The House Meeting

Almost a month ago we were gathered with over 50 of our students at our fall retreat. After the session on Saturday night I was hanging around and students were sort of milling about as we waited for the talent show to begin. One of my guys pulled me aside and asked if I had a few minutes to talk.

This guy is one of our main student leaders and a co-laborer who I really enjoy spending time with. He is a junior now, and was one of the first freshman that I began spending time with two years ago when we kicked off our first fall semester at Cornell. I'm not going to name him in this story, because the work I'm going to talk about is still very much ongoing, and I also want to respect his humility.

We sat down in the dining area, and he told me how he had been struck with this idea while praying that he should organize a 'house meeting' and present the good news of Jesus to his housemates. He lives with 10 other people and most of them are not followers of Christ. He was praying, and he felt a burden for these guys and girls and he felt impressed upon by the Lord to simply invite everyone to a meeting and then tell them about what he believes.

Now first off, I love this idea! I think it's just one example of the kind of thing that is pretty easy to do in college that is actually quite difficult to do after college. Case in point, I don't live with 10 other people right now who happen to be in a stage of life where they are making big life decisions! But I also acknowledge that it's a bit edgy.....which is also why I like it! It actually takes FAITH!

But wanting to proceed with wisdom (not caution....wisdom!) we decided to pray about it for a few days.

The next weekend, my friend went out to the Desiring God conference and listened to that talk by Francis Chan that I mentioned in my last post. His impulse was confirmed by the Holy Spirit and he came back to Ithaca with resolve to call a meeting and communicate the Gospel!

Now, it was a bit weird really, but it was all good! Though he lives in a house in collegetown with 10 other people, they don't usually have 'house meetings'. But he sent out the invite and everyone came. The meeting started out with one guy asking everyone to "please lock the door" when they leave the house. Another girl settled some logistical issues regarding payment of the electrical bill, and then my friend began to tell them exactly why he had called the meeting. He talked for about 10 minutes about his love for Christ, and God's love for us demonstrated in Christ's life, death and resurrection.

After he was finished, the room was filled with silence. One guy couldn't stand it, and broke the awkwardness with sarcasm by standing up and clapping while affirming my friends eloquence. Another girl followed up by thanking him for sharing and, and acknowledging that such a move took courage and conviction. Then they sat around quietly for a few more moments until they began to talk about random things eventually brainstorming ideas for how to host their first house party.

I love what this guy did! He loves the people that he lives with, and he is not content to simply hang out with them every day wondering whether or not they know about Jesus or not.

He stepped out with passion and bravery and lived out his calling as "ambassador for Christ" and proclaimed the name of Jesus. In doing so, he opened doors, and also marked himself as a follower of God. He is an example to me and many of our students.

For now, he continues to hang out and look for ways to serve and bless his housemates in practical ways. And hopefully he'll have opportunities to follow up on his sacred stunt!

Opportunities not to miss...

The other day we listened to Francis Chan’s talk from the Desiring God “Think” conference. WOW. Adam Simpson and I were talking about how we should probably listen to that talk like every three months just to keep focused on Christ and the mission he has called us to! I recommend it so heartily! Please watch it.

At one point, Francis talks about when he was in high school. He had come to know and love Jesus and was burdened for those around him to know Christ as well. He was a junior and the High School yearbook came out. He was thumbing thru the pages and as he was looking at all the seniors he began to realize that there were tons of people who he was probably never going to see again after graduation. So despite the awkwardness, he picked up the phone and started calling all of the seniors to have a conversation about God and how important it is to be in a relationship with him.

That story inspires me as I marvel at his intensity and passion. It also makes me a little bit sad because proclaiming the greatness of Jesus was not my priority back in high school. And that’s a bummer because High school is a place, I believe, where if you were really sold out for Jesus you could probably communicate and demonstrate the Gospel to your whole school! I mean that’s just the kind of close knit, “everybody knows everybody” kind of environment that High School is! It’s sad that so often Christ is not exalted amongst his professed followers because it’s not “cool.” Talk about missed opportunity.

But college is a similar, and I believe, a somewhat greater opportunity because of the stage of life that college students are in. I am in campus ministry because I know that this is a time in life when most people are making important life changing decisions about what they are going to believe, and who they are going to live for. And though perhaps not as closely connected as high school, the university is a very social place where tons of people are gathered to learn and share life. It is my hope that students would not miss out on the opportunities here to proclaim the Glory of God to the many, many people they are studying with-people who they may never see again after graduation.

We’ve got some awesome student leaders here at Cornell, and in the next post (or the one after) I want to tell you a story of one of our friends who is really going for it here on campus.

Miners in Chile

Below is a link to a story about the t-shirts that the Chilean Miners were wearing when they were rescued the other night. They were provided by Campus Crusade for Christ!

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/14/the-story-behind-the-chilean-miners-jesus-t-shirts/?hpt=C2

Music for kids

Every few days my kids and I try and have a "jam out" session. We turn the speakers up loud, strum our air guitars and jump off the furniture. It's a great time, and now that we don't have anybody living underneath us we can jam with peace of mind. We listen to rock, some Christian rap (eg: Flame Feat. John Reiley) and a lot of country, because we like country music.

It get's a little sketchy though when your three year old sings words like "rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey..." Consequently we've changed that line to "rain makes corn, corn makes biscuits", and no one has asked how exactly it is that those biscuits make anyone "frisky"!

So as our little band of rockers matures in age and comprehension we've got to be more selective about what we listen to. Kickstart my Heart is still a family favorite, but we pretty much have to turn it off half way thru. Kids are impressionable as we know, and so we want to be discerning about what we have them listening to.

Recently we've downloaded some stuff that I really want to recommend. The first is a short CD that you can download for free. It's produced by The Village Church out in Dallas. The Village is an awesome church lead by Matt Chandler. This kids CD conveys solid Gospel theology to the tune of cool music.

The second is a group called "The Rizers." They are out of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and their goal is simply to "instill in kids a love for Jesus Christ and his Word through Scripture memory, praise and worship." These guys are a riot, and even as a parent, you'll probably dig the music. All of their lyrics are taken directly from Bible verses. You can check them out at www.therizers.com Their music isn't free however you can download it from itunes etc.

Here is a vimeo clip of the rizers doing John 3:16. Now that we have a longer drive to preschool my boys and I listen to these guys a lot.

The Rizers "John 3:16" from the album Meet The Rizers from The Rizers on Vimeo.

Fall Retreat was fantastic!

This past weekend, we got together with students from all over Upstate New York for our annual Fall Getaway. I don't know how many students were there in total, but we had over 50 from Cornell with us as well as one from Ithaca College and one from Tomkins County Community College. The time there was very well spent, and I'm gonna give 5 reasons I thought it so good!

#1 FELLOWSHIP! It was so great to be able to hang out together and spend some extended time worshipping God, playing sports, eating, and sharing life. Life on Campus is so busy, and so intense, it is necessary to get off campus every now and then and just chill! We had an awesome group most of whom had never been on fall retreat with us!
#2 OUR SPEAKER! Pastor Mark Gedicks is from Windam Baptist church up in Maine. He delivered 4 powerful Gospel-centered messages to challenge, exhort and inspire us to live the "good life" that God has called us to. Mark did a great job casting vision for the kind of missional lives students should be living on campus. Additionally he was able to share his heart for this whole Northeast region -currently the most un-churched region in America!
#3 THE WEATHER! Out here in upstate New York, you can't always count on sun to go with your fun! But this weekend out on Seneca Lake the weather was awesome! On Friday night I was walking across the lawn at 2:00am in a t-shirt with no jacket on! And it's amazing how much community is fostered when you can sit outside and talk for hours with people and not have to worry about getting drenched or freezing to death!
#4 TEAM BUILDING! This year we hit the ground running with some really strong small groups. We have 8 of them going right now including one that is specifically for grad students. On Saturday afternoon we had everyone divide up into their community groups to do some team building activities related to trust, bonding and community. We used programs developed by LIFELINES which is our outdoor ministry here at Cornell. It was a big win, and certainly enabled our groups to get to know each other better.
#5 THE MUSIC! Our own Cornell Praise Band lead by Larry Lin and Sam Ramsey served as worship leaders for first half of the retreat, and the Syracuse Praise Band lead for the second half. Both bands were really good, and stewarded their talents for the blessing of others and the Glory of God!

Lifelines Summer Project Video

Staff Friend Matt Williams put together a short video about this past summer in Crested Butte.

Joe Turns 4

Our little “Cornhusker” Joe turned 4 this week.

To some extent, he gets the short end of the stick having his birthday in September. Unlike Jack, his birthday is in the fall when we are at home. ( Jack hasn’t had two birthdays in the same place yet –we’re always somewhere different on our summer assignments. ) But back in July we had a pre-birthday Birthday party for Joe out in New Mexico. He really loves White sands, so we hung out there with our family and we brought a large cookie –cake and sang happy Birthday to Joe.He was so happy.

And then yesterday morning, we got up, ate cinnamon rolls and opened some presents. Joe got a little Batman batcave thing that he’s had his eye on for quite awhile. He and his brothers spent the day playing with it and coloring in some new coloring books.

We spent some time remembering the day Joe was born. We remembered dropping Jack off at Adam and Tracy’s house in the early morning and rushing to the hospital there in Kearney, Nebraska. Steph was laboring very quickly, and we almost didn’t make it into a room before Joe was born! We thought he might be delivered in the hallway!

When Jack was born, we knew we were expecting a boy, but for Joe, we opted for a surprise. So it wasn’t until he came out that we knew the sex. We were so happy for Jack to have a little brother.

Joe was an easy baby. He slept like a champion and was very content. And now he’s starting his second year of preschool!