A sample of InterVarsity life: August 2013

A sample of photos from New Student Outreach and our back-to-school staff retreat (bottom photo)

Discipleship

"And he said, "The one who showed mercy toward him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same." Luke 10:37

"He said to them, "Therefore, every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old." Matthew 13:52

"...do you want to become his disciples too?" John 9:27

What do I do for a living? 

I don't have an office. I have completed four seminary classes. Most Sunday mornings I am sitting in a pew; singing, praying, listening and hoping my 18-month old stopped crying after I left the nursery. Yet, I am a "professional Christian", seeking wholesale transformation at college campuses throughout the Inland NW. 

In my mid-20's I dreamed of pastoring a church. I had begun to regularly preach at local churches and I loved how much it made sense. I sat with a piece of scripture, I prayed and I delivered the message that Jesus seemed to be saying. Most of the time, people seemed to enjoy the sermon and seemed to be genuinely thinking about what I said. I felt respected. I was occupying a role that everyone in my life understood. A pastor (or at least the Sunday morning version of the job) is an known job. Every town needs a mechanic, a store owner, a cook and a preacher. Why couldn't I be that? 

(I should point out here, that my understanding of what a pastor ACTUALLY does was laughably limited when I was thinking about this. I respect the church pastors I know. Their job is ridiculously hard and I would likely be terrible at it. If you have a good pastor, write her/him and note. Let them know that they are good and you appreciate them. They probably need to hear it.)

I am increasingly realizing that the reason my job is hard to explain is because so many of us have the same view of "pastor" that I did. We see Sunday morning. We see a person (usually a man) talk for 20 minutes to an hour about some bible stories. We hear a couple Greek and Hebrew words sprinkled in. Sometimes we are expected to write some words down or fill in some blanks. But we are rarely invited to participate. Can we ever imagine being that pastor? Maybe...but the distance seems substantial. There is our mortgage. And kids. And maybe we dislike public speaking. To be honest, maybe we dislike Sunday morning church. The reality is for many, ministry feels like an option that has already passed them by.   

I believe that church pastors can change this mindset, but they not only need to lead in an empowering way, but they need to swim upstream from what is expected within congregations. I am in awe of the pastors who equip their congregation for ministry. 

So...what do I do for a living? 

To steal a definition from someone else (Mark Scandrette. He is a pastor who inspires me), "I help people live out the teachings of Jesus." 

My work, is to see college students living like Jesus actually expects them to do what he instructs disciples to do. I expect to see students make decisions with their money, time, education, vacations and families that reflect Jesus' teachings. I expect to see students lead their peers in scripture, pray for the transformation of their floors, halls, majors and campuses. I expect to see them live honest, open and vulnerable lives. I expect them to develop abiding friendships with Jesus; friendships that are so pure and real that decisions about money, time, education and families are done with joy, not obligation. I expect these things. 

Why? 

Because Jesus says we should. 

In the kingdom, merchants sell everything in order to buy one, perfect pearl. Wanderers  stumble over treasure and leverage everything they own to buy the field it's in. Small seeds of teachings become giant trees that provide shade and shelter. Almost invisible portions of yeast dynamically transform dough into rising, growing and nourishing bread. (all from Matthew 13)

Last year, I was sharing at a very supportive church. I spent the better part of my weekend with them, in awe of how many of their member participated in mission. I was inspired and humbled by the faith that I witnessed. I shared about a freshman student at WSU who was going to be sharing his faith with his hall that night. I shared that he was not dynamically charismatic or had ambitions of being a pastor. He just loved his hall, saw that Jesus calls us to proclaim our faith and was willing to do so when asked. Dozens of people came up to me with dozens of questions. But all of the questions came down to one simple word; "really?!"

In reality, most of us have limited discipleship to small changes, usually concerning what we watch on tv, view on the internet or how much we give to the church. We secretly wonder, "does Jesus really want me to do that?" and "what would happen if I really did what Jesus asked of me to do?". 

At is best, InterVarsity provides the structure within students can experiment with taking Jesus at face value. It is the place where students can see what happens if they give their extra coat to the poor, go out of the way to love the person who is most demanding and demeaning of them, reconcile broken relationships, proclaim the gospel and vulnerably confess their sins. 

At our worst? We talk at them. We underestimate their ability to participate in mission. We look at our own training and assume that no one can make disciples unless they have exactly the amount of training that we currently have. At our worst, we take an enthusiastic young disciple and accidentally convince them what their friends and neighbors need is a vocational minister like us. We rob their friends of the most effective missionary they could have; the friend God already sent them. 

We are learning, We are learning to make disciples of Jesus, not followers of us. We are learning to train on the job. We are learning Jesus never called professionals, but faithful, normal folks. We are learning not to replace the Holy Spirit with training, but instead to partner with the Spirit in training others. 

I believe that it is possible that this past weekend freshman moved in who will be leading their friends into new or deeper faith in Jesus this semester.  I believe that these disciples who will see mentoring others as part of their life-long devotion to Jesus. I believe students like this are also at University of Idaho, Whitman College, Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga College, Lewis and Clark State College, Heritage College, Columbia Basin Community College, North Idaho College and every other school in the Inland NW. 

Please pray for me and for my staff. Pray that we would do what Jesus tells us to. Pray that we will mentor young students to become disciple makers. Pray that we will see young believers leading friends to faith, new converts reaching their friends and small groups of students planting new small groups. 

Then dream. Dream about these students coming to your church. Not as pastors, but as engineers, nurses, lawyers and teachers. Dream about reaching their peers. Dream about them leading Sunday school classes. Dream about them serving the homeless. Dream about them equipping other lay people in disciple making. 

It's happening right now. 

"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked through all the dough." Matthew 13:33

Further reading: 
http://markscandrette.com/
http://www.releasetheape.com/

Spying out the land at the University of Idaho

Guest post from Amanda, WSU class of 2013 and incoming InterVarsity intern at Whitman College

At the end of April, Tyler (current staff at WSU and future part-time staff at U of I) and I (WSU senior and future intern at Whitman) met up with Brandy, a freshman at U of I who will be co-leading a Bible study with Tyler next year, to scope out the campus and pray for next year’s ministry. Brandy took us to Bob’s and just after we sat down, she waved over a guy walking past and he came and sat at our table. He introduced himself as Matt*, a transfer student. Matt is going to be an RA next year and Tyler invited him to their future Bible study. Matt became very excited and said he is looking at starting a Bible study as one of his programs in the dorm. He said he was nervous because he could get into trouble for it but he really wanted to try. He had bought a book to help train him and was planning on spending a lot of time studying the Bible this summer. Tyler invited him to partner with us so he could receive training and have support in leading his Bible study. He sounded very interested and said that he has been praying to be surrounded by good Christian community and that we were an answer to prayer. He shared his testimony which was extremely powerful.

Matt is the only Christian in his family. His step-dad used to identify as being a Christian. His extended family doesn’t know and he has to keep it a secret. Matt is also trying to share the gospel with those in his major and is looking forward to ministering to his dorm. We were able to pray for him and swap contact information.

Tyler, Brandy, and I walked around Matt’s dorm to pray for next year’s ministry. After Brandy left for class, Tyler and I prayed for images for the future of the dorm. Tyler saw plants and new growth springing up all around and a community being formed to become a place of growth and healing where students are able to be vulnerable and are transformed so that they can go out and transform the campus. I saw Matt stabbing the front steps with a knife with such force that it split the foundation of the building and both sides of the walls fell down. Inside were students in cubicles chained to the walls but as soon as the outer walls fell down, the cubicle walls followed and their chains disappeared, and all the students came together rejoicing into the middle of the former building. We left praising God and extremely encouraged by the harvest that He has seemingly laid out for next year.

We are praying that Matt will follow through and join our team and that his passion for reaching his dorm will continue to grow over the summer! We are very, very excited to see what God has for U of I next year! I cannot wait to hear the stories that Tyler, Brandy, and Matt will have to tell of God’s goodness and transformation played out on campus!

*name changed and all identifying details removed

Footwashing builds community

Summary from Tyler Wickstrom, WSU intern

In a recent Bible study we went through the passage where Jesus washes His disciples’ feet (John13-1-17), and as an introduction to the passage I washed the attendees feet.

Their initial reactions to having their feet washed were mixed: some enjoyed having an elevated status over me, some were embarrassed for me, and some didn’t know how to react. Most commented that if they had known I was going to wash their feet they would have washed their feet in advance.

After this we read through the passage, and the question of why Jesus washed their feet was given. Most agreed that He wanted to demonstrate that they should serve one another, and as we continued to dig, more elements of this act came out. The fact that Jesus lowered himself socially below those He served puzzled the studiers in practical application, and 2 members were challenged to enact this submissive humility in their perspective circles (ROTC and people on their dorm floor)—although they were not sure what it looked like.

We then discussed the intimacy that Jesus displayed in cleaning their feet, and after I shared my testimony of someone pursuing me to pray for me and give me love in a place of shame, they were even more challenged in how to extend this love to others. We all agreed it required us to be intentional with our friendships, and when we considered how Peter initially rejected the offer, we went even further to decide that we had to risk our friendships to bring Jesus into them. One of our attendee’s applications was then to risk a friendship he valued (in bringing up things he usually avoids) in order to bring Jesus into them.

They also concluded that they needed to become perceptive of people’s needs and be actively looking for ways to get involved in more meaningful ways in their relationships.

All in all, we never landed on whether we should literally wash people’s feet, but the level of intentional intimacy into people’s area of shame, and the self-lowering of Jesus below the status of his disciples to do so rocked the group’s perception of what “washing feet” can mean. There was more than one long-standing silence in solemn consideration of how to live out these principles.

God is on the move in the Greek System

Guest post by Donan

I had the great privilege of attending Greek Conference in Indianapolis, February 8-10.  Greek Conference is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced as the conference is geared fully towards fraternity and sorority students.  From the late night schedule to the club-feel dance party on Saturday night, Greek Conference is very Greek.

I also see more people respond to Jesus at Greek Conference than any other time of year.  I’m in awe of the sheer number of students who decide to follow Jesus for the first time or recommit to following Jesus.  God is transforming the fraternity and sorority system one student at a time.  Praise the Lord!

Indy 2013: There were 735 attendees from a record 65 campuses
 
53 Decided for the first time to follow Jesus
366 Reconnected* in relationship with Jesus; committing to fully following Him
315 Will lead* or help start a ministry in their chapter to reach their friends
93 Seek* more information about Jesus and commit to pursuing answers back on campus
 
*This number is based of the representative sampling of the survey respondents on Sunday morning.  Due to airport shuttle departures, some students taking their commitment card home, and other's not understanding what was being asked, the responses collected were substantially lower than normal requiring a pro-ratio calculation of the total impact.

Reflections on Urbana

Donan has been collecting students' reflections on their Urbana experiences.  She asked the simple question, "What did God do in you at Urbana?"

Andrew says...
At Urbana, God helped me to re-connect with His purposes and vision for the campus and the world. After a pretty brutal semester, I felt like God was wrapping his arms around me and giving me a hug at Urbana. As a just-graduated senior, that has allowed me to step off campus with purpose and hope in God.

Reflections on Urbana

Donan has been collecting students' reflections on their Urbana experiences.  She asked the simple question, "What did God do in you at Urbana?"

Amanda says...
Going into Urbana, I didn’t know what to expect. I hoped God would speak to me and maybe give me ideas for my future. I was a little discouraged at the lack of fruit my hard work trying to plant a small group had produced last semester. I was also wrestling with a lot of different plans for my future. I have felt God calling me to intern with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship since the beginning of summer. However, this summer my heart was completely broken for the homeless youth I worked with while living in Seattle. I have so many places I want to go to and people I want to work with. I want to bring Jesus to the slums in India, leper colonies, impoverished urban communities, human trafficking victims, etc. It seemed selfish to stay in the US and live a pretty comfortable life reaching college students when I am so ready to get my hands dirty and serve the “least of these.”
During Urbana, God definitely affirmed His plans for me to go into campus ministry. As I was praying I got the word “catalyst.” I started asking Him what that looked like because my attempts so far had failed. I also felt God inviting me to campus ministry in order to raise up leaders to be world changers. This way I could send people to all the places that are on my heart to reach more effectively than I could over do by myself. I was blown away and humbled with this amazing invitation! I was also very frustrated because the members of my small group are not very committed to even attending Bible study, so how was I going to accomplish this? God answered these quandaries of feeling like a failure because of a lack of people by saying, “Well, you never really asked for any.” That was a much-needed smack in the face. I was convicted that I don’t expect God to use me to do great things and try to work out of my own strength instead of God’s. I felt like God’s invitation out of this was to spend an hour a day in prayer for my campus, to pour my heart out and intercede for a transformation at WSU, that the chains of addiction, apathy, and success would be broken, that the Holy Spirit would completely change the hearts of every single student on campus. I have done so since I returned and it has been one of the most exciting, challenging, rejuvenating, and humbling times of interaction with God as I seek to partner and conform my plans to His will. I can't wait for the day when all the crazy things I am praying for now will seem normal as God works amazing things on the WSU campus or wherever He sends me!