Greek Team had a successful event to Sky High, with over 30 students. We also had a "Back Porch" on identity and the transformation of Peter. Students are really stepping into the leadership roles and its fun to watch. Also a small group started in DG "The Well" on Wednesday nights. There has been conversations and prayers starting small group in Kappa, APhi and ADPi. Theta and Fiji still meet monday nights for small group and have seen lots of fruit from that, both developing leaders and facilitating fruitful conversation and often sharing bits and pieces of the gospel.
The Winter Retreat was a BLAST. There was a great Greek turnout and a much needed break from school. It was fun to see friendships form between houses and fun to see students just hang out together, play games and soccer and capture the flag. Also, many of the Greek student leaders where also small group leaders. They enjoyed the new challenges of that role and it was obvious that God was at work that weekend. I'm excited to see the continued fruit from that weekend.
There are also lots of Greek students gearing up for Spring Break trips in March. As there are many, many things going on, pray for peace and unity and continued fruit.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Trusting in The Lord
A common thread between our talks this quarter has come back to one thing: trusting in the Lord. It's a concept that truly fills my heart at this time in particular, because like other students, it is difficult not to feel burdened with classes, with searching for summer internships or opportunities, and with thoughts of the future and life past our college walls.
After being graced by three wonderful snow days this past week, I'll admit it was a struggle to return to "reality". It was the ultimate case of the Mondays. I found myself forgetting the exact thing we talked about at The Back Porch (a meeting of intentional conversation for students living in the Greek System at UW) the week before. At that meeting, we discussed our identity within school, and the fact that ultimately school is preparing us for life afterwards, in which we will go live out God's purpose for us in the world. Therefore, God is molding us through school (as though pruning the branches in John:15), and school is then a type of worship to God.
Rather than remembering this, I felt overwhelmed. I was going back to studying, working, preparing for lurking midterms, and juggling living in a sorority, building relationships, and fulfilling academic commitments. I was going back to "reality". But then something stopped me from feeling this way. You see, I put reality in quotation marks because my reality is more than my activities or my day-to-day routine. My reality is that I have a God who loves me and who placed me here, right here in this moment, to live into His calling. My reality is that I have a God that picks me up when I am struggling and graces me with more than I could ever imagine and gives me people in my life that are to me, physical representations of his love from above.
Then, suddenly, I remembered the verse that God sent to me on the first day of 2012. For some reason, the words Proverbs 3:5 came to my mind as I was about to go to sleep, and they kept repeating. Not knowing Proverbs 3:5 by heart, I later looked it up and found it to say "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not depend on your own understanding".
It is so tempting in this world that often overwhelms us to lean away from God in times of struggle. However, if we just hold on tighter, He shows us His light. We must then avoid our tendency to look inward in difficult moments, to focus only on ourselves and miss the bigger picture. Because if we just stop and zoom out for one moment, we see that we are so small in God's giant universe -- but He has more love for us than the universe combined, and He has placed us at an exact pinpoint in the universe for a reason.
From that pinpoint comes another, and another after that. Because God is composing a journey for us, the destinations of which are His to decide. After all, Jeremiah 29:11-14 says "'For I know the plans I have for you' declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 'I will be found by you' declares the Lord, 'and will bring you back from captivity'".
This was in Jeremiah's letter to the exiles, but I think it applies in any condition. It truly encompasses what God has in mind for each of us, and his desire for us to draw close to him and follow him always.
As for prayers this week, please pray for us as we continue to trust in and follow the Lord and pray for those that feel as though they are in captivity, that they will find the Lord and he will give them strength.
Christina Watson (Student Leader)
After being graced by three wonderful snow days this past week, I'll admit it was a struggle to return to "reality". It was the ultimate case of the Mondays. I found myself forgetting the exact thing we talked about at The Back Porch (a meeting of intentional conversation for students living in the Greek System at UW) the week before. At that meeting, we discussed our identity within school, and the fact that ultimately school is preparing us for life afterwards, in which we will go live out God's purpose for us in the world. Therefore, God is molding us through school (as though pruning the branches in John:15), and school is then a type of worship to God.
Rather than remembering this, I felt overwhelmed. I was going back to studying, working, preparing for lurking midterms, and juggling living in a sorority, building relationships, and fulfilling academic commitments. I was going back to "reality". But then something stopped me from feeling this way. You see, I put reality in quotation marks because my reality is more than my activities or my day-to-day routine. My reality is that I have a God who loves me and who placed me here, right here in this moment, to live into His calling. My reality is that I have a God that picks me up when I am struggling and graces me with more than I could ever imagine and gives me people in my life that are to me, physical representations of his love from above.
Then, suddenly, I remembered the verse that God sent to me on the first day of 2012. For some reason, the words Proverbs 3:5 came to my mind as I was about to go to sleep, and they kept repeating. Not knowing Proverbs 3:5 by heart, I later looked it up and found it to say "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not depend on your own understanding".
It is so tempting in this world that often overwhelms us to lean away from God in times of struggle. However, if we just hold on tighter, He shows us His light. We must then avoid our tendency to look inward in difficult moments, to focus only on ourselves and miss the bigger picture. Because if we just stop and zoom out for one moment, we see that we are so small in God's giant universe -- but He has more love for us than the universe combined, and He has placed us at an exact pinpoint in the universe for a reason.
From that pinpoint comes another, and another after that. Because God is composing a journey for us, the destinations of which are His to decide. After all, Jeremiah 29:11-14 says "'For I know the plans I have for you' declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 'I will be found by you' declares the Lord, 'and will bring you back from captivity'".
This was in Jeremiah's letter to the exiles, but I think it applies in any condition. It truly encompasses what God has in mind for each of us, and his desire for us to draw close to him and follow him always.
As for prayers this week, please pray for us as we continue to trust in and follow the Lord and pray for those that feel as though they are in captivity, that they will find the Lord and he will give them strength.
Christina Watson (Student Leader)
Sunday, January 8, 2012
FAITH & HOPE
These two words have come to be at the center of what we are seeking to live out in our lives this quarter. Last quarter our focus was on love, Gods love for us and how that is more than enough for us. How we are defined not by the things of this world, but defined by the fact that God loves us, and the rest of our lives are to be lived out of the overflow of the abundant love of God.
1 Corinthians 13:13 says this…
“A now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. “
Here Paul is concluding up a section of his letter to the Corinthians where he is discussing the fact that without love all other things, even good things are pointless. God loves us, and this is the greatest thing there can be, and out of that love that we receive from the Lord we can have faith and hope. Because God loves us we can be faithful, to the commitments that we make, to the mission that we may find ourselves in. Whether that is being a student, a parent, a best friend, a boyfriend, or a wife, we can be faithful to those people who are in our lives because God is faithful in His love for us. Along with that we have a hope in the fact that Jesus has come to give us life, life to the full. Even with all the brokenness in this world and in our lives we have a hope in the redemptive work of the Jesus death on the cross and his resurrection. Hope that Jesus has redeemed and is redeeming this world. Faith and hope, two small words, made real and powerful by Gods love. This quarter we are seeking to live in relationship with our God with these two words being expressed in our lives as we live in the love of Christ.
Chris Thurton (UMin Greek Ministry Intern)
1 Corinthians 13:13 says this…
“A now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. “
Here Paul is concluding up a section of his letter to the Corinthians where he is discussing the fact that without love all other things, even good things are pointless. God loves us, and this is the greatest thing there can be, and out of that love that we receive from the Lord we can have faith and hope. Because God loves us we can be faithful, to the commitments that we make, to the mission that we may find ourselves in. Whether that is being a student, a parent, a best friend, a boyfriend, or a wife, we can be faithful to those people who are in our lives because God is faithful in His love for us. Along with that we have a hope in the fact that Jesus has come to give us life, life to the full. Even with all the brokenness in this world and in our lives we have a hope in the redemptive work of the Jesus death on the cross and his resurrection. Hope that Jesus has redeemed and is redeeming this world. Faith and hope, two small words, made real and powerful by Gods love. This quarter we are seeking to live in relationship with our God with these two words being expressed in our lives as we live in the love of Christ.
Chris Thurton (UMin Greek Ministry Intern)
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Identity.
Wednesday, December 2, Greek Team will be hosting our last “Back Porch” of the quarter. It will be on identity. Use Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 54 to pray though. Pray that students know that God offers them abundance. Pray that they would come to Him and seek their identity and fulfillment in Him. Pray they would be refreshed, restored, redeemed in our God’s love and compassion and promise. Pray they would be sent out, back into the world full of joy and peace, knowing with confidence they are beloved by God and knowing the power of the Holy Spirit within them.
Also,
Pray for Chris Thurton and Christina Watson as they speak.
Pray for students as they offer invitations.
Pray for students to have courage to accept invitations and show up.
Isaiah 55
1 "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. 4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. 5 Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor." 6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. 8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."
Also,
Pray for Chris Thurton and Christina Watson as they speak.
Pray for students as they offer invitations.
Pray for students to have courage to accept invitations and show up.
Isaiah 55
1 "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. 4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. 5 Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor." 6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. 8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."
Sunday, November 13, 2011
The Greek System is saturated with lies. Christ offers us freedom. Read these song lyrics below as a prayer for freedom to reign. “For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.” Colossians 1:13-14
Freedom Reigns Lyrics
Jesus Culture
Where the spirit of the Lord is
There is freedom
Where the spirit of the Lord is
There is freedom
Lift your eyes to heaven
There is freedom, lift your eyes
Lift your eyes to heaven
There is freedom
Freedom reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom
If you're tired and thirsty
There is freedom, yeah
If you're tired and thirsty
There is freedom
Give your all to Jesus, give Him all
There is freedom, oh
Give your all to Jesus
There is freedom, yeah
Freedom reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom
'Cause Jesus reigns, yes
Jesus reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom, oh, yeah
Oh, yes, freedom reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom
Jesus, my Jesus
My Jesus reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom, yeah, yeah
Feel the change fall away
Feel the heaviness float away
'Cause Jesus reigns
Where the spirit of the Lord is
There is freedom, there is freedom
There is freedom, yeah, yeah, yes
Oh, Jesus, yeah
You reign, You reign, oh, my God
Great is Your faithfulness
Great is Your faithfulness
Great is Your faithfulness
Oh, God, to this generation
On my life, on my life, great is Your faithfulness
Great is Your faithfulness
We proclaim tonight
Great is Your faithfulness, God
Great is Your faithfulness
Oh, yeah, yeah, oh, yes
Freedom reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every, every single face
There is freedom
All the grace I need, Jesus
Oh, my Jesus reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom
Freedom Reigns Lyrics
Jesus Culture
Where the spirit of the Lord is
There is freedom
Where the spirit of the Lord is
There is freedom
Lift your eyes to heaven
There is freedom, lift your eyes
Lift your eyes to heaven
There is freedom
Freedom reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom
If you're tired and thirsty
There is freedom, yeah
If you're tired and thirsty
There is freedom
Give your all to Jesus, give Him all
There is freedom, oh
Give your all to Jesus
There is freedom, yeah
Freedom reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom
'Cause Jesus reigns, yes
Jesus reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom, oh, yeah
Oh, yes, freedom reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom
Jesus, my Jesus
My Jesus reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom, yeah, yeah
Feel the change fall away
Feel the heaviness float away
'Cause Jesus reigns
Where the spirit of the Lord is
There is freedom, there is freedom
There is freedom, yeah, yeah, yes
Oh, Jesus, yeah
You reign, You reign, oh, my God
Great is Your faithfulness
Great is Your faithfulness
Great is Your faithfulness
Oh, God, to this generation
On my life, on my life, great is Your faithfulness
Great is Your faithfulness
We proclaim tonight
Great is Your faithfulness, God
Great is Your faithfulness
Oh, yeah, yeah, oh, yes
Freedom reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every, every single face
There is freedom
All the grace I need, Jesus
Oh, my Jesus reigns in this place
Showers of mercy and grace
Falling on every face
There is freedom
Sunday, November 6, 2011
What is Greek Ministry up to?
The quarter is in full-swing and over halfway over. It has been awesome! I wanted to share with you what we have been doing, both vision and the practical of Greek Ministry at The INN. We currently have a team of 18 students.
On Greek Team
1. Students will be encouraged and supported through something called "REFUEL."
2. Students will help "Create" opportunities for others to belong to the a community and discover and talk about what they believe.
1. REFUEL
Living in the Greek system isn’t easy. Refuel is a place to encourage, support, equip each other to live within our Greek houses for Christ.
• Every other Wednesday the team meets for Refuel
2. CREATE
Belong: Create community through fun events (without and agenda) where students are invited to belong.
• This year we have a monthly outing to Dick’s Hamburgers, a trip to Sky-High Trampolines, and a Christmas celebration.
Believe: Create space for students to wrestle with the joys, challenges of following Jesus in the Greek system.
• Every few weeks we put on “The Back Porch” where we have a student share some of their story, scripture is presented from upfront, then students break into groups to discuss, life, faith, scripture and what was presented up front)
• We have continued existing groups and looking to create new in-house intentional conversations/bible studies, where students plan and facilitate a weekly conversation about failth and life. All are welcome. Currently small groups exists in Theta, AChiO, Fiji, ZTA. We are praying for DG, Alpha Phi and Beta houses. It has been AMAZING to see the Lord at work in the students as they lead and within the participants.
Thank you for your prayers!
On Greek Team
1. Students will be encouraged and supported through something called "REFUEL."
2. Students will help "Create" opportunities for others to belong to the a community and discover and talk about what they believe.
1. REFUEL
Living in the Greek system isn’t easy. Refuel is a place to encourage, support, equip each other to live within our Greek houses for Christ.
• Every other Wednesday the team meets for Refuel
2. CREATE
Belong: Create community through fun events (without and agenda) where students are invited to belong.
• This year we have a monthly outing to Dick’s Hamburgers, a trip to Sky-High Trampolines, and a Christmas celebration.
Believe: Create space for students to wrestle with the joys, challenges of following Jesus in the Greek system.
• Every few weeks we put on “The Back Porch” where we have a student share some of their story, scripture is presented from upfront, then students break into groups to discuss, life, faith, scripture and what was presented up front)
• We have continued existing groups and looking to create new in-house intentional conversations/bible studies, where students plan and facilitate a weekly conversation about failth and life. All are welcome. Currently small groups exists in Theta, AChiO, Fiji, ZTA. We are praying for DG, Alpha Phi and Beta houses. It has been AMAZING to see the Lord at work in the students as they lead and within the participants.
Thank you for your prayers!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
giving up control
Students were asked what in their lives did they try to control? Then, they were challenged to give these things to our God. Below is a random sampling of their prayers releasing control.
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