Summer Study

Next six weeks we're going through "Defending your Faith", by RC Sproul with students staying in the area this summer. Please that our time will be fruitful, intentional, and refreshing.

SDSU '09-10...check

Finals are over. Graduations commenced. Students are leaving. School is done for this year at San Diego State University. However, Ryan and I are still here...and so are at least 3 students.

In fact, these 3 students are driving at this minute 40 minutes east for 2 weeks to be part of a time of training and encouraging in the Christian walk. These 2 weeks are known as Summer Training Programs and are put together by staff from The Navigators. We are so excited for them and ask that you keep them in your prayers for these next two weeks. Please pray that the things they hear, learn and experience in these next 2 weeks will stick with them for the rest of their life.

Performance

Sometimes life and ministry feels a little like this picture. Trying to balance the two precariously on top of one another, hoping the wind won't topple it all over one day

I remember once as a student at ASU our friend Emily showed us this video clip of a man trying to spin plates on poles. He would spin one plate and then go to the next and do the same. However, in order to keep the plates spinning he'd have to keep going back to each plate again and again. Exhausting work, and in the end the plates always end up falling anyway.

From what I remember, the plates represented our tasks and responsibilities. Somewhere along the line we decide that God can't do all this on His own, that He needs our help if He's ever going to get anything done around here. So we began taking on burdens and responsibilities to "help Him out."  Burdens and responsibilities that our not ours and that He's never asked us to carry.

In life I have the tendency to "spin plates." I create busy work for myself to help justify my presence and create for myself some sort of man-made identity. I "spin plates" to try and gain worth and value. It's funny though, because whether I have a roomful of plates or just one plate I still find myself spinning them and becoming completly exhausted in the process. I know that this is not God's way of doing things. He has never asked me to spin these plates. He gives me responsibilities and asks me to be faithful to things He's called me to, no more, no less. Yet, I find myself constantly worrying about all the things I cannot control.

The ministry at SDSU this semester has been so encouraging. Both men and women are growing in their walk with God, their vulnerability with each other, and their perseverance to press on despite set-backs. However, somedays all I see are the ways that I supposedly have failed them. The "what-ifs" and 'if-onlys" sneek in and I begin to doubt whether God is really using me.

The semester is coming to a close quickly. I want to savor these last few weeks, instead of wasting my time worrying about them. I want to learn how to serve these students, not fix them. To love them where they are, and not push them to where I think they should be. To challenge them in what God's leading me to tell them without feeling like I'm failing if they're not ready to listen. I want to stop pretending I have any kind of control and just let the Holy Spirit do His work. Most of all, I want to pray like I've never prayed before. Because I feel only then will I see my plate spinning act as what it really is...an exhausting performance to an empty room.

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Ps 55:22 Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
 

A Growing Community

Isaiah 37:31 "The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward."

"...taking root downward..."

Winter break is officially over and we are now entering into mid-terms! Over the break we had been praying that the Lord would continue to knit our hearts with the students’ hearts and that He would reconnect us with those students in a way that fosters community this semester. We have already begun to see the fruits of those prayers on the campus! We are blessed to see the Lord bring women and men who desire to know Him and His word, and to be engaged in a community with one another on a regular basis. On the men’s side of things, we have seen God put together a men’s Bible study that meets during the week, which is looking to encourage one another to true, Biblical manhood. We are diving deep into our lives in order to “...spur one another on toward love and good deed…”, and to hold one another accountable to studying God’s Word and engaging with our non-Christian friends about Jesus. We are excited about the transformation that the Lord will do through this study!

God has blessed the women in the ministry with a real sense of community with one another. There are 2 women’s bible studies that happen during the week, each one unique in the way that the women relate to each other and to God’s Word. Valerie is helping to train 2 of the women in the studies to lead women of their own toward Christ and on to maturity in Him and His Word. She is also discipling 2 others in a deeper, more intimate way. It has been so encouraging to see the women become friends with each other and to seek to include other women in their lives and in the studies!

The Lord has blessed me with being able to disciple 2 men this year. Each of them are a gift from the Lord and I enjoy every minute that I spend with them. Both of them are at different stages of spiritual maturity and it is a challenge to help both of them to continue to grow in Christ, to deepen their habit of spending time in His word, and to talk to others about Him.



Another encouraging aspect of this growing community of students is that once a week we gather on campus to have lunch with each other. This is a really unique opportunity for the students (and us as staff) to relate to one another and to others around us in a very relaxed, natural way. It has become a huge success, and we are praying that the Lord will use this time to draw others to Himself through this little lunch community.
Isaiah 31:31 "The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward."


“…bearing fruit upward”


Not only do we have a group of students who are beginning to really enjoy being in a community with one another and who are setting habits of studying and applying God's Word into their life, but we are rejoicing that the Lord is growing His ministry here in natural ways!


As I look back over our time at SDSU, I can see how the Lord has answered so many prayers and petitions so faithfully. Often times it seems as though you can't see the impact the Lord is allowing you to make in people's lives until you sit back and reflect over what He has done over time. We have seen a woman's ministry grow by leaps and bounds, with several different Bible studies happening on the campus with women who are committed to one another as they are committed to Christ and His Word. We have seen the men's ministry grow from nothing to having a solid core group of men who are also committed to knowing Christ and making Him known on the campus!


It is so humbling to be is such close quarters with the work that the Lord is doing in each of these student's lives, and it makes us so grateful for having the privilege of being able to give our lives away for the sake of the Gospel with these students!