Hi there! This past weekend was my brothers wedding! Autumn and I had a nice time getting my brother and our new sister n law hitched, and getting to visit with a bunch of friends and special people we only get to see a few times a year.
We have a very good friend of ours at the wedding kindly reminded us about our blog, and we realize we've dropped the ball updating here, have set aside time to make sure we get some stuff up on here for you guys.
A couple monday's ago Scott, a guy on our staff team, and I went and spoke to a particular fraternity in an attempt to meet some guys who would be interested in getting with us and possibly starting a small group with them. That experience was intimidating to say the least. Well, after meeting with a half a dozen or so guys we had the first small group Bible study tonight.
The night went very well. We had 3 guys show up, and while this may sound like not many, this is huge. They are 3 really cool guys who, have alot of things going on in life, and are trying to figure out where God fits it. We had a great time talking about life, and looking as John chapter 2 discussing Jesus's first miracle, and how we can live our lives differently because of it.
This is a huge win for us, and we continue to pray for God to use us to reach the extremely hard to reach Greek system at SFA for Christ. We can't wait to see this small movement grow.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Kick off Week
This has been a really exciting week and we are reminded again how thankful we are to be able to be here in Nacogdoches doing ministry! Around here, classes started on Wednesday, and so we have been in full planning mode for the past weeks leading up to now.
Tuesday, we started things off by having a free lunch for students who were back on campus. We were able to meet alot of new students, and get in some good conversations, and we are really looking forward to getting together with the students that we met during the event. Later that afternoon we met with our Roundtable students, which are our student leadership team. It was so encouraging to see students who are extremely passionate about reaching their peers at SFA for Christ. We got a chance to challenge them, and to help them think through creative ways to share Christ on campus, and to help other students grow in their relationship with Christ. These students are so awesome, and they are already so special to us.
Wednesday marked the official first day of classes and we remembered just how thankful we are to not be going to class! But really, it was an awesome day to be able to meet lots of students. We were on campus, and doing some surveys to see spiritual interest- and to get a chance to follow up with students who indicated they were interested in knowing more about our Christ, a Bible study, or Crusade. Praise the Lord that out of the 100+ students we met Wed. afternoon, many circled they were interested in finding out more about it all! We are already starting to call these students and to get together to talk with them more, and share about Christ.
Thursday was much the same as Wednesday- students were going to their 2nd day of first classes, and it was another great day to meet students during lunch time surveys. In addition, we had our first Crusade weekly meeting of the semester! This semester at our Cru meeting in addition to challenging students to know and follow God, we are wanting to introduce them to praying for, and serving students with out campus partnership with a college campus in Ethiopia. The night was a success, and we had lots of new faces, and a chance to impact new lives. Part of me just wanted to pinch myself, to remind myself that this is real, and that after a year+ of desiring to be here serving, that this is finally real. What an awesome answer to prayer.
Please continue to pray for us and our staff team as we are meeting individually with the students that we met this week: both at the free lunch we hosted, and from the surveys we did throughout the week.
Pray that God would prepare hearts, and that students would come to a saving relationship as a result of Christ at work in their life!
Pray also for us as we are beginning to disciple students. Pray for wisdom as we plan, and that we would be able able to model following Christ, and being authentic. We desire to have students look more like Jesus, and we pray that we can point them to the Lord.
Thanks for being part of this journey with us...
Tuesday, we started things off by having a free lunch for students who were back on campus. We were able to meet alot of new students, and get in some good conversations, and we are really looking forward to getting together with the students that we met during the event. Later that afternoon we met with our Roundtable students, which are our student leadership team. It was so encouraging to see students who are extremely passionate about reaching their peers at SFA for Christ. We got a chance to challenge them, and to help them think through creative ways to share Christ on campus, and to help other students grow in their relationship with Christ. These students are so awesome, and they are already so special to us.
Wednesday marked the official first day of classes and we remembered just how thankful we are to not be going to class! But really, it was an awesome day to be able to meet lots of students. We were on campus, and doing some surveys to see spiritual interest- and to get a chance to follow up with students who indicated they were interested in knowing more about our Christ, a Bible study, or Crusade. Praise the Lord that out of the 100+ students we met Wed. afternoon, many circled they were interested in finding out more about it all! We are already starting to call these students and to get together to talk with them more, and share about Christ.
Thursday was much the same as Wednesday- students were going to their 2nd day of first classes, and it was another great day to meet students during lunch time surveys. In addition, we had our first Crusade weekly meeting of the semester! This semester at our Cru meeting in addition to challenging students to know and follow God, we are wanting to introduce them to praying for, and serving students with out campus partnership with a college campus in Ethiopia. The night was a success, and we had lots of new faces, and a chance to impact new lives. Part of me just wanted to pinch myself, to remind myself that this is real, and that after a year+ of desiring to be here serving, that this is finally real. What an awesome answer to prayer.
Please continue to pray for us and our staff team as we are meeting individually with the students that we met this week: both at the free lunch we hosted, and from the surveys we did throughout the week.
Pray that God would prepare hearts, and that students would come to a saving relationship as a result of Christ at work in their life!
Pray also for us as we are beginning to disciple students. Pray for wisdom as we plan, and that we would be able able to model following Christ, and being authentic. We desire to have students look more like Jesus, and we pray that we can point them to the Lord.
Thanks for being part of this journey with us...
Monday, January 18, 2010
winter conference notes...
Each year our region with Crusade which is TX, Arkansas, OK, and LA has a Winter Conference for our students in the Dallas area. This year it was in a hotel on the Sundance Square in ft worth.
We sent out a whole prayer letter about the conference so I'm not going to detail it here. There was one thing not in the letter that I wanted to share that touched me, and I think will encourage you in sad but still encouraging way.
First off there was about 550 students in attendance which brought alot of energy to the morning and evening meetings. The speakers did a great job in my opinion, and the camera guys were flawless (camera guy was my job). The main things spoken on was forgiveness, prayer, and using your life as a ministry. The students were encouraged to not only seek and recieve forgiveness from the Lord, but to also forgive the hurts done to you by others. Also, they were encouraged to big meaningful prayer. Being in such a place during prayer where you could focus and know you are talking to God! They were also encouraged to pray with a big picture and to look beyond thier own life circumstances. Finally, they were encouraged to give thier future up to the Lord, and use whatever future they had to have a ministry.
Ok...so all of the talks were awesome but my point is this. When you walk into Church and look around everyone seems happy, in attendance, and pretty much like they have things together, or whatever. Well thats basically what you'd percieve from the student crowd at Winter Conference. A hyper bunch of kids with the world at thier finger tips and no cares at all.
Well during the last night's meeting we did something different. No speaker, just worship songs. The twist was that starting at the begining of the meeting the MC posed a few questions regarding what God was doing in thier lives with prayer, then a couple songs later about thier life plans, then a couple songs later about forgiveness, and the students would respond by texting in thier answers and those would then by streamed live on the screens in the room.
Let me tell you, the large group of happy students opened up, and deep hurt came rolling out. Students texted things like...
"i forgive my father for leaving, i've hated him for so long"
"i forgive my brother for the death or my other brother, i know its not his fault"
"i am praying for the man who sexually abused me"
"i am prayer that my campus would come to know the Lord"
"i need to forgive myself for what i did in iraq"
I promise i can go on and on just from memory.
I think that alot of people who are believers even, the person sitting next to you in church, your nieghbor, they all have deep wounds in thier lives that are being hidden by a front. I just think its important to be aware that the outer appearance its always what going on inside. But the Lord wants to heal those wounds and fill that void.
Each year our region with Crusade which is TX, Arkansas, OK, and LA has a Winter Conference for our students in the Dallas area. This year it was in a hotel on the Sundance Square in ft worth.
We sent out a whole prayer letter about the conference so I'm not going to detail it here. There was one thing not in the letter that I wanted to share that touched me, and I think will encourage you in sad but still encouraging way.
First off there was about 550 students in attendance which brought alot of energy to the morning and evening meetings. The speakers did a great job in my opinion, and the camera guys were flawless (camera guy was my job). The main things spoken on was forgiveness, prayer, and using your life as a ministry. The students were encouraged to not only seek and recieve forgiveness from the Lord, but to also forgive the hurts done to you by others. Also, they were encouraged to big meaningful prayer. Being in such a place during prayer where you could focus and know you are talking to God! They were also encouraged to pray with a big picture and to look beyond thier own life circumstances. Finally, they were encouraged to give thier future up to the Lord, and use whatever future they had to have a ministry.
Ok...so all of the talks were awesome but my point is this. When you walk into Church and look around everyone seems happy, in attendance, and pretty much like they have things together, or whatever. Well thats basically what you'd percieve from the student crowd at Winter Conference. A hyper bunch of kids with the world at thier finger tips and no cares at all.
Well during the last night's meeting we did something different. No speaker, just worship songs. The twist was that starting at the begining of the meeting the MC posed a few questions regarding what God was doing in thier lives with prayer, then a couple songs later about thier life plans, then a couple songs later about forgiveness, and the students would respond by texting in thier answers and those would then by streamed live on the screens in the room.
Let me tell you, the large group of happy students opened up, and deep hurt came rolling out. Students texted things like...
"i forgive my father for leaving, i've hated him for so long"
"i forgive my brother for the death or my other brother, i know its not his fault"
"i am praying for the man who sexually abused me"
"i am prayer that my campus would come to know the Lord"
"i need to forgive myself for what i did in iraq"
I promise i can go on and on just from memory.
I think that alot of people who are believers even, the person sitting next to you in church, your nieghbor, they all have deep wounds in thier lives that are being hidden by a front. I just think its important to be aware that the outer appearance its always what going on inside. But the Lord wants to heal those wounds and fill that void.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Back in action!
We are so thrilled to be back in Nac, and in the lives of students. Over the past year we have prayed about, talked about, and eagerly looked forward to being back on campus, but none of that compares to how it would feel to have that become a reality.
It was so cool for us to attend Cru, our weekly meeting, for the first time. We arrived super excited to see the students, and as we walked into the familiar setting of Education Building rm 101 we began to notice that while the room, the atmosphere, and the setting was familiar, the faces were not. You typically have a pretty significant turnover in the crowd every 2 years or so, and it had definitely happened while we were gone.
This is not a bad thing, this was great. This was awkward. This was faith stretching and challenging to walk into the same old Cru, and be the new people. It was such a blast. We now have a ton of new students to meet, begin to get to know and get into their lives, and that is exactly what these past few weeks have been made up of. We have so enjoyed meeting students for lunch, having them over to our home, watching some football, dropping in on Bible Studies, and just getting to know them and their relationship (or lack there of) with the Lord.
That's the name of the game for us right now, as the new-old people to re-familiarize ourselves with being on campus, and getting to know some new students while reconnecting with some old ones. It is such a blessing from the Lord to be a part of this ministry!
It was so cool for us to attend Cru, our weekly meeting, for the first time. We arrived super excited to see the students, and as we walked into the familiar setting of Education Building rm 101 we began to notice that while the room, the atmosphere, and the setting was familiar, the faces were not. You typically have a pretty significant turnover in the crowd every 2 years or so, and it had definitely happened while we were gone.
This is not a bad thing, this was great. This was awkward. This was faith stretching and challenging to walk into the same old Cru, and be the new people. It was such a blast. We now have a ton of new students to meet, begin to get to know and get into their lives, and that is exactly what these past few weeks have been made up of. We have so enjoyed meeting students for lunch, having them over to our home, watching some football, dropping in on Bible Studies, and just getting to know them and their relationship (or lack there of) with the Lord.
That's the name of the game for us right now, as the new-old people to re-familiarize ourselves with being on campus, and getting to know some new students while reconnecting with some old ones. It is such a blessing from the Lord to be a part of this ministry!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
So much to be Thankful for!
We have so so much to be thankful for!
First, we are so thankful to the Lord, for giving us a way to have a relationship with Him through sending Christ to die on the cross for our sins.
We are so thankful for you, for making it possible to be able to follow where God is calling us, and to go reach college students at SFA!
We are so thankful to finally be here in Nacogdoches!! We are so thrilled to be able to be back with students and to be diving back in to ministry! God is already at work, and we are thrilled!
We are so thankful for our family- and we enjoyed getting to spend time with Autumn’s family over the holidays! It was wonderful!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Soularium
We hope you were encouraged about how God is continuing to move, and to give us new opportunities to reach students through the Soularium. If you have not gotten to read about the Soularium in our latest newsletter, we would recommend reading it before reading this post because this is a follow up to the Soularium newsletter dialogue. Click here for the newsletter. We are so thrilled that there is something that is so culturally relevant to college students, and that really does enable conversations about Christ and the gospel.
We mentioned that there are a few ways to use the Soularium, and we thought we would share with you about how those work.
First, you can use the Soularium for it's most basic use: as a photo survey. To do this, we simply bring the Soularium packed, a pen and small notebook. We ask if we can talk with a student, usually one that we just met, and have them help us with the survey. Then, we hand them the photos, and ask them to answer the questions using the numbered photos. The questions are two-part. Allow time to answer part a before moving to part b:
1. Which 3 images would you choose to describe your life right now? b. What do each of those images represent about your life?
2. Which 3 images represent what you WISH were a part of your life right now? b. Why? What desire does each image represent?
3. Which image would you choose to describe God? (If they say "I'm an atheist" ask: Which image describes that?) b. Why? What does it say about God to you?
4. Think about your life so far. Which image best describes what you've experienced spiritually? b. Why? What does that image represent?
5. When you think about your own spiritual life or journey, which image best represents what you wish were true? b. Why? What does that image represent?
We simply write down their responses, and engage them in conversation about their responses. There is no one way to begin to talk about Christ in this survey, you just ask questions of the person, and share your experience with them. God really does open doors through the conversation to share about the wonderful love and grace of God, and what a relationship with Him is like. We have seen this be very effective in talking with students, and sharing the Gospel! You might find it helpful to have gone through the Soularium on your own in case they ask which images you would pick for each question- we get that response a lot!
The second option is to use the photos to share your own testimony about God's grace in your life. This would be something to prepare before you engage in conversations. Basically, think about your testimony as a 3 part story: your life before Christ, you salvation experience, and your life after you trusted in Christ. Then, you pick 1 image for each of the parts of your story. As you are talking with a student, it might be appropriate to share about what God has done in your life, and it is a perfect time to use the 3 pictures and a 3 minute testimony!
A third option is to set up an "art gallery" of sorts in a public place, and have the survey's (from option 1) printed where students can write out their response. You can have people talking by the board, and beginning conversation in the more open environment. This method is not as effective at starting gospel conversations because it is not one-on-one, but the conversation people can engage in spiritual conversations as well.
Many of you might be wondering if this tool is available to people outside of Campus Crusade for Christ staff, and the answer is YES! Please, please do not feel like we are pushing this item on you, we just recognize that you might be interested in having a copy for personal use. If you wish, you can order the item here. Again, please feel no obligation to get the tool.
There is a website associated with Soularium www.mysoularium.com that is another part of the tool. At the site you can see student's responses, as well as the images. They are really beautiful- you should check it out!
Our love and prayers to you!
Autumn and Vince
We mentioned that there are a few ways to use the Soularium, and we thought we would share with you about how those work.
First, you can use the Soularium for it's most basic use: as a photo survey. To do this, we simply bring the Soularium packed, a pen and small notebook. We ask if we can talk with a student, usually one that we just met, and have them help us with the survey. Then, we hand them the photos, and ask them to answer the questions using the numbered photos. The questions are two-part. Allow time to answer part a before moving to part b:
1. Which 3 images would you choose to describe your life right now? b. What do each of those images represent about your life?
2. Which 3 images represent what you WISH were a part of your life right now? b. Why? What desire does each image represent?
3. Which image would you choose to describe God? (If they say "I'm an atheist" ask: Which image describes that?) b. Why? What does it say about God to you?
4. Think about your life so far. Which image best describes what you've experienced spiritually? b. Why? What does that image represent?
5. When you think about your own spiritual life or journey, which image best represents what you wish were true? b. Why? What does that image represent?
We simply write down their responses, and engage them in conversation about their responses. There is no one way to begin to talk about Christ in this survey, you just ask questions of the person, and share your experience with them. God really does open doors through the conversation to share about the wonderful love and grace of God, and what a relationship with Him is like. We have seen this be very effective in talking with students, and sharing the Gospel! You might find it helpful to have gone through the Soularium on your own in case they ask which images you would pick for each question- we get that response a lot!
The second option is to use the photos to share your own testimony about God's grace in your life. This would be something to prepare before you engage in conversations. Basically, think about your testimony as a 3 part story: your life before Christ, you salvation experience, and your life after you trusted in Christ. Then, you pick 1 image for each of the parts of your story. As you are talking with a student, it might be appropriate to share about what God has done in your life, and it is a perfect time to use the 3 pictures and a 3 minute testimony!
A third option is to set up an "art gallery" of sorts in a public place, and have the survey's (from option 1) printed where students can write out their response. You can have people talking by the board, and beginning conversation in the more open environment. This method is not as effective at starting gospel conversations because it is not one-on-one, but the conversation people can engage in spiritual conversations as well.
Many of you might be wondering if this tool is available to people outside of Campus Crusade for Christ staff, and the answer is YES! Please, please do not feel like we are pushing this item on you, we just recognize that you might be interested in having a copy for personal use. If you wish, you can order the item here. Again, please feel no obligation to get the tool.
There is a website associated with Soularium www.mysoularium.com that is another part of the tool. At the site you can see student's responses, as well as the images. They are really beautiful- you should check it out!
Our love and prayers to you!
Autumn and Vince
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
It's Summer-time!
I am so sorry it has been so long since we have updated our little blog here. Things have been really busy, which is great! We are still living in Allen, TX and working on building our ministry team. Praise the good Lord that we are getting closer and we are rounding the home stretch!
We are so excited that it is almost summer. It can be a really busy time of year, and for college students it is no different! As we have mentioned a few times, we are really excited for some of our students who decided to go on a Summer Project. This is a summer long mission trip through Campus Crusade that allows students to get a job and learn to minister to their peers in the working world, alongside having an intense fellowship and discipleship experience with the students on the project with them! Also there are projects where students go overseas to work on a college campus and share the love of Christ with students there. There are many projects students can choose from, and we wanted to share a site that does a great job explaining them! Enjoy checking it out!
We are so excited that it is almost summer. It can be a really busy time of year, and for college students it is no different! As we have mentioned a few times, we are really excited for some of our students who decided to go on a Summer Project. This is a summer long mission trip through Campus Crusade that allows students to get a job and learn to minister to their peers in the working world, alongside having an intense fellowship and discipleship experience with the students on the project with them! Also there are projects where students go overseas to work on a college campus and share the love of Christ with students there. There are many projects students can choose from, and we wanted to share a site that does a great job explaining them! Enjoy checking it out!
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