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!