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Empathy

November 16, 2015 / / 0 Comments

What does a story from thousands of years ago in the book of Nehemiah have to do with our response to the stories we see from campuses in our region, like Mizzou, or attrocities from April at Garissa University or this past week in Paris?

When Nehemiah heard the news of the suffering of his people and the destruction of his city, he wept for some days. It was not until after prayer, taking risks, and asking for resources did he actually examine the state of the walls of Jerusalem.

As a White American man there are a few typical immediate responses I have when I hear about oppression of people in my campus, city, or world – numbness, questioning, or seeking to fix.

What if like Nehemiah when we read these stories we sat and wept first before thinking what is next?

 

 

 

 

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Harvest

November 5, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Have you experienced a season of Harvest in your life? Where everything around you seems to be producing fruit? I was so blessed today to talk with a close partner in ministry, my sister Mugs. After years of faithfulness their church is experiencing a significant harvest season: people coming when invited and continuing to come, successful summer program for kids, new youth group members, and much more.

Most encouraging was a powerful women’s retreat weekend headlined by a featured speaker and another close ministry partner, my mom. What a blessing to see God’s faithfulness and my sister and mom continuing to say yes to Jesus. They are an example and encouragement to me as I walk this journey.

I am grateful in the work with InterVarsity that I do not walk alone but get to partner with others, encouraging them to say yes to Jesus as they do the same for me.

My conversation today also makes me wonder, where are you being invited to say yes to Jesus?

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Uniqueness

November 3, 2015 / / 0 Comments

If we were enjoying a cup of tea together could you tell me what gifts your culture brings to God’s family? Wondering why this matters?

At the Harvest Conference last weekend I sat in a break out group of White students in the Reconciling all People’s track some of whom had struggled to answer this question at a meeting of their multi-ethnic chapter a couple weeks before. I was blessed with an opportunity to help these students begin to discover the gifts they bring. Why would we do something like this with students?

We believe that like in every other area (flowers, landscape, animals, etc.) God created diversity in part to show his beauty, creativity, and fullness. One of the things that prevents us from appreciating or growing as a multi-ethnic community is when parts of our community do not understand the gifts or perspectives they bring. This can both restrict them from bringing their whole selves to the table and also shut down creating space for other gifts because the primary culture of the fellowship is seen as “normal” or “this is how everyone acts and thinks”.

It is often White students that struggle most with this question of uniqueness of their culture. One helpful resource that I have used in my journey of discovery is Being White. In it are great questions and guideposts that aid in this journey. Using it I helped these students take another step in their journey towards truly being a part of a multi-ethnic community.

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What lens do you wear?

November 2, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Wearing a lens as we interact with scripture is a fact of our humanness. We’ve seen despicable uses of this as many have justified horrific acts by reading the scripture through a lens of supremacy of one race/ethnic group over another.

The reality of the Jesus we invite others to join us in following is that he came at scripture as a poor oppressed minority who was on the underside of the ruling power. How often do we read scripture through this lens? Two excellent examples of engaging scripture from this lens are Reading the Bible from the Margins and Jesus and Disinherited.

From my position and those of students I work with in America (a world superpower) and studying at Universities (highly privileged locale) it is hard to put on the lens that Jesus lived. How would it impact our work and the church if we began to do this?

 

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How far would you go to express your love?

November 2, 2015 / / 0 Comments

One delightful story from the recent Harvest conference involved a little frog.

During the Saturday evening prayer time where 28 students decided to step into the light, a friend and I found a frog in the foyer of the conference center. My friend declared “We need to catch and save this frog. It is a symbol that God is trying to save somebody”. So we started the fun and somewhat long process of catching a tree frog.

After catching and putting this frog safely outside, we turned to see a young woman with another frog sitting beside her bench. As she shared her story it became clear she was the one Jesus was trying to catch and save. My friend and I were able to share about a Jesus who demonstrates his love for us even through little frogs and then we witnessed his catching of her.

 

What’s next?

October 23, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Unless you have been to the Botanical Garden in the last couple months you would never guess what filled these beds last week. There were plants the size of small trees which highlighted a lush landscape along the reflecting pool. Now it is a tilled bed ready for the next planting.

As I walked and prayed through the garden I stood and reflected over this empty bed. It led me to ask God if there were short term things he was calling me to invest my time in this season of developing partners for ethnic minority staff in InterVarsity.

Could you join me in asking God what’s next?

 

Inspired

October 16, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Do you know what the fastest growing population in InterVarsity’s was last year?

As myself and other members of the Black campus ministry leadership team found out, it is Black students. Our Black student numbers grew by 17% last year.

In the midst of calls for valuing the worth of Black lives over these last 14 months, we’ve been blessed to share with an increasing community of Black students that they carry the Imago Dei (image of God).

While we see systems to be renewed and brokenness to be redeemed, as a team we praise God for the fruit we are seeing.

Mustard Seed

October 16, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Is it possible to change the atmosphere of a place?

We are seeing this type of change at Longview Community College in Kansas City.
I had the chance to reflect on the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13 with a group of 15 students from Longview. One student reflecting on “the tree” that grew in the passage said, “we’re supposed to effect the whole atmosphere of this place” just like the tree changes the habitat for those in its vicinity.

This group at Longview that started with one staff taking a risk to visit another campus once a week now is the largest student group on campus. Its presence is already changing the atmosphere on campus as a diverse group of students are building community and inviting others to join them.

Pray for this small seed to continue to grow and bring renewal to this beautiful place.

One Thursday night in Nebraska

October 10, 2015 / / 0 Comments

This is what one group of students decided to do as a response to Iowa Fall Conference.

Thursday night at InterVarsity’s Black Campus Ministry group at U of Nebraska Lincoln the leaders split the 40+ students who came into small groups. Each leader shared the gospel using the Big Story diagram and invited everyone to identify a next step forward.  Then we came back together as a whole group and I asked anyone who had just decided to follow Jesus to raise their hand so we could celebrate and pray for them.  Praise God with us that six students decided to follow Jesus!!!  Afterwards a student leader gathered those 6 students to get their contact info and connect them with a mentor/accountability partner to continue talking about their decision and next steps in beginning to follow Jesus.

Students gathered this group, made a plan for harvest, shared the gospel, invited the students who were ready to cross the line, and created a follow up plan! Thank you Jesus for students boldly and fruitfully stepping out in witness!

Story from Eric Rafferty, co-Director of InterVarsity’s work in Nebraska.

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