The Next Wave

So due to some changes in my schedule for this semester, I'll be trying to update on Saturdays rather than Wednesdays. Yes, I realize that I kinda missed last Saturday. I'm a slacker....

This last week was the first week of the spring semester for the students at UNM. Because of that, we at InterVarsity had another round of NSO (New Student Outreach). There aren't nearly as many new students in the spring compared to the fall, and most students have largely found groups that they want to be a part of if they are looking for them, so we don't usually have as many events as we put on in the fall. However, though we haven't planned as many events, the ones we've been having have been really pretty great.

We started off the week with a welcome back party for IV students on Monday (MLK Day). Somewhere around 25 people showed up, pretty well filling up my little house where we hosted it. We had pizza, played some games, and talked about the fun/cool/interesting things we did over the Christmas break. We also wanted to use the time to put the students in the right mindset for the semester, so Hans, Jen the chapter president, and I shared on different aspects of vision. Hans talked about how vision helps us see the world as God sees it, preventing us from being wholly focused on ourselves. Jen talked about her own experiences in IV: how the carrying out of vision among the chapter when she first came to IV is what made her stay around, and how she hopes for the same vision will grow more in our chapter to continue drawing people in. Then I closed us off by talking about how to have personal vision, answering God's call and being confident that as we pray for His guidance, we can rest assured that His place and plans for us are good. It is easy for messages like these to slip away as students return to their busy semester schedules, so please pray with me that they would truly take them to heart and desire to connect with God's vision for our chapter and for their own lives.

We also had a few days of info tables in the UNM Student Union Building to raise awareness about IV among students passing by. We had students running the tables from 10-2 both Wednesday and Thursday, and though we didn't have nearly as many students come by as we do during the fall table times, those who did come by seemed very interested in getting involved.

In fact, the first Large Group of the semester really showed how many of those students really wanted to get involved. From my experiences, the spring usually brings in maybe one or two new students, but this last week we had about 8 new people show up! We wanted to make all the new people feel welcome, so we spent part of the night doing "speed friendships". It's like speed dating except that (as far as I know) no couples formed at the end of the night. We just spent about 2 minutes finding out about the person across from us, then switching once the timer went off. We also took some time to have all of the students fill out a personal spiritual evaluation, which we hope to use to develop our Large Group curriculum this semester. We feel that we need to help the chapter grow in their understanding of the Christian faith as a whole, so we should be entering some interesting territory including prayer, the trinity, and criticisms of Christianity. Please be praying for Heydon, the Large Group Coordinator, who will be trying to structure these lessons to best meet the needs of the students. I also ask that you pray for those new students to have a desire to stick around. Most of the ones I talked to seemed really interested in IV, but it is very easy for students to stop coming once school really starts setting in.

The last event of the week was a night of broom ball at the Outpost Ice Skating Arena. In case you don't know, broom ball is like ice hockey except that you run in shoes across the ice rather than skating. Also there is moderately less brawling. Usually. We had about 24 people show up for the game, and somehow we managed to cram all of them into one of the small side rinks of Outpost. It was really a blast, and to my knowledge, no one is missing any teeth! Afterward, we went out to Dion's for some dinner (a first for some of the students!) followed by a somewhat impromptu movie (the new Star Trek) at my house.

This semester is also going to mean some changes for me. For one, I'm no longer going to have my prayer group. No one was really showing up, so I'll be freeing up my time for other things. I also am no longer leading the Truth Project small group, partially because my co-leader decided to step down. I'm a little bummed that I won't be finishing the study, but I'm also really excited about my new curriculum: a study of the book of James. I actually was part of a Bible study in middle school that attempted to memorize the whole book of James, and that study has a really special place in my heart, so it'll be great to be returning to the book. Please pray for that group to be a place of growth for all who attend. Please also keep my discipleship group in your prayers. We're continuing to look at the ways God communicates with us personally, and I really hope that the guys I'm leading will really continue to mature this semester as a result of our times together.

I'm also going to be a part of the new leadership selection committee, which will be responsible for determining which students will become the leadership team for next year. A large portion of our Vision Team is leaving after this semester, so it will be very important for us to find students who will be able to carry the mantles they leave behind. Pray for wisdom for us in trying to discern which students can best lead the chapter and in what capacity. Student leaders are the ones who are really responsible for making the chapter run, so it's very important that we pick those whom God has called.

Finally, I would like to let you all know that I've decided to apply for at least a part-time job as a true IV staff worker for the next few years. I've been praying a lot about this for a few months now, and I really feel like God wants to continue to use me in InterVarsity at UNM. I'll be starting on the formal application process pretty soon here, so please pray for that to go well. Also, thank you for your prayers for my discernment in this matter; I really feel like this is where God wants me to be and am confident in His provision as I pursue this career. God bless you all for your support this past semester, and I look forward to what both this spring and the years ahead have in store!

"LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance."
- Psalm 16:5-6