The Longest 28 hours of my Life, The Santa Rosa Dip

In what felt like the longest 28 hours of my life, a group of 50 students and staff simulated what it might be like to be homeless in Santa Rosa, during the "Santa Rosa Dip". Without exaggeration, it was one of the most intense and impactful ministry experiences in years.


In order to live like a homeless person might live, most of us slept outside, on the church property. We only had a sleeping bag and cardboard. Our sleeping bags were wet from the dew within 2 hours, and the temperature dropped to 35 degrees. There were sleeping bags that became frosted by the morning. Most of us slept only a few hours that night, if we were lucky. Here is a 30 second video showing our sleeping arrangements.



We were awoken at 6am and told that we had to leave, because we were trespassing on private property (this was part of the simulation). We spent the next 2 hours wandering in Santa Rosa trying to find food with the 53 cents we each had. "7 eleven" would not accept our change, but thankfully a half mile down the road, "Donut City" did. We could only afford 3 donut holes each, but we were all very appreciative of that food!

The weekend consisted of many experiences that changed peoples' perspectives. We did a scripture study on God's heart for Justice in Isaiah 58, we went in pairs downtown with bagged dinners and ate with homeless people. One of the best parts about the whole weekend was that it was almost entirely planned and run by students. The ministry is about raising up young leaders, and they stepped up.

Here is a video testimony from 3 freshmen students who went. The video is just under 3 minutes long.

How You Can Help

Please pray for:
Invitational Outreach - The students in the fellowship are putting on a 4 day outreach on campus during the week of April 19th-22nd. Each day has a carefully chosen topic; a couple are "Is Jesus the only way to God?" and "Where is God when it hurts?".

This outreach is too big for us to rely on our own strength. We desperately desire your prayers! Please be praying for...1)boldness in inviting 2) open hearts for new people 3) students would do a good job of putting it all together.

If you would like to support the events by provided baked goods, or coming to the campus to pray during the outreach, please let me know. You are officially invited and WE WOULD LOVE YOUR SUPPORT.

Funding Update
Your support is what keeps me on campus. Thank you for all of the donations over the last 3 years, I am in deep gratitude.
I am currently about 60% funded, and also have a large donation deficit that I need to cover by the end of the fiscal year (June).
If you have never donated before, would you consider making a donation? If you are already a donor, would you consider making an extra donation? If so, click here.

Fun Facts
- Erin and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary on Easter 4/4.
- Erin is still teaching in Santa Rosa, she is teaching 4th grade.
- I recently finished my 3rd seminary course! (3 down at least 21 to go).

Hypocrites

On Thursday March 18th, I was the speaker at Nexus, our large group meeting. The topic was "Religious Hypocrisy" based on the "seven woes" scripture in Matthew 23. In the passage, Jesus calls out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. The central point of my sermon was that we are ALL hypocrites, and there are three main ways we are. 1) We say we follow Jesus, but our actions disprove it. 2) We primarily focus on rules/behavior, not the heart. 3) We put on a mask or front in order to hide from people.

Here is a video clip from the talk. It is about 2 minutes long. (I apologize for how dark it is. Lighting wasn't my job that night)


During small group sharing time, many students acknowledged ways that they had been being hypocrites. Here is what a couple had to say...

Kayla (junior) - "I realized that I was being a hypocrite , because I had been not being honest with myself. I was trying to put up a mask by convincing myself that I wasn't struggling with some things, but I really was. Now, I'm starting to deal with those issues."



Spencer (freshman) - "I was pushed to look deeper into myself and see that I am living a life like that of the Pharisees in Matthew 23. My attention was drawn to how much I tend to clean the outside of "the cup and dish" and neglect to clean "the inside". Instead of worrying just about my outward appearance, I need to keep my focus on what glorifies God and keeps my heart pure."