Summer Discussion Group

This is my latest reading material: Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. I've been thinking a lot for the past couple of months about how important it is for us to have a solid foundation in our beliefs as Christians. I've also been thinking a lot about how much baggage the term "theology" can have with people who don't normally delve into it. This summer, I want to challenge the notion that studying theology should be left up to the pastors to teach us. I want to challenge the notion that the congregation comes only to be fed what they should believe.

In the context of a university atmosphere, especially, this seems very fitting. Students come here to learn about a given field and then go and make an impact in that field as a career. How much more important is it, then, to study our very outlook on life? How much more important is it to see what Scripture clearly says about the nature of Christ, the purpose of atonement and the Trinity?

So, this summer, along with two grad students from The Rock, I will be leading a weekly discussion group covering basic biblical doctrine. Our topics will include:

Authority of Scripture, God the Father, Man, Sin, Jesus as Fully Man and Fully God, Salvation, Holy Spirit, Justification, Sanctification and the role of the Church.

Our purpose is to spend some time teaching on these topics and then to address relevant questions that can allow us to let the Holy Spirit change us.

Why is this important for us to understand?

How does this affect our world view?

What challenges does our culture present us in this area?

How does this affect our relationship with God?

How does this affect our witness?

We don't want to build up knowledge. Knowledge, after all, puffs up. Love builds up. We don't want to create scholars necessarily but we want to empower these students to own their faith. We want them to dig through the Scriptures for answers to questions they have. We want them to question and to wrestle with their faith. We want them to be beacons of light where God has placed them.

And this, I pray, is simply an opportunity for us to let a right understand of God and his works absolutely change our lives, our campus, our community and our world. Please join me in praying that this discussion group can be a humble tool for God to continue transforming the lives of these students for his glory.

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.

Messy Conversations with God

Our latest series at The Rock began a couple of weeks ago. "Messy Conversations" is a five-parter that takes a look at the lives of a different Old Testament figure and their difficult conversations they had with God before they could cooperate with him. Particularly, we look at a question that God asks each of them that would change their lives.

Week One

Sarah: "Why are you laughing?"

Brandon Hoops opened the series by taking a look at Abraham's wife, Sarah, and her response when God's messenger told the old couple that God was following through with his promise to give them a child. Sarah is busted when she laughs aloud at the ridiculous notion that she could become pregnant. Her encounter with God would change her perspective on his faithfulness forever.

Week Two

Jacob: "What is your name?"

Pastor Ed Courtney told the story of one of the great fathers of our faith - and how much he lived up to his name, which meant "deceiver". Ed walked us through this tricksters constant attempts at deceiving his way to get what God had already promised to him at his birth. Finally, after wrestling with God all night, Jacob is asked "What is your name?", causing him to face his true identity before God would give him a new one, before he would become Israel.

Week Three

Moses: "What is in your hand?"

We've all heard the burning bush experience that Moses had while living in Midian as a shepherd. Perhaps the most famous character in the Bible (next to Jesus of course), Brandon Hoops shared with us what he calls the worst job interview ever. Moses had fled from Egypt after murdering a man and being called out on it from a fellow Hebrew. As he is doing his best to convince God that he is not worthy to lead his people to the Promised Land, Moses is finally asked what is in his hand. He is holding his shepherd's staff - his identity and security - and God is telling him essentially to throw it on the ground for something greater: his true purpose.

In our series, we are connecting what could be "Heard it a million times" Sunday School stories to a relevance seeking crowd of college students. We are showing students that yes, even the founders of our faith wrestled with earning their own path to success, with wondering who they really were and what their purpose was. Their encounters with God were not smooth like butter, but were real and raw as these stubborn men and women had to have their own hearts changed before they could truly cooperate with God. Just like us.

If you're interested, you can find messages from The Rock at http://www.columbiarock.com/wordpress/rock-talks.

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.