Prayer

Would you take a moment and please pray for the SDSU students time at conference for the next 5 days?
Dawn, Brooke, Heidi, Ryan, Caleb, Mark, Andrew, Troy and myself.

I'm praying that God would renew a passion for his glory, and a hold like dependence upon him as our trustworthy Father.

Conference time can be an exhausting time, so pray for open and attentive minds, as well as soft hearts to truly be affected by these unique and often powerful times.

(Ryan was off somewhere for the photo)

New Years Conference

On my way to the 2012 conference, along with 8 equippers! We are staying the night in Minneapolis with my wonderful relatives, then hopping on a couple buses with a bunch of Campus Outreach students and driving to Milwaukee, WI.
Pray that the time would be beneficial in our faith, and that relationships could form and to deeper, especially with The Lord.

Stuck...Snow...and Such

Went home to Dawson, MN to preach at Dawson Covenant Church on Saturday evening.  Caught the very beginning of the storm, but the bulk of the storm has since kept me in Dawson until at least tomorrow morning.

Church was cancelled, so I wasn't able to preach.  This was a major bummer for me, I was really excited to preach on Jeremiah 2:1-13.  But, it also provided me some quality time at home that otherwise wouldn't have had.

Looking forward to a couple of days with Brandon, as we do our semesterly assessment of the past semester and plan for the next.  We'd greatly appreciate prayer that God would bless our thoughts, enabling us to remember the semester well, change and plan for what we'd like to change for next year, and then of course plan effectively and fruitfully for Spring 2013!

Soirée brief follow up

What does 170 college girls and 35+ men hearing the gospel at the same time look like?
A little something like this.

Mini-retreat

Ballin it at the mini-retreat this weekend/day! Listening to Matt Chandler message.

I love SD

I actually do really love South Dakota. I also love Brookings. Pray that God's will might be done in Brookings as it is in heaven!

"The Christian and the voting booth"

Tonight, Josh Adams lead a group discussion and informal lecture about politics. I will write more about this in the future, but it was a great example of what we mean when we talk about transformational education. Basically, Christians and non-Christians growing in their critical thinking abilities, because our Lord is a critical thinker. About 20 students showed up tonight, And it was a good and educational time.

Pro-Life annual efforts

We have a growing place in our hearts for mothers and the unborn children in this country. We have therefore begun having some sort of Pro-Life event each year. Next Monday night we are co-hosting a viewing if the documentary Blood Money: the Business of Abortion". It is very good and very alarming. I invite you to join us, and ask that you pray for the time.

Nick's Bugers with Jeong, Cindy & Sunny

Every Tuesday we have an ESL class with three South Koreans we met, Jeong, Cindy and Sunny. It's been a great time and a good opportunity. Today was their first experience of Nick's burgers. They loved them!

Bonfire!

Our annual October bonfire and Chili feed was a hit! Close to 40 students made it out, had an amazing time of fun, conversation and singing.

50 souls? Really?

       It is sometimes a strange and silly temptation and desire of my hear that "I want more...I want more students".  And not in the kind of "I want more students to influence for the gospel of Jesus Christ so that they find infinite joy in Him" sorta more, but the "I want more because I'm not finding my identity and satisfaction in Jesus" sorta more.  

In other words, I'm a sinner. 

        I sometimes will think on a Wednesday night, "there are not as many students here as last week...bummer".  And many times its a good thing to feel that.  I DO want more students to hear the gospel, be saved, and be discipled!  However, the other times I just want a "bigger ministry", or some similar silly nonsense of my heart.  There was a brief moment tonight where I thought that.  However, my God graciously kicked me, and rather put in my mind, "there are 50 souls sitting in front of you right now.  I'm giving you stewardship and pastoral care of them.  I'm in control and it is I who give the growth...but don't forget to take care how you build on my foundation of my Son."  So, He didn't say quite all of that, nor did he quote 1 Cor 3, but He DID open my eyes a bit more to see.  And what I saw was astounding: 50 souls sitting under our care, preaching, guidance, etc.  

That is scary, and it is moments like this that I'm especially joyful that Christ is glorified in my weaknesses, because I'm feeling weak to accomplish what 50 souls need to grow and mature!

 

Desiring God Conference

An amazing weekend in Minnespolis. We had about 25 students attend (give or take with a few alumni and friends that came), and it was a very helpful time. We are not 100% positive year to year whether we will attend this DG conference, but are glad we did and look forward to seeing God grow fruit in our lives because if it!

It is also a good time to buy books and save money, since they sell at some really good prices!
Our top shelf is now full of books for students, thanks to the Equip fund supplied by our amazing church body, as well as a friend if ours, Troy Botts. He comes up with boxes of books from time to time and lavishes us with blessings.

The several pictures are all the one shelf on top...not that anyone is actually interested in reading them, I just think they look awesome. :)

Inter-generational wha?

Long story short, we love to see the intergenerational interaction of youth, college students, young professionals, families with kids, etc.

It's simply a great opportunity for all, and something I want to see happen more and more.

Bam

Behold, the beautiful advertising artwork of Miss Leah Miller, one of our part-time staffers. This is a free advertising space in the student union while it's under some construction.

First Bonfire

The first week of school we also have a bonfire, and it was a very good turnout this semester. 2 to 3 dozen students showed up, the majority of them brand-new. More posts to follow soon, but so far God has blessed us with new relationships with many new students!

BBQ and Afterparty

After our big recruitment booth day last Monday, we always have a BBQ and afterparty the next day (last Tuesday). This year we were excited to have over 120 students come for food, frisbee, fellowship and other alliterative words I'm sure.
We cook, talk and play, then go hang out till late and play games.

More to come soon, but suffice it to say Wednesday nights have been very blessed!

Please be praying for students, that we could serve them well by getting them plugged into small groups soon.

Big Booth Day at SDSU

I am a few days behind, for the year has gotten off to a great start! We participated in SDSU's giant Booth day last Monday. Thousands of students walk through and stop at dozens of different booths, including ours. We spoke with probably hundreds of new students, and got somewhere between 60 and 80 names of new students interested in Equip. I will follow up our first Wednesday night large group meeting soon, but the Lord blessed us with over 60 students, the majority of them interested in getting more in ball. I'm very thankful for the blessing of the booth, and just how many students the Lord genuinely connects us with at it.

SDSU Crew

Last night (last night) of STP. Hugs, tears, etc. Great summer, great stories and lots of hope in my heart for these four, everyone else and some growing desire to meet new students this fall!

Campus Time & Men's Time

We split up tonight on the tail end of Return Training at STP for guys snd girls time. Some good discussion with the guys.

Then tonight from 7:00-10:00, SDSU Equipper peeps had our last Campus Time. Played some fun games, reflected on Chick-Fil-A politics ;) , and reviewed a bunch of project: highs, regrets, goals and desires for Fall, ministry & serving opportunities back at State. It was extremely fun for me, and got me more excited to continue to see Kimberly, Carl, Eric & Andrew grow and love Jesus more! Pray for their transition back to "normal" life for August, and for Equip staff to accomplish what we hope to, by God's grace.