Parents of Encouragement - Jonathan & Kristen

Jonathan and Kristen Whitmore are in Tokyo. They recently returned from Thailand midyear and vacation in Ko Samui. Kristen and Jonathan lead one of the two STINT teams in Tokyo. There are actually 35 STINTers and staff who work on the campuses in this vast city. During their team meetings this year, they have been praying for the Lord to introduce them to students with soft hearts. One of these students is Yusuke who is a freshman. Jonathan met him at an English lunch in the fall and Yusuke has begun to take an interest in studying the gospel with him. Jonathan’s prayer is that students like Yusuke will have their hearts captured by Christ and experience a new birth.



Speaking of new birth.... If you think there are just the two Whitmore’s in this picture, look again. Maybe the 2nd pic will help. Yes, that’s right, Kristen is pregnant! Jonathan explains, "Yes, we were trying. No accidents here, we’re just a crazy young couple who decided to get pregnant while living in a foreign country. Ha. We’re not planning on having the baby in Japan, however, even though I think it’d be pretty awesome to give our child the precious gift of dual citizenship. Here are a couple specifics you could ask the Lord for: 1) a healthy baby! 2) Kristen’s health… she’s been a champ so far, but she’s definitely had her share of queasy mornings. 3) The Lord’s direction for where He wants us next year (it’s pretty cloudy right now, and that affects where we’ll have the baby). Also, Kristen’s due date is August 22nd, in case you were curious. Thank you SO much for your prayers!”

I was thinking they could name the baby Excel since Kristen loves it so much. And Excel could work no matter if it's a boy or a girl. But then again that 'Excel' might put too much pressure on them to succeed. Never mind.

When the apostle Paul writes his final letter, he asks Timothy to bring three things to Rome - his coat, his parchments and Mark. It's an interesting request because we know on Paul's first STINT, Mark had deserted them and when Mark wanted to reSTINT, Paul didn't think it was wise. This caused a sharp HR disagreement and the pair of leaders split.

So how did Mark go from being someone Paul didn't want with him to someone who he most wanted when he was in a Roman prison facing a certain death? I imagine we all have or will have a Mark on our teams sometime. Maybe they won't physically go back to Jerusalem. (Acts 13:13). But we will be asked to lead those who check out, shrink back, rebel, back-stab, desert us or we wouldn't say 'they are helpful to me'.

I am not really sure why Mark left when he did. Things got a lot worse afterwards with stoning and being run out of town. All they had faced so far was a crazy sorcerer. But he left. Perhaps he was jealous that Paul and not his cousin was getting the lead role in the drama. Maybe he didn't like the ministry to Gentiles. Maybe he didn't like the Greek food. Who knows? Though Luke's narrative in Acts follows Paul instead of Barnabas and Mark, we can find a few clues in scripture that might be helpful.

1. An encourager invested time in him. Barnabas means "Son of Encouragement". He believed in people, including Paul, when no else did. Someone who has 'deserted' the team needs a leader to believe in them and encourage them to get back in the game. Encourage means to inspire with courage. No failure is greater than God's mercy. If the gospel is the gospel to the Japanese, Turks, Serbs, etc, then it's the gospel to us and those on our teams too.

2. He came to grips that Jesus was a servant and we are called to serve. (Mark 9:34-36; 10:42-45)

3. He stepped out and served again. Not sure what got Mark back on Paul's good side but we also see as he wrote to the Colossians that Mark was among the very few Jews who worked for the kingdom alongside Paul and he proved to be a comfort to him. (Col 4:10-11.).

There are a lot of Marks out there and when we are honest we might be or have been a Mark to someone else's Paul too. Sometimes in the life of the leader we need others to help us sort it all out because it feels like failure if we have someone that's tough to lead. Maybe the best thing is for them (and you and the team) is to finish their stint in a regional office in "Cyprus". My opinion is those times come when a person either doesn't want to change or doesn't have the capacity to change.

But for most, it's just remembering His call on their lives, renewing their desire to follow no matter what the costs, getting loved-up by a leader who believes in them and being sent back out to serve.

One of the Best Communities for Young People

Lafayette Colorado was recognized by Anerica's Promise Alliance as being one of the 101 best communities in America for young people. America's Promise Alliance was founded by Colin Powell and his wife. It's a partnership comprised of corporations, non-profits, foundations, policymakers, advocacy and faith groups committed to ensuring that children receive the Five Promises: caring adults; safe place; a healthy start; an effective education; and opportunities to help others --at home, in school and in the community.

Since we have three young people in our home this is good news. And despite popular belief its not because we moved here. But I do believe however that Lafayette won this same regonization 70 years ago too. My understanding its commitment to the musical arts sealed its victory.

Hilary Finds her Tom Cruise Voice

Thanks to The Median Sib for this.

Less than Super Bowl Week

It's officially Super Bowl week and for the first time in I don't know how long I really don't care. After last year when we had two classy coaches who happened to be Christian and African-American, this year we have two head coaches who seem to be jerks. (By the way, I highly recommend Quiet Strength. You can finish it before Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers appear.)

We all know about Belichick and his propensity to run up the score in a way that would make Steve Spurrier proud and the whole spygate affair. There was even an accusation by a former player that he overruled doctors and send this player on the field after a concussion. He was so arrogant when confronted by the press on the spygate on why he still had his starters on the field when the games were out of reach. Felt like he was Bobby Knight in a hoodie.

And then there's Tom Coughlin who no one wants to play for. Did anyone catch his reaction after this kicker missed the first FG last weekend? It's a wonder he had any confidence to nail the one in overtime.

Where's the Dungy's, the Chuck Noll's, the Tom Landry's, the Don Shula's, etc.? Maybe I can somewhat root for the underdog Giants and Michael Strahan but I really don't care.

Sunday Afternoon

Today was such a nice day....

When we came home from church the older kids in the neighborhood were playing war or something with AirSoft guns. So while Robin made lunch, the boys and I went out and found ones in the road and along the sidewalks. Luke found 50 and Jack & Drew found about 20 each (with Dad's help). Jack & Drew called the "baby balls" since they misunderstood Luke saying "BB Balls".

We had lunch on our picnic table in the back. Can you imagine it being warm enough for a picnic in Colorado in January especially after how cold it has been. But it was.

Then we walked out the back fence, crossed over the Farmer's ditch and hiked along the trail behind our house. We were heading back and Luke wanted to go to Erie. So we crossed Arapahoe Road and walked to a tree he calls the 'the castle tree'. It also along the same Farmer's ditch that crosses under Arapahoe. At that point the ditch is reinforced with bricks and concrete and looks like a castle. This cottonwood tree is right next to the ditch with a lot of low limbs that are easy to climb. A little boy's (and old boy's) delight. So we climbed around for a while, swung on limbs and then headed back home.

All in all a nice day.

I think it was Mrs. Peacock in the Library with the lead pipe.

The last few nights, Luke, Robin and I have been playing "Clue". "Clue" was my favorite board game growing up. A few years back my sister gave me the "Clue" board game in wooden box. We kept it stored away since its no fun with just two people and Luke was still too young to play.

Actually according to the side of the box, he still is too young to play since its ages 8 - adult. But he does quite well for a 5 year-old.

Last night the first game we played he guessed the room, weapon and criminal right off the bat. Pure luck --- but still pretty cool.

Faithful and Full of Faith - Jeremy and Elizabeth

Jeremy Haddock and Elizabeth Ramsey lead the first ever STINT Team in Buenos Ares, Argentina. Students are on winter break until March, so all they do every day is sport paraphernalia from their alma mater and sip licuados. Okay, that’s not true. In reality, their team and two of their students right now are on a week-long missions project serving among the Mapuche Indians in the southern part of Argentina.

Jeremy

and Elizabeth arrived in this city of 600,000 students in September and focused their energy on the Universidad Argentina de Empresas. Jeremy said, “Everything was all new ground for us since our team is made up of five inexperienced STINTers pioneering a new movement. However, we know that we were never alone in this. For example, our campus is a private campus that has high security and the only way to enter is if you are a student, so God opened the door for us. The Argentine staff were able to negotiate with the administrators to arrange for us to take Spanish classes and have private lessons. Within the first week, we learned that two out of three of our professors are born-again Christians that are passionate about reaching the lost! From then on, most of our lessons usually incorporate worship songs or vocabulary to help us in sharing the gospel.”

In the few months they have been there, Jeremy and Elizabeth’s team have seen several students trust in Christ that are excited about telling others about Jesus Christ. Three students from UADE went with them to the Argentine student summer camp (similar to a Winter or Christmas Conference in US) just before this mission trip. Jeremy concludes, “God is doing great things. There have definitely been challenges, but by pressing through those challenges we have seen the fruit of our trust in God, and we are excited to see what God has in store when we return to campus in March.”

My oldest son Luke is fascinated by deserts. He likes to draw desert scenes with cacti and scorpions and wants us to take a family vacation to Arizona. He also is fascinated with Africa. So this week as a family we sat down and watched a National Geographic video on a desert in Namibia. Killing two birds with one stone, you might say.

Along the coast of Namibia is the 1000 mile-long Namib Desert. Talk about a huge beach! There are species of animal and plant-life that don’t exist anywhere else in the world. Robin and I were mostly fascinated though by the woman scientist from America they profiled. She had lived on the edge of the desert something like 20 years. I kept wondering what would drive someone to leave everything and live in virtual isolation in a desert in a poor country in Africa. There she was for years living in obscurity faithfully studying these sand beetles, reptiles, plants, etc. I am sure apart from desertphiles she was forgotten by many back home.

When you think of it many great leaders of the bible – Moses, Joshua, David, John the Baptist and Jesus – all spend time in deserts - and not just literal deserts. We think of Jesus and the great crowds but we forget how close followers turned and walked away. Paul is famous to us but it seems like he always had to say stuff like he ‘doesn’t need to commend himself again’ and how he was ‘known, yet regarded as unknown’. I am sure he was forgotten by people back home. "Whatever happened to that guy Paul?" They certainly forgot him at important times.

Jesus appoints us and called us to bear fruit (Jn 15:16). But Jesus (Matt 24:44-46) and Paul (1 Cor 4:1-5) also tell us also that those who have been entrusted as his servants are to be found faithful. I am sure I have been far more pleasing to him in fruitless times when I was found faithful than in times where I saw great fruit but my motives where self-centered. I got my reward then. I hope I enjoyed it.

Perhaps too my faith was greater in the desert when I believed for things unseen. It takes more faith to believe life will come to the desert than to a fertile land. Yet as I watched this video there was life. Fog would roll across this Namib Desert and life would spring up even plants and animals that had lived in doormat for years. Even ministering in the desert there is hope and faith.

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you." Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. - Is 35

May we be found faithful and full of faith no matter where He has us.

Social Networking for the Older Crowd

If you can't read this you may need Pensionbook. Or you can just go here.

Of course its only funny if you are on facebook.

Dr. King's Last Speech

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Searching for Bobby Fischer

Chess great Bobby Fischer has died.

I am by no means a Bobby Fischer or even that great a player but I thought in his memory I would list my top 5 chess victories.

5. I have not played much chess lately except on the South African airlines flight in December. I was unbeaten against the in-flight computer on all levels - beginner, intermediate and expert. Take that Deep Blue!

4. Beating a few Chinese friends in 98-99. I never for the life of me could beat them in Chinese Chess - partly because they never explained the rules - so I took pride in beating in anyone in what I called "REAL Chess."

3. Beating a few Russian friends in summer of 1991. They were no Kasparovs but when asked they did say 'Chess was one of their favorite sports.' Calling a 'game' a 'sport' gives you insight into how the Russian soul views chess and why Fischer was a big deal.

2. Winning the Truett-McConnell College Chess Championship as a Freshman. I only had to beat like 3 people so it wasn't that great a feat but I can say I was a "Collegiate Champion". I also beat my roommate in the championship game. He said, "Well I usually beat you, so this doesn't matter." I just smiled because I knew him well enough to know it did.

1. Beating an unnamed Georgia Tech grad in the summer of 1987 after losing my Queen. He got so mad and humiliated that he lost to a UGA grad that he knocked the board over and sent the pieces flying. It made the victory even more sweet. And he was afraid to play me again. (I actually know his name but since we both are still on staff with CCC, I will protect his identity.) Go DAWGS!

Building His House - Laura

Laura Hennings, when not performing magic among the cafés in the South of France, leads the STINT team in Montpellier. Her team of three girls is the first one in Montpellier. “One of the great things about being the first STINT team is that nothing we do is a failure!” Laura writes. “Every day we are learning new things and so we are constantly evaluating and revising how we do ministry in this city and this culture. We’ve been choosing to take first steps and see what happens and what we can learn from it. It’s been a really exciting process!”

Laura adds, “Since we’re the first STINT team in this city, we want God to use us to lay a foundation for others to build on in the future. Our hope is that what we do and how we incorporate prayer, evangelism, fellowship, time in the Word, etc. will help form a solid base from which the movement will grow. One of the aspects of the ministry that we have moved forward in is establishing a student leadership team to help give structure, organization, vision, and momentum to the movement. We have talked a lot about the difference between just being a group on campus, and being a spiritual movement. We want that heart and vision to be integrated from the beginning. We’re excited to see how God will multiply our efforts through these committed students, and to see how they will gain a vision for what a movement can look like.”

Speaking of foundations… I was studying recently in the Book of Haggai . The exiled Israelites who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon along the remnant rebuilt the foundation and the altar as recorded in Ezra 3. However, because of opposition they stopped there. They got sidetracked and spent all their time fixing up their own apartments to feel nice and homey. The Book of Haggai is a story of how the prophet mustered them to get back to the task at hand of building God’s house… the temple… the place where His glory dwelled.

In chapter 2 of Haggai, he asked. “How many of you saw the house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?” The Lord Almighty through Haggai proceeds to give three encouragements that we can all apply no matter where we are in the movement launching / temple building process.

The first two are:
“Be Strong and work for I am with you”
“Don’t fear because my Spirit remains among you.”

About her situation in France, Laura says, “It can feel overwhelming at times, just being three girls here. There is so much we want to see happen, and it can seem impossible. But I know I have been really stretched in bringing everything before the Lord and entrusting it to Him and asking Him to be at work. It’s been amazing to see how He has provided in really specific ways. It has also been hard at times too, leading alone and having to make decisions, but I think in those moments God continues to show me my dependence on Him and to teach me to bring everything before Him. It’s been cool to see God be so faithful to work in my own life, as well as in the lives of the students here.”

God calls us to work but really, as Laura writes, He is at work. He really doesn’t need us. And yet He calls us into the work with Him. His presence is here. His Spirit remains among us. There is no reason to fear.

Haggai goes on to give a third encouragement. It’s a vision… a promise of a future that's far surpasses what they were seeing with their own eyes.

“In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory. The silver is mine and the gold is mine. The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house. And in this place I will grant peace.”

This is amazing. And yet God could not have been talking about this building they were working on. This temple didn’t last. It wasn’t even the temple that Jesus visited. So he is not speaking of this temple building built nor Herod’s temple and certainly not Solomon’s temple. But there is a house… a temple... a kingdom… a Spiritual movement… He is asking us to work with Him on building. This temple will have greater glory. He will shake the heavens and the One that all nations desire in their heart of hearts will come. This temple - the Spiritual One that He is asking us to build with Him that is a mosaic of many nations and colors - will be filled with his glory as the waters cover the sea.

…and that’s no slight of hand in a street magic show.

Oatmeal Festival

Saturday as a family we went to the 12th Annual Oatmeal Festival. It was just down the road from our house at the Lafayette Rec Center and Pioneer Elementary school. We didn't do the 5K but I saw our next door neighbors getting ready to run.

At the Rec Center, they had a health fair of sorts. Another of our neighbors, John, is a nurse and he had a booth where people could ask medical questions. We also ran into his wife, Jennifer, and kids - Ben and Ellie Grace - too. I think we see them at every Lafayette function. The boys loved getting free toothbrushes at a Dental Care booth. Almost like a cheap toy. Now if we could just get them to use them... Another room at the rec center was a science fair and Luke got to see the dissection of a sheep heart. I was trying to stay out the way as I still had not gotten what I came for...

The Oatmeal Bar! At Pioneer Elementary was the largest oatmeal bar you have ever seen with limitless toppings. I made the mistake of adding gummy bears to Jack's bowl. Robin was none to pleased. We sat in the gym next to a nice older lady from North Dakota who was visiting her son. Like us they were not Quaker's but enjoyed the oatmeal nonetheless.

Oh and my Oatmeal Bar was free because I entered the Oatmeal Challenge. I have to eat oatmeal for 30 days to see if my cholesterol goes down. Small price for free oatmeal bar and all the oatmeal supplies I need for a month.

10 Years Ago

10 years ago... give or a take a day... I walked into the first night's meeting at a conference in Florida for staff & students across the US preparing to lead an Int'l Missions Project and saw Robin. We were both preparing to lead projects to East Asia.

I traveled to the conference along with several other single staff guys - Tim, Tom and Rob - and one staff guy, Steve who was married. Steve said to all of us that morning before we got on the plane, "Guys you may find your wife here. Think about it: godly women, who are on staff, leaders and have a heart for the world." So Steve got us pumped up.

That night I met Robin. I really should say met again. I had met her about 12 years earlier when she was a Senior at UGA and I was on staff at Clemson. But I really didn't know her. In fact, I said, "You look familiar." Robin replied, "I'm Deb's roommate." And I said, "You went to Georgia, right?"

Deb was Robin's roommate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania where they both on staff. I had meet Deb exactly a year earlier. Deb came home from that conference and announced to Robin, "I have found the guy you are going to marry." For a year she prayed that we would meet and fall in love. I of course was not aware of this.

We spoke a little that night and then the next morning Robin was late for the meeting. (A foreshadow of things to come.) The gal she was rooming with at the conference saved her a seat. it happened to be right next to me. We talked. (Though Robin said later that I was distracting her from what the emcee was saying. That emcee happens now to be my boss and I now work with the ministry of Crusade that sends and trains CCC staff & students oversees.)

That evening, there was an ice cream reception. I was talking to two other staff women gals and Robin was talking to this guy across the room. I turned and our eyes met. For a split second I pondered whether I should make a move and I did. The rest as they say is 'history'. We were married a little over two years later.

I asked Robin last night, "Did you think then that 10 years later you would be extracting a black-eyed pea out of your son's (Jack's) right nostril?"

More on DCC

Robin, the boys and I got home yesterday. DCC ended on the night of 6th but we had two days of a regional staff conference. (Thanks to Noah and Casey for getting our mail, putting out our trash and watching our house.) Here's some general thoughts...

1. No major sickness for the kids (and us) which was a huge answer to prayer. last year Robin left mid-week because Jack and Drew both contacted the stomach flu in childcare.


2. The best entertainment for Luke, Jack and Drew was looking at the window of our room on the 6th floor. The activity of the city is like a movie and can't count how many police cars, firetrucks and ambulances they saw.


3. The next best entertainment is the free bus on the 16th Street mall followed closely by the escalator.


4. Enjoyed getting to participate in the conference itself as much as possible. My favorite was Bryan Loritts. I could listen to him forever.


5. I was exhausted (and Robin & boys rarely saw me) from all my jobs. But I really enjoyed..
   

• the World Changer breakfast


• the three summits from Cameroon, South Africa and Mexico


• spending time with staff like Doug & Carey Holm who lead our ministry in Chile


• helping all week with our Gallery where we had exhibits for all of our partnerships as well as ministries like Compassion, International Bible Society and Jesus film


• having lunch w/our staff & interns who are leading 08 summer mission teams to Chile, Mexico, South Africa, Cameroon, Russia, Serbia and East Asia.


• helping with our breakouts on the night of the 4th for all of our international locations


• speaking at a seminar on "So You Want to be a Missionary"


• speaking at a breakout on night of 5th for those interested in STINT.


• getting to know Kennedy Nsom who is leads the Campus Ministry in all of Francophone Africa. he spent new Year's eve with us and I took him back to airport on the 7th @ 5:30 am. We got to hang-out several times in between that too. I love this guy!

Something to Boast About: B & N and G

B & N along with G form the STINT leadership on a team in East Asia to work with high school students. B and N are serving their first year helping G, who has been in East Asia for three years, lead a new team. Their STINT team consists of one other active American and two Asian National staff interns (plus one other Asian national staff intern who just had a baby this fall).

The Americans on the team take language classes three times a week and are also teachers in a public high school teaching English to 9th and 10th graders. Needless to say, it has been a busy first semester for them trying to juggle learning and teaching, as well as, launching movements and not to mention, just life in general. Then you throw in the mix that this is the first real multi-cultural team of Asians and Americans working to reach high school students.

While they are busy, they are ministering to Asian students whose lives are the same and yet have no opportunity to rest in the Lord. B writes, “No one is telling these high school students that life has meaning beyond being top of their class and getting into the best college. So, they are covering up their emptiness with endless hours of classes and studies, making them too busy to think about real heart issues. We want to help these students think about heart issues of life, faith, and ultimately their relationship with God.”

During the recent Christmas season, they hosted four Christmas parties each complete with a gift exchange, the Nativity movie showing, and a pre-evangelistic talk given by one of the East Asian interns in her heart language. Over 80 students came to the parties and heard the message of Christ! Now, the team is in the process of following up contacts from the events before they head out to for their mid-year conference.

I know busy too as I just returned yesterday from the Denver Christmas Conference followed by two days of a regional staff conference. We had the privilege of hearing from Ken Cochrum at our staff conference. We heard the same talk he gave at Cm2007 on Ministries to Movements. (And for those of you who missed Korea, which Dan gave at the STINT Briefing.) It was good to hear it again and be reminded of what we are being called to do.

Before Ken gave his m2M talk, he led us in a time in the word in Jeremiah 9:23-24: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD.”

I didn’t take great notes and can’t do total justice to what Ken shared but will try. Ken pointed out that a wise leader who boasts is self-assured. She is confident that in her ability to know the right answers or what course to take. A strong leader who boasts leads to competition. He becomes dismissive of those strong in other areas. I am not sure on your STINT salary you are in a position to boast in riches. But Ken pointed out that we can boast on the riches of accomplishments or the works of our hands.

All this boasting is futile. We are to boast that we understand and know the Lord. That we know He is LORD and that we know what he practices and delights in.

How do we know God in this way? We have to learn to hear his voice, to listen to the Spirit, to cultivate intimacy. May we boast this week that we understand Him, know Him, and know His ways… and in that alone. May we be true followers of Jesus as we seek to launch movements where everyone will know one.

World Changers

Robin, the boys and I are at our annual Denver Christmas Conference. This am I held a “World Changers” breakfast where I had campuses invite students who already have a heart for the world.

After about 8 years of doing a “STINT recruiting breakfast”, it was a good change. The idea was born out of talking with one of my cohorts, Dana, earlier this fall. Her region has done a good job of creating a network of staff who own recruiting at each campus. We decided to do the same int he Great Plains but with students.

So 65 students gathered for bagels at 7:45 am. The first thing out of my mouth was ‘this is not a recruiting breakfast’ and you could feel the room of these student leaders relax. I had them share the verses God had used to impart a world vision to them. As several shared they not only read the verse but why it had impacted them.

I shared from Luke 5 about the miraculous catch. I pointed out things like ‘getting Jesus in your boat’, 'leaving the safety of the shore for the deep water’, ‘inviting friends to join you’ and ‘surrendering all’. Then I had them get into smaller groups and share reasons why their peers do not get involved in missions. We went around afterwards and shared those as a large group. A number of them personalized those fears and excuses and even how they felt convicted to surrender them to God.

I then shared how we wanted to continue to network and share ideas across the region of how to mobilize students to pray, give and go. We ended by spending some time praying for God to call students to go to the world.

Almost everyone of them came up to thank me as they gave me their contact info. I was encouraged and hope it goes a long way toward seeing God move students hearts to be about his heart for the world.

Well better go I have my third WSN event of the day - a Summit for Cameroon partnership - in about 15 minutes. (I had a lunch today for our projects leaders too.)

Not Shrinking Back: C and K

C and K are in a college city in East Asia that has over 160,000 students on 13-14 universities. C says, “We’ve recently completed our Christmas season full of parties and activities. We had around 150 students attend Christmas parties where the true Christmas story was shared. From that our team has been following up with interested students and has seen 16 place their faith in Christ. We’ve also been blessed with seeing a few of our students really step up and take the lead in helping younger Christians grow.”

C goes on to say, “We’re excited about the prospect of several students joining seeker studies and even the potential of these being led by some of our newer brothers and sisters in Christ. We’re also excited about getting to begin some mercy related projects with students, specifically getting to help an orphanage and children’s hospital. Some of our girls have already had the chance to participate in ministering with students in this way. We’d love prayers as we prepared to end our semester and send students home to potentially hostile environments. Pray that these students would be able to stand firm in face of pressure from friends and family who do not understand. Pray that the students would be bold and even share with their families at home.”

I am posting this from the Denver Christmas Conference. So this week we will have a guest writer: Keith Bubalo. The following are Keith words… unedited of course since he's my boss and I want to keep this WSN gig.

A cold New Year’s greetings from Orlando! It’s actually going to freeze here tonight, the coldest night since 2003. I know some of you hit that your first month on campus. I’ve been thinking of you often these past several weeks. I know the end of a semester brings a lot of fatigue. Combine that with the holidays, and sometimes this can be a pretty tough time of year for a leader and his/her team. I wanted to let you know that all of us in WSN are so proud of you, for how you take on challenges each and every day in proclaiming the great news about Jesus. This is no small thing you have entered into. As if the cultural, emotional, and physical struggles aren’t real enough, there is also the reality of a spiritual struggle that is going on all the time.

I was reading yesterday in Matthew 11 about John the Baptist. He was the new Elijah, preparing the way of the Lord. He ended up in jail, and was asking for a little confirmation about the identity and ultimate success of Jesus’ mission (and his own.). Jesus response was strong affirmation to John: the sick are being healed, the gospel is being proclaimed, it’s all happening just as it should…including the jail chapter of your life, John. So stand strong, don’t stumble and quit on Me now.

I don’t know what each of your personal or team experiences were this past semester. More than likely it was a mix of the stunning work of God, and some low points that had you asking “what are we doing here anyway?” Many days were perhaps just…tedium and persistence. Don’t worry. That’s all pretty normal, whether you are overseas or on campus in the US. I’ve had those thoughts for 28 years in ministry. So did John the Baptist apparently. So why should you not share a big piece of all the drama?

It’s all part of a vicious, intense struggle for the advance of the Kingdom of God in the lives of each person and in the ultimate transformation of the world around you. In fact, verse 12 seems to indicate a pitched battle is taking place, people shoving their way into the kingdom and others trying to keep people out. And guess who is right in the middle of this spiritual mosh pit with forces pulling in every direction? Yep, that would be you, oh Stint Team Leader. Take heart though, for He is greater than all the powers of darkness. Stand strong in that truth, His truth, as you consider your role in the next few months. Do not shrink back from all that God has put on your heart. And thank you again for accepting your role for this year.

If you’d like to stay up with what I’m hearing about God’s work with students around the world, or His work in my own life, you can catch me “On the Global Road”, where there’s always plenty of free coffee. And feel free to send me stories of how you see God at work. I’ll be glad to post it there.