Pit Stop

Whoops, this update is coming out a bit later than I meant it to. Guess time got away from me a little there....

Life in InterVarsity is actually in a bit of a lull right now. We're in kind of an in-between time, having just come out of the Spring Break but not quite geared up for the end of the year activities. Something that has been happening, though, has been the completion of our leadership selection for next year. We're having almost a complete turnover of our core Vision Team, with only one student staying on (the rest are graduating or moving) and four new students stepping into those roles. We're also replacing almost all of our Small Group Leaders as well, with two staying on and four more joining them. It can be a bit of a gamble having such a large turnover, but I'm really excited about this group. We have a lot of great potential for leadership in the chapter, and these official leaders represent only a part of the work that the students pour into the work we're doing at UNM. I would appreciate it, however, if you would pray for these leaders as they prepare and train for the work they'll be doing next year. Please pray especially that they would be able to make it to Chapter Camp, our end of the year retreat, so that they can have that chance to grow together as a team and get some really essential training.

Speaking of Chapter Camp, it's been great to see how much excitement the whole chapter seems to have about going. We made a bit of a wager with NMT on who would bring the most people, and I think that we're well on the way to accomplishing that goal. It's not just about numbers, though; we know that the students who come on the retreat will really receive some great training and grow spiritually through the study there. It's always a wonderful time, and I personally look forward to it every year. As part of the staff this year, I'll also be helping with the creative response for the week, and it's been great to see the way the week is coming together. Having peeked behind the curtain a bit, I'm really excited for it. Pray for the students who are still on the fence about going, that God would provide for them to be able to go. Pray also for me and all the (many) other staff running the camp to be able to really provide a space for students to meet with God and grow.

Though this past week was a little slower, things are going to start ramping up starting this week. I'm actually speaking this week at Large Group on prayer, showing students ways in which our prayers should reflect listening to God and not just presenting a grocery list of requests and then going on our way. I hoping that it'll be a good learning experience for all of them, and hopefully fun as well as we try out some different techniques like Lectio Divina and listening prayer. Please pray that it will all come together, though, and that I'll be able to share what God has for them and not just give my own message.

There's a lot more coming down the pike, but I'll be sure to tell you more as they get closer. For now, God bless and have a wonderful week.

"Every word of God is flawless;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him."
- Proverbs 30:5

Michael's Spring InterVarsity Ministry Update

Ok, so once more I've sent out my ministry update letter. Again, many of you will get this in your email, but here it is for those of you who do not. As a side note, let me know if you would like to be on my email support list, and I'll definitely add you! Here's the letter:

Hello to all my wonderful supporters!

God has certainly continued to bless InterVarsity at UNM this spring semester. While it is very common for a chapter to dwindle in the spring as schedules change and students become busier, this semester seems to really be the exception. We've continued to see new students coming and getting involved. We've also been able to have a number of really great events this semester, and while I can't talk about them all, I would love to tell you about a few of them.

We wanted to have another big evangelistic event this semester, so in February we held an event called "Sexy Pizza". For two days we set up a table in the SUB, inviting people to respond on our board to the question "What do you think Christians think about sex?" As with the Proxe Station we set up last semester, this allowed us to start conversations with students about what sex means to them, how their relationships have been affected by their views on sex, and how they think God feels about their lifestyle choices. We then invited them to come to a special Large Group meeting, where we had a panel of Christians including a pastor, a sex therapist, and some married and unmarried students willing to discuss any questions students raised. As you might imagine, there was certainly some interesting discussion! We ended the night with an invitation to accept Christ's offer of a relationship with us. Though no one wanted to make that commitment that night, we did have a number of students interested in getting together over the next few weeks to learn more about God's desire for a relationship with them.

The last weekend in February was our annual spring retreat, Cresciendo en Christo (Growing in Christ). From Friday through Sunday students from UNM, NMT, and UTEP gathered in Socorro to fellowship and learn more about what it means to be a Christian leader. We studied Titus, looking at how Paul encouraged Titus to raise up men of character to lead the church in Crete and battle the false doctrines that surrounded the church. We also held different short seminars which students could sign up for to learn more about discipleship, dating, evangelism, or godly living. I took the godly living one, and it was really great to teach how basic disciplines like Bible study and prayer. We had about 55 students total, 28 of whom were from UNM, and it was great to see them all growing through the studies, the worship, and the fellowship of the retreat.

One final opportunity we have had was the Albuquerque Urban Plunge, which happened this past Saturday through Wednesday, coinciding with UNM's spring break. The idea of the AUP is to show students God's heart for the poor by experiencing poverty homelessness. We had a total of 9 attendees including Hans, who was running the project, and myself. We also had 3 students from UNM, 2 from NMT, and 2 from NAU. We spent the first 2 days doing orientation - getting to know one another and bonding as a group as well as preparing ourselves for the cross-cultural experience of dealing with homelessness. Then the following two days, we experienced homelessness firsthand as we were sent out on an "urban scavenger hunt." We dressed as homeless people and were able to take only two items with us, which we had to carry wherever we went. Acting as if we were new in town, we engaged with the homeless, ate with them at missions, saw their health clinic, and tried to experience life from their point of view by going through the processes for a mailing address, food stamps, and bus passes. It was a truly eye-opening experience, both in seeing how well the homeless are cared for here in Albuquerque but more importantly in seeing that the homeless are not "lowly" people and that they deserve our care and friendship, not our snubbing and arm-length giving. I believe that I and all the other students now have a much fuller appreciation for God's love for these people, and I'm so glad for the opportunity to see life from their point of view.

A last big development that I would love to share with you all is that I have accepted a long-term position with InterVarsity. It will be a 5-year commitment beginning at the conclusion of my Intern year in August. For the first 2 years, I will be on staff at UNM, but after that there is a good chance that I will switch over to NMT for the final 3 years. It is a part-time position, so I will be working about 29 hours a week and likely continuing my work on the side with the game company SP Entertainment. I will try to tell you more about what this all means as later, but for now I would really appreciate your prayers as I begin this next phase of my ministry through InterVarsity.

I have some other prayers and praises that I would like to bring to you all:

• A number of our students have really shown a desire to become more evangelistic, which is a real praise! For now, though, they don't have much direction, so please pray that we would be able to find some really good avenues for them to engage their friends and fellow students with the Gospel.
• One of the students who has started attending this semester, the younger brother of one of our other students, does not seem to be a Christian but is also very interested in learning more about what Christianity is all about. Please ask God to soften his heart and make him receptive to the Gospel, and also pray for us to have the courage and the understanding to invite him into that relationship when he is ready for it.
• As I mentioned, a number of students indicated that they would like to learn more about God after coming to Sexy Pizza. We already have one guy meeting with Hans and one of our students, which is a great praise, while the other groups are still in the being scheduled. I ask that you would pray for the group that is already underway to be effective and for the other groups to come together soon and to also guide those students closer to a true relationship with God.
• Pray for me as I prepare to become a full Campus Staff Minister. I'll need to do a great deal of fundraising and training over the next few months, so pray that I would be prepared for that work, that God would guide my fundraising efforts, and that I would be effective in working for God's Kingdom over these next few years.
• A final praise is that my father's chemotherapy treatment has finished a little earlier than expected since there is now no sign of cancer in his lymph nodes! We had been worried for a little while since the chemo seemed to be affecting him more recently (though he still has all his hair), but for now he is able to do maintenance which will just mean taking some medications without full chemo treatments. Thank God for this turn of events, and please continue to pray for my father as he goes through the maintenance.

Thank you for your continued love, prayer, and support. It is a privilege to work alongside you in this ministry. God bless you all in the coming months.

His servant,
Michael

Addendum

So I know that I just updated last night, but I wanted to share with you all that I got a job offer from InterVarsity today for a full staff position! It's a part-time job: 29 hours a week. It's for 5 years total, with the first 2 being at UNM and then possibly at NMT the following 3 years. For now, that'll mean that I can both continue working with IV and with the game company I'm also a part of, which is really what I was hoping for. This is a really exciting opportunity, but I definitely don't want to go into it without proper guidance. Please pray for me to make the right decision about this job offer. I have two weeks to make my decision, and while I feel like I could just accept it right now, I want to be sure I have God's backing in this and don't rush in without Him. Thank you so much, and I'll be sure to tell you more as this whole process continues to develop.

The other thing I wanted to mention, which I completely forgot to talk about in the last update, is that I'll be gone next weekend, so I won't be able to update as usual. I'm doing an urban project in Albuquerque this Saturday through Wednesday, so my next post will probably come sometime on Wednesday or Thursday of next week. Please keep the project in your prayers as well. I don't really know what to expect (the details are kept minimal on purpose), but I'm excited about going and know that it'll be a great experience. Have a great week!

"Choose my instruction instead of silver,
knowledge rather than choice gold,
for wisdom is more precious than rubies,
and nothing you desire can compare with her."
- Proverbs 8:10-11

Witness

It's really funny sometimes how God works in ways we don't expect. Following the intensity of Cresciendo last weekend, I was completely wiped. Yet each time that I was starting to feel a little pressed for time, my schedule managed to open up. In fact, all told this has been by far the most laid back week of the semester; I ended up with so much free time that I almost didn't know what do to with it! It's great having God work things out.

A couple cool opportunities happened this week as well. On Thursday at our Large Group meeting, we had a woman come in from East Central Ministries to talk about her testimony and how God has used her to work for His kingdom. East Central Ministries works right in the middle of the "War Zone" in Albuquerque doing incarnational ministry. The people there live and work amongst some of the worst neighborhoods in the city, sharing the Gospel through relationships with others and providing ways to care for the community. The speaker talked about how she had felt the call when she was about to graduate not to seek a "mountaintop experience" with God, but to descend to the inner city and share His love amongst the poor. It was a really cool look at how we can follow God's missional heart.

Then, as a kind of follow-up to her talk, we actually got to take a group out to ECM on Saturday to help work there as a service outreach. There we took on different jobs to help the ministry including helping construct a new greenhouse they will use to provide work for the needy in the area and labeling the planters made by the ministry as a source of income. While there was no strictly evangelistic element to the outing (we were working completely with Christians), it was great to see firsthand how the organization is reaching out to the community and to witness their hearts for the poor around them. We had gone to ECM last semester as well to help out, and I really hope that we'll be able to continue this partnership and help however we can in the spread of the Gospel through their work.

I had another great opportunity this week as well. My church runs an AWANAS program, and this Friday was their annual Grand Prix. The kids get to make cars out of blocks of wood and then race them down a track, with the winners taking home trophies. Anyway, since many parents take their kids to AWANAS as a kind of free child care rather than as a way to teach them about the Bible, and since the Grand Prix is one of the few times that both parents and kids from AWANAS gather, it is also a good time to share a bit about the Gospel to those who otherwise might not get a chance to hear about it. I was invited to give a short Gospel presentation this year, and while I was a little skeptical about how such a message would go over with a group who just wants to watch some races, I thought it could also be a fun opportunity and accepted the invitation.

I talked about my own time in AWANAS: how I had loved the fun of things like the Grand Prix and really got to know a lot about God, but I also shared what a difference actually having a relationship with God (rather than just learning about one) has meant to me and my life. I invited anyone who wanted to know more about a relationship with Jesus to come talk to me or one of the leaders, but the vibe I was getting seemed more in line with just wanting to get on to the awards ceremony. That pretty much met my expectations; I had been told earlier that no one had made a commitment to Christ as a result of one of these presentations. The night ended, and I went home glad to have at least practiced a bit of evangelism. But just today I got an email; apparently one of the first grade girls at the event talked with her parents later that night and asked Jesus into her heart! I hadn't really expected anything to come of the night, but I'm so glad that God was able to use what little faith I had to further His work. Please pray for the girl, Emma, that this would be the start of a long and beautiful relationship with the Lord.

I've also been thinking about evangelism in general, and one thing that keeps sticking out for me is the almost complete lack of any contact with non-Christians in my life. Ironically, by being in ministry I have almost no relationships to invest in evangelically. Honestly, this is a bit of a stretch for me spiritually, but I have decided to start praying for God to put some non-Christians in my life so I can share God's love with them. I ask that you would join me in this prayer. Though I don't know what it will look like, please pray that I would begin to build relationships with non believers for the sake of the Gospel. Thanks so much!

"I run in the path of your commands,
for you have set my heart free."
- Psalm 119:32