ONS - Day Eight

Today is the last full day of InterVarsity's Orientation for New Staff here in cloudy Madison, WI. It's been an exciting but very draining trip for me. I love talking about vision and hearing stories from other staff workers about their hearts for ministry and how they are seeing God work on their campuses. I love hearing about the desire of our president to see diverse witnessing communities built up around college campuses all over the world. I have enjoyed my time with my family group, the six or seven other new staff and our leader with whom we have been processing our experiences so far at ONS. I love Madison, especially the area around the University. There are more unique ethnic restaurants, indie coffee shops, and people on bicycles per capita in this area than anywhere I have ever been. But, to be honest, I am exhausted.

God has been revealing a lot to me in these past eight days about the condition of my heart and the condition of our fellowship at SLU. I am beginning to see my need for the approval of others and my desire to earn God's favor in their true and hideous form. I have come to grips with the fact that my chapter at SLU is predominantly white and very comfortable with that fact, despite the hundreds of minority American and international students on my campus. I have noticed my own tendencies toward comfort and familiarity, especially in the areas of evangelism and fund development. But, in the midst of that, I feel the dam breaking. God is not satisfied to leave me here. He loves me too much to let me stay where I am. He is slowly breaking down the years of hope deferred, prejudices applied, and meritocracy reinforced to make me into the man that He has called me to be. It is a painfully slow process, but as I looked in the eyes of my new friend Nathaniel yesterday, I saw his hope that maybe Jesus can really change our lives. It reminded me that this is all true - that we speak the Truth into the world - that He lives in our hearts and in our conversations. Jesus is alive and He is calling us to the life abundant. Sometimes it looks like crucifixion, but it always ends in Resurrection.

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
John 12:24

ONS - Day Five

The past couple days have been pretty eventful. On Thursday night, all of the new staff gathered at the IV National Service Center to make some fundraising phone calls in partners. Fundraising as a community is a refreshing change of pace for my summer. The process itself is fairly taxing and being surrounded by 90 or so folks who are also engaged in it brings a sense of peace and motivation to an evening of phone calls. On Friday, we went back to the NSC for a tour and got to meet some of the people of whose names I only know from mass e-mails and promotional material. InterVarsity is an incredible organization and it is hard to believe how much actually happens in the moderately-sized building that serves as its headquarters. From cutting-edge graphic design and multimedia productions to long-term partnerships with missionaries from across the globe, IV spans a broad spectrum of means and methods in its devotion to building the Kingdom on college campuses. It was fascinating to be able to tour the premises and become a bit more familiar with the faces behind the names that keep me on track in fundraising and training.

Today is our Sabbath day. I went to a Farmer's Market this morning that was incredibly large and have rounded off the afternoon with a C.S. Lewis biography and some much-needed coffee. Tonight I will meet again with my family group and then plunge back into the training tomorrow. I pray that I never forget what a blessing and opportunity it is to love your job. It is such a simple pleasure but I fear it is denied to so many of my friends and fellow college graduates. To live and work and play among friends who share your joys, passions, defeats, and triumphs is a rare and beautiful gift. Thank you Jesus.

ONS - Day Three

Back at Michelangelo's Coffee Shop here in downtown Madison taking some much needed and appreciated introverted time in the midst of a full day of fundraising training. The first few days have mostly been made up of informational sessions regarding the fundraising process. Though I have been through a lot of it before, it is amazing how helpful a thorough reminder can be every once in a while. Fundraising is one of those great disciplines that can never be truly mastered or its methods exhausted. It is in a constant state of evolution as communicational trends continue to become increasingly digitalized (i.e. Facebook, Twitter). I have been inspired by incredible stories from other staff workers who have shared about their experiences of God's faithfulness to provide and the work He is doing both in their own lives and in the lives of their donors. It is so good to hear again and again that fundraising is first and foremost a form of ministry. It is not a necessary evil but an opportunity for blessing. It is a privilege to be able to invite someone into sharing the vision that God has given us for SLU and our students there. I am blessed with the chance to get up everyday and speak truth into people's lives about the needs of a college campus and invite them to live out the Gospel through investing in the work of Kingdom-building at SLU. In our financial turmoil, investing in the Kingdom is the one investment that can never fail or run dry. It is a humbling honor to be entrusted with these gifts and an even greater honor to be entrusted with the Truth and sent to deliver it to the courts of Ninevah or the streets of Babylon or the student center of Saint Louis University. This honor is bestowed upon all of God's children and, whether we tread the vocational mission field or support those who do (or both), we walk in the shadows of the saints and martyrs of old. We are the hands and feet of Christ in the 21st Century. He would have it no other way.

ONS - Day One

Every June, several of us (relatively) new folk in InterVarsity gather in Madison, WI, near the headquarters of InterVarsity, for 10 days of training in fund development and chapter building. The event is called Orientation for New Staff and I am currently on break from the first full day. I type to you, faithful blog reader, from the charming Michelangelo's Coffee Shop located on State Street in downtown Madison. This place has certainly broken into my top 5 all-time coffeeshop list - quiet but soulful music, plenty of space for both isolation and community, and of course, great coffee. So far, I am pretty impressed by Madison - this downtown area is packed full of outdoor and indoor activities, fantastic ethnic restaurants, and some of the cleanest streets I have seen in a while.

One of the secondary (though some might consider it primary) benefits of this conference, aside from the wonderful training that InterVarsity consistently provides, is the foundational community that is being built here. No matter what line of work you are in, it is always hard to be a lone soldier. In ministry, it is fairly common for folks to feel overwhelmed by the weight of their ministerial world and lose sight of community, accountability, and vulnerability in the name of dependability, responsibility, and pride. At ONS, thus far, I have found a large gathering of like-minded (though interestingly diverse) 20-30-40-somethings who have a genuine heart to see the Kingdom meet the Campus and are just dying to find other people to share that with on a peer-to-peer level. We've had a great time so far and I am so thankful to be able to be here with such devoted and enthusiastic co-laborers. Please pray for us as we continue to live and work as a community, developing much-needed fundraising skills and experience, and learning how to build our chapters into true pictures of the Kingdom in our midst.

The New Southern Baptists

I grew up in the Southern Baptist denomination. Stereotypes abound but I have only personally experienced the adversity to dancing and alcohol in my home church; these only from older leadership, not necessarily the members themselves. On Monday I was privileged to meet with the Director of Missions of the Metro-East Baptist Association at their office near Saint Louis. The Southern Baptist Conference is broken into state associations and then further into area associations. The job of a DOM, as I understand it, is to oversee the churches (perhaps 30-40 in this case) in their area association. I had originally scheduled this meeting to introduce him to the work that InterVarsity is doing at SLU and to see if he might know of local churches that would be interested in supporting our work. We had a good time talking and sharing stories and he invited me to join him the next day for a roundtable discussion of college ministry and Next Generation (NextGen) church planting. Though I had no extra clothes with me, I complied.

As I arrived at the office the next day, dressed in literally the exact same clothes, I was introduced to several church planters, college ministers, and pastors from around the state and especially the Southern/Central Illinois area. We began to discuss issues ranging from college culture to evangelism to church membership. As I sat in the presence of these men and women, I was stunned by their vision and dedication to the Gospel. I don't know what I was expecting but Southern Baptists have long been stereotyped as traditionalists and hyper-conservatives. Yet, here I was sitting among cutting edge church planters with honest hearts dedicated to the exact same thing I am - college students meeting Jesus. I was able to share stories of what God is doing at SLU and how we have seen students respond to the Gospel. But, more than that, I was able to sit under the wisdom of leaders in a denomination that I have often questioned as I have left home and stepped into ministry. Suffice it to say, things are not always as they seem. I left the building on Tuesday afternoon with a greater sense of respect and admiration for my home denomination than ever before and I can honestly say that I am proud to belong to the Illinois Southern Baptists. May God continue to bless us with many meetings and time to share stories of His Great Work among us. I am honored to serve alongside you as the Kingdom meets the Campus.

How 6am Coffee Turned Into 1pm Thai Food

Yesterday I, along with my folks, were up at 5am and in the car by 6 to head to Columbia, IL where I was scheduled to preach at Bethany United Methodist Church. My friend Justin Aymer is the youth/music minister there and had brought my name up during a staff meeting a few months back as a possible missionary for the church to support. Praise God for friends like Justin. Who knows what interesting connections He might bring our way when we jump out of the boat? Another praise must be given for the congregation that meets at Bethany. It was probably the warmest and most hospitable group of church-goers that I have ever been around. Every person who made eye-contact with either myself or my family approached and shook our hands and welcomed us with open arms. Hospitality is a virtue that seems often lost on those of us in the Western Church but I was proud to find a church that has embodied it so fully. After the morning service, the pastor and a few other leaders in the church took me out for some amazing Thai food. There may not be a better way to spend a Sunday than with God's people in a Thai restaurant sharing stories of God's work in our lives. Thank you Bethany friends for your support of InterVarsity and your love for my family and I!

Today is a phone call day. I have spent my morning in Scripture and on the phone with some directors of mission around the Saint Louis area. This afternoon I will hit the phones again in the hopes of finding some individuals to meet with this week and pray together about their support of InterVarsity at SLU. Please be in prayer for both myself and my staff partners (Tammy and Esther) as we all spend the month of June in Fund Development mode. It is so good to have you on my side!

Home For the Summer

Happy June! I'm back in my hometown of Marion, IL typing away at the newly remodeled McDonald's (one of two in Marion), which also happens to be one of the few places in town with Wi-Fi. I think I have been here about every day this week...

It's been good to be home. I have been to my home church a few times, seen the new Terminator movie, and even played some church league softball along the way. This morning I was blessed with the opportunity to send off the Harvest Ministries Summer Team for 2009 before they head to Urbana-Champaign this weekend. I traveled with Harvest's summer worship team in 2007 and had a great time ministering to kids all over the Midwest at summer camps and churches. It was great to be among them again and to bless them as they leave.

The primary reason why I am home for the summer (and why I am seeking your prayer in this blog) is to fund-raise. As you know, the ministry of InterVarsity and its missionaries is supported by the contributions of individuals and churches like you and yours. We each have salaries and ministry budgets that we are kept accountable to fund-raise. The goal for me by the end of this month is to be at somewhere around 65-70% of my target goal of $4500 in monthly donations. I am currently at somewhere around 25%. Please be in prayer this month that God would meet and strengthen me in the process. Pray for open and generous hearts in the friends, family, and churches with which I'll be meeting. Lastly, pray that I would be able to minister to potential supporters even as they consider donating to InterVarsity. It is amazing how God uses these appointments to speak the Truth in love on both sides of the table. Thank you so much for your continued support of the ministry and your love for me. I will be updating to frequently to let you know as progress is being made.

In God's Peace,
KU