South Africa Briefing Weekend

This past weekend, Mitch and I travelled to Atlanta, GA, to spend a weekend meeting the rest of our South Africa team and to be briefed on our trip to Durban this summer. Along with Mitch and I, we had 4 students travel with us- 2 who will be going with us to Durban for the summer (Paula & Carson), and 2 who will be serving in Durban for a year come this January (Nathan & Shawn)! God continues to amaze me (imagine that) with all that He has been doing not only in our lives but in the lives of our students. These students, along with the other 13 students from around the Southeast, are giving up spending their summers with family, getting ahead in their classes, & paid internships/jobs/grad school to answer the call to take the gospel to the world. Incredible.

We arrived in Atlanta Friday afternoon and kicked-off the weekend by going out to dinner with our Durban Summer Project team. Our team consists of 10 girls and 5 guys from 6 different schools: UF, UCF, UGA, Georgia Southern, Ole Miss, & Southern Miss. In addition to Mitch and I, there will be 5 other Crusade staff members going as well as 3 staff kids! Spending the weekend getting to know our team was such a joy and it was such a disappointment to leave on Sunday knowing that we weren't leaving for another two months!

We will officially be flying out on July 1st: Atlanta to D.C. to Dakar to Johannesburg to Durban. Traveling will take us about 24 hours with the longest plane ride being around 18 (have I mentioned the longest flight I have been on was not even 3 hours?). Once we arrive, we will spend the first 3 weeks serving the community in Durban through a local orphanage and AIDS Hospice. Durban has one of the highest AIDS rates in the the world and has the highest infection rate in all of South Africa. Close to half of the entire population of Durban is infected with AIDS, while around 80% of black South Africans in certain townships are infected.

We will spend the last 2 weeks of our project at the University of Kwazulu-Natal, working alongside of Durban Campus Crusade student staff. We will be connecting with students, sharing the gospel, and helping to disciple those who desire to learn more.

Although it is two months away, there are so many prayer needs we have! Pray for support raising for our students and staff alike; that God will provide the financial needs to make this trip possible. Pray for the people of Durban; that God will soften their hearts and comfort those who are sick. Pray for God to prepare our hearts to 100% selflessly serve and love the people of Durban during the 6 weeks that we will be there. Praise God for the opportunity He has granted us and for raising up Christ-centered laborers who are willing to go serve Him in Durban!

Weekly Meeting: Ephesians study

Since the beginning of January, USM Crusade has been meeting weekly, on Wednesday nights @ 8:00, to study the book of Ephesians. Andrew (our MTL: ministry team leader), has spent the semester slowly working through the first chapters of Ephesians and challenging students (and staff) to spend time meditating on the fact that Christ has reconciled ALL to Himself and how that fact should affect every single aspect of our lives.

In addition to worshipping through song and studying the Word, this week we began our "Senior Spotlights." With graduation right around the corner, we will be hearing from several of our graduating seniors through out the next couple weeks about the amazing things God has done and is doing in their lives. Last night, we were able to hear from a sweet woman whom God has given the desire to pursue ministry in the future. Although she confessed that she was nervous to speak, she spoke so honestly and surely about the ways God had been moving in her life that I would have never known that she did not enjoy speaking in front of others! I am so thankful that God blesses us with the opportunities to share with others the amazing things He is doing in each of His disciples.

Mitch speaking at our weekly meeting

During our weekly meeting last night, Mitch had the opportunity to speak on Ephesians 4:17-32 and the importance of the mind in the Christian life. Mitch began by focusing on how Paul urges Christians to not be ignorant in their thinking, but to follow the example that Christ has set before us. Furthermore, he discussed how filling our minds with things of this world inhibit us to completely set our minds on Christ. To show how this is true, Mitch presented the students with some common phrases and movie quotes and asked them to fill in the blanks: "May the ________ be with you." (force) For the Hunger Games fans out there, "May the _______ be ever in your favor" (odds) And for the football fans out there, name the 12 SEC football teams. Pretty easy for us to do right? He then presented this: "For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world- ______________" (John 18, to bear witness to the truth) And lastly, name the 12 tribes of Israel (The night before, Mitch and I tried to name the 12 tribes.... we only got 9; pretty embarrassing and convicting). How quickly one can answer the beginning quotes and questions, but the last ones take real thought- if we can even answer them at all! Ending his talk on Psalm 1, Mitch urged students to meditate on the Law and to consider what things might be taking Christ's place in our minds and ultimately our heart's desires. 

Remember: A year ago today (Part 2)

A year ago today, I was living in Fort Worth, Texas, pursuing my Christian counseling degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Meanwhile, Mitch was living in Plano, Texas, working and writing for Josh McDowell at JMM's home office. A year ago today, I spent so much time worrying about whether I should stay at Southwestern or transfer to a different seminary. I worried about my relationship with Mitch and whether he was the one that God would allow me to marry. I worried about living so far away from my family and Mitch's. I worried about what God's will for my life was. And the list (sadly) goes on. However, in spite of my anxious and doubting heart, God's faithfulness and provisions this past year have been absolutely incredible. God's glory is portrayed and His faithfulness displayed by simply reflecting back a year to see where God has brought you from and what He has brought you through. 

A year ago today, on April 7, 2011, Mitch drove down to Fort Worth, convinced me to leave class early, and proposed to me in the middle of campus. How many hours (and years... lets be honest) I agonized over who I was going to marry or if I was ever going to marry! How much time I could have saved myself if I had only trusted in God and in His faithful provisions! There were so many times that Mitch and I doubted whether our relationship would make it until the next day, much less marriage; and yet look at how far God has brought us! Remembering the past year reminds me that with God, all things are possible. 

After getting engaged, Mitch and I both felt that God was calling me to move ahead with joining staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. At the end of May, I left Southwestern and we travelled out to Fort Collins, Colorado, for New Staff Training. We spent the summer immersed in training, Biblical studies, and Christian fellowship with fellow Crusade staff. Although there were many times that I questioned and doubted my calling to Campus Crusade, I knew that I was called to marry Mitch and therefore needed to be on staff. However, God blessed us so greatly that summer with wonderful new friends and a new vision for how He was planning on using us. Remembering the past year reminds me that God will never met me "miss" His will for my life.

At the beginning of training, Mitch and I were on staff with Josh McDowell Ministries and were planning on heading back to the main office in Plano once we raised our support. However, at the end of training, we felt God was calling us to answer a need on a local campus. Although we had everything carefully planned, God had different plans for us. The switch from JMM to campus left us very unsure. However, God is faithful and He has used us here at Southern Miss in ways we could have never imagined! Remembering the past year reminds me that God's plan for my life is so much greater than my own!

After training, Mitch and I moved to
Columbus, GA, to raise our financial support. On September 24, 2011, we were finally married (longest 5 months of my life!). We took a week off for our honeymoon and then headed back to Columbus to continue our support raising journey. Raising support brought a whole new load of fears, doubts, uncertainties, and lies straight from the enemy. What if we never raise our support? What if God doesn't want us to complete our support? Is it fair that we are asking people to financially support us? And it goes on, and on, and on. Writing this today, and remembering where we were during this time is so encouraging and incredible! God provided for our needs above and beyond our hopes and dreams and He raised up our supporters in less than 5 months! Remembering the past year reminds me that God will always provide for the needs of those who do His will.

In January, Mitch and I packed up our things and moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to begin working with students at the University of Southern Mississippi. Neither of us had ever spent time in Mississippi for longer than a couple days and we knew only the members of our staff team. In the first couple of weeks we worried about finding a church, finding community, and finding comfort in a new city. God has provided all of these things and more in the 2 1/2 short months that we have been here. Mitch and I have fallen in love with Hattiesburg and all the amazing students we know here! The ministry has flourished in ways we never even thought possible for the first year of a new movement. We have committed to stay here for 4 years and we couldn't be more excited to see what God has in store for us and for Southern Miss. Remembering the past year reminds me that God is actively using us to further His kingdom and that He deems us worthy to spread the great news.

Just last week, God blessed Mitch and I with the opportunity to buy our first house. Because we felt that He was calling us to commit to 4 years, we decided that purchasing a house was financially more responsible than renting for 4 years. God enabled us to meet a sweet Christian couple who was looking to sell their house and He was faithful in providing us the funds and wisdom to buy it! The house is close to campus and will be a wonderful place to have students over for worship, study and fellowship. Remembering the past year reminds me that God desires to bless and prosper those who love Him and strive to follow His decrees.

How humbling and encouraging it is to be able to look back over the past year and see how God delivers, provides, sanctifies, and prospers those whom He loves. God's past faithfulness is an indicator of His future provisions for us. Remembering enables us to focus solely on God's faithfulness and most importantly, His glory. Praise be to God for all the amazing things He has done, is doing, and will do for and through those who are called according to His purpose!

Remember: A year ago today (Part 1)

One of my favorite reoccurring themes in the Bible, specifically the Old Testament, is the theme of remembering. Time and time again the Lord commands and beseeches His people to remember. Remember what I have promised you. Remember what I have commanded you. Remember what I have brought you out of. Remember what I have done for YOU. Did the Lord have to remind His people of these things because they had bad memories? Or because the time that had passed was too great? No. The Lord had to beseech His people to remember these things because our sinful natures cause us to dwell only upon the shortcomings of our lives. We dwell on the things we "deserved" but did not received. And we dwell on the things that we should have been but we are not.

I will be the first to admit that I dwell on these "disappointments" way more than I should. As if that is not  wasting enough time as it is, I also find myself contemplating how I can "prevent" these disappointments in the future. It doesn't take long to see how depressing and self-absorbed this cycle can become. So how do we remove ourselves from this cycle and free up our minds to meditate on Christ? We remember.

A sweet friend of mine has been telling me about how she has begun to keep a thankful journal through out each day. As things come to mind, she journals about all of the things she is thankful for in her life. At the end of each day, she reflects back and records other things she remembers that she is thankful for and the things that God has done for her. She remembers.

Can you imagine the freedom we would experience if we spent more time remembering? No longer would we spend hours worrying over whether God would provide supporters for our financial needs. Why not? Because instead, we would look back and remember that God has never failed to provide for our financial needs. No longer would we spend hours worrying about where and when we will head next.  Why not? Because instead, we would look back and remember that God provided us an amazing staff team, wonderful students, and a great community here at Southern Miss (even though we spent months being unsure of this step, might I sheepishly add). No longer would we spend hours agonizing over what God's will is for our lives. Why not? Because instead, we would look back and remember how far God has brought us and how far He promises to take us.

This Good Friday (what a powerful day to remember the things God has done) marks the beginning of a renewal of my mind. I no longer wish for my prayers, conversations, newsletters and blog to be about "the ups and downs of ministry", but a remembrance of the things that the Lord has done, is doing, and will do through me and Mitch. Because it is only by remembering what He has done and what He has promised to do, that the Lord alone will receive the glory; and that is our chief end.

Remember: A year ago today (Part 2) to follow... :)

Greek Prayer Weekend

Although I am a born and raised, summer-lovin' Georgia girl, I must confess that Mississippi's "spring" has made me a little bit weary of the coming summer months! Luckily, the past month has been so busy I haven't had too much time to focus on the season... or lack there of. March brought beautiful/monsoon weather, new small group communities, and the oh-so-treasured spring break week (not to mention the Hunger Games midnight premiere but we will not dive into that one).

However, none of these compare to the amazing things that God has been doing at Southern Miss this past month. For anyone who works with, is a parent to, or has been a college student, you know that being bold in your faith and truly walking as a disciple of Christ on a college campus means you face daily opposition. Which is why witnessing our students do just this has been amazing and such an encouragement to us as staff and as fellow Christians. Let me just tell you about how great our God is and how bold our students are!

Last month, we had a few students travel to Auburn, Alabama, for a weekend of prayer with other Greek leaders in the Southeast. Immediately upon returning from this weekend, two of our students leaders began to voice their vision for a similar weekend here at Southern Miss's campus. After some weeks of planning, preparation and a lot of prayer, our student leaders launched the first Greek Prayer Weekend at USM. Two to three representatives were invited from each fraternity and sorority on campus to join us on Friday night and Saturday morning to learn more about the importance of prayer.

Students spending their Friday night learning how to pray for their greek houses

Predominately lead by Shawn and Paula, with a talk by Andrew and a guest speaker, 20 students were able to spend the weekend learning about the importance of prayer, how to pray for their fraternity house or sorority house, and how to use prayer to impact their greek chapters. In addition, they were able to spend significant time praying individually and corporately for their greek chapters and for their own boldness to pursue making impacts on their chapters while they are here at Southern Miss. Pray for the strength and encouragement for these students as they allow God to use them in their greek chapters!