The Belated Blog Post Title...

One of the more interesting features about working with InterVarsity is that it teaches/forces you to think on your feet some of the time. That was my experience, at least, this last Tuesday. Rod, the Area Director, and I were supposed to take my discipleship group to do some contact evangelism (stiking up spiritual conversations with random students around campus), but at the last minute Rod found out he wouldn't be able to make it. That meant I had to find a quick solution that didn't require any prep for either me or the other guys.

Thankfully, a conversation with Hans led to the idea of a special prayer walk - easy, effective, and a good opportunity to grow. We ended up taking some time individually walking around campus, trying to open our hearts to see how God was already at work around us and praise Him for those things, as well as looking for ways in which we saw a need for God and praying for them. Then we came back together and discussed what we saw, praying and praising as a group. It was a cool way to become more aware of the spiritual state of the campus as well as a wonderful way to enjoy one of the first really warm days of the year.

I also had some trouble preparing for my James small group, but since it occurs rather close to dinner, it was fairly easy to come up with an alternative. Namely, taking the students out to eat. I've been wanting to work in some more challenging applications into the group as well, especially since James is all about living in a Christ-like manner. So rather than just go to dinner, I challenged the group to try to invite some of the homeless people that frequently show up around the school to come to dinner with us.

We decided on going to the Brickhouse, a local pizza shop with some relatively cheap but monsterous slices. On the way, we actually were approached by a guy asking for food, making my little challenge pretty easy to follow through on. He came with us, chatting (and cursing) along the way about how few people will actually take any time to notice him. The dinner itself was interesting, in part because the man 1. was drunk, 2. wanted more beer but didn't have an ID, and 3. got up at one point to ask the people around us for cigarettes. Still, though, it was good to chat with him about his life, sports, and TV. Also, when we said the prayer for the food, he offered to translate it into his language (he's from Taos Pueblo), which was a cool treat. While it certainly wasn't the smoothest encounter I've has with serving the homeless, it was still a good growing opportunity for the group and a good way to demonstrate some love to someone in need of it.

I also had the opportunity to teach this week's Large Group. The focus was on prayer, so I decided to talk about listening prayer and then spend the rest of the night looking at different methods of hearing God. One of the most important lessons I've learned about prayer is that it's not unilateral but really should be an active conversation between us and God. This seems rather obvious to some people, but it's rare that Christian prayer is characterized not simply by what we say to God but also how we listen to Him.

It was great to share how my prayer life has been transformed by trying to really hear God speak, but it was even more exciting to watch as we explored different methods of prayer. We began with a time of confession before God, preparing our hearts to hear Him. We then moved to Lectio Divina, meditating on God's character as revealed in Psalm 46. Then we spent some time just silent before God, trying to listen to Him as He spoke into our hearts. We had a time of group prayer that spontaneously transformed into prayer for the needs of others. Finally, we worshiped together in song and in one-word prayers, shouting out aspects of God's character that impacted us. It was a great and holy night, and I was really privileged to be a part of it.

I got the final details for my appointment as an InterVarsity Campus Staff Worker, meaning that pretty soon I'll need to start again on the process of fundraising for the coming year. While in some ways it's stil a little ways off, please pray for me as I prepare for that in the coming weeks.

"But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."
- Acts 7:55