Hey Day

One of our students, Joel, isn't a Mizzou student. He goes to another local college, Columbia College, which is less than a mile away from where I live and is about the same distance north of the MU campus. He saw a need for the gospel at his school of just of 3000 students and pursued launching a bible study that just got started this past Sunday. Recently, he applied for a spot for The Rock at their "Hey Day" event, which is essentially a student activities fair. Joel asked me and another student for some help working the event.

I spent my midday with him and Jacob passing out Icee Pops, handing out information on our church and having great conversations with students at Columbia College. We passed out about fifty flyers for his bible study and we have about as many people to contact about Community Group and church on Sunday.

It was a fun opportunity to help meet a need in a nearby campus. We're thanking the Lord for prompting Joel to reach out to his fellow classmates and I'd ask you to pray with me that the Lord stirs in the hearts of students at Columbia College.

What's Your Biggest Question?

Last Friday, we set up a giant question mark painted on a piece of plywood on campus on Lowry Mall, a high-traffic area of campus. We call it a Spark! event, with the purpose being to spark conversations with students. For 6 hours we asked students : What is your biggest question? Here were their responses.

Where will I live?  Will I be remembered?  How does forever work?

Why does money have to be so important? Will I make it on my own?

How do I live my life to honor God? Why do I feel so awkward all the time?

Is there any such thing as a person on this earth that serves no purpose?

Why do babies have to die? Will I ever truly be happy?

Am I taking the right path? What's the point of life?

Will I get married? Will we ever have a non-corrupt government? Why do I exist?

How can I make a difference? Why do you follow God? 

Why do people settle for less than they deserve?

What am I going to do with my entire life? Can I do more? Was it all worth it?

What aren't they telling us? What's God's plan for me? How do I do something significant?

Why can't I get a date? Am I ever going to find someone?  

How can we truly, effectively help the poor?

Is there a God? Who am I? What happens after I die? What is knowledge?

Why haven't I gotten my acceptance letter to Hogwarts? What is the meaning of life?

Will I ever find love, or was I meant to walk this world alone?

What is the purpose of our existence?

How can people be so hateful to people they don't even know, just because they are black, gay, etc?

Why do we love love when love seems to hate us? Why does higher education have to cost so much in America?

Is there a life after death? What do you need to be happy? What's God purpose for me?

What should I do after college? Am I on the right path?

Is it possible for a human being to completely forgive someone who has done you wrong?

What is really out there? What is the right question?

Why is grace such a hard thing to grasp and apply? 

What do I have to do to be happy forever?

Will I be successful in my career? Why is the world unfair? 

Is there a purpose to suffering?

Why can't we do more for our planet? What really happened at the end of LOST?

Who runs the world? What were we made for? 

How can someone own land?

Why are people so scared of what they don't know? 

Is the end really the end? Why is Kim Kardashian famous? What if I never existed?

What was God's reason behind creating man, heaven, earth?

How did we get here? Why was I cursed with OCD?

What happens after the end? What happened before the beginning?

How do you make peace with being put up for adoption?

Why does no one give a s*** about our environment?

What's my purpose in life? Why do people insist on judging others?

Will I ever forgive myself? 

Will true equality for women ever be achieved?

Why do some people easily believe in God but for some people it's so hard?

Why do some people choose a life of ignorance?

How do you choose what has meaning and what does not?

A New Semester Begins

Tonight, students participated in the traditional Tiger Walk, a ceremony where the 6500-student class walk through our beloved columns, symbolizing their official entrance into the Mizzou family. I participated in my sixth Fall Concert, set up directly on campus where these students would walk past back to their dorms. We  got to meet several freshmen during the concert and had a blast doing so.

Today also marked our first Sunday morning service of the year. We packed over 225 people into Middlebush auditorium for our kick-off series, "Living Questions". Man, it was incredible, thought-provoking and Christ-honoring. There has been so much going on this week, I don't even know where to begin, other than the fact that we have interacted with dozens of new students so far and we're looking at having a great turn out at our first Canvas Group on Thurs. I'll be sending out a letter in the near future and can't wait to tell you some great stories!

Evangelism Trips

A lot of students assume I'm good at contact evangelism, that I don't fear it, like I've done this a million times and have some kind of plan because I'm leading weekly trips to Boulder. Truth is, God put it on my heart to carry on this LT tradition because this is a skill that needs developed for me. Whenever we walk through the Pearl Street pedestrian mall area, there are people I don't talk to because I haven't yet mustered up the courage to start talking with a complete stranger, because I'm intimidated by their body language or because I don't know how to begin. Yet God has certainly been at work here.

We've had three trips to Boulder for what we call contact evangelism so far. That essentially means that we pair up students, typically guys/girl, and encourage them to go begin spiritual conversations with people. Lots of people have mixed feelings about this kind of evangelism, but honestly, most people with negative views have them so they can justify their own fear of beginning these types of conversations.

Here are a few reasons why we are doing these trips:

• To help students get past "safe talk" with people and practice initiating spiritual conversations with people
• Biblically, Jesus and the disciples would tell people about the kingdom of God throughout his ministry and beyond.
• We believe that God can use these conversations to draw people to himself, whether it's salvation during these conversations or whether we are planting the seed for them to give themselves to him later.
• To grow a confidence and a clarity in our students about what they believe about God.

We rest on God's promise as Jesus says when he sent out his own disciples, 

"Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." Matthew 10: 19

My first trip, I paired with Ami, a students from Mizzou. We had three conversations, a reluctant older man, a girl who worked at the local Nepalese store and a homeless street musician named Gypsy who promptly told us he didn't talk about "God, politics or sports". My second week, I paired with a girl from Texas A&M named Chelsea, a new believer that just started reading her bible this summer! We visited with an older woman who had just recovered from breast cancer for about an hour, conversing about whether or not the bible can be trusted, if there is one true religion and of course who Jesus was. Chelsea was lit up afterward with excitement and passion for this. And just yesterday, Aimee and I paired up when our project group went to evangelize in Ft Collins. We visited with a homeless couple for over an hour about Jesus as we all ate Jimmy Johns. They we so open and you could tell they never talk about what they believe but were grateful to hear that we wanted to share God's love with them.

Oh I could share more but I would like to ask for prayer over these trips. If you think about it on Fridays, please pray for courage, for God's provision and that we would share the gospel boldly.

The Rock Survey Table

Well it has been crazy around here lately. Even before school begins, we were busy preparing for this semester. We spent weeks praying over the campus, our students, our staff and more before getting our plan ready for outreach this Fall. This year, Andrew and I got to own one of the biggest things we do to get our name out there for incoming freshmen - The Rock Survey Table.

Conversation between me and a girl going through Sorority Rush
"How is Rush Week going?"
"It's been a lot of pressure! I've spent all day meeting girls, trying to convince them that I am worth inviting to live with them."
"Well, if you want a break from convincing people to join their group, you can come to The Rock on Saturday. We won't even make you wear heels."

We set up an information table outside of the Student Center for three days during Move-In Week. Equipped with thousands of Icee Pops, football schedules and hundreds of spiritual interest surveys, we hit the sidewalk to meet as many students as we could. We use the spiritual interest surveys to find who on campus is essentially hungry for what the church is: a caring community, a source to know more about God and a venue for worship. At this table, we get to make first contact with students, have some good initial conversations and get our name out there. We want people to know that we care about them and invite them to join both our community and that there is a Christian presence at this party school.

This year, we had a small stroke of genius. Recognizing the immense traffic flow across campus, we sent a few students, a cooler filled with Icee Pops and surveys over to a much better location on the second and third day, thus tripling the amount of surveys we received back. It was so awesome to be a part of this team and to have a hand in something so crucial to outreach. We went through 4000 Icee Pops and received 969 surveys from people interested in church, God or community.

Our efforts in putting together the Survey Table have really catapulted this initial season of outreach at The Rock and we are already seeing fruit from our efforts. Please be praying that we will continue to pursue students and that we will be faithful in bringing the gospel to this campus.

Fall Concert Prep

Nestled in Matt's basement, we set up for another practice. This week, we're tackling Avett Brothers, Matchbox 20 and Cage the Elephant. After hooking up the amps, tuning my bass and going over the key signature just to make sure we're set, Matt starts us off singing as he plays keys. The music junkie in me thinks again how dull this life would be without music and I throw up a quick thanks before I join in on the chorus.

The four of us are making sure we do our fall concert really well this time. Not only is it a nice break twice a week, but in reality we are preparing to create an environment that people want to stay in when a mass of freshmen come through Lowry Mall this August. After they do the Tiger Walk, a ceremony where freshmen walk through the columns on the quad, they almost all go through Lowry Mall on their way back to the dorms.

This is where we come in. Intercepting the students with icee pops and a concert of cover songs, we take the opportunity to welcome students and just let them know who The Rock is and what we're about. It's an honor to be able to be a crucial part of that environment being a success. We hope for people to stick around at first for the music or the icee pop and to stay because they made a connection with someone. It's a strategic move in evangelism and a fun one at that!

So we'll be meeting in Matt's basement, putting in hours this summer to make the music excellent and fun. This, I dare say, may be our best year yet!

Seven to Wheneven

When I pitched this name to the equippers at our meeting, it was mostly a joke. In the past, when canvas groups have began a regular dorm hang-out night, called it "Eight to Late", but "wheneven" isn't even a real word. Maybe they were only humoring me (probably) but they went for it. And, since I write the emails, we have officially begun a weekly night in the dorms that we affectionately call, "Seven to Wheneven."

As my generic picture of MU students will show you, studying is an essential to college life. Something I've learned since I've been a campus missionary is that ministering to students does not equal just inviting them to church but that you have to meet them where they are. As Aimee and I began the year we knew that getting into the dorms on a regular basis had to be something that our group made a priority. In the past, our canvas group has struggled with dorm outreach, so in an effort to change this, we encouraged following up with freshmen who filled out an interest survey and initiated a regular time of getting in the dorms.

Seven to Wheneven is a new thing and thus is still developing an identity. It's a strange mix of a study night and a hang out night. Some nights have been almost stuffy as a dozen people stare at laptops and feel the pressure of the first round of tests. Other nights have been super relaxed as we turn on Monday Night Football, pass out some day-old pastries that Aimee took home from her coffee shop job and enjoy each other's company. We're learning and trying to find the balance of what the night will look like each week. Our purpose is for it to be a common gathering that meets the needs of the students we are reaching out to in the dorms: a regular time for study and fellowship. We'll get there.

So pray for us. Pray that when the unexpected hall meeting shows up we are okay with moving to another close-by study lounge. Pray that we aren't so involved with our laptops and notebooks that we forget to build relationships. Pray that we make it something inevitable. Pray that we continue to get out of our comfort zones as we do our best to reach out to these students. I know God will show us the fruit of our efforts but we must always labor in prayer together.

God bless,

Chris

Reaching the LOST

Pun intended.

The Canvas Group I inherited back in October is a great group of students who are striving to grow in their relationship with the Lord but did not have a very strong dorm presence. At the beginning of each year, we pass out spiritual interest surveys and follow up with people who shared that they would like to find a church home. We got a little bit of fruit from those, but for the most part, we knew very few people who lived in the area that we have been trying to reach.

After being about a month in as a campus missionary, Aimee and I discovered that several people within our Canvas Group really, and I mean really, enjoy the show LOST. I also knew that the final season of LOST would begin this semester. I also knew that the Plaza dorm area has a commons area on the third floor with a big screen TV.

A solution to our lack of dorm presence was laid right before me: LOST watch parties in the dorms.

I pitched the idea to our equippers at the beginning of this semester and they were all for it. Soon after, we had a season premiere watch party. The first week we had only people from Canvas Group show up. The second week we had three people we didn't know come by and watch with us. Since beginning this Tuesday night trend, we are now outnumbered regularly by "others". Our party now hovers around 15-20 people each week.

It's been a great way to get our group to be more intentional with where and with whom they spend their time. Something as simple as watching a TV show can be an outreach tool if we let the Lord use it. Where our group once had little interest in meeting the people in the dorms, we now are used to spending time there and we are learning to pursue those people.

Please be praying for us:

• That we would continue to use the dorms as a place for evangelism.
• That we would build relationships with the students who are coming and that we would get to a point where we can share the gospel with them.
• That God would reveal to us other ways in which we can be intentional with our time.

Tyler

Last year, during my senior year of college, I was working in the dining hall when this guy walked up to the coffee dispenser and proceeded to fill up his own mug. My job in this dining hall was to maintain the beverage station and one of my duties was to prevent people from using "outside containers" - this was a big violation.

So I stroll over to this guy, as I had to countless other people. "Hey man, we're not supposed to let you use your own mugs when you come in here." "Oh", he said, looking at me and finishing off one more pump, "Sorry about that." Everybody finishes one more pump. "No problem," I said, "Just remember for next time, please."

The next day, he came in again and got some more coffee - this time using our mugs. He made a point to tell me, not sarcastically (I don't think) but just so I knew I guess. He usually sat at the bar which was close to my station. We ended up introducing ourselves. His name is Tyler. From then on, I would say hi to him when he came in and would occasionally talk with him a few minutes at a time whenever I got the chance.

One day, we were talking about our majors - his being psychology and mine religious studies. "I would really like to talk with you about that sometime." he told me.

Occasions like that are really quite rare. I was blown away.

We planned to get coffee over the weekend. As I waited for him, I was nervous because I didn't really know what he was looking for or what questions he would throw at me. Was I prepared to walk him through salvation if I needed to? Was I ready?

Despite these questions, I really was more excited than nervous. And we had a great conversation. Tyler is a very genuine guy. An introvert, he does a lot of internal processing, but he is one of the kindest guys I know. We hung out a few times over the past year and now, whenever I visit, we will hug each other and really want to know how the other is doing. He would not call himself Christian, but isn't entirely opposed to the idea. He is a very deep thinker and has an open mind about a lot of things.

The last time I visited Columbia, Tyler and I got together for lunch. After catching up, our conversation went, as it always does, to a deeper level. "What are you searching for in life, Tyler?" I asked him at one point. He told me that occasionally he will experience moments of peace where everything seems to fit together, everything seems to be in alignment. He told me that he wants more of these peaceful moments.

"I guess that you get a lot of these peaceful moments from your religion, right?" he asked. "Yes" I told him. I shared a bit about the idea of hope that we have in our faith for a better world to come. I mentioned that God is about the restoration of all things to their original and wonderful form and that I could definitely relate with moments where everything just seems to "fit".

Tyler told me that he thinks everyone has to have some level of spirituality in their lives or else they are missing out. I am very grateful to have his friendship. Friendships like his are at the core of what I desire about ministry. Each conversation goes a little deeper, a little further. I don't have an agenda with Tyler but I want him to experience the God I know on the deepest and most intimate levels and I want to share with him about it, and love him like a brother. I believe God is working in Tyler's heart and that our friendship was orchestrated from above.

There are hundreds of other students like Tyler seeking for something. Because of your prayers and giving in the future, I hope to have the opportunity to develop friendships with more and more students and to share the hope and salvation found in Christ to as many as I can.