A heart for God

Jer 24:7
7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
NIV
This is my prayer for the students on campus. We don't need to know about God, we need to know Him and return to Him with all our heart! This is what the world needs to see, this is how the world will be changed. Not by rules but by our relationship with the living God. A deep strong union that affects every area of who we are!

Chi Alpha Summer

People often wonder what we do in Chi Alpha in the summer. Since students are gone from the university there is nothing for Chi Alpha pastors to do right? WRONG!!!

Lori and I have been very busy since the students have left campus last week. First we have started a summer session of Chi Alpha for those who are left in town. It is interesting that we had 8 men show up for the meeting and 1 woman. When we started Chi Alpha at CMU my prayer was for men to disciple. God has answered that prayer! It is a wonderful time to invest in these lives with smaller groups.

We also went to our district meeting for a couple of days and met with pastors from around the state, visited with some Japanese students (one who left), and prepared to meet new students from Japan who are coming in next week.

Plus our regular duties of being available for direction and help when the students need it. With email and cell phones we are never far away from any of our students. Sometimes going back home with all the changes can be difficult.

It is also a time for us to focus on some of our volunteer ministries. Jon is involved in a prison ministry that hold weekend retreats in prison that gives inmates a "short course on Christianity". It is a special time of sharing God's love with those that rarely see any compassion. It is great to see God break through in these lives and see the transformation.

We also like to go to motorcycle rallies. It is an interesting place for Christians to find themselves. But we like to think of it as campus ministry...same issues, just older people. During these times we wear our Christian Motorcycle Association vests and pray for opportunities to share Jesus.

Our plans are to be with students, love them, disciple them and to get a little rest this summer (that is important too). It is fun to visit with them where they live. It is also a good time for us to visit churches and friends that stand with us in this ministry. With out you we wouldn't be able to touch lives at CMU with God's love.
Thanks

Sharing the Love

One of the great things about working with Chi Alpha is the chance to get out and be with people that normally would not go to church. For what ever reason they will not come to us if we open our doors, so we take time and go to them.

Yesterday we took advantage of the nice weather and set up a table in the middle of campus to pray for people. During this time I took a young man with me who we have been working with to teach him about reaching out beyond the four walls. During the 2 hours that we sat there we had 10 significant conversations. Some were with people we already knew, but many were with new people. One of our prayers was that we would be able to pray with someone who was confused and we were able to do just that.

God opens doors when we pray. We need to remember the power of prayer. Things happen when we pray that don't happen when we don't pray. Pray!

An update: We have been praying for a friend of ours that works on campus who was told that she had cancer. We were able to pray with her, she had the operation but they could find no cancer!!! Even better, her relationship with God is deepening through all of this. Pray.

On the road

One final thought about the Mississippi trip. Not only is it one of the best vacations you can have (there is something about paying for the privilege to work to bless someone else) but it is also a great time to get to know people. Something about spending 20 hours together on the road causes barriers to come down.

As we were traveling through Tennessee one of the students brought out 3 bags of balloons and filled up the van with wall to wall balloons! Not only was it a great time to have fun but also a great time to invest in lives and bring them closer to Jesus. Continue to pray for the students that went so that God would continue to speak to them and through them to touch those around them.

Building in the mud

Here is one of the teams from our group in front of the house where they worked. This group was able to paint the whole house, caulk, put up trim, put in floors and move in the kitchen cabinets. They worked hard and the house should be ready in a couple of weeks for the owner to move in!

We were fortunate enough to see a house dedication while we were there. They finished a house and gave the keys to the owner at a little party. Kind of like extreme makeover off steroids. The houses that Samaritan's Purse was building were for people that lost their homes in the storm and can't afford to rebuild. Their goal is to have 9 houses done by the end of the month.

The best part was to be able to bless someone else. These houses are small, only 850 square feet. But compared to the trailers these people were living in they will feel huge! We are thankful for the role we were able to play.

Spring Break part 1

As you know. spring break is an important time of the year for college students. This year we chose to go to southern Mississippi to do some reconstruction after the hurricane two and a half years ago. We arrived home safely at 6:00 this morning, so I am not going to write much now.
Be assured that updates and pictures will be coming shortly.

Team Building

Here I am leading the way for the team! We did a team building exercise for the group that is going to Mississippi to help rebuild houses that were destroyed in the hurricane 2 and half years ago.

We had a great time, everyone survived and we were able to laugh and have fun before we pile in vehicles for the 19 hour ride. Keep us in prayer as we travel and work. This is a time for God to work in us and through us.

Chi Alpha happenings

Sometime life comes at you fast and we are not able to communicate all the details that have been going on at CMU. We try to do newsletters at least 4 times a year but that is costly and time consuming. We would rather continue to spend time investing in students lives. Hence the blog.

Just one example of a day last week. I was visiting with a friend who told me about answered prayer that Lori and I had joined in with her last year. She was excited about the healing and we rejoiced together. Later that same day I was visiting with a person who works at CMU dealing with the same issues. Since our friend just told me that prayer works it was a no brainer to pray for this next friend. God is working in her heart in the midst of this difficult time! Continue to pray that God will heal her and that her relationship with Him will continue to grow!!!

Other things that happened that same day were 2 discipleship times (one on one works best!) Several chance meetings (we call them divine encounters) and a few hours to hang out with students. What fun! Anytime we have an opportunity to invest in someone else, it is a good day.