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That’s mine

How do we posture ourselves to be open and receptive to what God has for us? Do you, like me, find yourself looking to others to determine what you should have?

At the Black Campus Ministry Conference we were challenged to open ourselves to God to receive from him what he had for us. This call presses against one consistent temptation at gatherings of staff–comparing yourself with others.

As we follow after Jesus as a community of staff and develop students would you pray for us to foster contentedness in who God has made each of us and looking to him to receive all that he has for us?

Creating space

Our desire is to see students empowered to reach out to their classmates. Read this story from Domenic, our staff at Webster University, with an example of this on campus in St Louis:

Two weeks ago, my students threw together an outreach for the Art department on Webster’s campus and called it, “Ping Pong Brunch.” We got a huge ping pong table, tons of food, and invited the entire art department and everyone showed up! Students, professors, and the chair of the Art department got together to eat, relax, and played each other in some intense games of ping pong. Later, the chair of the art department came up to me and said, “I’ve really appreciated you working with the students to build community here. It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, but didn’t know how to do it.”

The best part is that I only went to the store with another staff to pick up the food. The students had the vision, had the goal, did the advertisements, made the connections, and served their fellow classmates. The event was only intended to go from 11am-12:30pm and ended up going all the way until 3pm. Afterwards, my sister invited one of her friends at the brunch to do a GIG with her and she said yes!

But not from a conference

As we prepared to depart Friday from a Spirit-filled week together at the BCM16 Staff Conference, I shared a time that Jesus went home in the power of the Spirit. Jesus’ filling though did not come from a conference.

As we see in Luke 4, after Jesus’ encounter with God in baptism he was tempted for forty days in the wilderness. It was after his time in the wilderness that it says Jesus was walking in the power of the Spirit. For those of us who’ve experienced a conference high, scripture invites us to find connection with the Spirit of God in places of desolation and challenge.

This opportunity for deep connection is available to us all even if we cannot afford to attend the most recent event and will last much longer then the conference high has passed.

Our Heritage

At the Black Campus Ministry staff conference today we were challenged through the words of 2 Timothy 1:3-7 to remember. Remember the legacy that our families have given. Remember gifts given to us through the “laying on of hands” (vs. 6).

The gift that I instantly remembered was from a student leader at the University of Arkansas who upon first meeting me 19 years ago, laid hands on me and prayed for me to be humble. At the moment I was startled by this request and wondered why he would assume I was so prideful.

I’ve heard enough comments about my humility over these last several years that I see it as the gift imparted by this student. His gift to me enables the ministry that I do and I am so grateful.

What gift was given to you through someone else’s prayer? Take a moment to give thanks to God for them and as an extra step write them a note of appreciation for this gift.

Vision Conference Update

Here is an update from the Vision Conference this past weekend from Eric one of the regional staff attending with our students.

“We added several more students into the Empower Academy, which at this point is stacked deep with very high caliber student leaders and potential staff.  The other really encouraging thing is that these students are 100% on board with hosting our first ever regional Black Campus Ministry (BCM) conference next year.  All weekend they kept noticing things at the Vision Conference and saying ‘we should definitely do that at our conference’ or ‘let’s incorporate African worship too to represent the broader African diaspora at our conference’.   It feels like we are at a tipping point in our region both in ministry to Black students and in creating a pipeline for Black staff.  Praise Jesus with us!”

Thanks for your prayers!

Pray for Vision Conference

30 Students from the Central Region are joining 120 others in Chicago for Vision 2016. This conference has been an important place of renewal for our students and calling them to plant work among Black students on campuses in our region. Please pray that the 30 attending would come back with a vision for their campuses.

This conference is also the first step of the Empower program for 10 of the delegates. The program will have as its capstone the first ever Black student conference in our region in Spring of 2017. This conference will be planned and led by students under the direction of Tony Gatewood. Please pray that these students will catch a vision for what God wants to do in 2017 as they attend this weekend.

A New Thing

God is moving among faculty! After years of praying as a local pastor and a year of relationship building as our faculty ministry catalyst George Stulac is seeing fruit. Here is a taste of what is happening:

“After spending all of 2015 initiating relationships with individual faculty on different campuses, the desire to start meeting as faculty groups came together with hardly any push from me on three campuses.   Since Urbana15 we have launched a faculty ministry at Washington University and at Forest Park Community College.  At Washington U, 25 faculty took part in the poll to schedule our meeting.  At Forest Park CC, 7 faculty have agreed to meet once a month as a Christian faculty group.  At our launching meeting, one of those faculty said he had been thinking of retiring after this semester, but now, since we are doing this faculty group, he wants to stay on.  The third campus is Lindenwood University, where several Christian faculty have asked me to meet with them later this month to discuss vision for a faculty ministry there.  That may be a third launching of an ongoing faculty ministry.”

To be connected to George’s ministry please contact me and ask to be connected to his work.

Pressing us to the edges

Usually new part-time employees do not press you as an organization, but this past weekend I was blessed to train a group of interns who have done this for the Central Region.

They have started new work among Persian students, Native Americans, refugees, multi-campus Black student collaborations, art students, Greeks, and new campuses. They have been pressing us in prayer, growing as a family, and empowering students.

Please pray that the path they have set for our interns would start a wave of intern classes pressing us to every corner of the campus.

Limit

This semester I have been reflecting on the limits of our time and how easy it is to go beyond them committing to many good things around us.

Last week I saw a limit from a different angle as I talked with a staff who was up against a limit in their journey with Jesus in one area and could no longer move forward without extreme pain to him and those around him.

Additionally I’ve been experiencing the limits of my wisdom, energy, and expertise. What will I choose to do in these places? It can be easy to keep pressing forward but will you pray that I (and potentially you) will stop and reflect with Jesus in the space where I face my limits?

I’ll go

It is a great joy to see students begin to take the good news of Jesus to the edges of our region. This is what is happening with one of the first students from the U of Nebraska – Omaha chapter who is helping to plant an InterVarsity chapter as an alumni among Latino students at the U of Nebraska – Kearney .

Their first large group gathering was this week and they have 5 small groups meeting throughout the week. Please pray for InterVarsity’s work at UN Kearney and for more students to catch a vision to see ministry spread throughout our four states.

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