Posts Tagged ministry update
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.
I Want More
Posted by Karyn Tomlinson in Ministry Update on February 2nd, 2010
Last Wednesday about 25 girls crowded into our Northwestern women’s ministry house (“Wilder”) for our freshman girls’ movie bible study. After visiting and snacking, we watched a couple clips from Disney movies–Ariel singing “I want more” and Belle lamenting her provincial life. We talked about how those themes resonated with us even as little girls because of our endless cravings. No matter how much it seems like we have going for us, it never hits the spot. God designed us with desires so that he could satisfy them, but we look elsewhere and love ourself or other things more than God…sin worthy of death. We looked at John 4 where Jesus engaged the woman at the well and saw how Jesus answers our desire problem: not only has he been perfect in this way for us so we don’t have to experience God’s wrath, but he also promises that all our desires ultimately can be met in him.
After working on the study, I realized that often in ministry when my good desires are unmet they reveal deeper desire-dysfunction in my own heart. A freshman isn’t able to go on a retreat, one of the girls in my group just doesn’t seem to get it, or a key conversation didn’t go the way I had hoped. I immediately get frustrated because I want them to know Jesus more and grow as kingdom laborers, and I think that because fill-in-the-blank didn’t happen, they’ll come short of that goal. If I’m honest with myself though, I’ll realize that that doesn’t make sense. If I really believe that God is going to complete the work he started in them (Phil. 1:6), that he’s way more committed to them than I am (John 10), and that he can use everything (even sin!) for their good (Rom. 8:28), then I don’t need to get worried or anxious over what I interpret as set-backs. So at the bottom of my frustration I realize that there are other desires lurking–I think I need accomplishment, influence in someone’s life, recognition, etc. But John 4 makes it clear that it’s dangerous to try to satisfy those cravings with ministry…or anything else. Like the woman at the well, I need to repent and find my soul stilled and thirst quenched and in Jesus Christ, the fountain of living water.
GOD Changes Hearts
Posted by Eric Lonergan in Blog, Campuses, Ministry Update on January 28th, 2010
In 1 Cor. 3:1-9 Paul is dealing with divisions within the Corinthian Church. Apparently camps were forming between those who had been influenced by Paul and those who had been influenced by Apollos. I find one particular implication extremely helpful for a temptation my heart often is given over to.
I cannot be reminded enough by the point Paul makes regarding the role he and Apollos have when it comes to ministering the gospel to others. He asks, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” When I immerse myself into the lives of others for the sake of their growth I find that I have to be very careful of idolatry. There is a sort of involvement and desire for the life of the men I am ministering to that may reveal more than simply a desire for them to grow. When I begin to sense that my joy is robbed and I become angry at the lack of maturity I see in these men, my desire for them to grow has shifted from something good and pure to something evil. Perhaps it could be best described as shifting from a desire for their growth to the desire. That is, when my joy is so intertwined with their maturity that it is everything to me, then I am idolizing ministry.
It is in this state of mind and heart that I become extremely harsh with them. I lose complete sight of the gospel, and become a minister of the letter, not the Spirit. I make up false standards that are my standards, not God’s. It’s here that my pride is on the line, not their growth. Paul says in 2 Cor. 3:6-7 that God has “made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” When I am not in their presence I am anxious, constantly mulling over in my head what kind of conversation I need to have that will get them to see things clearly.
The reminder of 1 Cor. 3 is that GOD gives the growth! The state of idolatry of ministry is a role reversal. It puts me in God’s place. I begin to act and live as though my actions, words, and thoughts are what changes hearts. This is so backwards to what Paul says to the Corinthians. He says that he and Apollos are nothing. Lord, help me and our staff team understand the joy and glory found in self-forgetfulness. Only when understanding that God gives the growth and I am a servant through whom he might choose to work will I truly love those I am ministering to.
Leaders Retreat Recap
Posted by Charlie Brooks in Ministry Update, Retreats on January 25th, 2010
This past weekend we had Brett Barnes and Patrick Lewis from Campus Outreach Indianapolis come in and share some helpful things with our leaders. The theme of the retreat was “Advance.” We want to see the gospel advance on our campuses like it did back in the early church and has throughout history. There were many helpful things shared, but one of the most helpful was the idea of living “outside the camp.” Patrick shared this idea with us, taken from Hebrews 13:12-14, that we are called to live outside the camp.
The phrase “outside the camp” can be a little vague and hard to understand. The writer of Hebrews draws the parallel to how Jesus went outside the gate to be crucified for us. This paints the picture of giving up all comfort, selfish ambition, self worship, etc. for the sake of others. He gave up everything for us (Philippians 2:5-11). Therefore, we are called to live “outside the camp”, which I take to mean live not for our own comfort, but for the sake of others that they may know Christ. In the verses in Hebrews, the reason for which we should live outside the camp is because we have a lasting city. Therefore because Jesus gave of Himself for us so that we have the promised hope of heaven, we can be free to give of ourselves for the sake of others. Pray for us that the gospel will free us from the sins that easily entangle us and that we will be an “outside the camp” ministry.
If you were at the retreat this weekend and would like to contact Brett or Patrick with any thoughts or questions, they said that you are welcome to email them at bbarnes@campusoutreach.org or plewis@campusoutreach.org
Semester One and Walking in the Spirit
Posted by Karyn Tomlinson in Ministry Update on November 3rd, 2009
I have loved my first semester on campus so far. Part of the time I’ve been spending time in the dorms and elsewhere on campus getting to know freshmen…it’s exciting to see God raising up a growing contingent of hungry freshman girls. I’m also leading a discipleship group of five junior and senior girls (Amanda Joy, Mallory, Anna, Sarah, and Kerri). As I spend time with them, I get to see evidences of God’s grace in their lives as they learn to walk with Jesus in all kinds of circumstances and grow in their desire to invest in younger women around them. It’s cool to imagine where they might be in several years and how God might use their different degrees, personalities, and interests for his glory in the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Our group started out the year studying through Romans 8 and a helpful booklet on Gospel-centered discipleship called “Fight Club” by Jonathon Dodson (which is free online! http://www.theresurgence.com/fightclubs). Something that has come up a lot in both readings is walking by the Spirit (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:16), and thinking through implications of that has been especially applicable for me as I adjust to this new phase of life and ministry.
In chapter 3 of “Fight Club,” Dodson points out different practical ways that we bulldoze through life as self-reliant Christians–using lots of technological mediums to strategize, communicate, and book our schedules at a fast pace in a way that often overlooks the Holy Spirit’s direction…and easily forgets God’s sovereign, good plan that supercedes it all. He says that “we…like to manage our lives in order to eliminate unplanned change…When our planned course of action is disrupted, we frequently respond impatiently or angrily.What if we began to expect unplanned change and to interpret it as an opportunity to rely on the Spirit?” As someone who just getting her feet wet in full-time ministry and communicating with and thinking for more people than ever before, this definitely applies to me! It’s so easy for me to schedule my week and make plans with girls without even acknowledge my need for God’s leading. And when a girl doesn’t show up or meet my expectations (when plans go “wrong”) I’ve found myself frustrated instead of trusting his redirection.
Bottom line, I’m thankful for God’s patience with me in my stubbornness and for the timely reminder–It’s amazing how much sweeter life/ministry is when my heart is more dependent on the Spirit’s leading as I make plans and respond to changes!
The 2nd Greatest Day of Your Life
Posted by Paul Poteat in Ministry Update, Weekend Event on October 26th, 2009
Last year at the U of M we hosted an event called “The Greatest Day of Your Life”. The point was to get our students to have an event that they could invite other students to. We had a huge scavenger hunt, field games (egg & spoon, tog-o-war, etc…), and at the lunch break we had our director, Ken Currie, talk about how true life and enjoyment is found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
This year it was round two. We played a game called “Bigger and Better” in the morning where students go to random residences and try to get something bigger and better than what they already have. The goal was to get items to create the best costume for a team member to dress up in. At the end of the day, after the contest and other events, the winners were declared and they received various gift cards to neighboring restaurants. During the lunch break this year we had a student share a testimony about how Christ had radically changed her life.
Let me get to the point: what we want to do, as we minister, is to utilize events that will fuel relationships. It can be that events are the main course in a ministry and then you become dependent on “bigger & better” events to help you survive. What we want to do is to have events that students can use as opportunities to deepen their existing relationships with the people they are ministering to. This way events fuel relational ministry as opposed to relationships that are based on, thus requiring, more and more events.
Paul told the Thessalonian church (I Thes. 2:8) that he wanted to not only share the gospel with them but his very life as well. Life on life relationships are, in many ways, the most powerful context for spiritual change. We want our students to see that they don’t need big events to provide opportunities to minister, but instead, to see big events as an opportunity to further their on-going relationships. This way anything can be a medium for spiritual change, from a lunch appointment, to studying for a test, to the 2nd Greatest Day of Your Life.
My God, My Father, My Rock of Salvation
Posted by Lydia Schlicht in Ministry Update on October 19th, 2009
This fall I am studying through the book of Isaiah. What an amazing book! (I can’t imagine what Isaiah thought about writing all that he did!) Anyway, through it, God has shown me his providence and glory as a beyond-infinite, perfect God who shakes the earth with his power and might.. a God deserving of a perfect people who delight in Him. However, in reality, his people the Israelites, in whom I see a lot of myself and humanity, trade living in the splendor of God’s presence for living in the instant gratification of their pride. As I’ve read, the Israelites’ need for a savior from their self-destruction has become overwhelmingly clear and has made Isaiah’s words of future glory jump off the pages. I’ve begun to see Jesus and the hope of Him entangled in each line and it has been blowing me away! So I would love to share with you what has impacted me this week.
Lately I’ve been trying to understand what it means that God is my Father, an intimate, protective and tenderly loving parent to me just because I am his child (no more, no less than his child). This is the language so often used by the writers in the New Testament and throughout the book of Psalms. What a contrast it is with Isaiah’s declarations of God as one who has much authority, judgment and wrath toward his people because of their sin! As I was trying to reconcile these two views, I came upon a verse in the book of John where Mary Magdalene is at Jesus’ tomb. Jesus had just risen from the dead and in these verses, Mary sees him for the first time. He quickly commands her to go to the disciples and “…say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” (John 20:17) And here, in Jesus and in his words, I was amazed to see the reconciliation of God as both my intimate Father and my holy Authority.
1) Jesus calls the Lord ‘Father’ and implies that God is an Almighty Father to all who believe. By trusting in Jesus’ work (not our own), his life, death and resurrection, God is no longer a God of wrath towards us, but a God of fatherly, tender, eternally persistent love. Jesus’ atonement for sins satisfied God and, by God working belief in our hearts, God smiles upon us as a perfect Father who has limitless love and forgiveness. Jesus’ statement here in John 20:17 is a recognition of this amazing reality for those who trust in HIM! As a believer that Jesus’ work is enough, David’s words in Psalm 103:13 ring so true! “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.”
2) Jesus also calls the Lord “my God and your God”. The same God that is our Father is still a God of justice and power and might. However, because of Jesus, the object of God’s wrath is no longer us, but our sin. Without Christ, sinners and their sin are one-in-the-same and need to be held accountable. But because Christ took our sin upon himself and gave us his perfection (the great substitute), we can stand blameless and righteous before a terrifying, powerful God such as Isaiah proclaims!
3) Jesus is the Rock upon which both the above paragraphs are true. He is distinct from us. He could have so easily said “Our Father and Our God”, but instead he said “My Father and your Father, my God and your God”. Unlike us whose hearts are often dull, our ears heavy, and our eyes blind (Isaiah 6:10), Jesus stands alone because the Spirit of the Lord rests upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:2). He is God and the only one who is divine and human, infinite and personal, just and merciful. By being perfect and yet paying for our sins himself, he upholds God’s justice and yet has compassion on us. Ephesians 2:12-17, 19-21 says “Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ …having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near … For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility… that he might .. reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross …through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” Here, in Jesus, is a full picture of God, both Lord of the Universe and a Father who knows our each and every thought. What a foundation!
I am praying that as the fall continues, I would more clearly see that Christ is my only claim to righteousness before God and that because of Him alone, I have the sweet, freeing peace of a Lord who is My Father, My God and My Rock of Salvation! (Psalm 89:26).
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