It All Came Together…

at National Staff Conference! But it started back at Orientation for New Staff in June 2008. We took a day off from all the training to Sabbath. I spent the morning walking around downtown Madison, ending up at the University of Wisconsin. I had asked God to speak to me. Just before I crested a hill, this still small voice spoke to my soul: “a wide, open place.” Suddenly before me was a huge green lawn stretching upwards, with trees dotted throughout. It was beautiful. I found the verse I think this refers to, Psalm 18:19: “He brought me out to a wide-open place; He rescued me because He delighted in me” (HCSB). The beginning of Psalm 18 is filled with how horrible it was when David’s enemies were pursuing him and how scary-powerful God was when He protected David, and then we get to v. 19, with the peace and blessing. I left excited for God to bring me to this space.

Fast forward to December 2010. At Regional Staff Conference, the 40 staff from around Texas and Oklahoma studied God’s word and learned some new skills. We went through Joshua 1, using the inductive Bible study method. We realized God’s call to be strong and courageous was deeply connected to his commands to be obedient, to meditate on his Law, and to not be afraid or discouraged. Suddenly, courage didn’t seem so far out of my grasp. Because courage wasn’t doing something ridiculously grand and risky, it was being obedient to the Lord (which is sometimes grand and risky, but not when you’re looking at it from the perspective of obedience).

At church the Sunday after we got back from our vacation, our speaker B-Rock mentioned that the Israelites were given the opportunity to take all of the Promised Land, but didn’t. They settled for less than what God wanted to give them. I struggled with this – how had I been settling for less? What might God want to give me?

At National Staff Conference in January, 1200 staff gathered in St. Louis. God moved through our plenary speakers and seminars. After Jen Ball challenged us through Acts 19, I decided I wanted more of the Holy Spirit – whatever God would give me; I didn’t want to settle for less. I asked Andrea Thomas, my Associate Regional Director, to pray for me. She asked God to bless me with hearing his voice more clearly and to be strong and courageous. She saw an image of me crossing a river, just like the Israelites did in Joshua 3, and everywhere I put my foot, a green lawn spread out. She told me she thinks that means that as I head onto campus, growth and renewal will spread wherever I step. All I have to do is step in obedience to God. (That’s all? Eek!)

I’m back on campus now, and excited for what God’s doing. Pray with me that this would not be a neat thing I look back on and say, “Huh, what happened with that?” Please also pray that I would be strong, courageous, and obedient. And pray against exhaustion, low funding, sin, or distractions keeping me off campus. I want God to bring me to the wide, open place!

Coffee House

Hannah, one of our student leaders, read out loud from Matthew 13, a parable comparing soil and people. I paused from gobbling a gooey brownie to pray that God would make the gospel alive to our friends. I took a handful of dirt and scattered it in our flower pot. Brice, next to me, prayed Christian students would be sensitive to their friends’ needs. We spent the evening praying for God to prepare unbelievers’ hearts, asking Him for opportunities to share our faith, and praising Him for sending witnesses into our lives. To help us engage with our prayers, we planted and watered geranium flower seeds.

Coffee House, our weekly prayer and fellowship meeting, is a lively, relaxed place for us to creatively talk with God. We pray for the lost, the oppressed, and the fatherless. We ask Him to move in our lives, around campus, and throughout the world. And we do it all while enjoying Hannah’s gifts of coffee, tea, and homemade treats. Freshmen are coming to meet new people and meet with God. Upperclassmen are finding refreshment and renewed focus to follow God’s call on our community.

At last week’s Coffee House, we gathered around our flower pots full of sprouting leaves to praise God for growing our chapter in evangelism and bringing our friends to Him.

Poverty Week

Did you know that around the world, 15 million children die of hunger each year? Or that despite economic progress, India is home to 25% of the world’s poor?

Students exposed themselves to facts like these as they spent no more than $25 on food for the week. Stats like these seem pretty depressing, until you hear about the other half of the story. They contemplated verses like Proverbs 21:13, Romans 12:16 and Jeremiah 22:15-16. This helped them consider the good news that God cares deeply for the poor, the hungry, and the defenseless. God invites and even commands us to respond to the causes and effects of poverty, as well as to personally love the poor. As they experienced slight pangs of hunger or had to refrain from eating out, they got just the tiniest glimpse of what many live through without choice or escape.

Members invited their friends to join with them in Poverty Week. Most said no, but 30 students came to the Feast at the end of the week, where we shared about God’s heart and response to the poor and our plan to donate to World Vision. Students donated $200, enjoyed some amazing home cooked food, and prayed for God to move.