Singing Black National Anthem at Yard Show

Sunday Night Live (More than I Can Bear)

Sunday Night Live (Lord You’re Mighty)

BCM leaders + CCF leaders having dinner together before school starts

Welcome Black Barbecue

sharing at Black World Tour

Black World Tour 2011

Several of the freshmen have also joined our choir and have been taking ownership over the ministry. May God continue to deepen their faith this year.

One of the female students told me that her family was not Christian, but that she herself had believed in God since she was young. She wanted college to be a time where she would start going to church. She has been faithfully attending our bible study since then. May her faith grow in leaps and bounds this year through Bible study and church.

They want BCM to be a place where people can come meet God. They do not want our ministries to be just about performances, but vessels for God’s love to go forward.

Praise God for these student leaders!

When I started with BCM in 2007, Pastor Mike, Felicia Nibungco and I  prayed that God would send more workers into the harvest in the black student community. And he has. He’s raised up those workers from the harvest itself.

Dana Brown (far left) was a sophomore when I first met her. She was on the fringes of the ministry, attending events because her roommate Aviana was a part of the ministry. She went to Fall Conference where God got her attention. The conference set into motion a series of life changing decisions including the most recent, to go on full-time staff with InterVarsity and minister to more students.

Shola Shodiya (far right) was a junior transfer when I met her. Feeling a little out of place as a junior transfer, BCM’s junior/senior Bible study quickly became a family for her. She found support through Jamari, one of the student leaders and saw herself grow in her faith through the Bible study. The following year, she decided to become the Junior/Senior Bible study leader as well as initiate the Women’s Ministry. She has always wanted to serve others with her career but had never considered college ministry as an option. This will be her first year serving with InterVarsity as an intern.

Mike Eubanks (center, top) is a new addition to our staff team from UCLA InterVarsity. He did not grow up in our ministry, but he is uniquely equipped to minister in BCM. He is not only musically talented, but insightful about ministry and faith. I believe he will do great in helping our choir to develop spiritually, evangelistically, and musically.

Praise the Lord of the Harvest!

Montoya Mayo (not pictured) – some of you may remember her from my last physical prayer letter. It turns out due to her scholarship requirements, she will have to work at another job for the fall. However, she will be involved with BCM and volunteer in the spring.

Hearing them sing Kirk Franklin’s “Melodies from Heaven” in a predominately first generation Chinese church made me smile. I felt like I was introducing two parts of the body of Christ to each other. The Chinese church members couldn’t stop raving about how much they loved the choir, “They sang so beautifully!” The BCM students said they appreciated the silent reflection time at the end of the service, “It was different from what I’m used to, but I liked it.”

It was one of those moments where I was reminded of how being a Chinese-Taiwanese-American woman working with a black ministry gives me opportunities to create bridges within the body of Christ.

The immigration forum we hosted this past March was a different story. Over 80 students came to hear Rev. Deborah Lee speak. Of those 80 students, 15-20 were not from any of our fellowships. These students came because this is an issue that a many of them feel alone in. It was moving for them to see the Christian community give them space to share their stories and perspectives.

Not only was this a good outreach, it challenged our ministries to move beyond stereotypes to really understanding the immigration issues. For me personally, I recognized my own hard-heartedness. I often assumed that undocumented immigrants were mostly Latino. After doing this event, I learned about how many undocumented Asian-Americans there are. This challenge to my assumed stereotype has made me wonder: “What other kinds of stereotypes or assumptions have I made about the immigration issue that I have not realized?” This has made me open to learning more about this issue that affects so many people.

I have a million and one answers to this question. Here are three:

1. “Because InterVarsity is a multi-ethnic organization”
2. “Because they needed more staff to support the growing fellowship.”
3. “Because I’m trying to raise up black staffworkers who can do what I do but better.”
… I won’t bore you with the variations.

Kapwa leading worship in Tagalog: "Sama-Samang"

I hardly ever get a chance to explain some of the deeper reasons why I work with BCM, since people who ask this question are usually standing in front of me with an impatient, sometimes-judgmental, look on their face.

At our November Sunday Night Live, I finally got a chance to give someone the long answer. We had a joint Sunday Night Live, with BCM, CCF (multiethnic chapter), Kapwa (Pilipino chapter), and La Fe (Latino/Chicano chapter).

I gave a 15 minute talk about how I grew up struggling with self-hatred of my ethnicity and how God took me on a journey of healing and learning to love other ethnicities and cultures. I used the image of a house with many doorways to explain why we have the ministries we do. Each of our ministries creates a doorway for someone to come in. BCM is a doorway for people who feel comfortable with the black worship culture. Kapwa is a doorway for people who feel most comfortable in a Pilipino context. I came through the CCF doorway because that is the context that ministered to me. But, the doorway is not the end of the story. God has created a house that reconciles different people groups (Ephesians 2:14). It is through Christ that non-jewish people had a doorway enter his house. And now that we’re in this house, our job is to make sure to support each other’s doorways, to make sure more people can come to know Christ.

It was fun and exhilarating to give the talk at a Sunday Night Live as a petite, Taiwanese-American woman. I would say quiet to draw out the contrast, but I’m not that quiet. Just another step in embracing who God made me to be.

At the end of the night, I made a call for people to (1) enter through their doorway, to accept God’s love for who they are, and (2) to commit to supporting other people’s doorways. Over 40 people stood up.

BCM choir performing “not about us” at Sunday Night Live:

Hip Hop team performs (overcoming temptation):

We had 18 BCM students attend (more than ever before).

Tiana, a disabled student, brought brought an attendant with her. The attendant was not a Christian and her parents were atheists. During the first night, the attendant burst into tears after sensing the presence of God. I was surprised that God could touch someone who came to work, not necessarily to seek God.

We are continuing to pray for Tiana’s attendant and have conversations with her about who God is.

Andre, a new leader this year, and a newer Christian, heard God’s voice for the first time at Fall Conference:

Yuki, another BCM student, was inspired to witness to her friends about what God has done in her life:

It was Chloe's first Fall Conference!

I taught a seminar on being missional on campus. We dreamed about the movement of God on our campuses.

Several of the athletes confessed how they often feel disconnected from the black student community.  They see the group as a safe space for them to share their struggles and to grow closer to God.

I praise God for meeting their needs in this way.  I never knew that athletes could have such heartfelt needs for community and connection.  God is teaching me that even those who seem popular or successful have deep needs for community and relationship with Him.

Lois the Pie Queen scrambled to get everything together in such short notice.  But they did.  And we built friendships with the new students, welcoming them to Cal and reminding them to make God a priority while at school.

Many of these students are about to go through many life decisions: “Who will I choose to be my friends?” “Do I want to go to church?” “What am I going to pursue at school and in life?”  Please join me in praying that they would choose true life, a growing faith, and Jesus.

Note: Chloe and I are in the picture.  See if you can find us!