a world that has an increasingly negative attitude and skepticism toward Christianity. In a time where students themselves are deciding what to do with faith in an America that is shifting toward a more pluralistic society, it is crucial to introduce students to the love and truth of Christ and to build the moral foundation before they step out into their next phase in life.
Baggage
Bottom line, students tend to have a lot of issues (emotional, spiritual and even physical) that they carry around with them below the surface. It is my strong desire to help drag those out to the surface where they can be dealt with in a loving, God-honoring way. Many students question their identity, who they are, why they are important, what their purpose is, and they need to be asking those questions. We want to help them discover God's abundant grace and acceptance of who they are, and then to help them find out God's purpose for them and become who they are meant to be. Whether they need someone to talk to, a teaching to speak to their hearts, counseling we can direct them to or just someone who believes in them, that is what we are about.
Spiritual Growth
God's love and truth are what I cling to very strongly. Our country, whether we want to face it or not, is losing it's grip on moral foundations and absolute truth. Spirituality may be an interest of people, but the importance of discipline, reverence, commitment and integrity are losing the standing they once had. If God's Word is not taught, then we have failed in what we are trying to do. In their next step, students will face even greater struggles than the ones they find in college. As an Eagle Scout, I have seen the importance of the qualities I mentioned above and, as the leaders of tomorrow, we hope to instill those in students. Now, while moral character is a high emphasis, we also must look to evangelism (sharing faith with others) when talking about spiritual growth. Scripture says that "faith without deeds is dead" but also to "be prepared to give a reason for the hope that you have." So learning how to share our faith in an effective way is also paramount.
Love
The Barna Group, conducted a three-year study of nonbelievers' perceptions of Christianity today. The top three answers: judgmental, antihomosexual, hypocritical. We, as a church, need to relearn love. Paul writes, "If I have the gift of prophesy...and faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." With a growingly negative reputation, I find it crucial for us to represent Christ to these students in a way that demonstrates love in all we do.
Leaders of Tomorrow
To a great extent, the students in universities and college today are tomorrow's leaders. We call ourselves Great Commission Ministies because we have a very strong call to make disciples of these students who will, quite literally, be going to all nations pursuing all sorts of careers after graduation. We want to instill the importance, not only of surrenduring our lives, our careers and passions to God and let him lead those, but also the importance of how we live every day. The way we treat people, especially those who we don't have anything to gain from, what happens behind closed doors, the way we respond to the world's massive problems - are all incredibly relevant to our faith. We want to train people to be leaders in their respective fields while representing Christ in a beautiful way. We want them to get plugged into churches wherever they go and to continue to see the urgency of the gospel.
Authentic Faith
Finally, as you can see, we are not interested primarily in getting people to come to our weekly service. Instead, we care more about our purpose statement of "Making fully devoted followers of Christ out of college students." It's essential to who we are. We want students to see what it means to live as a Christian in today's world and to continually strive to be more like Christ each day. We live in a broken world and people need to experience a loving, authentic, driven community. We want to see life change and to glorify God. Christ is the hope of the world and we want to live like we believe that.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Ministry of Reconciliation
"We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us."PAUL (2 Corinthians 5:20)
I visited Columbia this past weekend for Homecoming after having been support raising for three weeks now. It sparked in me once again the desire to serve at The Rock up at Mizzou. It was encouraging to see a room full of Rock alumni on Friday night. We had a get together in the fellowship hall of Valley View Community Church, a sister church in town (they actually have a building).
John, our pastor, spoke about the hundreds of stories of life change over the years. One chain reaction he talked about was from a girl years ago who influenced another, who influenced another, and so on until he mentioned Mazvita Matsiga and all the girls whose lives she has influenced. Mazvita is also going through the support raising process to go on staff with our church, another girl is serving in Amsterdam and the others are spread out elsewhere.
It got me to thinking about the web effect of those who dare to share God's love with others. Even now, the freshmen who are coming to The Rock have had their lives touched by those who my generation of students reached out to. Our church has to grow by 25% each year in order to stay alive because of the constant turn-over. Likewise, those who have spent a few years within The Rock, are influencing the lives of countless others for Christ.
Three years ago, we sent a team of 17 people to start a church in West Los Angeles. They played a video last filled with the stories of the locals who have found a true home in the church out there. They are bringing God's truth to a people who are baffled when a group of Christians actually care for them. Time and time again, people in the video said things like "I know I can give anyone a call at a moments notice if I need to" and "Not to sound cheesy, but you all are one of the most caring churches I have ever seen."
Spending the rest of the weekend with friends who I care about deeply, I was encouraged time and time again to keep at it down here in Springfield. And I have been pondering on the trip home and even this morning, just how urgent it is for us to spread God's love and truth to people. I have this long journey in front of me but, I know that this is the path God has called.
Here is an expansion of the passage I quoted earlier:
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's amabassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us."PAUL (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)
My heart breaks for the pain and hurt in the world and I desire with everything within me to be a part of God's ministry of reconciliation. Our message is urgent. His plan for me now is to build a team of supporters and to share this passion with others. Perhaps throughout the process I can be an encouragement to others in their path and maybe, maybe I can even give some the message of being reconciled to God. This is where he wants me now and I am at peace with that, but I cannot wait to bring God's message to the University of Missouri again - and to see lives touching lives touching lives...
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
My Story
My mom brought me to church as a child, so I became familiar with the idea of God and Jesus’ death on the cross fairly early. Being the smart alec, questioning kid I was, at eleven I began to question the relevance of faith. In my church class I challenged my teacher, at home I questioned my mom. She even told me that once when we were driving somewhere I, almost out of the blue asked, "What is the point of all this?" I knew the stories and the teachings, but what was it going to mean for me?Colorado Choluteca Honduras
When I was twelve, a friend of mine invited me to hear a speaker at his church. (Okay, let's face it; obviously his mom must have told him to invite me). I discovered there was so much more to God and his involvement in the world than I had realized. This world is home to a lot of broken people, including myself, and I understood that the only hope for this world was found in Jesus Christ. So I decided that night that the pursuit of God and sharing his love and caring for his people was how I wanted to live. I found purpose in my faith.
In eighth grade, a friend and I began an after-school group that was devoted to bringing people closer into a deeper walk with God through community. I felt called to a life in full-time ministry during this time. That call continued throughout my time in high school and, although it didn’t seem like a logical choice, I ended up going to the
Early in my college career, I met with John Drage, the pastor of what would become my home church – The Rock. He poured out his passion for changing the world through bringing college students into a relationship with Jesus Christ that would change the way they saw the world and would usher them into a daily pursuit of following God’s will. I fell in love with the vision and the church and eventually I knew that Great Commission Ministries was where God was calling me.
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