Fall Newsletter 2013

Click on the link to check out the photos and stories of campus ministry this fall.
http://eepurl.com/IOP8X

Please pray for them!

Oh my heart rejoices and yet is deeply burdened for my friends.

I am overwhelmed this morning with what God has been doing in those around me who don't know Christ. God has been placing people in my life who see a need for change, for healing, for redemption, for meaning, for truth. 

Please pray with me for:

Brendon, Stef, Kailey

Gordie

Matt, Noah

James, Maeva, Alex

Jessica 

Brett, Shota, Kai 

Kate, Andrew

I really care for these people, though some of them I have only met recently. But I feel God's heart for them, I see their brokenness, I see their need for Jesus, and I am greatly reminded of God's sovereign power to change lives by his Holy Spirit. 

Please pray for God to do a powerful work of redemption in their lives for his glory and our joy!

A Memorable Night

I felt like our hearts were being knit together. We had tears, we had laughs, we had profound thoughts and encouraging stories shared.

I just got back from our leadership dinner meeting, it's beyond 11pm, I'm tired, but incredibly thankful for the evening. We watched a video about missional communities and discussed what God was laying on our hearts in response to the video. Here it is.

I was incredibly blessed to spend such meaningful time with our leaders from Camosun and UVic. I am proud of them, and overwhelmingly thankful to be a part of their lives and to see God work in and through them. 

Ps. here is one of the resources that I shared with them. 

Rejoice with me in the beautiful things God is doing on our campuses and in our students!

Jesus, food, community.

One thing we all have in common is food.
In North America, we usually all eat 21 meals a week. Couldn't we share more of these meals together in a way that builds friendships and community? We've been inviting people over for meals several times per week and it's been a great experience.

Last night we had 16 people over for Thanksgiving dinner. We had students from India, UAE, Africa, China, and Germany at the table with us (not to mention many Canadians)! We talked about why God exhorts us to give thanks, we read the first part of Psalm 103, and took turns sharing about what we're thankful for.
Some students at the table were not Christians and we had the pleasure of talking a little about faith with them.

Pray for those we meet and invite for dinners. Pray for our students to be hospitable to their peers and to shine the light of Christ in word and deed.

Fullness of Life: a reflection and a devotional

In John 10:10, Jesus says "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

Well I've been experiencing a very full week, yet it's been a mix between the thief's burglary and Christ's fullness of life. The thief has tried to steal life from me by causing me to worry, or to live independently from God's strength, but Jesus has been gracious and patient in bringing me back to his Gospel rest. You may be wondering why I'm writing all of this at 4 in the morning, but don't worry, it's not that I'm worried or overworked, but I just feel so rested that I'm awake and want to express Christ' life in me. 

Tonight (or last night) we had a worship night with all of the campus ministries at UVic and it was AWESOME! We met some new students, got them connected, praise Jesus to the top of our lungs, and prayed for God's glory to fill the campus.

May you be blessed this week. May your thoughts revolve around Christ's victory and what that means for you. May you abound in his grace, coming to know the dimensions of his love in greater ways.

Here's a devotional I wrote tonight:

(for more devos, click here)

But when you’re preoccupied studying for all your exams in life, never let this one truth be forgotten. Never let this crucial concept fade from the confines of your mind.

---

v2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

If you forgot everything you knew but one thing, what would you want that one thing to be?

If you were to know one thing going into heaven, what would you want that one thing to be?

If you were to disciple a student in the gospel and could only teach them one thing, what would it be?

Paul’s answer was “Jesus Christ and him crucified”.

Was that your answer?

Maybe you thought it should be.

But maybe it wasn’t really your answer. If not, why?

Paul decided to know nothing among the Corinthian Christians except Jesus and His finished work on the cross because this is the one truth that gives us hope in this life and the next.

“It doesn’t just mean that I’ve got a clean slate but it means that I can walk in a living hope.”

“And him crucified” is used by Paul as a synecdoche, which isn’t a biblical term, but rather a literary term. Synecdoche is a figure of speech when part of something represents the whole thing. So in this case, “and him crucified” doesn’t just refer to Jesus’ death, but also refers to Jesus’ payment of sin for us, Jesus’ forgiving us, Jesus’ demonstrated sacrificial love for us, Jesus exchange of his righteousness for our sin (2 Cor 5:21).

“And him crucified” doesn’t just refer to “my Saviour died”, but the greater truth “my Saviour lives!”. It doesn’t just mean that I’ve got a clean slate but it means that I can walk in a living hope. It means that Jesus is not only the author of my faith, He’s also the finisher of my faith (Heb 12:2).

When you study hard for a test, or when you cram for the exam, you often forget the content from the last course you studied. But when you’re preoccupied studying for all your exams in life, never let this one truth be forgotten. Never let this crucial concept fade from the confines of your mind. Let it not flicker and dim. Let it be a bright lamp of hope for you in all of life. Let it not become a sticky-note covered up by all your note-cards and papers. Let it be that daily reminder on your mirror in the morning, as you look at your reflection, may this realization stay with you (James 1:24). Always remember Jesus Christ and him crucified. May that be the one truth you keep with you in preparing for life’s little exams, and more so, for life’s big exam.

Jesus,

Help me to remember you and your crucifixion, your love for me, your death for me, your resurrection life in me. Help me to keep this at the forefront of my mind. Keep me from the temptation of crowding out this thought with various lesser thoughts. May this be the core truth in my discipleship of myself and with others. Let this be the one truth that stays with me in life and death. In your precious name I pray. Amen.

Clubs days & Courses

Clubs days was a success last week!

We met so many students at our table/kiosk and lots of them joined us for our kickoff BBQ. We had about 140 students gather over food, sports, and conversation.

Our returning students got to meet and greet and connect with so many of these new students. We had a joy in hearing their stories, and making new friends.

I got to meet 4 Chinese exchange students, we had a great conversation about God (they were a very captive audience), and I got to pray with them that God would reveal himself to them!

Our leaders had many positive stories from the BBQ, thank you for praying and supporting us!

This week I did a week long course at Carey Theological College in Spiritual Formation. I learned about deep introspective and listening prayer, how to better hear the voice of God as I read his word, and I learned a lot about what God is doing in my life.

During my course I wrote a song of lament based on Romans 7 and it fills my joy to sing it. You can email me if you'd like to send you a copy of the roughly recorded song.

Here's some quotes from a book from my course that I really appreciated:

We do not find our true self by seeking it. Rather, we find it by seeking God.

Paradoxically, as we become more and more like Christ we become more uniquely our own true self. As we shall see in what follows, there are many false ways of achieving uniqueness. These all result from attempts to create a self rather than receive the gift of my self-in-Christ.

Our false self is built on an inordinate attachment to an image of our self that we think makes us special...The basic question we must ask is whether we are prepared to be other than our image of our self. If not, we will live in bondage to our false self.

Having information about God is no more transformational than having information about love.

- Benner, David G. The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery

I also had to fill out 500 questions on situational wisdom, which I found very helpful for future decision making when dealing with conflict/reconciliation/tough decisions. ...however, towards the end of the 500 questions I started to get blurry eyed and was quite glad to have it finished.

Residence move-in day: pray!

We're at Uvic to connect with students and help them move into res.

Pray for our encounters, we've met many students already who are interested in joining community. Pray for more conversations about life and faith. 

In the photo: my roommate klaus in the green, Adam, a new AIA athlete in the black, and a huge lineup for res sign up.

Pray, pray, pray, pray, pray!

September is around the corner and 12hour days have begun. 

Students will soon be flooding the Uvic and Camosun campuses. Our ministries will be launching full force once again.

The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Pray that The Lord of the harvest would send more workers into the fields!

The above picture shows the beginning of my prayer storm. It may help you to know what to pray for. 

If you can't read it, please pray for Sunago at Uvic and Camosun, for Athletes in Action (as we start launching this new ministry), for Red Frogs and Campus Alpha, which we intend to partner with and help serve at, for the various other campus ministries at Uvic: IVCF, P2C, and international friendship group. Please pray for our outreach in the residences on campus, we're praying for over 5 different core groups in different res buildings!

Pray for our new leaders, we will have 16 that we oversee (last year we had 7)!

Pray for orientation day sept 3 and clubs days sept 11 & 12.

Thank you for your support!

Why Is Jesus in a Dance Circle?

I'll Clarify that I’m not being irreverent towards Jesus....I’ll explain later...promise.

I just got super charged with inspiration and jotted down a whole sermon about how Jesus sits with sinners and dances with party rockers. It talks about his compassion, about our need, and how he redeems and sends us to extend his compassion to the lives of others. This will be part of the "Scandalous Jesus" sermon series that I'm writing for this fall semester. Here's a little excerpt.

Mark 2:15-17 - Jesus sits with sinners

And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Who knows the song “Party Rock Anthem (Everyday I’m Shuffling)”?

Jesus is in the LMFAO Party Rock Anthem video...

for a couple of seconds. And the clip became almost famous.

Firstly, 

He’s shuffling...why?

And Secondly, 

why did this get so much hype?

So much attention for so little time?

[spoiler alert: because people don’t expect the righteous Son of God to be recreating with rebelious sinners...but he does!]

Obviously it’s not the real Jesus in the video. 

But I think that if Jesus were here today in the flesh, 

he wouldn't shy away from shuffling to the beat 

and partying with LMFAO fans.

It’s because Jesus loves people.

He’s holy yet loves the lowly and unholy,

he’s righteous yet he rolls with the rebels and rejects.

Jesus joins in their interests while staying sinless,

he walks a fine line without crossing the line of sin.

Doxology: Spoken word poetry

This is a twenty first century psalm to bless The Lord. Spoken word poetry is something I've gotten into in the last year and It seems to be a great way to convey truth and express my joy. I hope you are blessed by it.

https://vimeo.com/m/72100536

Rugby for the glory of God

I prayed hard as to whether I should participate in this tournament. It has been 6 years since I've last played full-contact rugby. I felt that it was such a good opportunity to connect with university rugby players by joining a rugby 7s tournament, so I decided to go - despite my fear of being badly injured. 

I prayed hard, played hard, and had a lot of fun connecting with the guys on various levels. We won the tournament for our league and I met some great contacts for our up-and-coming athletes ministry (including a believer who plays for the BC Bears rugby team).

Pray for me as I continue to reach out to Uvic and Camosun rugby players on Friday afternoons. I've had a few students from Sunago join me and I hope to recruit more to be on mission with me here. We need more workers in the fields!

Amazing privilege. Thank you.

"I believe that college students are more mobile, more willing to try something new, and more radical for whatever cause they believe in than people typically are at other stages of life. College is often the most influential time in a person’s life for all the ways it shapes them into the kind of man or woman they will become." - College ministries director, Chad Kincer @ Austin Stone Church,TX.

He stole the words right out of my mouth. Not actually, but I couldn't agree more with his words. Campus ministry is incredibly important and I am so thankful to have such a privilege to reach the students at Uvic and Camosun with the heart and truth of God in Jesus Christ.

Thank you for all who are and have supported us! We are at 97% of budget, which is a great blessing to us, so thank you again!

Love is in the Air

Quick update:

Bethi, Isaiah, and I had a couple weeks of vacation which consisted of visiting friends and family in Whitehorse, spontaneously baptizing a good friend at church, having a week of sand in my shoes and joy in my heart at Camp Yukon (being a cabin counselor), being stuck on a plane for 12 hours, lots of mosquito bites, a restful week at the cottage and on the beach, and a delightful anniversary with my wife Bethi (here's a photo of our wedding 2 years ago if you missed it).

Now, as I enjoy the blessings of marriage-life, I am gathering resources, giving advice, and helping two couples as they prepare to get married next month (one of which I am excited to officiate).  As I prepare our ministry for September's crazy-busy-times, please pray that I would be given extra grace from God to prepare these couples for life-long faithful marriages. 

You can also pray for Jannus and Skyeblu (Aug 17th) and David & Emily (Aug 24th).

Talking Mission with a UVic Greek & Roman Studies Prof

"I'm thinking of writing a commentary on the book of Acts as a Roman Historian". 

I'm in the UVic library working on my Masters paper "On Mission in the University: Connecting the Campus to the Kingdom", and an old professor of mine sits down across from me. I explain the paper I'm writing and he starts telling me about his next endeavor: "I'm thinking of writing a commentary on the book of Acts as a Roman Historian".

Apostle Paul at the Areopagus

 We discuss further about the book of Acts and his fascination of the historical accounts written in it, "there's nothing else that I find as intruiging [in the bible]".
Dr. R, Jewish in background, is preparing his dissertation for the Oxford University Press' Clarendon Series in September.

One part of my paper that he found interesting (and valid) was how God promised Abraham the Great Covenant "In you shall all the nations be blessed"(Reiterated in Gen 28), God performs this through Christ and the Great Commission by making disciples of all nations (Matt 28), and empowers the church through the Great Catalyst, the Holy Spirit, to be witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

This encounter reminds me of a moment in Acts where Phillip met the Ethiopian eunuch who was studying Isaiah and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus (Acts 8:26-40). We're going to keep in contact, and I believe that God may open his understanding of the Scriptures to see them pointing to Jesus the Messiah.

Please pray for the students and staff at UVic who are searching for truth, that they may find Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Global & Local Discipleship

I'm discipling a Canadian student in China and a Chinese student in Canada in the same day.

One student has gone to China on exchange and the other is taking courses at UVic. Both are being challenged to partake in their local community, to live for Jesus, and to be on mission for the glory of God and the joy of all peoples.

Matt 28:19 Jesus said "Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."

I'm taking a course on Mission this summer which is helping me to do this and teach others likewise.

Here's a little quote from a book report I greatly benefitted from: "Missions is not a recruitment project for God's labor force. It is a liberation project from the heavy burdens and hard yokes of other gods (Matt11:28-30)." - Let the Nations be Glad by John Piper

Sermon Inspiration!

It's 7am and God inspires me.
This summer I'm trying to write all of the sermons for next year.

I've chosen an edgy topic for the fall semester that will challenge the religious and the irreligious, that will refresh our view of Jesus, will display the glorious Good News, and will encourage students to follow Jesus's bold life. The sermon series will be called: Scandalous Jesus.

This morning, within an hour, God has blessed me with inspiration for a whole sermon.

Here's the bare bone notes:
John 6
V1. Jesus feeds 5,000
V.26 you're seeking because of signs and because I filled your stomachs with a free dinner. Many students strive for perishable things with finite satisfaction, but Jesus says imperishable things bring infinite satisfaction (There's a free dinner at the church near UVic and ~400 students attend weekly but few attend for the spiritual food).
V.35 - what he says about himself: he is the imperishable and infinite satisfaction - he is the Bread of Life.
V.37-44 promise of hope
V.51-55 scandalous message: eat my flesh, drink my blood.
Application: how do we labour for the imperishable? Trust, consume and be consumed by Jesus, abide in Him and let his word abide in you.
How do you respond? v.60 or v.68?

Gracias Addison!

I just had a very encouraging time with a student from Mexico who I've been Meeting with this year.

He shared his gratitude with me by saying "Thank you Addison, through this semester I have really started to understand the love of Jesus and I used to only know God, but now I love Jesus and see the importance of what he did on the cross!"

Plz pray for Herman, that he will continue to grow deeper in the love of Christ and that he might have many opportunities to share his faith with his classmates in international business.

Goodbye Jeremy

Jeremy, our Welsh friend, is heading back to Wales. So we gathered the Camosun students from our community to enjoy one last event together.

Pray for Jeremy, as he plans to pioneer a Christian club at his University in Wales.

Refreshed from the Staff Retreat

We had such a wonderful time in Kelowna for 3 days with staff from our 10 campuses across BC. We laughed, we prayed, we worshipped, we ate. We shared resources, encouraged one another, and we planned for future events and endeavors.

Tuesday morning I had the privilege to lead our staff in praise leading up to our speaker's talk about "Margins". He and his wife shared about their experience with burnout and how we can be proactively preventing burnout and continue to run the marathon of faith with perseverance.

I learned some really good advice about rest and I've been trying to apply them to my life now. One thing that was important for me to learn is that I can't let others set my pace for my race. I'm a husband and father, I can't compare how many hours I put into ministry to that of a missionary without spouse and kids. I will run the marathon of faith with perseverance and passion at the pace Jesus sets for me, keeping my eyes fixed on Christ, the author and perfect or of my faith. Hebrews 12:1-2

Success: Sunago Banquet 2013

Thank you for praying for us!

The food was delicious,
The volunteers had a great time,
The students were encouraged by the leaders exhortation speeches,
And it all went quite smoothly.

Pray for our Banquet Tonight!

The menu has been established, ingredients have been purchased, Bethi is prepping-away, and I'm coordinating plans for the night.

Pray for:
Smooth operations
Fruitful conversations
Meaningful friendships
A night of blessing
All for the glory of God and the joy of his people.

Camosun breakfast and prayer

It's been encouraging to be able to pray with the students from Camosun on Tuesday mornings. It's a time to build community, make friends, encourage one another in Christ, and pray for the campus together.

Every week, I try to prepare a thought about prayer: something to inspire prayer, something Jesus taught about prayer, or insight on what prayer is all about.

If you have any ideas or have been blessed by a certain concept on prayer, please feel free to let me know I can share it with the students.

New Apartment: Water, Food, Friends.

Bethi and I have moved to an apartment. It's actually such a good experience. Isaiah has his own room now, we sleep quite well now, and we are given many opportunities to host people in our new home.

We've hosted neighbours and students at our place and the two things that have been great in facilitating this is 1) food and 2) the apartment's swimming pool.

Last friday we had a dozen or so students over from UVic and Camosun for a pool party and potluck. It was a great time to bond and for the different campuses to meet each other.

Pray that the students will be blessed at our next event: the Spring Banquet on April 4th.

Married Students Multiplying

Our group is all about multiplying, and we're not talking about babies.

Our group has grown as students have started meeting and marrying.

We started the group going through Crazy Love, a book that talks about living extraordinary lives of love because God has expressed his crazy love to us.

We are now going through a book called multiply and it's all about making disciples who make disciples. Every week we encourage one another to share the love of God in the Gospel of Christ with those in our communities, classes, and workplaces.

Many of us have had very exciting stories to share with the group about God giving us divine opportunities to share the gospel with others. What an encouraging and exciting group this has been!

Thank you for supporting us financially. Your support has enabled us to purchase boxes full of resources like the ones mentioned in this post.

Check out Multiplymovement.com for more details on our current bible study.

Location changes: pray

Please pray for us as we have been changing locations for 3 weeks in a row. We will be meeting in Clearihue C109 and hope to have acoustic worship led by a local church's team.

Next week we will meet in Vertigo, our main location for the past 6 years (but unused for the past year). We will host Worship and Testimonies. The band from Adore (Glad Tidings) will be leading worship and we're encouraging everyone to invite their friends. Please pray that God would bless our times of meeting at various locations, that students will be able to know where to go to meet, and that God would be blessed by our love and praise in community.

Pray for our neighbors!

This Wednesday I handed out 48 invitations to our neighbors in our new apartment complex.
We've already had many opportunities to meet and spend quality time with some of our neighbors and we hope to build more community around this place.
Please pray that God will draw many and reveal his love through community in Christ.

Thank you: Books

Andrew, a UVic alumn, previously a leader at Sunago, and a good friend holds several dozen copies of Lee Strobel's 'Case For Christ' with me.
Andrea's dad, James, has generously ordered these books for us online and I am so excited to get these into the hands of students who want to engage their faith with academic questions.
Thank you, Mr. Clark, for blessing our students and ministry!

Sojourners: A prayer request for direction

We've been meeting in the interfaith chapel every week since September.

We may lose our opportunity to stay in the chapel on Wednesday nights.*

This week, I've been seeking out guidance from various pastors and ministry leaders, contacting UVic for possible options, and brainstorming on how the format of our weekly gatherings might have to change.

We are now praying for direction and looking for where we could meet for our Wednesday night gatherings.

Please pray that we discern our Lord's guidance, walk in faith, have favour with the University, and continue to live fully for the glory of Christ.

Camosun success

Bless the Lord!
What a great time. 10 students came at varying times. We praised, we prayed, we discussed about Jesus. There were some really heartfelt times of sharing, real passionate prayer, and friendships have begun.

One girl came into our classroom because she heard us singing to God and so she hopes to come next week.

Another girl saw the posters I posted yesterday and emailed Sunago to join our bible study as well!

Thanks for praying for the group; "the ripple effects for our community are endless".

Launching Camosun Bible Study

Sunago @ Camosun bible study this Tuesday, EWing 344, 12-1pm. 

Pray for us!

Varsity Athlete Ministry Launch

Pray for Samuel, Jessica, and Melissa as they launch Athletes in Action at Uvic.

They expect to meet with a group of athletes this Friday at 6pm to cast the vision of AIA, to encourage each other as athletes in Christ, and hopefully get some momentum through commitment and collaboration from other athletes.

May they share the love of Christ with many athletes this year!

(Below is a picture of Samuel, who first inquired about starting AIA at Uvic.)

Connecting to Camosun College

Since January, I've been coordinating the launch of Camosun's only Christian club. 

Two Camosun students came to our Emerge retreat and were deeply impacted. 

One of the students, Jeremy, was so blessed to be connected to Sunago through Camosun that he has now become the president for Sunago@Camosun, and is fully involved with what we do for Christ.

Today, Jeremy and I represented Christ at the Sunago booth at Camosun and we now have 54 students on our email list, whom we hope will join community in Christ.

Pray for our students as they gather tomorrow between 12-2 to get to know each other.

Pray for our Retreat!

Please pray for our students:
To get connected
To make meaningful friendships
To encounter God
To feel excited to share their faith on campus
To be conformed to the likeness of Christ.

Thank you

Ps. Below is a video for Emerge retreat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD3mDbgjdjI&sns=em

Discovering Christ, Inviting Others.

I'm very excited about this group!
Our Discovery Group on Thursday nights has grown, students have invited their friends to come and discover who Jesus is, and we are considering multiplying this group into 2 groups very soon.

Our content is found at multiplymovement.com (and scroll down for written materials).

Pray for our students to discover Christ and invite others to discover him too.

Thank you for helping fund our bible study resources. Your financial support is greatly helping us spread the name and glory of Christ through this campus.

Launching a club @ Camosun College

Skyler, our new apprentice, joined me in the cold for a good hour. Brrr.

Pray for me as I stand in the freezing rain and meet students at Camosun!

So far we have 10 students signed up!
- 10:30am


It was such a successful time!

I stayed out in the cold for 4 hours.

And...

• met many students who had lots of questions about Christ.
• gave out numerous bibles and tracts.
• connected with 26 students who signed up for our email-list to get involved.

Thank you for your prayers!

- 6:20pm.

First Day of Classes: Pray

20,000 students will scatter across the UVic campus today. Pray with us.

Pray for our students to have opportunities to make new friends and to be able to share Christ.
Pray for Clubs Days this Wednesday and Thursday at 10am-4pm.
We will meet so many new students at our booth.
Pray for many students to register for our Emerge retreat on Jan 18-20th.
Pray for me as I plan out the weeks to come, disciple Skyler, our new apprentice, and connect with students.
Pray for Bethi and I as we move into a new apartment in February.

Devotional for today: For me to live is Christ

Thank you to all who support us financially. For the first time ever, we have an abundance of rich resources at hand. We are excited to get this resources into the hands of our students.
Included: (Books) Multiply -Francis Chan, Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ -John Piper, (handouts) 10 Reasons Jesus Came to Die, and Quest for Joy.