The next way AgIV will be "setting the table" together is our Christmas party on Friday. Pray for God to help us to invite our friends to the table, and that they actually come! Pray for logistics as we prep. Pray we would be welcoming to newcomers and risky in sharing our faith at the party. Pray students leave with fond memories of what God is doing in our community, ready to come back in the spring to invite others to "set the table" with them as family.
Also, I'm headed into an intense time of fund raising over the next month and a half, especially the week of Dec. 12-16. Please pray for me to be diligent and faithful to what God calls me to do, and to trust in God's faithfulness to provide for my ministry. Also, pray for some new monthly donors. This semester, God has increased my monthly support with gifts from generous donors, but I still need to raise $7500 by July 1st to be fully funded for the year. Would you join with me in praying for $650/month in new giving? It feels too big to ask, so I need some partnership in the faith. Thank you!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Giving Thanks
Praise God! He moved mightily at our camping retreat, Word in the Woods. Nov. 11-12 we studied the book of Jonah. We were able to find a solution to our cooking concerns with some creative meals. We had 14 AgIVers, several freshmen and transfer students new to our fellowship. We camped at Lake Somerville. Sadly, we couldn't see the lake from where we stayed because of the severe drought we've had. But we did have fun playing soccer in the lake bed and exploring the campgrounds.
Students identified with Jonah, how they run away from sharing God's good news. They identified with the Ninevites' desire to turn away from sin and turn towards holiness and God. And they received God's grace and power to head back to campus and respond to his invitation to mission.
Kyle and I drove to the Dallas area the Friday before Thanksgiving. We stayed with my parents and brother for the night, then flew into Birmingham, AL. We got to visit with Kyle's sister and brother-in-law, Allison and Tag, and our 2 nieces Emma and Aubrie. The girls were sick, but still adorable. After a few days, we flew back to Dallas, stayed with my family overnight, then drove to Texarkana, AR in time for Thanksgiving. We stayed with Kyle's mom, Robin, and her fiancee Floyd. Kyle's brother, Jason and Jason's girlfriend Kristal came to see all of us Friday. So it's been a family-filled week, catching up and eating tasty food.
Thank you for your prayers!
Students identified with Jonah, how they run away from sharing God's good news. They identified with the Ninevites' desire to turn away from sin and turn towards holiness and God. And they received God's grace and power to head back to campus and respond to his invitation to mission.
Kyle and I drove to the Dallas area the Friday before Thanksgiving. We stayed with my parents and brother for the night, then flew into Birmingham, AL. We got to visit with Kyle's sister and brother-in-law, Allison and Tag, and our 2 nieces Emma and Aubrie. The girls were sick, but still adorable. After a few days, we flew back to Dallas, stayed with my family overnight, then drove to Texarkana, AR in time for Thanksgiving. We stayed with Kyle's mom, Robin, and her fiancee Floyd. Kyle's brother, Jason and Jason's girlfriend Kristal came to see all of us Friday. So it's been a family-filled week, catching up and eating tasty food.
Thank you for your prayers!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Boundaries
I just finished reading Boundaries, by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend. I wanted to loan it to a student, but I’d only read the first half several years ago. So I reread it.
I know some who think it goes too far, that it’s not Biblical to set boundaries, and that the ideas in the book have been used to hurt people. I can see how that last one is possible, but the second half of the book focuses on ways to set boundaries slowly with lots of different relationships and areas of your life. The authors explained a balanced, Biblical understanding of healthy boundaries. I think what they challenge readers to do is a much-needed correction to our society’s way of dealing with conflict. And the church’s way of demanding more, more, more. The trick is balancing hard and fast boundaries with grace and love.
It was good for me to be reminded of areas of my life I need to set boundaries, especially with work and with myself. But I was also encouraged by how God has grown me in boundary-setting in various relationships.
I've been using some of the truths with students in discipleship. One student needed to hear that healthy anger is supposed to be a sign that someone has crossed a boundary and hurt me. Several others needed to know they were responsible to people, but not for them. I was happy to hand this book to my student, and I think many of us could benefit from the truth in Boundaries.
I know some who think it goes too far, that it’s not Biblical to set boundaries, and that the ideas in the book have been used to hurt people. I can see how that last one is possible, but the second half of the book focuses on ways to set boundaries slowly with lots of different relationships and areas of your life. The authors explained a balanced, Biblical understanding of healthy boundaries. I think what they challenge readers to do is a much-needed correction to our society’s way of dealing with conflict. And the church’s way of demanding more, more, more. The trick is balancing hard and fast boundaries with grace and love.
It was good for me to be reminded of areas of my life I need to set boundaries, especially with work and with myself. But I was also encouraged by how God has grown me in boundary-setting in various relationships.
I've been using some of the truths with students in discipleship. One student needed to hear that healthy anger is supposed to be a sign that someone has crossed a boundary and hurt me. Several others needed to know they were responsible to people, but not for them. I was happy to hand this book to my student, and I think many of us could benefit from the truth in Boundaries.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Students Taking Risky Steps
I'm sick. Again. I hate colds. They're just annoying. And mine tend to last about 10 days. Apparently I have the worst immune system in the world. I was pretty sure of that when I was in school and would have to take the full amount of days off allowed, and sometimes more, for being sick. At least with my laptop I'm able to keep working a little!
At our Core Team meeting last Thursday, we decided to make our meetings open to anyone who wants accountability and a chance to plan our other meetings. The leaders also came up with some creative ideas for using the rest of our structures to develop missional Christians.
Not so obvious risky, missional steps:
One of the students I'm discipling went on a date. She usually runs away from relationships (romantic or otherwise). She's scared, but is trying to trust God that he can teach her something through this, and that he'll protect her.
Another student I'm discipling asked me how I was doing and gave me advice. On Friday, I pointed out we had hung out for 2 hours and she hadn't asked a single question about me. It hit her kinda hard. She's learning to stop being a victim and to seek mutual relationships, instead of what she has now, where lots of IV students just try to help and emotionally shield her. I'm hoping she'll start asking Small Group members about themselves, helping them to feel a part of the community.
We had a fun party this weekend watching the Aggies play OU. We all started doing other things than watching the game around the middle of the 3rd quarter (it was soooo painful to watch), but it was still a fun party! I was proud of the student who planned it. He'd never thrown a party before. And he's very focused on his schoolwork, living in fear about losing scholarships; he took time away from studying to create community. It was a risk for him, and he stepped into it without hesitation. That's one more step towards him giving his life fully to God's mission on earth!
At our Core Team meeting last Thursday, we decided to make our meetings open to anyone who wants accountability and a chance to plan our other meetings. The leaders also came up with some creative ideas for using the rest of our structures to develop missional Christians.
Not so obvious risky, missional steps:
One of the students I'm discipling went on a date. She usually runs away from relationships (romantic or otherwise). She's scared, but is trying to trust God that he can teach her something through this, and that he'll protect her.
Another student I'm discipling asked me how I was doing and gave me advice. On Friday, I pointed out we had hung out for 2 hours and she hadn't asked a single question about me. It hit her kinda hard. She's learning to stop being a victim and to seek mutual relationships, instead of what she has now, where lots of IV students just try to help and emotionally shield her. I'm hoping she'll start asking Small Group members about themselves, helping them to feel a part of the community.
We had a fun party this weekend watching the Aggies play OU. We all started doing other things than watching the game around the middle of the 3rd quarter (it was soooo painful to watch), but it was still a fun party! I was proud of the student who planned it. He'd never thrown a party before. And he's very focused on his schoolwork, living in fear about losing scholarships; he took time away from studying to create community. It was a risk for him, and he stepped into it without hesitation. That's one more step towards him giving his life fully to God's mission on earth!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Tweaks
My staff partners Ben and Jeff went to training for new staff on campus strategy last week. I haven't been able to hear from Jeff on what he's learned and changes he hopes to make - he's in Chicago. But I got to talk to Ben, and I'm excited by the "tweaks" we're thinking about for Aggie IV.
We're looking at making our Core Team meetings open to any student who wants to be a part of God's mission on campus. This could also help our Large Group and Outreach meetings. We need to help students, leaders and members alike, to take ownership of the mission, and planning and putting on those meetings should do that, theoretically.
We've also merged our co-ed Small Groups, and they met for the first time together last week. It went great! Please continue to pray that they "set the table" together, and invite their friends, classmates, and roommates to join them.
We're cutting our focus. I've been spending a lot of my energy trying to keep up with things that aren't moving us forward. And I've spent a lot of emotional energy on guilt over not being able to keep up with everything. I'm stepping back from putting on the Veritas Forum. I hope other staff, volunteers, and students will lead. We've also decided to hold off on launching a Small Group at Blinn until the spring at least. In the meantime, Brice and I are meeting to pray and ask God to lead us and prepare us, and we're trying to gather more support. With the Divine Experiment done, and the Greek and South Asian American Small Groups not needing too much help, I feel a lot more freedom to spend my energy on LaFe, our Latino American outreach.
Finally, we're focusing on "catalytic drivers," a term InterVarsity is using to describe events that will help propel the fellowship forward and keep vision at the forefront. Our next catalytic driver is Nov. 11-12 at Word in the Woods, a Scripture study camping retreat. So we're doing everything we can to invite students, and at the retreat we're going to call students to greater ownership of the mission - will they share the good news with the campus?
We're looking at making our Core Team meetings open to any student who wants to be a part of God's mission on campus. This could also help our Large Group and Outreach meetings. We need to help students, leaders and members alike, to take ownership of the mission, and planning and putting on those meetings should do that, theoretically.
We've also merged our co-ed Small Groups, and they met for the first time together last week. It went great! Please continue to pray that they "set the table" together, and invite their friends, classmates, and roommates to join them.
We're cutting our focus. I've been spending a lot of my energy trying to keep up with things that aren't moving us forward. And I've spent a lot of emotional energy on guilt over not being able to keep up with everything. I'm stepping back from putting on the Veritas Forum. I hope other staff, volunteers, and students will lead. We've also decided to hold off on launching a Small Group at Blinn until the spring at least. In the meantime, Brice and I are meeting to pray and ask God to lead us and prepare us, and we're trying to gather more support. With the Divine Experiment done, and the Greek and South Asian American Small Groups not needing too much help, I feel a lot more freedom to spend my energy on LaFe, our Latino American outreach.
Finally, we're focusing on "catalytic drivers," a term InterVarsity is using to describe events that will help propel the fellowship forward and keep vision at the forefront. Our next catalytic driver is Nov. 11-12 at Word in the Woods, a Scripture study camping retreat. So we're doing everything we can to invite students, and at the retreat we're going to call students to greater ownership of the mission - will they share the good news with the campus?
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