Reaching Campus: Mission Essentials

Reaching Campus - Mission Essentials: Scattered

I love this post from Campus Renewal's Blog, Reaching Campus. It totally describes the harvest field in which we sow, and I just love the analogy to the 1st century dispersion. Anyway, just read it!


Mission Essentials: Scattered

I’m not sure how long the term “missional” has been in vogue in Christian ministry, but it is a fairly recent focus of the Church. Though it has only come to the forefront in books and conferences in the past few years, “missional” ministry is the way we often see God’s Kingdom advanced in the Book of Acts.

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.   Acts 11:19-21

What a great testimony about the Christians in Antioch: “The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.” Any of us would love to have this said about our ministry. This account gives us a model of missional living that can instruct us and our ministries on campus and beyond.

Scattered in Acts

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch…

The Christians who came to Antioch were scattered by the persecution that came after Stephen’s death in Acts 7. Up until that time, there is no record of ministry or outreach beyond the city of Jerusalem. Christians had settled in and were establishing programs. However, Jesus called to his followers to be his witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

But there doesn’t seem to be any movement to carry out that commission. What they had failed to do on their own, God used persecution to accomplish. God used this seemingly negative event as a means to accomplish his mission. Though it may not have been obvious at the time, God scattered them for a purpose.
It is also significant to notice who was scattered – “all except the apostles were scattered.” (Acts 8:1) Those who were the most thoroughly trained and who had spent three years with Jesus were the ones who stayed in Jerusalem. It was the everyday, ordinary Christians who were scattered and arrived in Antioch.

Scattered on Campus

Scattering is a fact of life in college ministry. Students are scattered every day across our campuses. They are scattered among residence halls, Greek houses, and apartment complexes. They are scattered among different majors and departments. They are scattered among a large variety of social groups – fraternities, sororities, bands, clubs, teams, etc. They gather to worship and study God’s Word and sharpen one another and then they scatter across the campus and throughout the community.

We need to encourage our students to see this scattering as a blessing and a way to accomplish God’s purpose. They need to have a vision of God’s purpose in it and a sense of calling to the places to which they scatter. Too often we emphasize the “gathering” – our large group meetings and worship services – but we often forget that the real work of reaching our campuses for Christ happens when we scatter. We will never accomplish the mission to which God has called us without embracing the scattering and seeing it strategically.

We also need to help our students realize that the mission of God will not be accomplished by our ministry staffs alone, but by every member doing their part where they are scattered. The church at Antioch thrived because the Christians who were scattered saw the purpose of God in it. We will not reach our campuses unless our students see the same thing.

Scattered Around the World

But beyond that, we need to prepare our students for the scattering that happens when they graduate and leave our ministries. They need to see their future careers, wherever they may be, as a part of the scattering that will take the Gospel to every corner of our world. As engineers, educators, accountants, musicians, etc. they will be scattered among people and places that need the presence of Jesus and the message of the hope that he brings. We need to be equipping them for ministry when their time with us is over.

Mike Armstrong (@_mikearmstrong_) is in his 32nd year of ministry to college students at the University of Arkansas with Christ on Campus and is a past president of the Association of College Ministries. He has been married to Gina for 34 years and they have two grown and married daughters. He has also been a track and field official for over 20 years and is a fan of classic rock, jazz, and the blues. You can read his blog at michaelarmstrong.net or find him on Facebook at THEMikeArmstrong.

Impossible Dreams

A couple of weeks ago in our staff meeting, we were discussing, yet again, a location for one of our events. We broke off into a tangent as we just sighed over the fact that we do not have a permanent base from which to operate. Real estate in New York City does not always, or often, fall within the budget of a small non profit organization. Just saying. Anyway, Jeremy, our CEO, just mentioned how he'd like to buy property for CRM to use and to bless others. We laughed at the audacity and impossibility of that.

And then we began to dream.

I think, since that is so out of the range of our possibility, it occurred to us that this is a piece of cake for the God we serve. He specializes in the impossibilities, so why not? So we began to throw out some of our most laughable desires that in the natural, couldn't happen in NYC in so many ways.

We'd love to find a piece of land somewhere in mid-town Manhattan and develop that into a building that would not only serve as our offices and meeting space, but to allow other ministries to use it.

We want to establish a Campus House of Prayer there, a place where students, campus ministers, moms, dads - anyone who has a heart to see colleges campuses transformed - can come 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet with others and pray in agreement.

We want to have meeting rooms and conference rooms to train, resources, and equip students and other ministries to go and do ministry where they are assigned in the best way possible.

We want to have cheap and reasonable housing for anyone coming to New York City to work in Campus Ministry. Housing is so expensive, that is often a deterrent for the workers called to be in this rich harvest field.

We want to establish a place, a beacon in the city, a light on a hill, if you will, that will serve as a training and sending place, that would change NYC from the inside out.

And so dreamed the 6 of us, a ragtag bunch of warriors in a city of more than 1.3 million college students, much like Gideon's army of 300 against the Midianites and Amalakites who were "without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore." (Judges 7:12).

Our God majors in the impossible things in life. I think we can, too.

Boasting Only In Christ

Super awesome point, and why I do what we do at Campus Renewal!

http://www.reachingcampus.com/boasting-only-in-christ/

Boasting Only In Christ

Today, 2000 years after Jesus’s resurrection, there are more than 40,000 Christian denominations of churches. I guess it is not too surprising when we consider 20 years have Jesus’s resurrection there were already 4 “denominations.”

My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Peter”; still another, “I follow Christ.” I Corinthians 1:11,12

Today follow Luther, Wesley, Calvin, Covenant Theology, Dispensational Theology, Word of Faith, Bill Bright, Dawson Trotman, etc. We’re facing the same problems Paul faced in Corinth, to which, through the Spirit, he would give the same command.

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. I Corinthians 1:10

To help the Corinthian church be “perfectly united in in mind and thought” Paul reminds the Corinthians of a few simple truths.

Baptized Into Christ, Not Denominations

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?  I Corinthians 1:13

Quite simply, Paul reminds them of what they have in common: Christ.  They were saved and baptized into His name, not the name of any one denomination or stream in the Body of Christ. We belong to Christ, not our various organizations and fellowships. Christ is the means of our salvation.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. I Corinthians 1:17

Paul was not trying to baptize people into his name. Nor was he trying to win people to his theological side by his eloquent arguments and superb theological understanding. He simply preached the gospel of Christ “lest the cross be emptied of its power.”

Saved By Christ, Not Your Wisdom

In Paul’s day, those in the four denominations liked to think they were smarter than the others. They liked to think they had a corner on all truth, just like our denominations and theological camps do today. Paul attempts to humble them by reminding them that they were nothing when they were saved. They were not saved by their own wisdom, but by God’s sovereign grace.

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. I Corinthians 1:20-25

None of us were saved because we were smarter than the others. The gospel is foolishness until God opens our eyes to it. He is the only One we should boast about, and that’s the point Paul is making.

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”  I Corinthians 1:26-31

When we first get saved, we boast joyfully in the Lord. For some reason, after we start to grow and understand more we tend to think that we somehow played a part in our salvation. We start to think we have all the answers, that many other streams in the Body of Christ are wrong while we’re right.
Paul would later say in first Corinthians, “No more boasting about men (denominations).”
 Boast in Christ, not your theology, ministry philosophy, worship style, spiritual gifts, etc. Our 40,000 denominations need this same reminder.

It really isn't about the amount. Really.

So, last month, I spent three weeks visiting with folks and asking them to become a part of my financial partnership team. This can be hard for many people, but I've caught a new vision and understanding of it, and as a friend of mine said, came to minister out of it. First,  let me back up and quote you a verse.

"In [Jesus'] teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.” And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on." (Mark 8:38-44

Now, I know you and I both have heard lengthy expositions about this from folks more learned than myself. I'm not about to go into that, I just want to notice one thing about the context of this illustration. It wasn't about the amount dropped in the treasury, it was the heart behind it. Read it again, and think about it.

Now, as I talk to people about partnering with me, I often got, "I just can't give very much." As much as I would love to be fully funded (and I really would), I care more about whatever partnership the Lord has lead you to do. God has called us to differing roles, but it's all for the same purpose. Can you guess where I'm headed with that? Here's the text:

"What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building." (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)

I am called and able to go to the college students, you may be called to work and financially send others. Whether it is $5 or $5000, God sees the heart behind it and causes the growth. Do not discount your gift, and don't dismiss it as inconsequential. Let God work with what you have. And that's what I have to say about that.

Orientation Outreach at Carnegie Mellon

Hi friends!

I wanted to share with you an awesome testimony of what has been happening through the son of one of our soon-to-be staffers. Yay God!

Dear family in Christ,

I want to inform you of what has happened so far at Carnegie Mellon, henceforth referred to as CMU, over the past week and a half. Over the summer, several leaders of the different fellowships at CMU, and a dozen more students who have focused heavily on evangelism during my time as a student, planned and fund-raised for continuous evangelism during the week of orientation for the incoming freshman, aka OWO, as well as the weekend before for the international and minority students' move-ins. They received donations from some of the local churches in Pittsburgh, but apparently also from local businesses (restaurants) who wanted to advertise their wares to the students and provided food for all the events. 

Each day for the past eleven days the students have held multiple events across the campus. According to Chris Hsu, a member of IV leadership who served as the main coordinator and statistician recorder, there were between 50 and 250 students at each event, and he believes that the majority of incoming freshman and international students, over 1500, heard the gospel. Dozens of Christian students, I am not sure of the exact number but solidly over one hundred, were involved directly in evangelism, with a core group of over 40 students who lead, trained and organized for the different events. Two other friends of mine I talked to, Aaron Anderson and Amos Evans, told me how their experiences were during OWO. Amos encouraged me greatly, with awesome news I have been praying to hear and see for four years, that the students among the fellowships not only bonded, worshiped and prayed with each other, but that Christian students at CMU actually crossed ethnic lines for the first time en masse, with the different evangelism teams made up of white, black, asian and even a few of the very few hispanic believers at CMU. This happened only once before, at the All Campus Worship this past May, the last, fist and only time I had the opportunity to preach the gospel at a inter-fellowship event at the Fence in center of CMU. I am glad that the believers I have come to know and love are acting as one people, rather than ethnic fragments I saw for nearly four years. 

According to Chris and Amos, they were "wierded out" by how hungry the incoming freshman were concerning the nature of God and who Jesus was and is, as well as the curiosity of the international students, some of whom who have never heard the gospel before. Neither had seen so many people asking believers about their faith in the central lawn of the university before. This was compounded by the fact that the fellowships were the only student organizations at CMU during orientation week; usually the two student groups who are present are the Rabbinical Jewish groups as well as the GLBT groups, but for an "unknown" reason neither were present in force this year. 

OWO will officially be over this Saturday, with an All Campus Outreach in the center of the university at the Fence, so please keep praying, since it will be the last proclamation of the gospel at CMU this summer. The fellowships will be tracking the number of freshman, international students, as well as upperclassmen who come to the different fellowships/bible studies over the next month, to track how many came because of OWO, and how many have accepted Christ as their savior as well as those who are still coming to learn out of curiosity. None of the believers who took part in this have ever seen response like this before, at least they tell me, and one told me he has trouble believing what he has seen. 

Thank you all for praying for my University and myself, I hope to visit the next time during this academic year when the students do evangelism like this again. The students are planning on more evangelism during the year, but are going to be focused on plugging new people into the Christian community over the next month. 

God bless and keep you all!

Joseph

Reaching Campus - Spiritual Maturity

This is a great post from our Campus Reaching Blog - you can link here to browse...

The issue of Christian unity is really a question of spiritual maturity. Simply put: Christians who are unable to work together amidst their differences prove that they are spiritual immature.  Unity and spiritual maturity go hand in hand.

Want proof? Check out these scriptures.

Conflict Stunts Spiritual Growth

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings? I Corinthians 4:1-4

Paul clearly says that as long as there is division in the Body, the Body cannot grow. Discord is not only a sign of spiritual immaturity; it perpetuates the state of immaturity. The Body of Christ cannot grow while it remains divided.

Division affects the spiritual climate of campuses. Listen to what James says.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deedsdone in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy andselfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you haveenvy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. James 3:13-16

When students believe that their ministry is better than the others, when ministries compare themselves with others, and when there is competition for students, “there you will find disorder and every evil practice.”

Unity is Maturity

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13

Paul clearly says this is the goal: that the Body be built up UNTIL we reach unity and thus become mature, revealing the fullness of Christ. Unity is maturity. The purpose of our gifts and differences (which the text says Jesus Himself appoints) is the glory of God, to reveal all the fullness of God.

When campus ministries learn to work together as one Body they become more and more mature, revealing the glory of God on campus.

Maturity and Fruit of the Spirit

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord,one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:2-6

Paul clearly says that unity is established in relationships. It’s about how we treat one another. Namely, we need humility. We also need gentleness, patience, and forbearance for one another.

These character traits are very similar to the fruit of the Spirit Paul describes in Galatians.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Galatians 5:22,23

If believers are truly maturing in their faith, these fruits will be evident. These are the fruits that allow marriages and families to thrive, friendships and evangelism to grow, and churches and ministry leaders to work together.

Spiritually maturing believers learn how to be in relationship with one another and to work together because as they grow, these fruits of the Spirit are made more an more evident. Spiritual immature Christians are simply unable to do so.

When you see division, you’re seeing spiritual immaturity at its finest.

Akpene's Adventures Volume 4 Summer Issue

Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Happy Summer!    follow me on facebook End of the year and Staff Summit Hi folks! It seems like the last couple of months just sped by! After our awesome One Cry Gathering (click here if you missed the last update), we closed out the year with one last prayer training conference, which completely blessed those who attended. Then we headed to Austin for our yearly Staff summit. 17 of us, from Texas to New York, plus a few states in between, met up together to celebrate what God had done in the past year, pray and worship together, and begin planning for the upcoming academic year. We also got to welcome new staff members Kris, from Georgia, and Steven, from Austin. Here are several of my favorite pictures from our time. There are many more, but these are so... special!         *College Ministry can get to you, I guess...*   I am looking to raise $3000 more monthly by September 1st, which breaks down to 30 people partnering at $100 a month, or any other combination. Click below to join my partnership team!        Partnering by mail:   Make Payments to: Campus Renewal Ministries 2421 San Antonio St. Ste. B, Austin, TX 78705 Partner in Stocks Call 512-331-5591 *Remember to check with your employer to see if they do matching gifts.   **All contributions are income tax deductible and are made with the understanding that Campus Renewal Ministries has complete discretion and control over the use of all donated funds.   Keep In Touch Phone: 512-293-9107 Office: 512-331-5991 My Blog I would love to partner with you in prayer. Click below to send any praise reports, prayer requests, or just to connect! Send Email   Personal  Update: My mom has sold her house and is moving to another suburb in Austin. We've lived in that house for 21 years, so it feels like the end of one era, but an exciting new beginning of another. I'm still navigating the joys and challenges of NYC, and seeing the treasures that lay around every corner if I choose to see them. Even though it was so hot and humid this pat 4th of July, it was great to be able to see fireworks over the Empire State Building from my living room window! I'm on the lookout for more gifts like that!     Campus Transformation Network Consultation   The past year Campus Renewal Ministries launched the Campus Transformation Network.  One of the major goals of this network is unite leaders across our country to plant a church and/or a Christian club on every unreached campus in America.  We estimate that there are 1,000 to 2,000 college campuses in our country that have no viable church or parachurch group working with them. We held our last meeting in Los Angeles, and made some awesome forward progress in shaping the network and planning next steps, as well as establishing new connections, and joining together in prayer and worship. We are so excited to walk alongside the Lord as we move forward in this!   Prayer: Praise -  We actually have 4 new staffers across the nation since last year. Praise the Lord for increase, and continue to send workers! Requests - We are praying for provision for new office space in NYC. Due to lack of funding, we could not renew our lease. Please join with us in prayer for a space for our staff and our involved students to be able to meet together I'm having to focus on developing new partners in order to sustain my work with CRM in NYC and across the nation. Please pray for open doors and partnering hearts!  "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."  Philippians 4:8-9   follow my blog | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend  Copyright © 2013 Campus Renewal Ministries, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you wanted to be on Akpene's prayer update list. Our mailing address is: Campus Renewal Ministries 2421 San Antonio Street Suite B Austin, TX 78705 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Akpene's Adventures Volume 4 Issue 4

Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. A Huge Harvest!    follow me on facebook The Harvest Field to Which I Am Called Jeremy (President of Campus Renewal) was recently asked for a quote from a conference he spoke at, and it made such an impact on my heart, I wanted to share it with you: "College campuses have historically always been at the heart of revival and awakening in our nation and many others.  Most every revival in our nation's history has found its roots among college students.  The entire foreign missions effort from North America can be traced back to 5 students praying at Williams College in 1806 and through the sending out of 20,000 missionaries through the Student Volunteer movement starting in the late 1800's.  Where college campuses go today our nation will go tomorrow.  The church could get all she desires today in terms of people turning to God in every field but, if college students are left out then all the good done will be undone in less than a generation.  This is because of the disproportionate influence and leadership roles that our college graduates take on when they enter into every sector of our society from Wall Street to Hollywood and from Education to the Government." Just in case you were wondering why I do what I do...       Please consider making a one time or on-going investment as you feel led.  *This is an ideal estimation of how many people, giving at different amounts, it would take to reach this goal. All donations at any amount are welcome as there is no gift too small or too large.          Donations by mail:   Make Payments to: Campus Renewal Ministries 2421 San Antonio St. Ste. B, Austin, TX 78705 Stock Donations Call 512-331-5591 *Remember to check with your employer to see if they do matching donations.   **All contributions are income tax deductible and are made with the understanding that Campus Renewal Ministries has complete discretion and control over the use of all donated funds.   Keep In Touch Phone: 512-293-9107 Office: 512-331-5991 My Blog Send Email One Cry Spring 2013 I really wish you all could have been there. It was absolutely incredible! Over 400 people - college students, high school students, other non-student adults - from across NYC, and even further came together in a powerful evening to pray for the campuses and the metro area of NYC. The theme was Age to Age, bridging the generations. It was incredible to see pastors from different churches standing up with students from different schools and ministries leading and encouraging  prayers of repentance, mission, evangelism, and commissioning, for people desperate and hungry for transformation where they are. I just got an email from a student, and I'd like to share it with you: "I met you briefly when coordinating the Barnard/Columbia OneCry rally this year...it was wonderful to be able to sing at OneCry with Jubilation, and to see how many campuses were represented.  So awesome!! I wanted to thank you for the message and for bringing OneCry to Barnard/Columbia!  Hopefully it will continue to grow in presence on our campus in the coming years (: Me, too, Chelsea. Me, too!     Staff Summit Our staff summit is coming up, and it will be in Austin! This is paired with our Partnering Campus Conference, where people for 10 different campuses (so far) are coming together to hear great speakers and collaborate on how to build out the campusreaching strategy on their campuses. After they leave, the staff of CRM will do our yearly strategy planning and sharing time. I will remain in Austin for about a week, but am looking at coming back later for an extended time. If I don't see you in May, I will see you soon after!     Upcoming Events Summer is not a slow time, for some reason. After the Staff Summit, I will be headed to LA where another branch of CRM, the Campus Transformation Network, will be gathering national campus minister leaders to shape and plan the launch of the nationwide and regional conferences. After that, it's back to NYC to host our 2nd annual NYC Vision Dinner. And that is just June! Please continue to pray for the return on the harvest that we have seen already, workers for the harvest, and encouragement for everyone on the team! "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith." Galatians 6:9-10     follow my blog | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend  Copyright © 2013 Campus Renewal Ministries, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you wanted to be on Akpene's prayer update list. Our mailing address is: Campus Renewal Ministries 2421 San Antonio Street Suite B Austin, TX 78705 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Closer to home than we'd like....

Passed on by a co-worker:

"Just a little info for you on Lingzi Lu, killed on Monday. She was a part of the International Student Ministries at Park Street Church in Boston, Mass. She had recently committed her Life to Christ and was waiting baptism. She was excited about her faith in Christ."

I'm sad about that life cut short, but happy that she came to Christ before then. Seeing a lot of post with the same recurring thought, "what is happening to this world?", all I can think or do or say is this:

"Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people..."

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Burnout Part II

This is from one of my favorite bloggers on the Reaching Campus Blog site for Campus Renewal Ministries. Really, it's a good read, so take some time out for it...

Two-A-Days: Missionary Blowout Part II

Akpene's Adventures Volume 4 Issue 3

Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. One Cry is Here!    follow me on facebook The Start of One Cry 2013! Spring One Cry Season is upon us! One Cry, for those of you new to the updates, is a large united gathering of college students from as many campuses, ministries, and churches in the NYC area that we can recruit. The focus is on uniting under Christ in prayer and mission. Out of the yearly citywide gathering started 5 years ago, One Cry has grown to 2 citywide gatherings, plus bringing the One Cry experience to specific campuses, and growing a citywide network. Our first Campus Rally took place at Hofstra University last Thursday. There were very many awesome elements, but I want to bring you one encouraging story. Before the rally, I was engaging one of the student leaders in conversation about what was happening on her campus. She began sharing about how she has started to live her faith out loud in very practical ways, and as a result, she has seen people quiet in their faith step out, and a change in atmosphere in the dorms where she works. Awesome in and of itself, but then our speaker during the rally spoke on that very thing! To say that Anna was very encouraged would be a vast understatement. You almost needed sunglasses to shade your eyes from her joy. I LOVE what I do! We have about four more campus rallies coming up before the big citywide rally on April 12. Pray for more encounters like the one above!   Please consider making a one time or on-going donation as you feel led.  *This is an ideal estimation of how many people, giving at different amounts, it would take to reach this goal. All donations at any amount are welcome as there is no gift too small or too large.          Donations by mail:   Make Payments to: Campus Renewal Ministries 2421 San Antonio St. Ste. B, Austin, TX 78705 Stock Donations Call 512-331-5591 *Remember to check with your employer to see if they do matching donations.   **All contributions are income tax deductible and are made with the understanding that Campus Renewal Ministries has complete discretion and control over the use of all donated funds.   Keep In Touch Phone: 512-293-9107 Office: 512-331-5991 My Blog Send Email Prayer Congress Building Momentum We had our second monthly Prayer Congress last week. With a few tweaks and small changes, we feel like we are developing a valuable training resource for these students. I could expound much more, but here is a quote from one of the participants: "Even though I'm busy, I honestly felt like the prayer congress was definitely time well spent. God definitely spoke personally through your talk on spiritual authority and on being secure in God's love for us, that was super powerful, so thank you!!" - Evelyn. We have two more before the school year is up, and we are in discussions as to whether we should continue in the summer. Also, link here to my blog to hear more about this! 20,756 Workers Needed I want to share with you a conversation that happened in our (new!) office last week. Jeremy was saying that if we had 1 campus ministry worker to mentor and disciple  every 30 students in just the immediate NYC area (not the metro area), we would need 20,756 collegiate workers. Campus Renewal has 2 full time NYC staff and 4 part time or fundraising staff. Even if we were to double the stats of the number of campus ministers in NYC from 3 years ago, that would get us to a whopping 180 campus ministers. Even as I write this, I sit here stunned and in tears. Please, pray to the Lord of the Harvest for more workers, and partner with those who are already in the field. Upcoming Events Four, possibly five more Campus Rallies at Hunter College, Columbia University, City College, NYU, and possibly Staten Island Our Citywide Gathering is April 12. The theme is Age to Age, and we are working to involve churches in NYC to partner with our students to pray for the transformation of NYC! Our next Prayer Congress is April 20th, the week after One Cry. We are hoping those stirred to lead prayer movements will attend. We have a Simple Church Training coming up on April 27th, teaching students how to be missional in their evangelism. I'll be in Austin in May! Just a heads up! :)   Prayer Requests: Please pray for our team here in NYC. We have seen attacks on all fronts - physically, mentally, financially, in our families. You name it, we've seen it. Please pray for Jeremy, PR, Anthony, Camille, Chris, and myself. That the One Cry rallies and Citywide Gatherings will glorify God and that we will see a visible transformation. That I would recover quickly from this upper respiratory annoyance I've been dealing with for the last 6 weeks That my full support would come in     Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” Matthew 9:37-38   follow my blog | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend  Copyright © 2013 Campus Renewal Ministries, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you wanted to be on Akpene's prayer update list. Our mailing address is: Campus Renewal Ministries 2421 San Antonio Street Suite B Austin, TX 78705 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences