Hearts for service

A big theme at our Christmas Conference this year was social justice and God’s heart for the poor. In the middle of the conference, the stundents went out on the “day of faith” and gave themselves to serve the people of Denver. Many students spent the day interacting with the homeless and poor.

Now back in Nebraska, those students are serving their campuses and communities. Praise God for highly motivated students who are going after what God has put on their hearts!  This past Saturday, a group of about 14 students from Concordia in Seward came to Lincoln and volunteered some time at the Lincoln City Mission. They sorted through piles of donations and had a great time doing it! This is one of the big reasons why I love working with college students so much: they embrace God’s heart for the world and then truly act on their desire to see change. 

A big part of my job is motivating students and equipping them to minister to their fellow students.  Sometimes though, I am just thankful for and love the chance to come alongside what students are already excited about and partner with them. =)

Gearing up for a New Semester

We’ve been back in Nebraska for about a week now, and after the last couple days of planning I’m really looking forward to this semester. Our Christmas Conference in Denver was such a success with the students, and we’re moving into this Spring with a lot of momentum. This week some of my teammates and I are headed to Concordia and Columbus Community College to follow-up with some of the plans we made with the students for their campuses.

In Columbus we’ve made a  plan to set the group up for success within these next couple of weeks.  Next week their goal is to go door-to-door in the dorms to ask their fellow students for prayer requests and invite them to their meeting. It may seem small, but this will be a huge faith step for the students. I am praying for divine appointments and a renewal of the Holy Spirit in the lives of students at Columbus this semester. I’m excited to see how God moves!

Journey to Chadron

Last week, all 9 (10 counting the little Wiekamp) of us on the Nebraska Catalytic team headed to Chadron to spend some time on campus meeting with leaders, making new contacts, and then leading men’s and women’s retreats last weekend.

Chadron State College is a great place of encouragement. Students are taking responsibility for the Gospel at Chadron and new believers are welcomed into the community. The women who came to the retreat are mature in their faith, and the men are authentic with one another. The greatest thing about all of this is that these students are incredibly humble. Is everything perfect on their campus? Absolutely not. But, the reality is that God is moving, Chadron is one of our strongest movements in the state, and the potential for growth is great.

Girls like Kate and Tina have humble hearts to serve and are simply moving forward in their relationship with the Lord and with those around them.  When our hearts are humble, God has freedom to use us as He wills.  It is awesome to get a chance to sit down with these girls and others, challenge them with more direction, and champion what needs to be championed, letting them know they are not alone.

Praise the Lord for what He is doing in Chadron!

Filling the gaps in ministry

Yesterday Chris, Beth and I traveled to Northeast Community college to meet with some students and see what God has been putting on their hearts for the campus. Beth and I met with four girls: Kelsey, Maria, Gretchen, and Kelsey for a couple of hours and talked through the needs of their campus and how they desire to be used.  When Chris and I went to Northeast last year, it was hard to find students who had a clear vision of going OUT to spread the Gospel, not just bringing people IN.  It was so refreshing to hear these girls talk about the gaps of attractional ministry (inviting people in to established events) and the desire they have to fill those gaps and do missional ministry (going to those outside the Christian community).

These four girls want to be used on their campus to meet a need that is not being met anywhere else, which is a lot like my desire to be used on my team and in full-time ministry: I desire to do only what I can do and meet needs in the Christian body where I see I can step into. Wherever I go, I want to be used as God’s servant and step into those needs where I know I can be used if I’m walking in the Spirit and God is empowering me.

I’m so excited to see what God does through these four women who have committed themselves to being Christ’s ambassadors at Northeast. They have already accomplished much just by saying “yes” to God’s call to be used.

Back on Campus at Little Priest

It’s great to be back on campus after over a month of recovery from a bad case of mono. I’m still trying to be wise in how I spend my time and in not pushing myself too hard physically, but a couple of weeks ago I kind of re-entered the world of Nebraska Catalytic and got the opportunity to join a couple of my teammates and visit the Indian reservations of the Winnebago and Omaha tribes.  We had never been to Little Priest Tribal College (LPTC) before, so we took the 2-hour drive to northeast Nebraska to see where God is moving in that part of the state.

My teammate Beth and I met two students, Luke and Adrian, in the computer lab of LPTC. We sat down and initiated a spirtitual conversation with them, using a tool known as a QuEST survey (Questions Exploring Students’ Thinking). On the survey are questions such as: what happens after death, and how would you answer someone with the question of how to become a Christian? These are great questions to engage in spiritual conversations with anyone, and using them on campus or anywhere is really effective. But these questions alone do not share the Gospel, or invite someone to make a decision for Christ.  As we talked with Luke and Adrian, I was praying for an opportunity to share the Gospel with them and relying on the Spirit to get us to that point. The doors kept opening, and these guys were really responsive to our questioning of their spiritual beliefs. Eventually Adrian made the comment that he’d like to be forgiven of his sin, but he was sure he had done too many bad things to deserve forgiveness. His reasoning was that he’d wait to do some good things before he would ask for forgiveness. What an amazing opening for the Truth of the Gospel to be shared!

We jumped right through that door and explained to Adrian the truth of his spiritual condition and the message of salvation by grace and through faith.  He (and Luke) asked great questions and was honest about his doubt and fear.  After over an hour of talking with these two guys, we gave the invitation to both of them to accept Christ and be free from that fear and doubt in their lives.  In sharing the Gospel, it’s our responsibility to take the initiative, and it’s God’s to take care of the results. The results in this case were both Adrian and Luke indicating that this wasn’t the right time for them, but they were grateful for what we’d shared with them, and we gave them Bibles and our contact info in case they would need it.

Sharing the Gospel is refreshing and real. It’s hard to see students wrestling through lies and captivity, but I have assurance that God wants their hearts, and He will keep pursuing students like Luke and Adrian long after I leave.

Full Speed Ahead

This first week of the Fall ‘08 – Spring ‘09 year has been an exciting glimpse of what the year might hold for ministry across Nebraska! I’ve started my second year of interning with Nebraska Catalytic, working with 20 schools and eight other staff members.  Our team has more than doubled; praise the Lord for more laborers!

Week one started with our CORE retreat for seven of our campuses at Timberlake Ranch Camps. The leadership teams from these schools met for a couple of days of training and planning.  It was a very successful weekend connecting with students and working with them, dreaming of the big ways that God can move on their campuses this year. Some highlights of the weekend were a chance to share our personal stories with one another, doing some teambuilding activities through the obstacle course, and getting a chance to sit down with the students and strategically plan how they are going to initiate the most students they can these first few critical weeks on campus.

Yesterday was the first day of classes at Midland Luthern College in Fremont.  So, to welcome in the Freshmen and the returning students, our group threw a hugely successful beach party at a lake. Over a hundred students came to hang out, jump off the dock, make s’mores, and engage in conversation. Over a hundred students! That’s incredible and most definitely a work of the Lord. Mozart Dixon, one of our staff, shared part of his story and the message of the all-surpassing peace our Savior has to offer. At a campus the size of Midland, that means about one out of six students on the campus heard the Gospel message last night. What great momentum to carry into the start of the year. Now the real work begins of building those relationships and following up with spiritual conversations. I’m so excited to see what happens as students of Midland step out in faith this year and put themselves in a position to be used by God! He is already at work!

Trip to Juneau

This last weekend I made a quick trip to Juneau, AK.  I spent last summer in Juneau helping lead a summer missions trip, which is termed a “summer project” by Crusade.  There has been a men’s only summer project in Juneau for the past four summers, and last summer was the first time women were invited along to minister to the girls in the city.  Along with two other women, I helped set direction to future summers in Juneau and tried to figure out what the addition of women to the Juneau project would mean.  This next summer I am going to take 11 other women with me (students from Nebraska, Minnesota, and New Mexico) to form a separate women’s project.  So, there will be both a men’s project and a women’s project in Juneau this summer.  We are trusting God to transform the city and our lives for eternity.

 Craig Johring, the director for the men’s project, Christina Dodson (who will be helping me lead this summer), and I met in Juneau to meet with church pastors, elders, and student leaders to plan and process how to most effectively work together this summer.  We had some great meetings and good time for planning. 

It snowed the whole time we were there.  It literally never stopped snowing.  It was like living inside a snow globe for 4 days, and it was absolutely beautiful.  It was fun to go around Juneau and visit places that I’ve only ever seen in summertime.  Juneau has a glacier right in town, and we got to walk on the now frozen lake that surrounds it and even go right up and touch the glacier.  In the summer, it’s never safe to kayak very close to the glacier (or climb on icebergs), so this was a real treat.

I also got the chance to connect with some of the girls I know from last summer, and it was a joy to hear how they are doing and what God is teaching them.  One of the girls, Kimberly, just turned 16 a couple of weeks ago, but her spiritual maturity is the level of a college student.  She’s an absolutely beautiful girl with a reflective spirit, and this year has been a real challenge for her.  Her best friends at school are non-believers, and she prays every day to be a light to them.  With little to no community around her, the battle alone can be long and hard.  But, God has encouraged her with small victories in her relationships, and I can only imagine what He is preparing her for in the future.  There is a spiritual war being fought for the high school and college students in Juneau, and girls like Kimberly are the mighty warriors God has placed there specifically for His name and glory.

Back in Nebraska

Well, I’ve been back in Lincoln for a few days now following two weeks of conferences in Colorado and Texas.  Our regional Christmas Conference in Denver was a great time with over 1,000 college students from the Great Plains region in attendance.  This was my first year working the conference, and I found that a great deal of work and care goes into making every part of the conference a positive experience for students.  I had an awesome time working with the stage production staff, staying up all night on security, and hanging out with students in the times in between.

Every year, one day of the conference is dedicated to going out and sharing the good news of Jesus.  All the students are mobilized and sent out to serve in various ways all over the city.  They are challenged to make themselves available to whatever God puts in their path, then watch to see the mighty ways He shows up.  When the students returned that night, we heard story after story about them stepping out in faith to share the Gospel, and the result was many people believing in Christ for the first time! 

One of these cases was a couple of students from Wayne State College, Jarah Gleim and Beth Blankers, sharing the Gospel with a 14-year-old girl named Anna at a laundromat.  They cleverly went into the bathroom and “spilled” water on a sweatshirt Beth was wearing so they would have to dry it, creating a natural way to approach this girl and engage her in a spiritual conversation.  They asked her questions, listened to the story of her life, and then shared with her the love that Christ has for her and how she could have a personal relationship with Him.  She responded to the pursuit of God for her heart and prayed with Jarah and Beth to receive Him as her Savior.  Praise the Lord for divine appointments and for these girls’ willingness to step out in faith!

After the week in Denver, I flew to San Antonio for a Summer Project Director’s Conference, and I was able to work with part of my leadership team on our project we’re leading in Juneau, AK this summer.  It was a productive time getting the calendar set, figuring out logistics, learning from staff who have led for years, and praying for vision.  While I was there, I really got a chance to hear from the Lord as to what He would have for this summer and submit my leadership to His sovereignty.  I am so incredibly excited to be in Juneau this summer with the women who will join me, and I am believing God to see a city transformed as we step out in obedience to share the Gospel.  It’s going to be amazing!

Now I’m getting back to real life, or trying to catch up with it.  Students have already been back on campus for a few weeks now,  and I’m anxious to see in what new ways God will move in the hearts of students this semester!

A New Year

I always love the end of the year — holiday activities, Christmas lights, thankful hearts for our salvation, the chance to spend time with family and friends, and the excitement that comes from starting a new year.  But one of the things I love most about this time is the chance I have to reflect on the year that has passed and pray over the one to come. 

One of the best ways I personally feel God’s love for me is experiencing refinement.  As I obediently follow God’s path for me, something challenging usually comes up.  A new job, a new place to live, the sometimes tiring mission to know myself better, or the frustration I have when God seems too unclear or too silent. 

It’s crazy to think of where I was last year at this time.  I had no idea what I was going into — my last semester of college, a summer full of growth in Juneau, and the challenge of raising support and starting an internship with Campus Crusade.  But how comforting is it to know that all of these events in this last year have refined me, enabling me to give more glory to God and live a life more worthy of the calling I have received?  The concept to me is incredible and humbling.  Obedience, refinement, reflection.  God desires to refine us so we can more clearly reflect Him.  Our spiritual lives grow, we experience the fullness of God and through that His unfaltering, unfailing love.  I can clearly see progress in my spiritual life from this past year of challenges — I have a bigger view of God, more faith (because I learned how to ask for it), and more confidence in how He uses me for His purposes.  I feel very loved.

Now as it’s time to continue the processes already at work within me and start new ones, I look forward to the new challenges ahead.  I’m praying for more changes in my heart so that I can more accurately display Christ wherever He sends me.  And whatever circumstances He chooses to make those changes happen, I pray that I have the courage and the humility to follow in faithful obedience.

The Need for Relationship

Living in Lincoln these past couple of months has been great — I live in the upstairs of my grandparents’ house where they’ve lived for over the past 50 years.  So, I’m living in the same room my mom and her siblings lived in while they were growing up.  It has been a huge blessing to have time with my grandparents (88 and 89 years young) on the days I’m actually in Lincoln (which isn’t many…).  They are so encouraging to my ministry and pray for me and my many counsins daily.  I also get homemade cookies and ice cream every once in awhile =).  I don’t know how I would’ve survived raising support if Grandma and Grandpa wouldn’t have opened their home to me, and I am truly thankful for them and learn from the way they model love and kindness.

I lived in the Wayne/Norfolk area for the past four years as I was going to college.  I had never been to northern Nebraska before I went to my first campus visit at Wayne State, but over the years the area became familiar.  I now find myself missing that part of Nebraska… maybe not for the thriving cities that populate the area… ha.. towns of about 100-2,000 people… but because I left some of my best friends there.  This last weekend over Thanksgiving I was able to go on a trip to the Grand Canyon with three of my closest friends.  It was an amazing chance to connect now that we’re in different places and stages of our lives.  On our trip we saw the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and even Four Corners USA (kind of.. who knew that four corners is actually a park that closes after dark? we sure didn’t).  This trip was a huge blessing as these friends are some of the biggest ways that God works in my life.

Opportunities to get together with old friends are rare, but in traveling to different campuses I get the chance to make new friends every time I leave Lincoln.  A couple of weeks ago, I got the chance to go to Chadron and spend some quality time with students there (until 3:30 in the morning quality time).  I absolutely love the girls at Chadron. They are so welcoming and honest about what God is doing in their lives.  So refreshing to be around! I am excited for our Christmas Conference in January where I will get more chances for developing solid frienships with these students.

 Thinking on all of these relationships, I feel very blessed and very thankful for God using these people in my life to show me more of Him and refine me to be more like Him.  The way we are created to need people and relationships is something I can sometimes find myself resentful of because it means I cannot function as an independent being.  That gets in the way of my pride.  But, the absolute blessing it is to trust and rely on each other to be effective as a body far outweighs any empty “satisfaction” I would get from only relying on myself.  It is a glorious thing to need people, and I am thankful that I need so many in my life.

(top picture is Kirbi Gall and me; middle picture is me with a group of Chadron girls; picture to the right is of Halie Hughes, Quinn Nisley, and me)