Hello Upperclassmen

Last school year, I oversaw all of the freshmen small group Bible studies. This year I have a new role, which is overseeing all of the upperclassmen small groups, as well as leading one. This is exciting because this is a role I have never had, and God is using this to grow me as campus staff worker! Reaching out to upperclassmen is very different than freshmen!  It's been a blessing because it means I get to spend more of my time continuing relationships I've built with past freshmen (as opposed to focusing on a new class of freshmen).

One of the girls from my freshman small group last year, Stephanie, is co-leading a small group with me! Initially not wanting to lead, she has grown from a place of fear to faith, and is now one of our strongest young leaders. Please pray for she and I as we lead a small group of around 15-20 students (pictured above) including sophmores, transfers and grad students!

Transfers Galore!

Over the years the fellowship has generally had a hard time getting transfer students plugged in, on average we might have 1-3 new transfers get involved each year. This year, God has blessed us with an unprecedented amount of transfer students, there are at least 12 actively involved this semester!  After meeting all these transfers, I've happily made it a priority to help keep them involved.  Recently, I hosted a dinner for Transfer Students (pictured).  We enjoyed a time of food, getting to know each other and talking about what it's like to be a transfer student at SSU and in InterVarsity.

One of the transfers, "Tom," started the semester as an atheist who regarded gravity as his ultimate truth.  As he has gotten involved he has taken steps of faith towards God, and no longer identifies as an atheist.  He has said that he can see God present in the community and that he was committed to further exploring Jesus and wrestling through his questions.  Please be praying for him!

Sacramento Urban Project

Erin and I took a team of students (pictured) from Sonoma State and UC Davis and spent a week, 6/13-19 learning and serving in Sacramento. We learned about the topics of poverty, homelessness, racism and God's love. We served by doing food distribution, community gardening, at a women's shelter and more. It was an intense week and all 5 of the SSU had their world rocked! Here is what one had to say...

Megan (pictured bottom middle): "I really enjoyed being a part of this experience because it is something that can be related to my daily life. My eyes were opened so many times to the injustices that are present in my own back yard! Learning about the Lord's vision for Shalom [The Hebrew word and idea of peace, harmony and reconciliation] -- how things ought to be has inspired me to be more active in my community. Through hearing other people's stories, I am sure that with God's hand in everything...we can eventually live in a world of Shalom."

"Repent and Believe" JOURNEY 2011

"The kingdom of God is at hand; Repent and believe in the gospel," were the first words spoken by Jesus in the Gospel of Mark and they were a main theme for our retreat called Journey. Right after the school year ended, we retreated to the redwoods from 5/30-6/3. I had the priviledge of leading over 40 students (pictured) from Sonoma State, Santa Rosa JC and San Jose State in a study of Mark. We studied it for 7 hours each day! God must be good if college students are willing to study for that long, the week after finals! Many students experienced healing, repentance, and were challenged by Jesus through Mark study. Here is what Laura said, (a woman from the freshmen Bible study I led, who has been mentioned in a previous post)...

Laura - "Coming into Journey, I was putting Jesus in a box and therefore not trusting him as I should have...Through prayer, I felt Jesus' presence around me. It was total and complete happiness, peace and warmth.... Jesus healed my spiritual blindness."

Graduation

The end of the school year is upon us and it is always a mix of sadness and joy. We are graduating what is the largest class of InterVarsity students that SSU has even seen (most of them pictured) and many of them have been influential leaders for the Kingdom on the campus.

I must confess that sometimes I struggle with the fact that I raise financial support for ministry, when there are so many other organizations out there that seem more worthy of support. (i.e. WorldVision, Charity Water) But when I see all of these students graduating, aware of how much they've grown while in college, and how much they are going to change the world, I know that IV's ministry is invaluable. Here is link to a one-minute video testimony of one of the graduating students I mentored, talking about how IV's ministry has impacted his life.
Looking at this class of students that will be graduating, there is...
- 1 going to seminary to be a pastor
- 3 going on IV staff
- 3 possibly going into youth ministry
- 5 going into teaching
- 1 doing a 2yr inner-city mission
- 3 on short term missions
- 4 or more nurses
- several going into the business world
- many still figuring it out

Pray that these men and women would have an exponential impact as they go out into the world as nurses, teachers, ministers, etc.!

Is What You're Living For Worth Dying For?

In April, for a campus outreach, our question was "Is What You're Living For Worth Dying For?" We asked many people and as you might expect, had many different responses. Most people said "Yes" and that they were living for things like "Justice", "Family", "A Better World." Some people said "No" and that they weren't living for anything important or that they were just living for themselves. With some of the people, we were able to share what we live for as Christians, and what we think the meaning of life is. Please be praying that the students at SSU would find their purpose and meaning in life in Christ!

The Great Banquet

The theme for our fellowship this semester, and the coming years is "The Great Banquet" from Luke 14: 15-24. In this passage, Jesus describes the Kingdom of God as being like a great banquet, in which people from all areas of society will be invited. For our context, we are applying this scripture by trying to reach out to all areas of campus, i.e. other clubs, fraternity/sorority students, the dorms, Black students, etc. We believe that the banquet is great, that all should be invited, and that God wants us to be inviters!

In trying to live this out, two weeks ago, at the first Bible study of the semester, I challenged the group to bring someone new the next week. Over the last couple weeks, we've seen 4 new people come!

Please pray for us as we invite people to "The Great Banquet." Also, this isn't just for us at Sonoma State, be looking for opportunities in your own life to invite others into God's Kingdom!

Fall Semester Review

This spring semester has just started, but I wanted to let you know how the previous semester ended. While numbers aren't everything, they can often be a good indicator of fruit. (They also help keep us accountable!) So here are some numbers from key areas in the ministry...

Numbers At A Glance:
Overall students involved in IV @ SSU: 210
Large Group Attendance: 130 (Average)
Freshmen Bible Study Attendance: 60 (Average)
Upper Class Bible Study Attendance: 85 (Average)
Greek/Sorority Bible Study Attendance: 15 (Average)
Black Campus Ministries Bible Study Attendance: 10 (Average)
First time decisions to follow Jesus: 12
Christians meeting with Non-Christians to look at the bible: 17

Trilogy

Over Halloween weekend, around 100 students from Sonoma State (pictured) went to our Fall Conference called "Trilogy." In total, there were 570 students from across Northern California. It was truly awe-some to see that many college students come together to seek after God. A few of the different emphasis during the retreat were; sharing your faith in college, making Jesus Lord of your life, and how to leave a legacy.

Brent (pictured) is a senior that I have been mentoring for the last three years. During trilogy he spent a lot of time praying and seeking guidance about his future. He felt called to intern on staff with IV next year. It is such a blessing for me to see how Brent has grown, and to have him want to continue on in ministry.

Bible Study Update

God has still been doing great work in the freshmen Bible study that I am co-leading. Here is an update!

So far this semester, we've had at least 7 people come that have never studied the Bible before. It has been a blessing to look at God's Word with these people for the first time. Overall, our Bible study has been holding strong at about 15-20 people each week.

Laura (pictured above, in the middle, in black): During the first day of outreach, which was "move in day" for freshmen, I met a blind girl named Laura, and her parents. I asked them if they had a faith background and her mother said that they "used to go to church but stopped because the church wasn't meeting her (Laura's) needs." I explained the InterVarsity ministry and freshmen Bible studies. Laura was interested and as we talked I found out she would be able to read the Bible it if it was printed in a large font. (she is able to see out of the corner of one eye). After a few weeks of her coming to Bible study, I found out that this was the first time she had ever been able to read the Bible, because it had never been given to her in a format she could read. Praise God that Laura is able to read God's Word for the first time!

"Lisa": At the beginning of the semester, I met Lisa and she expressed interest in going to Bible study. All 3 of her roomates go every week, but she finally came to her first one last week, when we met in their dorm. Afterwards, I asked her what she thought about Bible study and she said, "It was interesting, I never knew you could analyze something so short so deeply." I then asked her if she had ever read the Bible before and how she identified spiritually, and she said, "I'm an athiest. I don't have a religion." She asked me why I was a Christian and I was able to share with her how God has changed my life. Please pray for Lisa as she continues to learn about Jesus through Bible study, her roomates and I.

Bible Study

For the first time in 5 years, I am co-leading one of our 6 freshmen Bible studies on campus. So far, it could not be going any better. The interest and response from the freshmen on campus, proves that college students have a hunger for Jesus.

Each week it has grown, we had 17 people attend last week. What's even more exciting is that at least 5 of the people are checking out Jesus for the first time.

A Muslim woman that attended said, "I was worried that I wouldn't feel included, but I felt so welcomed. I think Jesus is very interesting and want to keep coming back." She came again this week.

"Erin", an agnostic woman said, "I never really thought much about God...I really liked what I learned, I want to know more." and "The people in InterVarsity are so nice, they remember who I am." She has come every week so far!

Please be praying for the Bible study, that the 5 people would come to know Jesus, that community would be forming, and that the Christians would live out their faith boldly in the dorms.

Summer Plans

I wanted to let you all know about my summer plans because this will probably be the last blog update I send out for about two months.

June:
- The first week of June was spent at an end of the year retreat "Journey", with 40 Sonoma Students studying the book of Mark. It was the perfect way to end the school year.
- I also spent 2 weeks in Guatemala (pictures and summary below).

July:
- Literally right now I am out in Madison, Wisconsin taking a week-long seminary course "Systematic Theology 1."
- I will spend a good part of July resting and finishing up homework for my course
- Erin and I will be taking a 10 day road trip with my parents to Yellowstone.

August:
- Planning and preparation for the school year. There will also be several preparatory retreats in August.
- Students move in on the 21st and outreach begins!

Back From Guatemala

My team safely returned home from Guatemala on June 21st, we had an amazing time, and I can honestly say that the trip was the highlight of this school year. Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragements!

Here are some of my favorite pictures and stories explaining them...

(We arrived in Guatemala, got through customs, stepped foot on foreign soil, and now are waiting for our ride!)

(After we arrived in the village, we hiked up to the church and this was the view, una buena vista.)

(A picture with my host family. They were so hospitable and loving.)

(I spent the day working at an education site, and played with the kids. We were playing "El Zombie" and of course I was the zombie.)


(This is also at the education site, we were doing a bible lesson with the kids. As you can see, they were very eager to look at scripture.)


(This day I visited the social work site in the refugee village. A local woman name "Eva" came in and she opened up about her struggles with severe anxiety and depression. Her anxiety is so deep that she is barely able to step foot outside. We were able to talk with her and then pray for her. Please be praying for Eva.)

(Two students from my team Haley (left) and Sarah (right), worked at the art site. They helped paint Biblical murals in the children's area of the church. We were touched when we thought about how many future generations of children that would be blessed by the murals and scripture.)

(This picture is from the health care team. In the refugee village, there is a small church in which the health care team sets up a make shift site. The medicine and supplies are kept inside the pulpit. I thought the medicine in the pulpit was a powerful metaphor for the Church meeting peoples' spiritual and physical needs.)

(The last picture is a fun one of the team. We took a day trip to the beach on the coast. It was a lot of fun, the water was warm and we even found a patio "tienda" that we could watch the USA vs. England world cup game at.)

Guatemala

I will be taking a team of 12 students (pictured) on a mission trip to Guatemala from June 7th-20th. We are partnering with the organization Students International (SI). We are going to be living with host families in the village of Magdelena. Each person will work at a ministry site such as agriculture, health care, education, social work, et. al. The team is excited to serve and learn in Guatemala. I look forward to updating you all after I get back.



PLEASE PRAY FOR US!
1. Pray that we would go with humble hearts that are ready to serve and ready to learn.
2. Pray for our health. Also, if we do get sick pray for perseverance and good attitudes.

Invitational

In April we had a four day long outreach called the "Invitational." Each day had a different theme, such as, "Where is God when it hurts?" and "Is Jesus the only way to God?" It was an awesome outreach, God moved on campus, and many students shared their faith. Here are some numbers and stories from the outreach...


Numbers:
6 students who made a commitment to follow Jesus
300 Number of students who attended the evening talks
600 Number of students interacted with during the afternoon tabling
96 Number of hours students and staff prayed straight
8 Number of GIGs (Groups investigating God) started
70 Number of students trained in sharing the gospel on campus

Stories:
Aaron promised Evan (one of our bible study leaders) that he would come to one IVCF event before he graduated. Aaron grew up going to Catholic school but didn’t acknowledge God. After going to the evening talk for this day he said, “Now I know there is a God and trust that one day I will experience God, but I haven't quite yet. I want to experience God for myself before I say yes to following him.” Pray that Aaron would experience God soon!

Jamila had a lot on her plate as the Monday event came around. Not only is Jamila a freshman, but she helped to coordinate the entire outreach that day! While standing outside asking people about their scars and pain she met Shaun. Shaun was really interested in what was being talked about but couldn't go to the night time event. The next day (Tuesday) before the evening event Shaun was sitting in her dorm thinking, "I really don't want to go." But for some reason she forced herself to go. That evening she ended up coming to faith and saying yes to Jesus for the first time! Shaun said that all year she was feeling lonely and has been having a hard time finding the place she belonged, but Tuesday night she found it! She is already plugged into a Tuesday night bible study. Pray for Shaun as she continues to learn what life looks like as she follows Jesus.

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."

Clothing Drive

In December I met with the group of men I am mentoring, shared a bible passage (Mark 1: 29-38) with them, and asked them, "how can we live out this passage on campus?" Their response was that we should do an on campus clothing drive, so that we can donate those clothes to keep people warm during the winter.

The plan was to meet the following week, for them to each bring a younger student that they were leading, split into pairs, divide up the dorms, and go get clothes. As you can see in the picture, there were eight of us (I took the picture). Two freshmen joined us Elliot (far left) and Erica (the girl in the middle). Elliot and Erica have been very active in the fellowship since starting in college this year.

From a small group of people going around for an hour, we got 10 full bags of donations! I was amazed to see what a little group of people can do. We didn't advertise the drive, make any announcements about it, didn't form a committee to discuss strategies, we just invited people to join us and then did it. It made me wonder what else is possible when we just go and do...

Urbana 2009

From December 26th-January 1st, I was in St. Louis working at InterVarsity's Urbana missions convention, which happens once every three years. Urbana was awesome again this year, and worshiping with over 16,000 college students is truly indescribable. But I shall attempt it...

My most memorable part of the conference was on the last night, when I helped serve communion to the masses. Having the honor of helping that many people worship God through taking communion together was a humbling blessing. As I was walking amongst the crowd, I was filled with a deep sense of hope to see "world changers developed" (which is part of our Mission statement), and I know that this generation of Urbana attendees literally going to change the world.

Some numbers from the convention -

2,232 decided to re-commit, or commit for the first time, to follow Jesus.

2,676 committed to serve on a long-term mission (two years or longer)

4,990 committed to serve short-term (one week to two years)

Nearly $900,000 was donated by attendees, to support various global organizations.

SSU brought 35 students and here is what two of them (pictured, and yes they are dating) had to say...

Matt (Junior) - "Urbana was very formative in my future plans and how I desire to serve God with my life. It really developed a sense of an international community of Christians that I had never seen before."

Amber (Junior) - "I'm really glad I decided to go to Urbana. It was a wake up call I was not expecting. It opened my eyes to a new type of bravery and fearlessness with God."

Please pray that the students will...
- Follow through with their commitments to go on missions, share their faith, give money, etc.
- Will use what they learned and experienced at Urbana to help shape the future of their life.

Kingdom Vision: Are You Blind?

On October 1st, I spoke at Nexus about John 9 "Kingdom Vision: Are You Blind?" The main themes I hit on were faith, doubt, and being open to seeing God work. Being honest, after the talk I did not feel confident about how it went, in fact it was the worst I have ever felt after a talk. But that night and over the next week, many people came up to me and told me how it impacted them. It is a blessing to know that even if I don't feel great about something, that God is still working.

Here is a video of me speaking (it may take a few seconds to buffer...)



Here are a couple responses/stories from the night...

Lindsay (sophmore) - "I thought I was the only one who ever had doubts, when you asked people to stand up if they have ever had doubts or lacked faith, and everyone did, it made feel ok about being honest with my doubts. I felt as though I wasn't alone."

Another girl had a class assignment to go to a campus event that would make her feel uncomfortable. So she decided that she wanted to go to the Nexus meeting, because that would make her the most uncomfortable. At the end of my talk I gave a call to faith, and she didn't respond. But this is what she later said about it, "I really connected to what the speaker was saying and wanted to respond", but did not feel ready. Since that night she has been coming back to Nexus by choice (not just for assignment!).

God is at work in students lives at SSU, and I know that there are many more stories like this every week. Praise God for what he is doing.

What is True Love?

On October 8th we had an evangelistic outreach called What is True Love? During the day we asked students on campus that very question through an interactive station (pictured on the right). This prompted further conversation and we invited curious students to the night event.




At the night event, we turned our normal Thursday night Nexus meeting into an outreach event. We had a guest speaker (former Sonoma IV staff turned local pastor) Kevin Finkbiner come and preach on true love. He spoke about how true love isn't what we see on tv or in society, but it is how God loves us. (Below are two short videos from the event).


The whole day went great and impacted the campus. Here are some numbers at a glance...

• 213 people came to the night event (that's about 50-60 more than an average Nexus)
• 160+ people talked with us about true love in the quad
• 10 people either raised their hand or marked on the response card that they want to start following Jesus

Please Pray for the people who came to faith, and for the new people that attended.

New School Year

New School Year!

Last week the new school year started. We have been doing outreach events every day like crazy. This video is a short clip from an outreach barbque we had. The first two weeks of school are the most important time in meeting knew people, inviting people, and getting people plugged in.

On Thursday, we had our first Nexus (large group) gathering of the year. According to my count we had 179 people in attendance! The first short video clip is the group singing a worship song. The second clip has our emcees welcoming the group. (Notice in the second video clip, a girl bringing in more chairs to accommodate the masses). Three students came to faith that night. Praise God.



Things to Pray for....
- Pray for our leadership team to keep an inviting/welcoming mindset and spirit.
- Pray for the 3 students who came to faith last Thursday night.
- Pray for the 15 bible studies we are having on campus this year. (I am overseeing and leading our bible study leaders)

Upcoming Events
- I start two seminary classes 9/28
- My first Nexus sermon of the semester 10/8
- Trilogy conference 10/30-11/1

Summer, BayUP '09

BayUP '09

This summer, Erin and I led a team of 9 students on a five week mission project to Oakland. We served at Harbor House, which is a non-profit ministry in East Oakland. We lived in intentional community with each other trying to simulate what it would be like to live in poverty. This means that we lived with 12 people with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, each person got $15 a week for food, we shared everything, and lived simply (no computers, TV’s, cell phones, etc.)

This is what some of the students had to say....
Sarah - "Bayup was challenging and a place where my faith was able to deepen and grow. I was able to learn about living in community and living simply. I learned how God's justice is connected with living simply."

James - "Often we Christians think that justice is an added on bonus but I learned that justice is at the center of God's heart and is mandated for all Christians."


Some highlights from the trip....
- Eating oatmeal everyday for breakfast (Top Ramen on special days).
- Leading 100+ kids each day at Harbor House.
- I was able to do a training on the world's water crisis.
- We saved over $100 in extra food money and gave it away to help provide access to clean drinking water. (charitywater.org)

Story from the trip...
When I did this trip in 2005 I worked with a 5th grader named Jerome (pictured to the left). He was by far the worst behaved kid (I secretly referred to him as "my nemesis"). Needless to say, he was more than a handful. When I returned this summer, I came back to a 9th grade Jerome. I was blessed to see how much he had grown up. His behavior was much better, he is becoming a role model for the elementary kids, and he is planning on being a high school intern next summer.
Seeing Jerome, and others like him, grow up over the last four years gave me a lot of joy and it gave evidence to the fact that God is at work in these kids, in Harbor House, in Oakland and the world.