Who's the real winner?

I returned last week from a nine-day trip
to New Orleans with 14 BU athletes. We lived and worked in St. Bernard Parish, which the government declared 100% destroyed after Katrina, the most destruction on record in US history! About 1/3 of the residents have rebuilt their homes and returned, but even for these folks, most of their once-proud community beyond their physical houses is still in a state of disrepair.

I was so proud of our students, as they applied the strength and work ethic they've gained as varsity athletes to the work of rebuilding this community. The work was often not glamorous, but they devoted their full energy to it, without reservation or complaints of any kind. By the week's end, public parks had become usable for the first time since Katrina, and a new skate park and arcarde were ready for use by area children.

A local family tearfully told us how much it meant to them that they could now resume their tradition of weekly picnics in the park after a nearly three-year hiatus. They told us how grateful they were that their kids now have something fun to do outside the home. And they expressed that our team's mere presence their provided hope and encouragement in the midst of the dreary and wearisome process of rebuilding their Parish.

The students' hard work was clearly a blessing to those they served. And yet it's funny.... as we've returned to campus, all the athletes can talk about is how much THEY were blessed, how THEY experienced renewal in their lives, how grateful THEY are for the experience of serving.

By now I've led over a dozen teams of students on service projects in struggling parts of our nation and abroad. And every time, those who go to serve come back saying how they gained more than they gave.

I cherish these opportunities to build relationships between college students and those less fortunate. I marvel at the mutuality of blessing. In some ways it's counter-intuitive that those "serving" would end up feeling as though they've been served.

But this dynamic makes perfect sense in Jesus' kingdom, a realm in which he describes folks gaining true life by giving their lives away; a realm in which God uses the weak to show His glory to the strong; a realm in which greatness comes through being a servant, and glory through humility. The ways of Jesus' kingdom don't always make sense on paper, but they came alive to me and made perfect sense in St. Bernard Parish.

Paul

ps--the week in New Orleans was FULL of dynamic spiritual conversations between me and the athletes. Please pray for the continuation of these conversations back on campus!

A tale of two cities

Paul and I divided and conquered during spring break this year. We ran
two trips - one on Boston and one in New Orleans - for 25 BU students during the second week in March. Even though we were apart for 10 days, we treasured the opportunity to lead students into life-changing experiences.

Paul will explain in the next post more of what he was a part of in New Orleans, but though we were practically a country apart we saw God do some similar things in both places. We each saw God at clearly at work in the parts of the city we were in, we both got to see students partner with groups that do ongoing work in New Orleans and Boston, and we saw students wrestle with God over the realities of what they were seeing and how faith in Jesus was connected to the work they were doing.

In Boston, 11 students partnered with a great organization called The Boston Project Ministries. The students were able to serve in a variety of ways from cleaning a church in Boston to driving books for children around Boston to playing board games with the homeless at a shelter. Their eyes were opened to whole neighborhoods of the city they had never been to and their hearts were opened to loving the city and the people that they met.

We were really impressed by the work of the Boston Project and it turned out to be a great week. Thanks to all who prayed for these students and this project in Boston. Here's a short note from the director of the Boston Project that we wanted to pass on:

...we had an amazing week last week – thank all of your team for us once again! I really believe it was one of the best spring break trips I’ve helped to lead in the last four years. It just seemed like God’s anointing was all over the trip... It was cool to see several people back at our church on Sunday, too :)

Blessings on the rest of your semester,

Keith

Thanks again for your prayers - they clearly had an impact!

Liz

Two weeks ago...

The two fellowships at BU put on a great outreach event two weeks ago. The topic was “Where is God when it hurts?” and 80 students came out on a Wednesday night which was a great turn out. The event itself was excellent and well put together. The atmosphere was inviting, there was great energy in the room, and our speaker was really engaging. One of our hopes for the event was that some students would respond to the call by the speaker to become followers of Jesus for the first time. However, that didn’t happen as no one raised their hand to indicate this when the speaker prayed and no one wrote this on the response cards we handed out either. I was very disappointed. However, after praying and reflecting and processing the event with students and other staff the past two weeks, we have come to realize that there were other great things that happened this night. We put on a great event and many of the fellowship students left feeling like they wished they had brought their friends. Comments on the response cards included:

• “It was interesting to hear different perspectives and it answered questions about why I doubt where God is”
• “It was good to hear someone actually try to talk about this question when most Christians try to avoid it!”
• “I wish I’d brought my friends.”
• “I wish my friend had heard this.
• “Why don’t these events happen more often? It’s perfect to bring friends to.”

Reaching the campus for Jesus is a big job and it’s like we’re fighting a war to do it. We won a battle in the larger war two weeks ago when the fellowship students realized how much their friends needed to hear the story of Jesus and how they could be a part of that. Thanks to those who prayed.

Liz

(Not) on my own

A few weeks back I was facing a particularly hectic week and began to notice how the ministry tasks at hand were collectively causing my stress and anxiety levels to rise much too drastically. I'm usually busy, but not usually so anxious and this bothered me.

A few days later things had calmed down a bit, but I was still a little confused as to why I had been so anxious. I've been using a read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan as I drink my morning coffee and came across Mark 6. In this chapter Mark records the account of Jesus feeding the 5,000 and the subsequent episode of Jesus walking on the water. The disciples had just seen Jesus perform a miracle by turning five fish and two loaves into food for thousands of people. A few hours later they are on a boat and freaking out because of a storm and the fact that they see Jesus doing something else miraculous - walking on water. "Immediately he spoke to them and said "Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid." Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened" (Mark 6:50-52).

I had never really noticed the part of the disciples' hearts being hardened. They were likely tired from the ministry of the recent days, but even though they were with Jesus they somehow missed the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Why were their hearts hardened? Had they decided that they had had enough of Jesus that week? Were they "done" with being open to the things he had to teach them?

Do I do that - do I decide that I'm done with Jesus' care for the day or for the week? Do I try to care for myself? Had my stress from the previous week come at least in some part from my attempts to care for myself? Did the busy week show how much more I need to learn how to be refreshed by Jesus and not rely on myself for the strength I need?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

That week was definitely busy and more stressful than most. It taught me to be more watchful of my tendency to take on too much. But it also taught me about my tendency to rely on myself and my own abilities to get work done and accomplish ministry tasks.

The vision of our ministry is too big for me to try to do it on my own. I'm glad I felt that stress so severely that week because it showed me just how much more I need to rely on Jesus for strength and refreshment.

Liz