A Few Good Problems

I am a dreamer. By nature, I just tend to set big goals and have big expectations for myself and for those around me. I like thinking far into the future and imagining what God could do in my life and in our ministry at SLU weeks, months, even years from now. Sometimes this works against me. I sometimes spend so much time dreaming that I forget to plan how any of these dreams will actually become a reality. Sometimes I think I (or my leaders) can accomplish more within a certain time frame than is actually reasonable. I like to think big picture and sometimes I get a bit ahead of myself.

When I sat down to set some goals for this current school year last May, I tried to be realistic. At the time, we were averaging about 20 students at our weekly meeting, which we call the Edge. I wanted to set a goal for how many people would be attending by the end of the first semester of this year. I thought 30 sounded reasonable but still something we could dream about and work toward. 30 would move us beyond the capacity of our previous meeting space and be a 50% growth from the previous semester. Sounds great right? Yep, I thought so too.

At our first Edge, back in early September, we had about 40 people show up. I was thrilled but honestly, not too surprised. Last year, at the first Edge, we also had about 40 people show up. That number quickly dropped to 20, then 15-16 for the rest of the first semester before coming up to 20 again by May. My Core Team and I were excited but we didn't really know what to expect. The next week another 40+ people showed up, including a few new faces we hadn't seen before. We were even more tightly crammed in than the previous week as our room comfortably seats 35 but reaches capacity around 45. The next week we reached capacity. 45 people scrunched and squeezed into the room to hear about Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler. We started realizing that maybe this wasn't a fluke. Maybe we should start looking for a new room to meet in. Maybe we should figure out some smaller groups for these people to meet in to connect with each other and Jesus and to be trained in mission. We prayed about this, made a few calls, and waited to see what would happen the next week...

Last night, we fortunately managed to secure a one-time meeting in a large room in the Student Center. We got there early and set everything up, praying that God would use our bigger space to bring more people to hear about him. We set out some sign-up sheets for people to indicate interest in being part of a smaller community Bible study, including an evangelistic Bible study where they could come and just ask questions about Jesus, the Bible, Christianity, or anything else that was on their hearts. Last night, we reached 50 people for the first time. 50 SLU students sat in a room together studying Jesus' interaction with the woman caught in adultery from John 8. We talked about Jesus the Savior, the one who puts our sins on his shoulders and offers us new life. After the study wrapped, nearly everyone stood up to sign up for a Bible study community, including 10 people indicating interest in being a part of a GIG to investigate what they really believe about Jesus!

Let me remind you, I was planning for 30 people by December. Not 50 by October. This is what I love about my job: who knows what God is going to do? Who knows!? My Core Team and I have no idea what is going to happen from here, who is going to lead these Bible studies, or what tomorrow may bring our way. We've been hanging on by the seat of our pants all semester and we're here for the ride at this point. That being said, we have a few GREAT problems we'd love for you to pray about right now:

• This weekend is Fall Conference. SLU has 24 people registered which is the biggest group we've ever taken to a conference. However, we are still a few spaces short on cars and trying to coordinate with the other IV chapters in Saint Louis on how to get all of our students to the Conference. It seems like the other staff are also experiencing these good problems :) Please pray that we find transportation and that God does some incredible work in the lives of students this weekend (especially the 4-5 from SLU who don't yet know Jesus!)
• We found a new space to meet that has capacity for 100! I'm sure you can imagine right now where my mind is going :) But, it's very new, in a different location than our folks are used to, and has its own challenges in terms of the need to rearrange furniture, set up the audio/visual equipment every week, and generally just to get used to being in a new space. Would you pray that we overcome the technical difficulties of getting adjusted to meeting somewhere new as quickly as possible and that God continues to bring more and more people to hear about him now that we have space to be a bit more hospitable?
• We have 40 people or so signed up as interested in being part of a smaller Bible study community. Would you pray for wisdom for my Core Team and I as we figure out who will be leading these communities and for the Spirit to move as we hope to build tighter relationships with these 40+ people around Scripture and taking the love of Jesus to our campus?
• As a side note, I'm giving one of the main talks at Fall Conference this weekend. Please pray for me as I finish preparing this week. Pray that the Spirit will guide my preparation and the direction of the talk. Pray that many people will come to faith because of the seeds being planted this weekend and through the relationships being formed in our IV communities.

As always, thanks for your prayers. Hopefully, my next post will be about all of the incredible things God did at Fall Conference!

The Average Week

Hello faithful blog reader. It's a sunny and beautiful day here in midtown Saint Louis and I pray that the day finds you well and reminded of the gracious love of our God. On this blog, I generally like to go into detail about major happenings in the SLU InterVarsity chapter and in my life in general as I serve as the staff of said chapter. I realize that though not everyone will enjoy the minutia of life as an InterVarsity staff, there are some unique aspects to the missionary life that may at least be interesting enough to hold your attention for a few moments as you sweep through your e-mail inbox. I know this because every once in a while, someone will look at me very curiously when I attempt to answer the question, "So what do you do for a living?" My answer usually elicits two responses:

1. Wow. You fund-raise for a living? What is that like?
2. So what do you actually do during the week? I mean, what does the average week look like for you?

Now, that first question is actually not difficult to answer. The answer is this: I used to hate fund-raising. It's really hard. Really hard. But now I love it. I love it because I love stories. I love telling my story, the stories of my students, the stories of how good God has been to us. I love hearing stories too. I love hearing people say, "Wow, I wish we would have had something like that when I was in college. Here's how I came to know Jesus..." I love praying with and for people and knowing that they pray for me. Honestly, I don't think this job would be as interesting to me if there was just a salary check that came in for me every month from some nebulous fund set up in some office somewhere. The fact that every dollar my students and I spend has a face and a name and jobs and history and struggle attached to it changes everything about how we spend it and how grateful we are that you love us enough to invest in us.

The second question, however, can be challenging. It's been posed to me several times in the past month and every time someone asks, I find myself pausing and asking it back to myself ("Wow, what do I do every week?"). Now part of my hesitation is that every week is a little bit different; the same elements may be present in each week but they are rarely arranged in the same order from week to week. I have to confess, however, that part of my hesitation also comes from some fear and brokenness in me that makes me think if I don't impress the questioner with my answer, they won't think I am a worthwhile investment. There's a part of me that genuinely believes that people won't love me if I don't seem like I will offer a good return on their love. The Fall has shaded my eyes and my heart to see love as a currency that is offered to me only when I deserve it. I pray against this but still it pops up from time to time.

So, in part as an act of transparency and in part as an effort to seek some sort of freedom from that fear, I want to give you an example of what the average week looks like for me as the InterVarsity staff worker at SLU. A few notes before I start:

1. Four days per week I don't work before noon. Those days are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. There are two reasons for this: (1) I am prone to workaholic tendencies. Given the option, I would rather work all day every day until I just pass out from exhaustion. Wisdom has been given to me to see that this is not very wise. Starting at noon guarantees that I don't develop those unattractive gray circles under my eyes. (2) I am young and single. This eliminates the need to be home at a certain hour every night and gives me the freedom to operate on a college student's schedule, which usually means later evenings as opposed to earlier mornings. It also gives me time to spend with Jesus and at the gym those four days.
2. I have one general overriding rule for myself as far as time and work goes. That rule is this: Work 50-60 hours in six days. InterVarsity highly encourages staff to take a Sabbath day every week in which NO work is done for 24 hours. You may have a number of reactions to that rule but trust me when I tell you that it has become my sanity. It does two things for me: (1) It forces me to work efficiently and plan ahead so that everything gets done in six days and (2) it forces me to take time to rest and spend a longer block of time with Jesus that day than I normally would on an average morning. I highly recommend it.

With that in mind, here is my average work week:

Monday - The Edge Day
12pm - Lead prayer with students
1pm - Lunch with students and anyone we meet along the way
2-6pm - Finish any last minute logistics, printing, etc. before The Edge
6pm - Arrive with Core Team to the Edge site and prepare together
7-9pm - The Edge (our weekly large group gathering)
9-10pm - Debrief with Core Team

Tuesday - Fundraising Day
12pm - Pray with students
1pm - Lunch with students and anyone we meet along the way
2-6pm - Fund-raising Administrative Work (letters, this blog, budget stuff)
7-9pm - Phone Calls (calling to invite folks to support InterVarsity at SLU)

Wednesday - My Early Morning :)
6:30am - Meet with my Core Men to Pray
7-8am - Man Breakfast (social event to meet and pray with the men of InterVarsity)
8-9am - Spend time with Jesus
9am-12pm - Work on any planning or prep work for the week's events
12pm - Pray with students
1pm - Lunch with students and anyone we meet along the way
2-6pm - Mission Window (left intentionally open to hang out with Jesus on campus and see what happens)
6:30-8:30pm - Church Small Group
9pm - Lead a Bible study for Fraternity / Sorority students

Thursday - Spying Out the Land
12pm - Pray with students
1pm - Lunch with students and anyone we meet along the way
2-6pm - Mission Window / Staff Meetings (1-2x per month)
6-9pm - Take students to attend other events/groups on campus to meet people and build relationships with the greater SLU community

Friday - SABBATH :)
I usually spend this day at the park, the Basilica, or some other equally quiet and beautiful place just hanging out with Jesus in Scripture and prayer. No plans, no schedules, no cell phone, no laptop. It is glorious.

Saturday - Service and Social Day
Depending on the Saturday, we are either working with a local church to serve the refugee population near SLU, cooking breakfast for freshmen, exploring the different neighborhoods in the city, or hanging out on campus in somebody's apartment. Saturday events are usually great ways to meet and hang out with people on the fringes of the IV community. My Core Team also meets two Saturday mornings each month to be in intentional community together around the Scriptures and to be trained in mission and leadership.

Sunday - Church Day!
8:30am - Take students to church with me
9-11am - Church
1-5pm - Prepare Scripture study for the Edge; Work on any planning or prep work for the week's events
5-7pm - Meetings with students in preparation for the Edge
7-8pm - Put together schedule to prepare for the week

That pretty much wraps it up. If you have any other curiosities about staff life or about how things are going this year, feel free to comment on this post and maybe that will be the next thing I write about! Exciting :)