Regional Staff Conference

I had a great time last week at our Regional Staff Conference. I got to help plan our annual Christmas party this year. Our theme: The League of Failed Superheroes. Check out some pictures below!

I know I shouldn't reveal this, but since you're reading my blog I think I can trust you. My mild-mannered alter ego, Carolyn Boatsman, is just a facade. I'm trying to launch my career as a super hero. I'm really the Curly Q. I can curl anything - my hair, ribbons, the patterns on fabric. I even have slinkies for weapons!

We always have White Elephant Musical Chairs. My staff partner, Jeff, who works with Asian American IV, is fighting it out with Jon, who staffs an Asian American fellowship over at that other school (University of Texas for those of you who aren't familiar with the rivalry).

Jeff won. By taking it to the ground. That's dedication.

Every year we also have very intense competitions between our areas. Here, Heidi, our regional administrator, is competing in Jenga, at the last table standing.

Besides the awesome party, we also rested, caught up with each other, and learned our new regional vision: Missio Dei: Going with the God of Mission. Pretty cool. We'll focus on growth (more Small Groups and chapters), development (making disciples and developing staff), and mission (changing a city, a nation, and our worldview).

Some of our regional leadership team trained us on "apprentices" as a new way of discipling students and raising up leaders. We usually meet with a student for an hour every week, talking about life and praying or studying Scripture. This new way has students seeing what it's like to prepare and lead a Small Group and then having the leader challenge the apprentice to some action step - sharing the gospel, reading some Scripture, leading Small Group the next week. It ends up being the same time commitment for the leader, but hopefully will grow fruit a little quicker or more consistently in the apprentice. We'll see!

Talking about Truth

I'll be at Regional Staff Conference today through Friday. I'm excited to learn more about discipling students, hear what's been going on around Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, and most importantly, beat the other areas at our annual Christmas party competition.

Andrea Thomas, Meg (one of the students I'm discipling), and I got to have a few spiritual conversations with non-Christians last week. Of course, we always run into a lot of Christians on campus, but that's when we switch over to "conversational discipleship" - checking to see how they're growing and praying for them. But we usually get into some great conversations with non-Christians, too. Andrea and Meg got to talk to a Taiwanese Ph.D. student who is attending church and seriously considering the gospel. Meg and I got to talk with an agnostic student who didn't want to look for or consider what truth might be - there are lots of roads, and you can't know, and people who think you can are the really awful people, and she wished they would just shut up. Her indifference was palpable. She kept talking with us, though, and she was honest, which was nice. It was beautiful to see Meg speak with such passion, and I keep feeling bolder every time I share the gospel. God is good.

Teach Pray Love

Besides the 2 student retreats I've gotten to go on in the last month, I've had opportunities to pray, teach and share the gospel.

InterVarsity trained me in prayer ministry during two overnighters this fall, and I've taken every opportunity to put it into practice. I've planned for it in student meetings, but I've also done it spontaneously when I realized they needed a word from God. I've even taken it off campus, praying with people from church. I'm part of the Urbana prayer ministry team. I'll pray with students at our national missions conference this December, listening with them for what God has to say, how he wants to heal them, or how they need to respond. God has already brought healing to identity, abuse, deep childhood issues, unforgiveness, and fear. Praise Jesus! I'm excited to see what he does at Urbana, and grateful to have another tool in my belt for ministry. Please pray for me, that I'd be diligent in my own walk with God so I don't burn out, and that I'd have ears to hear the Lord.

I spoke at UH's Large Group meeting earlier this month. I felt like God wanted me to teach from Mark 6, but I wasn't sure about what exactly. And then it hit me - I needed to challenge students to depend on God. Something I fail to do regularly. Why this passage God? It was good for my soul though. From the passage, I showed students our need to depend on God for authority in work/ministry/life, for rest, and for compassion. Please pray for me and for UH's students to depend on God in all things.

The week before Thanksgiving, I drove to SFA. We hit the ground running with conversational evangelism. I taught the 8 gathered students how to strike up spiritual conversations, then sent them out in pairs. Later, I heard one student, Morgan, was so nervous she thought she was going to throw up the whole day. But all 8 students came back gushing! While no one decided to follow Jesus that day, they connected with new people and realized how easy it is to talk to strangers about the important stuff in life - God's love and grace and salvation. Later that night, I studied Luke in SFA's Wednesday Small Group and went to a poetry night. The next day, I met with some of the students 1-on-1 and left joyful at what God is doing in Nacogdoches.

I'll be going out with my Associate Regional Director, Andrea Thomas, and any InterVarsity students at A&M that we can round up for conversational evangelism this Friday. Definitely pray for that too!