Subsequently, I take a moment to be introspective and see the myriad of insecurities I carry around every day and yearn to know and experience the love of Christ on a deeper level.  How could I possibly be concerned with the approval of others when the God of the universe has called me righteous?  It doesn’t make any sense.  I am accepted.  More than that, I am delighted in by God (Psalm 18:19), who upholds the universe by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3).  Could this possibly be the same God?  How could someone so powerful take delight in me?  This is why the gospel is the best news in the world, because these things don’t have to be at odds.

My desire is to be able to communicate how much Jesus loves us to the women I disciple and share the gospel with this year.  I want them to be completely overcome with the love of Christ for them.  Hopefully, the more I feel the weight of Christ’s love for me personally, the more adept I will be at communicating it to others.

We had our semester kick off meeting for Bethel students last night. Andrew Knight shared about how his life was impacted by two football guys well he was in college and how because of these men teaching him about Jesus Christ he is now doing the same thing. Then Andrew went on to describe how he would summarize what campus outreach is and he said, “It is a network of relationships centered around the Gospel and making the Gospel known.” I want other students to be able to have a testimony just like Andrew. Pray that students will be impacted through gospel centered relationship and the gospel being shared.

We want to define leadership in our ministry no differently than Jesus might have. We’re saying that as long as you desire to give your life away so that others might treasure Christ you are pointing yourself in the direction of leadership. A movement consists of a group of leaders committed to authentic community, and committed to helping each other give their lives away on the campus. Finally, the message that we are all about is the gospel. This is what Jesus wanted his apostles to proclaim (Luke 9:1-6 — this was the passage we read together). Whether we’re ministering to believers or not, the gospel is what we and they need to hear (Rom. 1:15, 1 Cor. 15:1-2).

We’re praying that our students would begin to see themselves fitting into this goal; that they’d become a group of leaders committed to a movement and proclaiming the gospel at NWC. Please join us in praying for the same thing.

It is good to have all of those things in mind as we begin a new school year ministering to students on the various campuses in the Twin Cities. Our ministry has a very specific calling and mission, “to build laborers on the campus for the lost world.” And we have a very specific strategy for how we believe God wants to use us to that end. So it is important to have a plan and to have a specific way of thinking and to have wisdom from someone who has done this “kind of work” for 20 years. But our hope does not rest in that alone. Our hope ultimately rests in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). So we want to use these things that we have learned and lay them at the foot of the cross and ask that God would use these principles, use our ministry, use us to impact many students on the campus for Christ this year – that laborers would be built on the college campus for the lost world.

St. Paul has a few small private college campuses that are all close to each other. Most of the colleges have extremely successful academic programs and the students who attend them are generally successful, ambitious, and have big dreams for their futures. They have a lot going for them and aren’t “low-hanging” fruit. Most students at these campuses are not Christians and there aren’t many flourishing Christian ministries.

As of today we know five people who attend one of the colleges. Three of them are currently on the Summer Training Project with 120 other college students in Garden City, SC. Their names are Sahr, Greg, and Billy. These guys are believers who are hungry to grow in their relationship with Christ and who want to reach others for Him. I’m praying they will come back to the campus this fall with a new eagerness and vision to reach others on their campus for Christ.

Our plan for the fall is to meet as many people as we possibly can, share the gospel with them, and build relationships. You can pray that God would open doors for us in dormitories, on the soccer and football teams, and begin working now so that people would respond to the gospel when they hear it. I am VERY hopeful about what God can do on these campuses in the fall and am praying that He would open the hearts of many to receive the gospel (Acts 16:14) and amaze us in the process. I also want to encourage you to join me in trusting God for the advance of the gospel and praying for our ministry on St. Paul campuses this fall.

“Long for Jesus and you will grow up.”

“If not you, who? If not now, when?”

(split up into “part 2a” and “part 2b”)

Matt Reagan borrows imagery from the film Alice in Wonderland (2010), comparing our self to the Red Queen in rebellion against the White Queen, Christ. In doing so he reminds us to whom our life belongs and the battle against our flesh.

Charlie Brooks takes our fear of submission and shares on the benefits of becoming committed to the church.

• Theme Training Talks – Matt Reagan, Andrew Knight, and Steve Discher
• Bible Study Training Talks – Paul Poteat, Reid Jilek, and Jens Paulsen
• Evangelism Training Talks – Elliot Stokes and Larry Martini
• Life Training Talks – Jon Saunders, Charlie Brooks, and Matt Messerly
• Leaders Training Talks – Eric Lonergan and Jack Thompson

Song Credits:

Artist: Cory Asbury

Album: Selah (Instrumental) [feat. Nathan Prior],

Faithful to the End, Let Me See Your Eyes.

p 2009 Forerunner Music

My life at Project with Jay from CO Minneapolis on Vimeo.

Christ has become the ultimate sacrifice.  No longer do we need daily sacrifices offered by the priests, which could never take away sins.  “for it is impossible for bulls and goats to take away sins“ Heb 10:4.  But through Christ’s blood He has taken away our sin!  “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all” Heb 10:10.  Only Jesus can take away the sins of the world.  Without Jesus we would be hopeless!  Praise God that we have an advocate in Christ.

This is an amazing truth that I don’t take time to think about enough.  I am a dirty sinful person that deserves Hell, but Christ has made me perfect in the eyes of God.  God looks down on me and sees Christ, and not my sin!  This is an amazing truth!

1 Timothy 1:15 “the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”

Most churches and Christian ministries have retreats. In this update you will read reports of several Campus Outreach Minneapolis retreats. There is an opportunity and a danger in “retreating.” The danger is that retreats can become routine. The goal of the retreat can become obscured in the planning and executing of details, the focus of recruiting, and ideas like, “we always have a retreat in the spring.” Like any other program, sometimes retreats can become an end and not a means to an end. The opportunity in taking retreats is the chance to focus on God, strengthen relationships within the body of Christ, and give unbelievers an “inside look” at the gospel.

Our leadership continues to evaluate every program in light of our vision of “building laborers on the campus for the lost world.” So, our aim in having retreats is ultimately to advance. We aim to advance worship for the name above every name in the hearts and minds of our staff and students, to advance vision for students on our campuses, to advance vision for the lost peoples of the world, to advance understanding of God’s Word and its relevance for all areas of life, and to advance relationships built around love, truth and accountability. We have found that taking a group of students to a place that is out of the regular mainstream of the campus with time for worship, teaching, sharing, prayer and free time yields fruit as students step back and consider the most important themes of life. We hope that our students experience what the apostle Paul said of his disciple Titus, namely, that he had been refreshed by his fellowship with the Corinthians.

As always, our staff team and I are deeply grateful for the investment of our supporters through prayer and financial giving to this ministry. May you be refreshed in the presence of the Lord this spring!

Download the full newsletter here:

A quick video recap of the weekend at our Summer Leaders Retreat

Our cross cultural project team was there as well and they were able to get some opportunities to share their vision for the trip to India this summer.

Overall it was a great retreat, and it seemed like the students came away equipped for their roles for the summer. One of the main things that was stressed is the truth that being a leader doesn’t mean you have it all together or that you have all of the right answers all of the time. We really just want our leaders to walk with God and do that in front of other people, showing them what it looks like to trust Christ on a daily basis, and serve the younger students they will be leading this summer. Please join us in praying that that end.

We will post a video of the weekend’s events sometime this week.

In the intro to the book Why We Love the Church, Kevin DeYoung makes reference to what he calls a “decorpulated Christianity”.  To summarize…

1. Christ is the head of the church (Eph. 1:22-23, 5:23)

2. “If decapitation, from the Latin word caput, means to cut off the head, then it stands to reason that decorpulation, from the Latin word corpus, should refer to cutting off the body.” – p. 13

3.  Thus, to want Jesus without the church is to want a head without the body.  A decorpulated Christianity.

This hardly seems helpful though many voices, some self-proclaimed evangelicals and others in the culture at large, champion a churchless Christianity.

The world around us gives us many images of what it means to lead, many of them being false.  One of these lies about leadership is that leaders should be served.  Those of position are seen as more important and thus feel entitled to many things, including the service of those they lead.  Jesus however, completely flips this perspective upside-down.  In Mark 10:45 Jesus says that He did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for others.  This is the image of leadership Jesus gives us.  Leaders often have many gifts, but these gifts are to be used to serve, not to be served.  As we have our Leaders Retreat this weekend, we pray that our student leaders would have this mindset of Christ: to serve.

Even when things appear contradictory to that I am reminded of the cross. No one on the hill of Golgotha thought that day (except God), “Wow, this is such a good thing!” Even the Roman soldiers knew at the end that they had indeed killed the Son of God (Mark 15:39). So, what appeared to be a horrific tragedy has in turn been the best and most beautiful experience the world has ever known.

Christianity is the greatest Paradox, as Bruce Shelly states in his Church History in Plain English “Christianity is the only major religion to have as its central event the humiliation of its God.” What might have at first seemed humiliating, has in turn been incredibly humbling and honoring!

Keeping the glory of Christ before my eyes is easier said than done.  It takes a mighty work of the Spirit on my heart in addition to discipline on my part.  In the midst of full-time ministry it is easy to lose sight of what should be my true focus, namely the cross.  As I disciple women and share the gospel with nonbelievers, it doesn’t seem like this should be the case.  Shouldn’t the cross always be at the forefront of my mind?  Yet, it is possible and not uncommon for those of us in full-time ministry to lose sight of bringing glory to our Lord and fall victim to bringing glory to ourselves.  Self-exaltation is a dangerous thing.

I’m thankful for Jack Miller’s exhortation to think much of Jesus’ suffering, and of my sin that provoked His suffering.  This is a helpful reminder.  We must be aware of the appalling nature of our sin or we will never fully appreciate the amazing work accomplished on our behalf by our Savior on the cross.  However, we need not dwell too long on our sin.  For we know that we can enter by faith into this unfathomable love and glory in the work of our Redeemer.  This is where we rest.

Out of the rest and peace I have in the work of Jesus on the cross for me, I can proceed to the best of my abilities in an effort to advance the kingdom of God on the U of M campus.  I can do all of this knowing that, “It is finished,” (John 19:30).  I will run the race set before me with endurance looking to the Author and Perfecter of my faith, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  May my focus not be shaken.

This is harmful for a number of reasons but it might be most dangerous because there are times when it can lead to obscuring the gospel. Charles Bridges notes this danger in his book The Christian Ministry, “The freeness of the gospel invitations, and the unreserved display of Evangelical privileges, are often fettered by the apprehension of giving indulgence to Antinomian licentiousness.” Meaning, people like me (and you) go “soft” in their presentation of the gospel to avoid being seen as “soft” on sin and appropriate Christian behavior.

I feel this fear when I teach in front of students at the college. I feel afraid to teach the gospel as freely and unreservedly as I might because people may think I am too weak to talk tough about sin and duty. And at this point you can probably see the danger. The big danger is that by obscuring the gospel you end up hurting (or even killing) people forever just because you want to be liked. That is a scary thought that helps me repent of my sin and look to Jesus so that I won’t mislead people for the sake of approval.

“Lack of money will threaten to stress the faith out of you. Abundance of money will threaten to numb the faith out of you”

To read the rest of his notes go to www.comobilizaiton.com

Shawn shares how being involved with his discipleship group has helped him fight sin.

Tim Devane, freshman at Bethel University, shares about what God has been doing in his life this year

Emily shares how Campus Outreach has affected her life and how she wants to give her life away on the campus.

to be mutually inclusive. This leaves me with two implications for my life as a college minister, for the lives of the students to whom I minister, and to Christians at large: 

The Treasure Principle – Randy Alcorn

You are currently in a situation when you are on the eve of having a job where you may make more money than you ever have before. In a strange paradoxical way, the sin in our hearts makes it so that, often, the more money we have the more difficult it becomes to live generously.

We tend to get what we can, can what we get and guard the can.

This book gave me a perspective on money that made me more free to give. May it do the same for you.

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” – Heb. 13:5

That is the experience that I had on Tuesday.  This semester I have been investigating campuses in the Minneapolis area (probably within a one hour radius of the cities) to begin thinking about and dreaming about a possible expansion in the future.  I don’t know where God will lead us or when He will lead us, but I have been investigating.  Well, this Tuesday I went to a campus that is 3 miles from my house, The University of St. Thomas.  It is a private, Catholic school that has roughly 9,000 students.  I have been by there dozens of times, I even run there and back on my 6 mile loop, but I wasn’t aware of how God is at work there.

While there, I was able to meet with two students who are looking to minister on the campus.  They have been sharing their faith, leading Bible studies, and even listening to our pastor’s sermons online.  At the same time, they have been looked down upon because of their faith.  They are ostracized for being evangelical, they are made fun of for believing the Bible is true and inspired, and they have been hungry for someone to help them.

As they told me about their situation I thought, “These guys sound like they are doing exactly what I do on the campus”.  Then as I began to share about what I do their faces lit up.  They were excited and refreshed to meet someone who wanted to help them grow and minister.  After I had spoken they said, “You have no idea how long we’ve been praying for someone like you in our lives.”.  I was amazed.  I then invited them to church this Sunday and on Sunday morning (God wiling) I will pick them up along with 4 other students from St. Thomas.

Maybe we will expand to St. Thomas in the future, maybe not.  Either way, there are students there who are looking to uphold the gospel of Jesus Christ on their campus and who need shepherding.  I’m thrilled that our ministry and church is able to meet that need in some small way.  I didn’t know what to expect at St. Thomas and I discovered that God is clearly at work on the campus in powerful ways.  The amazing thing is that all this is basically, right next door.

Stop Dating the Church – Joshua Harris

We tend to be a generation that is low on commitment with a low view of the local church. This book goes a long way in speaking into both of these unfortunate realities.

A couple weeks ago I went bowling with our staff guys.  I’m not a great bowler but I really enjoyed the night and my time with the guys.  I didn’t think much about it until later in the week when I had lunch with one of our other staff guys. He said, “Colby if I could pick one person to go bowling with the rest of my life, you know who it would be?” This was obvious to me it seemed, so I replied “Matt?” thinking this because he’s the most competitive, witty, and fun to be around on our team.

“No, it’d be you,” he answered.  “Not because you’re the greatest bowler (though I did have the best score of the night with a 190) but because you played free and your enjoyment was contagious.”  He went on to ask me why he doesn’t see “that Colby” when it comes to ministry.

When I do “ministry” so much of the time I don’t live free, but rather I’m bound to expectations, fears, and insecurities. It’s paradoxical that the most attractive trait of my life was not my ability, nor my personality, but the fact that I was living free.  It’s not something I could do or be better at but it was something that came from me understanding who I am and what I’ve been given.  It’s so counterintuitive.  We are drawn to people that are free.

I’ve been thinking about this idea of freedom more and more. Specifically, the freedom that I’ve experienced throughout the years. One of the fullest expressions of that has come from me knowing Lindsey (my wife) and her me, and then watching the depth of the bond that has developed from truly seeing each other as we are and loving in spite of it.  It truly has been “drippings of His grace” as C.S. Lewis puts it. He describes it as the “longing for a scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”

I guess I just meant that inside of me is a desire to experience freedom in all of my life the way that I was intended to, the way that I do so often in my relationship with Lindsey.  And when I do, whether it be me spending time with my family, or reading a book, or bowling…I believe that it is a grace that points me to heaven where I will always feel free.

Why was it so affirming to hear that of all people he would want to bowl with it would be me?  I think it was because I was myself as God intended and it felt good. Removed was the slavery of approval, or fear, or rejection, or fill in the blank.  I was me.

We talk about freedom in our culture with such a normality and nonchalantness as if we really experience it consistently. When in reality, bondage rules the lives of the majority.  This is true for believers and non alike.  It seems that in a strange way, we find comfort in our jail cells, preferring that to the risk of embracing freedom. Did Jesus come to make me comfortable or free?

God at Work – Gene Edward Veith

You are now trained in a skill set for a career, how are you to think of your vocation in a Christian way? You will be investing a lot of your hours the rest of your life in your vocations/relationships (read the book to understand how closely connected vocation and personal relationships are). This book will give you a perspective that will help you grumble less and enjoy more your day in/day out life in vocation.

I can’t recommend it enough.

Here are a few highlights:

“Get a good view of the temporariness of life and – believe it or not – you will enjoy it more.” P. 32

“What does it mean to serve one another in love?  Practically it means to labor to make others successful.  Ask yourself:  what can I do to make the other team members successful?”  p. 146

“Forgive and forgive and forgive.  Don’t let you emotional life be controlled by the sin you see in others.” P. 54

“[Impressing people] is a struggle that is intense, like tearing the flesh off of your own bones.  Unless we resist with all our might, we fall again and again into our love of the praise of men or we are inwardly fearful of their disapproval.” P. 57

“Essentially I need to confess to God that I have a deep-seated need to protect and control my life and ministry.  Once I acknowledge that hard, painful fact to Him, grace seems to stream into my life.” P. 66

That’s just a few highlights.  I leave this man’s life wanting to pray a lot more, desiring deeper repentance over sin in my life, abounding love for other people, and commitment to give my life to the Gospel going forth.

Just Do Something – Kevin DeYoung

This book helped correct some of my personal misconceptions about the will of God and how to find it. It has served me well in my decision making now and would certainly have been of service when I was a senior in college wrestling with big decisions. Take, and read.

“If there be so certain and glorious a rest for the saints, why is there no more industrious seeking after it? One would think, if a man did but once hear of such unspeakable glory to be obtained, and believed them what he heard to be true, he should be transported with the vehemency of his desire after it, and should almost forget to eat and drink, and should care for nothing else, and speak of and inquire after nothing else, but how to get this treasure. And yet people who hear of it daily, and profess to believe it as a fundamental article of their faith, do as little mind it, or labor for it, as if they had never heard of any such thing, or did not believe one word they hear.” -Richard Baxter, The Saints Everlasting Rest p.92

Avoiding “Fleshly” Decision Making in Thinking about Your Summer

1.) What does the Word of God say about this (decision/opportunity)?
- Is this opportunity in line with the Word of God? (2 Timothy 3:16)
2.) What do the people of God say about this?
- What do the Christians in your life think about this? What does the counsel you are receiving about this look like? Are other believers weighing in on this? (Psalm 1)
3.) What is the Spirit of God saying about this?
– Do you have a peace or feel assurance from God about this? (Psalm 143:10, Daniel 2:22)
4.) What do circumstances or providence say about this?
- Could this be a real possibility? Try not to let small things detain you. If the answer to the previous questions is a confident “yes”, ask God in His divine providence to remove or provide for circumstances that that may hinder you from moving forward in this opportunity God may very well be calling you to.

There are always so many circumstances that can get in the way of Godly decision-making and with so many good opportunities how are we supposed to know what God really wants for us anyway? Take some time to pray through these four questions with regard to your summer. God is in the business of removing obstacles, so don’t be afraid to ask and trust Him to do it.

You can download this in a pdf document here

A Faith Worth Sharing – C. John Miller

This book will not only stimulate you toward building relationships and articulating the gospel with the lost, it also preaches the gospel into the life of the gospel sharer. This is a convicting and very helpful little book.

The first book of note is a book on how to center your life on the thing Paul categorized as “of first importance”, the gospel (I Cor. 15:3).

This little book goes a long ways in helping people understand the gospel and appropriate the gospel in their everyday living. Nothing is more important than learning to do this for the rest of your life.

I have been studying Judges lately for much of my devotional time in the Bible. Time and time again I am encouraged by what seems in many ways to be a very disheartening book. The cycle of the nation of Israel’s disobedience and idolatry is relentless. I have often avoided reading this book precisely because of Israel’s repeated failures. Now, however, while reading it more carefully along with a study by Tim Keller, I am seeing things I’ve never seen before. As usual with reading the Bible, the more one slows down and “soaks in” the text the more one gets out of it.

I’m through chapter 10, and already Israel has done “what was evil in the sight of the Lord” by serving and worshiping other gods countless times. Still, God provides a “judge” or savior in every circumstance. God uses people like Othniel, Ehud, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, and Samson to judge Israel. I didn’t exactly grow up in the Church, but a couple of those names ring a bell. I usually associated such judges as strong and powerful leaders. Now, however, I am seeing more and more the common theme in the book of Judges. Ehud was certainly an unlikely hero. Barak was not very confident and needed Deborah’s support to make most all of his critical leadership decisions. Gideon was incredibly insecure, and Samson was a testosterone-driven meat head. Yet, some of these men are mentioned by the Hebrew writer as prime examples of men who walked by faith. They “through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises…were made strong out of weakness, and became mighty in war.” What?! Read about some of these men in Judges! Many of them are weak and pathetic. Hmmm…sounds familiar.

Thank God that my source of life is not my impeccable character and perfect leadership, but Jesus Christ! The above judges were merely types until the true judge should come, Jesus Christ. My weak and pathetic state is not what needs be dwelt upon, rather realities like 1 Cor. 1:27-30, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”

In Eph. 4:11 it says that, among other offices, God has provided His church with teachers. In Acts we are told an Ethiopian eunuch was reading Isaiah. While he was reading it says,“…Phillip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’’ (Acts 8:30-31).

We read books because in them we are exposed to teachers and guides that can help us understand and apply the Scriptures.

In the next week or so we are going to highlight six different books that may prove helpful in your transition off the campus. They are little and do not require a large time commitment to read. You could pick away at a “one book a month” pace and by around September hold new convictions that I think you will find very helpful off the campus.

Watch the blog and happy reading.

To give you an example of what I am talking about I will tell you what I have been thinking about.  I am not incredibly gifted with striking up conversations with people in informal settings and talking about their life and relationship with God or what they believe about the gospel.  I am more gifted at engaging people in a one-on-one setting over lunch or time in the Word or something like that.  One potential response to this would be for me to avoid informal contexts or just breeze through them and wait for God to drop a one-on-one context into my life.  However, a better response would be for me to seek to use the informal contexts to fuel a context where I could interact with someone over lunch or time in the Word.  So I am now making it a point to use game nights, playing sports with guys, hanging out in the dorms, or other contexts like these to hopefully set up one-on-one times with guys throughout the week.

So my encouragement to whoever is reading this would be to figure out a context that you are gifted in engaging people with the truths of the gospel, then think for how you can use every context you are in to help you maximize the time you have in the context in which you are most gifted.

A. Snowmobiles, ATV’s, free food, snow football.

About 50 guys from the UofM attended this year’s Man Retreat.

Check out the promo video!

http://vimeo.com/9458280

We watched a Mark Driscoll clip that talked about what the bible says about being a man.

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/trial/marriage-and-men

With that as a backdrop I am now closing in on being at 100% support!  I am also now living at the house right next to Bethel with three other Bethel students.   I am excited to continue to get to know students, and help students grown in their relationship with God.  The house where we are living has served to have Bethel events; like Bible studies, prayer meetings, and informal opportunties to meet students.  This past weekend we had students over to watch the Olympics, and I was able to meet new students and begin to build relationships with students.  I am getting more and more excited to be done raising support and I cannot wait to be able to labor full-time sharing Christ with student

Perhaps a little background information would be helpful.  I became a Christian during my fourth year of college through the influence of one of my volleyball teammates.  She began to disciple me and two years later I went on staff with Campus Outreach.  I wanted to make the volleyball team one of my main targets for ministry.  That year, I started meeting with a freshman on the 2007 team.  As we met and studied the Bible together, she began to grow more and more in her faith.  I began to share my vision for the team with her and we would pray for the Lord to work.  The next year God brought two freshmen from the 2008 team into my life.  I was leading a discipleship group with a sophomore from the team and meeting in a separate Bible study with the two freshmen.  The only reason the two freshmen started hanging around was because the sophomore began talking to them and sharing about how God had been working in her life.  Now this year I am leading a discipleship group with all three girls.  Two of them live with other volleyball players and have been engaging them in spiritual conversations and bringing them to our weekly meetings.  A freshmen from the 2009 team came to a retreat we hosted last weekend and then we met together for dinner this week.  I was able to lay out the gospel for her and talk to her about what it means to make a decision to follow Jesus Christ with you whole heart.  It was amazing.  It is so sweet to think about how all of this happened through discipleship.  It worked for Jesus, and it definitely works on the college campus.  I’m praying that many students at the University of Minnesota will have deep relationships with Jesus because God chooses to use our staff team and student leaders to influence their lives.

Brandon Ternes shares about how the Lord has used his involvement with Campus Outreach to impact his life

Steph Lise, a student at U of M, shares what she has been learning in the Word lately.

Testimony from Mike Owczarek, Junior at Northwestern College

1. We don’t grow apart from Christ
2. We don’t grow without a plan
3. We don’t grow without honesty
4. We don’t grow without risk
5. We don’t grow alone

1. The gospel is basic
2. The gospel is a one-time event
3. The gospel is a call to performance
4. The gospel is “free”

A skit used at our winter retreat that shows interviews of students at northwestern about the opposite sex

BU Video Skit:

A skit that we showed at the Winter Retreat about things Bethel students don’t understand about the opposite sex.

The theme of the retreat was “misconceptions.” We talked about misconceptions we have about the Gospel, about what it means to man or a woman, about why were in college, and what it means to grow in our faith.

One highlight for the girls was Samm Poteat, on staff at the U of M (and who had a significant impact on my own life as a student), who talked to the women about misconceptions we have about our image. She gave the girls the following questions to think through:
1. How do I compare myself to others – for the good or bad?
2. What is it that people commend or praise me for?
3. What am I afraid of losing?
4. What topics do I feel defensive about?
5. What am I hoping a guy will notice about me?
6. What am I insecure about?
Samm went on to talk about how the Gospel shatters our image by showing us 1) We’re seeking glory in the wrong way and 2) We’re each just a jar of clay (but we spend a lot of time trying to act and look like a pot of gold!). Getting our eyes off of ourselves and onto Christ frees us.

Girls were really helped by this topic! I pray that many good conversations will continue to follow this talk and the retreat in general.

1) Samm Poteat (CO staff)  shared the gospel with a girl at Ben’s work.

2) The girl responded favorably.  Samm told her about  our group and told Salz about her.

3) Amy has asked Laurel (a girl in our group with no CO background but seems committed to truth and people) to get around this girl with the following email…

I’m emailing to ask if you might be interested in following up with a gal who has had the gospel shared with her and has indicated that she wants to grow and wants help doing that?  I can give you more details if you are interested, but basically, it’s a gal that Ben works with.  We aren’t sure if she is a believer, though i think she would say that she is, she just hasn’t had anyone to walk alongside her and help her grow.  Please let me know if you might be willing to walk with her or even just meet her and try to get a little time around her and we’ll go from there.

4) To which Laurel said, “I would love to!  Bring on the details!!”

5) Laurel is now getting together with this girl who will be more apt to, if she comes to our group, to join and stick having been personally tended to on the front end.  Good for the girl (i don’t even know her name yet) and good for Laurel’s vision/training for life on life (she is meeting with Amy to get some pointers on “follow up”).

May the Lord spread His gospel and raise up laborers in the Twin Cities and beyond.

Our job is not measured by how many hours we put in at the office. It is not measured by how much of a certain product we produce, nor how much we sell. It is measured by lives. It is measured by the joys and pains that we feel when we tie our lives in with others’. It is measured by the rescuing of souls, by the binding up of the broken-hearted, by the liberating of captives. We know we are doing our jobs when we hurt. When we bear burdens. When we aren’t thinking about ourselves. In other words, our job is not a job. It is a life poured out. It is, in the words of Isaiah 43:4, giving “men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.”

Not so tangible, huh? But it is oh so rewarding.

After a semester of building relationships with those girls I can see that God has been at work.  Whitney and Elizabeth are now having a weekly evangelistic Bible study in T-hall with the girls we were getting to know in the first semester.  Part of building a friendship with these girls was sharing our lives with them, which meant sharing our relationship with Jesus with them.  They had questions and were excited to have a time during the week to get together and talk about the gospel and their questions.  Please pray for Libby, Whitney, and Leah – these three girls do not know the Lord but are really seeking.

Last night I had dinner with Jessie and we were talking and I was blown away by how much God has changed her in just four months.  She has depth to her relationship with Jesus.  Her faith is no longer a part of her life, but actually affects her whole life because it is the center of her life.  She is growing in boldness in sharing what she believes with others because she is believing the gospel is the power for salvation.  Jessie’s life has changed.  Jessie’s roommate, Maggie, has crossed from death to life this year – and God used Jessie and their conversations to really start investigating.  Jessie said last night, “It is like talking to a completely different person!  God is so sweet!”  And she is right, God is so sweet – what a joy to get to be used in His plan for salvation.  He is using the weak at the U of M – as we are dependent on Him to do the saving work, but we are willing to open our mouths…and this is just a glimpse into what God is doing in T-hall.  It really appears the Spirit is at work.  Please pray that God would continue to do a saving work in the lives of these girls in T-hall for His glory.

In this report:

• Article from Ken Currie
• Update from our campus directors
• Update on Summer Beach Project, Cross Cultural Project, and Milwaukee New Years Conference
• Administration Update
• Testimonies from students
• Testimonies from COM graduates

I am reminded of a Biblical account from the book of Numbers chapter 13, verses 25-29.  In that story spies return from viewing the land and most are overwhelmed with the obstacles.  All that they see are barriers and reasons to abort the mission.  In their eyes nothing will get them into the land.  They are daunted.  This is very close to how I view myself and my faith at points in regards to the U of M.  The barriers are too big for God to do a significant work.

A few weeks ago Campus Outreach Minneapolis had it’s annual Winter Leadership Retreat.  For this we had two staff guys from CO Indianapolis come and speak on how God has worked and is working on their campuses.  One guy shared about IUPUI, a school in Indianapolis.  It was 98% commuter, almost no dorms, no student groups, a terrible student center, basically a barren wasteland in regards to ministry opportunity…or so it seemed.  He spoke of how after several years of faithful labor there that God is changing the campus.  Students are coming to Christ, dorms are being built, they have a new student center, what once seemed daunting is now seen as yet another example of God acting.

This story humbled me.  I felt ashamed of my lack of faith, of the tiny barriers that had become giants in my mind and had caused me to doubt whether God could really bring about change at the U of M.  Well, my response?  Repentance.  So often this is the posture of a Christian.  We must constantly bow before God and acknowledge how our faith is small, how we put God in a box, how we don’t believe that HE is able to change a heart, change a campus, and ultimately change the world.

The answer to the title of this blog is a resounding YES! God can change the U of M and difficult campus dynamics are only there to make his remarkable power shine all the more brightly so that I can have no reason to boast in anything other than Him.  I want to repent for all the ways I doubt this and fight to believe that HE is able.

The 5 parts of a support strategy are only as effective as is the clearness of purpose for each part of the process. Each part of the 5 step process is crucial to achieving the end goal. Each one is not supposed to achieve the end goal directly, but indirectly. Each one has its purpose to achieve and set up the next step in the process.

Therefore, rule number 1:

Never use a contact letter as a means for getting support. Letters provide a means for informing and connecting, not asking. People do not respond primarily to letters, but to people so do not let a letter stand in the place of a direct and personal ask. Letters to not let you capitalize on your emotion, your personality, your relationship with the person, nor a conversation. They can seem impersonal and do not communicate personalization and care for a person, but just their finances. A face to face appointment of the other hand communicates you have time for the other person and want them and not just what they can give you.

This is one of the most major misconceptions that I face when counseling and giving feedback to fund-raisers. They misuse the letter for its purpose. Its intention is to inform and set up an initial phone call. That’s all. Nothing more and nothing less. Now, its important because it is a first impression, but its sole purpose is to set up a phone call. That is its primary purpose. Do not try to make your letter a do it all, communicate all, cover everything, ask for money renaissance pamphlet.

Here are a couple of reminder:

1. Keep it to one page

2. Include a picture that is catchy and provides some color

3. Your letter should comprise of three parts:

- Introduction- update them on this present season of life

- Information – inform them about your ministry vision and vehicle

- Invitation – invite them to partner with you

4. Hand write a personal note at the bottom that communicates that you will be calling in one week to follow this letter up.

5. Sometimes if you send a letter to someone who is close to you can make the relationship feel impersonal. Only send a letter to those who you feel you cannot call on directly for your first contact (ie, sending a letter to close friends and family is not needed)

6. Be clear that your intention is to contact them and follow-up with them about the opportunity for them to partner with you financially and prayerfully.
Again, your purpose is to follow-up not gain support out of it. You want supporters, not just support and this comes by the grace of God and for those who sink time into this process. The role of the letter is to set up a phone call-Remember this!!

After working on the study, I realized that often in ministry when my good desires are unmet they reveal deeper desire-dysfunction in my own heart.  A freshman isn’t able to go on a retreat, one of the girls in my group just doesn’t seem to get it, or a key conversation didn’t go the way I had hoped.  I immediately get frustrated because I want them to know Jesus more and grow as kingdom laborers, and I think that because fill-in-the-blank didn’t happen, they’ll come short of that goal.  If I’m honest with myself though, I’ll realize that that doesn’t make sense.  If I really believe that God is going to complete the work he started in them (Phil. 1:6), that he’s way more committed to them than I am (John 10), and that he can use everything (even sin!) for their good (Rom. 8:28), then I don’t need to get worried or anxious over what I interpret as set-backs.  So at the bottom of my frustration I realize that there are other desires lurking–I think I need accomplishment, influence in someone’s life, recognition, etc.  But John 4 makes it clear that it’s dangerous to try to satisfy those cravings with ministry…or anything else.  Like the woman at the well, I need to repent and find my soul stilled and thirst quenched and  in Jesus Christ, the fountain of living water.

I cannot be reminded enough by the point Paul makes regarding the role he and Apollos have when it comes to ministering the gospel to others. He asks, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” When I immerse myself into the lives of others for the sake of their growth I find that I have to be very careful of idolatry. There is a sort of involvement and desire for the life of the men I am ministering to that may reveal more than simply a desire for them to grow. When I begin to sense that my joy is robbed and I become angry at the lack of maturity I see in these men, my desire for them to grow has shifted from something good and pure to something evil. Perhaps it could be best described as shifting from a desire for their growth to the desire. That is, when my joy is so intertwined with their maturity that it is everything to me, then I am idolizing ministry.

It is in this state of mind and heart that I become extremely harsh with them. I lose complete sight of the gospel, and become a minister of the letter, not the Spirit. I make up false standards that are my standards, not God’s. It’s here that my pride is on the line, not their growth. Paul says in 2 Cor. 3:6-7 that God has “made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”  When I am not in their presence I am anxious, constantly mulling over in my head what kind of conversation I need to have that will get them to see things clearly.

The reminder of 1 Cor. 3 is that GOD gives the growth! The state of idolatry of ministry is a role reversal. It puts me in God’s place. I begin to act and live as though my actions, words, and thoughts are what changes hearts. This is so backwards to what Paul says to the Corinthians. He says that he and Apollos are nothing. Lord, help me and our staff team understand the joy and glory found in self-forgetfulness. Only when understanding that God gives the growth and I am a servant through whom he might choose to work will I truly love those I am ministering to.

This weekend we are having 3 staff from Campus Outreach Indianapolis come for our leaders retreat. They are going to talk to us about some of the things they have learned in ministry and what God has been doing through them on the campuses in Indiana. We will have the talks online after the weekend if you would like to hear them.

For info on campus specific events, check out the campus calendars:
-Bethel Calendar
-U of M Calendar
-Northwestern Calendar

We do have a few changes as well this semester:
-We are going to be having guys/girls Bible studies fairly regularly on Wednesday nights throughout the semester
-Consequently, we are going to have fewer BULL meetings this semester

Check our campus calendar to know what is going on this semester

Restless At The Hyatt? Part 2

Conference Pictures
Also, we have uploaded some pictures of the conference to our picture gallery

Now all of our staff have headed home for the Christmas break to spend time with families. We are getting rested up for our New Years Conference that starts on December 29. We will be posting updates on the conference in early January. Please join us in praying that many people will grow in their walks with Christ through the conference.