just not ready yet..

lots of stuff going on with our teams now. we've officially begun our ministry on the campus today (monday 6/29) and it is really tiring. a mode of evangelism every day from 9am-3pm by going to different places. our modes of evangelism are:

ministry mode- reaching out to strangers, going outside of our sphere of influence.
body mode - "when the body of Christ is gathered together and is functioning, as it should, it has the potential of being a powerful witness to unbelievers who are exposed to it."
relational mode - reaching out to people that we know.
and community service - community service.

we have three groups within our team now, and we rotate a mode of evangelism every day..except wednesday. wednesday is our day off!

so today, being the first day of our ministry outreach, my team and i went on the campus and did soularium with some people on campus. within my group (ashley, amy, irene, melanie, clay), melanie and i paired off. we talked to three people, the first being a christian who went to church already. i never know what to do in those situations because i dont want to belittle their faith and act like they dont know the gospel. in hindsight i could have challenged his faith to see how genuine it was by seeing how sure he was about getting into heaven, but we didnt..we just asked for prayer requests and prayed with him. we got our follow up info and that was that.

after that, we walked around for a bit and found two girls (sally and jane..for privacy) in the game room. our talk was amazing and so spirit led. it was so clear that the Spirit was moving in them and us at the time. sally was cussing a storm, so that made it a little intimidating to approach her. she appeared to be very independent and individualistic. through soularium, we were able to see that her view of christianity was: archaic (out of date), overwhelming (information overload), and she felt that she had to wait for God to call on her.

i was able to lead into the gospel through those key things. that is what i love about soularium, it makes transitions so natural and easy. well not easy, but it makes it less awkward and gives you a deeper understanding of where theyre at before you blabber about what you believe. i shared part of my testimony and eventually went through the gospel as thoroughly as i could with them. i honestly dont remember jane's view of christianity besides the fact that she had no religious background, and that she just wanted to be morally sound. she was very receptive. they were both really receptive. but sally seemed to respond in a much deeper way. she had heard bits and pieces of the gospel from her professor (weird, right?), and so when she saw that the things i was saying aligned with what she had heard before, she became very shocked.

i got to the point of asking whether or not their lives represented a life where God was first in life, or that they were putting themselves first before God. they both chose the first. i was excited and nervous. "they are so close..," i kept telling myself. when i asked if they wanted to receive, they were shocked at the grandness of the question. i could see jane holding her face and covering her nose as if she may have been about to cry. i really hope thats what it was..well, maybe she had to sneeze. they both said they were willing to accept, but they werent ready. it was a lot of information, i understood. i encouraged them to seek prayer and asking God to reveal himself to them. afterall, what i say really doesnt matter, but what matters are their individual experiences.

prayer requests:
-sally and jane..they are both so close. pray for the HS to reveal Himself to them in a real and tangible way so that they can experience Him and then be moved to conviction.
-spiritual warfare. lots of attacks on our teams. pray for protection and provision!

the end of our beginning

(actual date this was written was 6/23/09)
To end our time of briefing in Los Angelos (Costa Mesa), our team along with the Japan team and some of the Bay area team decided to celebrate and relax by watching the midnight showing of Transformers. In fact, it was so relaxing that a lot of us ended up falling asleep during it. But of course, this movie wasn’t boring, we were just very tired. The movie provided a huge reminder for me as I began to think about what was in store for us as we were about to set off on our missions’ grounds in Hawaii, Japan, East Asia, and Bay area.

This wont be a spoiler by any chance, but this movie had some great fighting scenes. Sam wonders why he has to be involved with a battle that seems so much bigger than he is, later finding out that he is the source of it all. He watched and hid in fear as Optimus Prime defended and fought for his seemingly worthless human life, doing whatever it would take to keep him alive and away from the Decepticons. It was quite a scene when Optimus risked his life while fighting off over five transformers at the same time to protect the life of Sam.

I’m warning you right now, this will be cheesy, but stay with me. As Optimus Prime fought off over five Decepticons at once, I couldn’t help but think about the image of God fighting for us. It is the scene of being completely helpless compared to a power so much greater and incomparable to us. It is the feeling of not being able to do anything but sit and watch as our God submits his life to the point of death to defend our sinful lives. Sometimes we can’t do anything, and we need to allow God to go before us. We feel helpless at times, but it is in our helplessness that we realize the power of our Lord. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. (Ex. 14:14) When your understand that your efforts can only take you so far, then you see that your God has been fighting for you, defending you and protecting you from the evil one all along.

This picture I have in mind is also the picture I see when I read the beginning of Joshua. The encouragement God gives to Joshua is well known, but it’s always a good reminder. I can imagine the weight of stress that followed the death of Moses, and the wave of comfort Joshua felt while hearing God’s words. New responsibilities, new tasks, and new leadership. He had large shoes to fill and had to fulfill an overwhelming mission, but God said this:

“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.” Joshua 1:5-7

That passage comforts me as I think about the next six weeks coming up. God commands us to be only strong and courageous, and that is what I will be trying to be as we reach out to the people of this campus. God has been nothing but faithful so far. So as cheesy as this post was, I just wanted to express that I look forward for to what He has in store for us this amazing trip.

briefing

(written on 6/22/09)
So far, for this summer project all we have done is briefing. It’s great though. It’s a time where we get to know our team and really bond with each other. Imagine camp Impact where you have a family and you are with your family everywhere you go. It’s really funny though. A part of me is like, “man we’re being kind of cliquey…we’re not really getting to know the other teams.” Then I remember that that is the exact reason why we are there. It’s like planned cliques. We are here for the purpose of bonding with our team and getting close to one another. It’s kind of relieving too. Sometimes when you are in a large camp/conference- like gathering, you feel the pressure to go out of your comfort zone and try to meet everyone in sight. That pressure isn’t here, like I said earlier, and its relieving.