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!

Home Sweet Mississippi...

After spending time in 2 Corinthians 12 this week and identifying my horrifyingly long list of weaknesses that I see in myself (and many more that I'm sure my pride prevents me from seeing), it has been made clear to myself and I'm sure all who read this blog that blogging is nearing the top of that list. With that said, I have a LOT to catch up on since my last post!

Through no power or effort of our own, Mitch and my support was completed at the beginning of January while we were spending the week in Atlanta at the Passion 2012 conference. I cannot ever express in words the joy and peace we experienced in the moment that we received the news that we were reporting to USM. I believe that I can speak for Mitch and myself when I say that we never doubted that God would one day complete our support. However, I will confess that we shared many days questioning how far in the future that day would be. Thankfully, God chose for that day to come sooner than we could've ever hoped and we moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi just in time to kick off the spring semester! Again, all God's work and all God's glory.

Upon arriving in Hattiesburg and getting settled, Mitch and I have quickly fallen in love with the city, the school, the staff team, the students... well you get my point! Our love for Southern Miss and our overwhelming peace with being in Hattiesburg have been such sweet gifts of assurance from the Lord. We are very confident in our calling to stay at Southern Miss for long enough to really see the ministry get on its feet and flourish and have thus committed to stay in Hattiesburg for at least 4 years.

Although the ministry just started up in August, USM cru is already hosting a weekly meeting on campus every Wednesday night at 8. This semester, we have been studying the book of Ephesians and have spent time outside of the meeting reflecting on the passages within some of our community groups (bible study groups). In addition, we have been focusing on the importance of a global perspective by calling attention to spiritually and physical needs of people groups around the world. Campus Crusade offers several summer discipleship trips and missions trips called "summer projects" that we as staff will spend our time leading through the months of May, June, and July. (Mitch and I will actually be heading to Durban, South Africa this July!) We hope to not only help lead these summer projects but to also bring USM students who share our global perspective and passion for being Christ-centered laborers throughout the world!

The past two months (yikes it really has been a long time since my last post) have been such a joy for us as we have begun the current journey God has for us. Although I constantly find myself questioning how God could ever use such a weak and sinful person as myself, I know that His grace is sufficient for me & that His power is made perfect in my weaknesses. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me! How I hope and pray that I will never know a day that I do not give God all the honor and glory for the things He is faithfully doing through me.

Passion 2012

This past week, Campus Crusade had the privilege of partnering with Passion 2012 for our annual Christmas Conference. This year's Passion conference was held in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta for the first time and hosted over 42, 000 college-age students and 2,000 volunteers! The Southeast region of Campus Crusade had 1,200 students attend Passion from universities scattered around Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Southern Miss had a group of thirteen go and we were by far the best group, I think (but I guess I'm a little biased). From January 2-5, we rung in the new year by hearing the Word of God from great speakers such as Louie Giglio, Beth Moore, Francis Chan, and John Piper. This year, Passion adopted a central message and theme for the week: FREEDOM. In addition to focusing on freedom from spiritual death and the bondage of sin and shame, the week was also spent being educated about alarming issue of human trafficking around the world today. There are over 27 million people in slavery around the world today- the greatest number of people enslaved in history! In order to fight this injustice, students were given the opportunity to donate money toward certain organizations that work to end modern slavery at "Freedom Stations" that were set up around the conference. With a goal of 1 million dollars, the students more than double that by raising 2.56 million dollars in 4 days!! Inspired by the amount that college students gave, other donors gave over 500,000 toward the cause. As of last night, the total amount of money raise was $3,066,670! All the Glory be to God!

At midnight on the last night,
42,000 students lit their candles and
took their stand against slavery.

This hand was made with
common materials made
by slaves that we use everyday
here and symbolizes
the freedom we are
fighting for. 

Although the money raised was extremely mind-blowing, the most incredible part of the week was witnessing students be freed themselves. On the first night of Passion, Louie Giglio gave a message based on the account of Jesus intercepting the funeral and raising the widow's son from the dead. Giglio pointed out that in those days, depending on the status of the family, the dead would be carried on stretchers outside of the city to where they would be buried. On the day that this man was being carried down the road to be buried, Jesus was traveling to the city and intercepted the funeral procession. Jesus went on to touch the young man, telling him to "Arise!". The man then awoke from the dead and was returned to his mother (Luke 7).

Giglio pointed out that many and most likely thousands in the crowd were currently being carried on a stretcher to their deaths. Whether it was a stretcher of unbelief, an immoral relationship, a hateful grudge, pride, or any other sin that was encompassing life and leading to death. Giglio challenged the students to identify the stretcher in their lives and to earnestly pray that God would intercept their funeral. Some students immediately knew what their stretcher was, while many students took a couple days to truly dig out the core sin that was slowly killing them. After four days of meditation, messages, and worship, thousands of kids stood on the last night to unashamedly proclaim that they their funeral had been intercepted by God. Again- All the Glory be to God!

Praise God for an incredible week for the students and staff alike. Please pray that the revelations that God granted this week and the missions he has placed on peoples hearts will continue on into the new school semester. Pray for unashamed hearts and for fearlessness as students and staff alike pursue their mission to boldly proclaim the truth of Christ!

Holiday greetings

How incredible and humbling it is for me to look at our last blog, only a month ago, and to see how far God has brought us since then! As of mid-November, Mitch and I's spirits were running low and our chances of reporting to Southern Mississippi by the new year were sinking even lower. However, God again has provided for us greater than we could have ever imagined or hoped. As of today, Mitch and I are at 97% of our support goal and our hope to report for the new semester is quickly becoming a possibility! Praise be to God for providing for our needs and forgiving our doubt and insecurities!

At the beginning of December, Mitch and I were able to move all of our furniture and belongings to a house that we have begun renting in Hattiesburg. While we were in town, we were able to attend a Campus Crusade dessert night and also sit in on the weekly staff meeting. After being on the support trail for a few months, Mitch and I both were finding our spirits very low and our passions seemed to be quickly dwindling. Whether it was the moving around or being removed from our ministry while we raise support, Mitch and I were in great need of a reminder of why we began this journey in the first place. Being able to meet some of the students at Southern Mississippi and seeing our fellow staff members' and interns' progress and excitement for the coming semester quickly relit our own excitement and passions. As we left Mississippi a few days later, Mitch and I joked that now the hard part would not be overcoming our low spirits but overcoming our great impatience to get back to Hattiesburg!

As He has shown us before, we are confident that God will raise our last 3% of support in His perfect timing and we continually pray for the people that He will raise up to support us. We are so thankful this holiday season for the incredible journey God has already taken us on and we cannot wait until we begin the next chapter at Southern Mississippi.

Please remember us in your prayers as we work to raise our last bit of support. Please continue to pray for the University of Southern Mississippi, the students there, and the Campus Crusade movement that is beginning there. We hope that joy and thanksgiving encompass your holidays this year. Grace and peace to you from God our Father!