Archive for category Ministry Update
True Character and Leadership
Posted by Eric Lonergan in Ministry Update on March 12th, 2010
Life can be hard with a four week old. My daughter is often quite unpredictable and can change the trajectory of the day with just a few inconsolable nap periods, unexpected “stomach” problems, or even a seeming smile the doctors call gas that I just can’t walk away from. Impatience is far too quick my response. On top of this there are ministry responsibilities, household tasks, and numerous other things that I feel I am paying inadequate attention to. It makes me feel very weak and pathetic as a leader.
I have been studying Judges lately for much of my devotional time in the Bible. Time and time again I am encouraged by what seems in many ways to be a very disheartening book. The cycle of the nation of Israel’s disobedience and idolatry is relentless. I have often avoided reading this book precisely because of Israel’s repeated failures. Now, however, while reading it more carefully along with a study by Tim Keller, I am seeing things I’ve never seen before. As usual with reading the Bible, the more one slows down and “soaks in” the text the more one gets out of it.
I’m through chapter 10, and already Israel has done “what was evil in the sight of the Lord” by serving and worshiping other gods countless times. Still, God provides a “judge” or savior in every circumstance. God uses people like Othniel, Ehud, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, and Samson to judge Israel. I didn’t exactly grow up in the Church, but a couple of those names ring a bell. I usually associated such judges as strong and powerful leaders. Now, however, I am seeing more and more the common theme in the book of Judges. Ehud was certainly an unlikely hero. Barak was not very confident and needed Deborah’s support to make most all of his critical leadership decisions. Gideon was incredibly insecure, and Samson was a testosterone-driven meat head. Yet, some of these men are mentioned by the Hebrew writer as prime examples of men who walked by faith. They “through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises…were made strong out of weakness, and became mighty in war.” What?! Read about some of these men in Judges! Many of them are weak and pathetic. Hmmm…sounds familiar.
Thank God that my source of life is not my impeccable character and perfect leadership, but Jesus Christ! The above judges were merely types until the true judge should come, Jesus Christ. My weak and pathetic state is not what needs be dwelt upon, rather realities like 1 Cor. 1:27-30, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”
Ministering in Strengths
Posted by COM Blogger in Ministry Update on March 8th, 2010
I have been thinking a lot lately about ministering in my strengths. In our ministry, it could be easy for some staff and/or students to get the wrong idea of what ministry looks like (that you have to do it a certain way in certain contexts or else it is not really ministry). I don’t want to be misunderstood; The principles of ministry that our ministry models and teaches should be carried out in every context possible, but that doesn’t mean that ministry has to look a certain way.
To give you an example of what I am talking about I will tell you what I have been thinking about. I am not incredibly gifted with striking up conversations with people in informal settings and talking about their life and relationship with God or what they believe about the gospel. I am more gifted at engaging people in a one-on-one setting over lunch or time in the Word or something like that. One potential response to this would be for me to avoid informal contexts or just breeze through them and wait for God to drop a one-on-one context into my life. However, a better response would be for me to seek to use the informal contexts to fuel a context where I could interact with someone over lunch or time in the Word. So I am now making it a point to use game nights, playing sports with guys, hanging out in the dorms, or other contexts like these to hopefully set up one-on-one times with guys throughout the week.
So my encouragement to whoever is reading this would be to figure out a context that you are gifted in engaging people with the truths of the gospel, then think for how you can use every context you are in to help you maximize the time you have in the context in which you are most gifted.
Support/Bethel House
Posted by Reid Jilek in Ministry Update on March 1st, 2010
My name is Reid Jilek and I graduated this past May from Northwestern College and am now raising support to come on staff with Campus Outreach. My life was changed while I was in college when I met a staff guy who began to share his life with me and disciple me. I grew up going to church but always thought I was a pretty good person. On the outside I was (or so I thought) I didn’t drink or smoke or do the other things my high school buddies were doing. So in my head I was a good person and felt that I deserved Heaven… Then in college I realize Rom 3:23 was true for my life “ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” For the first time in my life I realized I am sinful and in need of a savior. Jesus paid for all of my sin on the cross and there is nothing I can to do gain Heaven… It is all what Jesus has done for me. Seeing my life transformed has made me want to give my life to sharing the Gospel with other students.
With that as a backdrop I am now closing in on being at 100% support! I am also now living at the house right next to Bethel with three other Bethel students. I am excited to continue to get to know students, and help students grown in their relationship with God. The house where we are living has served to have Bethel events; like Bible studies, prayer meetings, and informal opportunties to meet students. This past weekend we had students over to watch the Olympics, and I was able to meet new students and begin to build relationships with students. I am getting more and more excited to be done raising support and I cannot wait to be able to labor full-time sharing Christ with student
Discipleship at Work
Posted by Erin Martin in Ministry Update on February 25th, 2010
Over the past few days, I’ve felt an incredible amount of confirmation for why discipleship on the college campus is effective. I left a conversation with a freshman the other night thinking, “This is why I do my job.” It is amazing to see how God uses the weak and lowly things of this world (like me) to advance his kingdom.
Perhaps a little background information would be helpful. I became a Christian during my fourth year of college through the influence of one of my volleyball teammates. She began to disciple me and two years later I went on staff with Campus Outreach. I wanted to make the volleyball team one of my main targets for ministry. That year, I started meeting with a freshman on the 2007 team. As we met and studied the Bible together, she began to grow more and more in her faith. I began to share my vision for the team with her and we would pray for the Lord to work. The next year God brought two freshmen from the 2008 team into my life. I was leading a discipleship group with a sophomore from the team and meeting in a separate Bible study with the two freshmen. The only reason the two freshmen started hanging around was because the sophomore began talking to them and sharing about how God had been working in her life. Now this year I am leading a discipleship group with all three girls. Two of them live with other volleyball players and have been engaging them in spiritual conversations and bringing them to our weekly meetings. A freshmen from the 2009 team came to a retreat we hosted last weekend and then we met together for dinner this week. I was able to lay out the gospel for her and talk to her about what it means to make a decision to follow Jesus Christ with you whole heart. It was amazing. It is so sweet to think about how all of this happened through discipleship. It worked for Jesus, and it definitely works on the college campus. I’m praying that many students at the University of Minnesota will have deep relationships with Jesus because God chooses to use our staff team and student leaders to influence their lives.
North Winter Retreat: Misconceptions
Posted by Laura Watkins in Ministry Update, Retreats on February 22nd, 2010
Bethel and Northwestern staff and students just returned from our winter retreat last weekend. For many students this was the first big event they’ve ever been on with Campus Outreach. We had a blast! Between broomball tournaments, snow tubing “luge-like” trails, yummy food, and late nights everyone is tired but happy.
The theme of the retreat was “misconceptions.” We talked about misconceptions we have about the Gospel, about what it means to man or a woman, about why were in college, and what it means to grow in our faith.
One highlight for the girls was Samm Poteat, on staff at the U of M (and who had a significant impact on my own life as a student), who talked to the women about misconceptions we have about our image. She gave the girls the following questions to think through:
1. How do I compare myself to others – for the good or bad?
2. What is it that people commend or praise me for?
3. What am I afraid of losing?
4. What topics do I feel defensive about?
5. What am I hoping a guy will notice about me?
6. What am I insecure about?
Samm went on to talk about how the Gospel shatters our image by showing us 1) We’re seeking glory in the wrong way and 2) We’re each just a jar of clay (but we spend a lot of time trying to act and look like a pot of gold!). Getting our eyes off of ourselves and onto Christ frees us.
Girls were really helped by this topic! I pray that many good conversations will continue to follow this talk and the retreat in general.
A Different Sort of Job
Posted by Matt Reagan in Ministry Update on February 16th, 2010
Often, when I am conversing with a student at the recreation center on campus after playing a game of basketball with him, he discovers that I am not a student and asks what my job is. I tell him that I work for a Christian ministry on campus, and he asks me, “So what do you do?” Depending on my level of discernment and/or boldness in the moment, I tell him, “I’m doing it.” He doesn’t understand that there could be such an informally relational job. He doesn’t understand that he is my job.
Our job is not measured by how many hours we put in at the office. It is not measured by how much of a certain product we produce, nor how much we sell. It is measured by lives. It is measured by the joys and pains that we feel when we tie our lives in with others’. It is measured by the rescuing of souls, by the binding up of the broken-hearted, by the liberating of captives. We know we are doing our jobs when we hurt. When we bear burdens. When we aren’t thinking about ourselves. In other words, our job is not a job. It is a life poured out. It is, in the words of Isaiah 43:4, giving “men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.”
Not so tangible, huh? But it is oh so rewarding.
A glimpse into T-hall…
Posted by Brittany Hayes in Ministry Update on February 11th, 2010
This past fall I had the privilege of meeting a freshman girl, Jessie. She was a Christian, but did not have a lot of depth to her relationship with Jesus, but wanted that to change. She also loved meeting people and introducing me to them, too – it was great I had an open door to hanging out in Territorial Hall (T-hall, a freshmen dorm at the U). I was able to bring along two of the sophomore girls I am discipling, Whitney and Elizabeth, and do ministry along side of them and in front of Jessie.
After a semester of building relationships with those girls I can see that God has been at work. Whitney and Elizabeth are now having a weekly evangelistic Bible study in T-hall with the girls we were getting to know in the first semester. Part of building a friendship with these girls was sharing our lives with them, which meant sharing our relationship with Jesus with them. They had questions and were excited to have a time during the week to get together and talk about the gospel and their questions. Please pray for Libby, Whitney, and Leah – these three girls do not know the Lord but are really seeking.
Last night I had dinner with Jessie and we were talking and I was blown away by how much God has changed her in just four months. She has depth to her relationship with Jesus. Her faith is no longer a part of her life, but actually affects her whole life because it is the center of her life. She is growing in boldness in sharing what she believes with others because she is believing the gospel is the power for salvation. Jessie’s life has changed. Jessie’s roommate, Maggie, has crossed from death to life this year – and God used Jessie and their conversations to really start investigating. Jessie said last night, “It is like talking to a completely different person! God is so sweet!” And she is right, God is so sweet – what a joy to get to be used in His plan for salvation. He is using the weak at the U of M – as we are dependent on Him to do the saving work, but we are willing to open our mouths…and this is just a glimpse into what God is doing in T-hall. It really appears the Spirit is at work. Please pray that God would continue to do a saving work in the lives of these girls in T-hall for His glory.
2009 Annual Report – Renew
Posted by COM Blogger in Ministry Update, Resources on February 10th, 2010
We have just released our 2009 Annual Report. Download it from our blog or iTunes today.
In this report:
- Article from Ken Currie
- Update from our campus directors
- Update on Summer Beach Project, Cross Cultural Project, and Milwaukee New Years Conference
- Administration Update
- Testimonies from students
- Testimonies from COM graduates
Can God Change the U of M?
Posted by Paul Poteat in Ministry Update on February 8th, 2010
I have been ministering at the U of M for several years now and it has some distinct challenges. 55,000 students attend the U. That’s a lot. On top of that most students have night classes so they aren’t available from 6:00 until 9:30 at least one night a week. A large majority of the students need to work jobs in order to pay for their housing and tuition. Those who can’t work a job or choose not to graduate with upwards of $80,000 worth of debt. The campus is segmented into three different areas with dorms and eating facilities all over it. The campus itself has more stop lights in it then the town I once lived it. I could go on and on here. For a while I have been somewhat daunted by these realities and by the challenge they bring to campus ministry.
I am reminded of a Biblical account from the book of Numbers chapter 13, verses 25-29. In that story spies return from viewing the land and most are overwhelmed with the obstacles. All that they see are barriers and reasons to abort the mission. In their eyes nothing will get them into the land. They are daunted. This is very close to how I view myself and my faith at points in regards to the U of M. The barriers are too big for God to do a significant work.
A few weeks ago Campus Outreach Minneapolis had it’s annual Winter Leadership Retreat. For this we had two staff guys from CO Indianapolis come and speak on how God has worked and is working on their campuses. One guy shared about IUPUI, a school in Indianapolis. It was 98% commuter, almost no dorms, no student groups, a terrible student center, basically a barren wasteland in regards to ministry opportunity…or so it seemed. He spoke of how after several years of faithful labor there that God is changing the campus. Students are coming to Christ, dorms are being built, they have a new student center, what once seemed daunting is now seen as yet another example of God acting.
This story humbled me. I felt ashamed of my lack of faith, of the tiny barriers that had become giants in my mind and had caused me to doubt whether God could really bring about change at the U of M. Well, my response? Repentance. So often this is the posture of a Christian. We must constantly bow before God and acknowledge how our faith is small, how we put God in a box, how we don’t believe that HE is able to change a heart, change a campus, and ultimately change the world.
The answer to the title of this blog is a resounding YES! God can change the U of M and difficult campus dynamics are only there to make his remarkable power shine all the more brightly so that I can have no reason to boast in anything other than Him. I want to repent for all the ways I doubt this and fight to believe that HE is able.
What’s the Purpose of a Support Letter
Posted by Andrew Knight in Ministry Update on February 4th, 2010
This all started when I began receiving letters in the mail asking for support for a variety of good missionary causes from friends and acquaintances. From some of them I had received multiple letters because the support process was not making much progress. During this season, my wife and I decided to offer our resources, experience, and time to help those with support raising that we could not support personally. The following words are a collection of ideas that have been spurred by others’ questions, experiences, and misconceptions about support raising. As I have reflected over the most common misconceptions it most often comes down to a support raisers understanding of the purpose for each part of the support process. Offering direction here seems to provide a lot of help, direction, and set expectations for funding their particular ministry.
The 5 parts of a support strategy are only as effective as is the clearness of purpose for each part of the process. Each part of the 5 step process is crucial to achieving the end goal. Each one is not supposed to achieve the end goal directly, but indirectly. Each one has its purpose to achieve and set up the next step in the process.
Therefore, rule number 1:
Never use a contact letter as a means for getting support. Letters provide a means for informing and connecting, not asking. People do not respond primarily to letters, but to people so do not let a letter stand in the place of a direct and personal ask. Letters to not let you capitalize on your emotion, your personality, your relationship with the person, nor a conversation. They can seem impersonal and do not communicate personalization and care for a person, but just their finances. A face to face appointment of the other hand communicates you have time for the other person and want them and not just what they can give you.
This is one of the most major misconceptions that I face when counseling and giving feedback to fund-raisers. They misuse the letter for its purpose. Its intention is to inform and set up an initial phone call. That’s all. Nothing more and nothing less. Now, its important because it is a first impression, but its sole purpose is to set up a phone call. That is its primary purpose. Do not try to make your letter a do it all, communicate all, cover everything, ask for money renaissance pamphlet.
Here are a couple of reminder:
1. Keep it to one page
2. Include a picture that is catchy and provides some color
3. Your letter should comprise of three parts:
- Introduction- update them on this present season of life
- Information – inform them about your ministry vision and vehicle
- Invitation – invite them to partner with you
4. Hand write a personal note at the bottom that communicates that you will be calling in one week to follow this letter up.
5. Sometimes if you send a letter to someone who is close to you can make the relationship feel impersonal. Only send a letter to those who you feel you cannot call on directly for your first contact (ie, sending a letter to close friends and family is not needed)
6. Be clear that your intention is to contact them and follow-up with them about the opportunity for them to partner with you financially and prayerfully.
Again, your purpose is to follow-up not gain support out of it. You want supporters, not just support and this comes by the grace of God and for those who sink time into this process. The role of the letter is to set up a phone call-Remember this!!
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