Equipper Mini-Retreat

Yesterday, on MLK Jr day, while most students were moving back into town and getting settled back in to campus life, the student leaders and staff at The Rock took half a day to focus, plan and get excited for the new semester as well as commit it to prayer. One of our pastors, John, has a long-time friend in town who was willing to open up his home so that we could host a mini-retreat with the canvas group leadership teams, or "equippers" as we call them.

Having around 35 leaders there, we went from 10am - 3pm. First, John lead a teaching and discussion time following the question Why do we do what we do? In light of all the Christian resources out there and the nine other evangelical ministries on campus and several churches in Columbia, why does The Rock do what it does?

Some great answers I heard and some John shared include:

- Because less than 5% of undergrads at Mizzou enjoy a relationship with Christ

- Because people do not just need information and explanation about God's love. They need a demonstration of God's love.

- Because we don't know how many lives we affect by simply sharing our faith with friends. We may be the only Christians they encounter who love genuinely.

It was a great time to energize us and get us thinking about the purpose and urgency of the gospel on this campus.

Secondly, Ed, our second pastor, shared with the group about some changes coming to our Canvas Groups that will allow equippers to spend more time evangelizing to their friends, spending time in the dorms and growing in their faith together. There will be a team that is forming that will soon help plan some content for our Thursday night meetings to help relieve this burden from the students.

After lunch, John shared with us about the Number One Responsibility of a Minister - to be filled with the Lord. He encouraged us to keep our "pipeline" from God to us clear so that we, in turn, can pour out God's love, grace and truth to the people around us.

Ed and staff member, Peggy, shared some tools for evangelizing after that. The purpose here was for us to "equip" these leaders with some practical ways of sharing Christ with their friends. It's not always easy to clearly lay out the gospel in conversation so hopefully this method will help.

Finally, we were lead in discussion over setting goals for the new year. John and student leader, Austin, led this talk and gave us a sheet for looking at goals, purpose and plans for this year. As John said, "If you aim for nothing, you'll hit it every time."

This time of leadership development I believe will be a good thing for our church, especially by having it on the very eve of a new semester and year. I'm praying for my equippers, as I get ready for a meeting with them tonight, that they are encouraged and passionate about growing in their faith and reaching out to their friends on Christ's behalf. We are bringing the kingdom to Mizzou!

Please be praying for us:

• Two of our leaders are going to be elsewhere this semester. Brooke, who will be studying abroad in Costa Rica and Cruz, who will be back at Missouri Western until the Fall.
• With a new semester, that we would become more focused on reaching out to other students in our area on campus.
• That our Canvas Group would become even tighter and that friendships within the group would be uplifting and God-honoring.

**By the way, Aimee has a blog as well that you might be interested in following. I've added a link on the right. She also shares a bit more about Brooke and Cruz leaving in her latest post. Also, she is really good at updating it!

Core Group

Our pockets of community start with Canvas Groups, which consist of about 15-30 people, divided up roughly geographically on campus. We meet a couple times a month for discussion/ bible study/ teaching time and throughout each week we may have prayer nights, hang out times, or other things going on. Within Canvas Groups, we have what are called Core Groups. These are guys' and girls' small groups of about 3-5 students. We meet and talk about life, study Scripture, meeting the needs and challenging students in a more personal way than even Canvas Groups can touch on.

I love Core Groups. I've had great experiences with them in the past and have made deep friendships with some young men because of them. Three of my groomsmen were all in the first core group I led back in 2006. There is a reason we call them core groups - they are at the very crux of where canvas group relationships deepen. I would like to introduce to you all the three other guys in my Core Group this year.

Andrew Schulz is probably my closest guy friend here in Columbia and has been for a couple of years now. Andrew graduates in December and will be working full-time at a local bank until May when he plans to begin raising support to go on staff with The Rock. He leads our music ministry team and is one of the most encouraging and energetic guys I know. Our weddings were one week apart and we were groomsmen in each others'. He has a real passion for foreign missions, encouraging people and worshiping through music, as well as Starcraft, spreadsheets and The Office. We are co-leading core group and I am going to be challenging him hard this semester with this role.

Jon Chambers has been playing guitar in our music team for a couple of years, but hadn't been involved in community to any other extent until this semester. Realizing that we live in the same apartment complex (our buildings actually share a courtyard) I thought it only natural to invite him to Canvas Group. A very personal guy, Jon was eager to get involved and has since been coming regularly. It's been great beginning to get to know him and I'm even starting to see some issues creep up that I think have been dormant for a while. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with him.

Ross Wood, the youngest of the group. He's a sophomore with a lot of energy, a love for video games and driving fast. He's a transfer student and is a very social guy. During our first get together, he told us that he has never been committed to a consistent group of guys who want to go deeper in their faith. He is definitely another guy who I am hoping to build into and see challenged to see himself as a man of God.

Please be praying for our group this semester. I am really hoping to get to know these guys and see them encouraged and challenged in their faith. In Core Group we will be studying Scripture, grabbing a meal, talking about past hurts, wrestle with challenging questions or just goofing around some days. In the midst of our spending time together, pray that God is at work in our hearts and among each other.

This is a video that I helped out with for a sermon about a month and a half ago. It is silly, but relevant to the message.





Here is the message, given by Pastor Ed Courtney. It is titled "The Drift" from October 17th.

Enjoy!

Guys' Night of Fellowship

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

proverb 27.17

Last Friday, about twenty of us guys from The Rock spent a night camping at a place north of town called Pinnacles Youth Park. It's a spectacular place to camp. Though typically they only allow youth groups to stay the night, since we were close enough to a youth group, they let us stay there.

One of my closest and oldest friends since living in Columbia, Randy, was the major organizer of the trip. The week prior to the night, he, Andrew, Jeff and I got together at Memorial Union on campus to plan a much-needed night of intentional guys' fellowship. We wanted to do something manly (camping), to involve guys across The Rock, to have it be spread word of mouth and to have intentional conversation about being men of God. And thus GNOF, or Guys' Night of Fellowship was conceived.

The night started off with roasting hot dogs, building a big fire and doing some night hiking (since it gets dark so early now). I got to know a few freshmen guys who I haven't met with. I also had some great conversation with some of my other friends about life, challenges, joys and how God was working through situations.

Later on, after hiking had ceased, marshmallows had been toasted, things were dying down and midnight was approaching, we had a time of worship around the fire. No kum-ba-yah but we did sing songs and had a time of prayer. Randy then led us in a conversation about what it means to be a man of God. It was great to see young men talking about their struggles, encourage one another in their faith and get their minds set on what is most important in life. I was truly encouraged.We all slept under the start since it was a clear, 50-degree night. I stayed up until 3:30am visiting with the guys around me about life.

When morning came, we packed up and headed back into town. I was deeply encouraged from the night and, like Randy himself said, hopefully this is just the event to get the ball rolling for more nights like GNOF and even bigger and better things.

Fall Retreat

This weekend, The Rock will be having one of it's biggest events of the year, our annual Fall Retreat. Hosted in Cedar Crest Camp in Mexico, Missouri, the Fall Retreat is a time for students to take a break from a hectic schedule. For freshmen, this is usually a time when the pressures are starting to take hold and homesickness can really start setting in. This provides students and opportunity to unwind, connect with others and refocus their gaze back on the Father.

Friday night, we'll have a huge Thanksgiving-style meal and an opening service before spending time in fellowship for the night. Between bon fires, dozens of board games, playing a little Ultimate Frisbee, etc, it's a great chance to bet to know students who have been coming around. Our guest speaker this year is Matt Rogers, a pastor at one of our partner churches at Virginia Tech and someone I really got to know a couple of summers ago. He's a great guy and I'm confident that he will challenge us, refresh us, and encourage us in our growth.

In the past I have had late-night conversations with students struggling with belief in God, played glow-in-the-dark Ultimate Frisbee till 1am, sat by fires with a guitar and singing praise songs (not kum-bay-ya), and have begun several friendships through Fall Retreats of the past. Please pray that lives are changed for the kingdom through this weekend. It's something we are all excited about!