In the Last Day of Project...

Man. Today is the last full day of project. I can hardly believe that. It just seems to end so abruptly. It really only hit me today that I will be leaving this mission and family down here in Clearwater. Though I am excited to reunite with my real family and all of my friends from Purdue, it is still is hard to say goodbye to everyone.

When I was preparing for this summer, I didn't know what to expect. I knew that I would be driven to grow in my faith, that the Lord would open my eyes like never before, that I would trust Him to empower impact-making in the community, and give me a team of men and women who love the Lord dearly. All these things have been true, very true indeed. However, I do not believe I would have been able to understand or comprehend what all that meant without experiencing it.

I have seen the Lord do incredible things for His glory. Our team has watched Him bring new Brothers and Sisters to faith, encourage and revitalize believers, help and heal the community, and even break ourselves down for some good ol fashion loving discipline.

I myself have learned some pretty key things:

1. My Identity is IN CHRIST. Like i mentioned in posts before, this was something I have been struggling to grasp. The Lord however gave me so much understanding and insight into this area, nonetheless. My heart literally wants to burst as I think of this truth now. Understanding my indentity has impacted so much of my walk.

2. I am so selfish. I can often view relationships as ways that people provide for me, rather than an opportunity to love and serve others. Learning how to love others no matter how 'beneficial' that relationship is or isn't had been a great challenge for me this summer.

3. My ability and desire to share the gospel has grown tremendously. I have gained so much valuable experience in this area. I cannot wait to take it back to Purdue.

4. I have learned a lot about myself in regard as how I view myself as a Man and the qualifications I put on myself and others in order to be considered real men. I am coming to understand how past sins and circumstances have shaped this, present sins that derive from this, and how I can trust the Lord with this in the future.

Like I said, its been a huge summer. Thank you to everyone who has supported me! Post project letters will be coming out in the next few weeks to all who were able to support me financially.

I cannot wait to be back home. I cannot wait to see the Lord's there!

A Letter of Forgiveness

In our last LifeGroup (bible study), I lead the guys through how we apply the gospel to relationships, specifically in the area of forgiveness. The big idea of the study was this-

"The Gospel frees us to forgive. When we are witness to the forgiveness that Christ has for us, our hearts should be turned to forgive others in the same manner. Though each of our sins is a sin against the Lord, only a small portion of each persons sin is sin against us. Through both experiencing and reasoning through the gospel, our hearts are shaped to forgive.

At the end of the study, each guy wrote a Letter of Forgiveness to a person who had hurt them greatly. I got the idea from a few counselor-friends who use the technique in situations of abuse or conflict. In order to tie everything back to the gospel and give the men in my bible study an idea of what to write, I constructed an example Letter of Forgiveness. However, this one was as if God were writing to us. I've copied and pasted the letter below. I hope you like it!

_________________________________________________________________________________

 My Sons,

Before you were even born, I knew everything about you. I knew which sports you would like (if any). I knew which subjects in school you would enjoy most. I knew all of your little quirks and kinks. I couldn’t wait to form you.

I watched you grow, so little, so curious, and so afraid. Your body was so small and so delicate. I protected you and cared for you, gave you a mother and a father to love you.

But even in your innocence, you left me.

You ignored me and instead turned to other things to feel protection and love. You chose them over me.

You thought me boring, a chore. You were ashamed of me. You spoke my name with disgust. You rejected me and looked away from me. You heart became hard and cold against me. You separated yourself from me. You became my enemy.

You turned my creation against me, perverting things of purity and beauty into objects of pain and sin. You attacked others whom I love with your words and actions. You lived for your own good and allowed others to suffer at your expense. You allowed corruption, perversion, death, and pain… you allowed sin into my world.

You deserve death. In fact, you have chosen it. Do you not know who I am? Do you not see who you have been messing with? Against whom your sin has been this whole time? I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am your Creator and Heavenly Father. I am the Righteousness Lord. I AM.

With every act of pride, trickery, hate, lust, and abuse, my nature burns for justice. But also within my nature, my heart breaks.

For even when you hated me, even when you fought me as an enemy, you will still my creation, and I still desired for you to be my son.

So I made a deal long, long ago. I promised a way for your debt to be cancelled. I promised a way to restore a relationship with you.

“Instead of taking out justice on you, I will take it out on my Son, Jesus Christ,” I said. Is it fair for him? Is that fair for you? Is that fair for me? No. But along with my Son, I sacrifice my right to what I deserve, so that you will not receive what you deserve either. So don’t worry. All that death and pain you brought upon yourself? Jesus experienced it for you.

I forgive you.

It is only because of Jesus Christ that I am able to do this. In Him, I am able to forgive you for your sins committed against me and offer a restored relationship. In Him, you can experience the gifts of my mercy and grace.

I want to offer you one last opportunity. I want to offer you the chance to return to me. I want to offer you a renewed and restored relationship. I want to call you my son once again. If you accept, you can trust that I will never leave you, that I will always provide for you, that I will protect you, that I will bless you, that I will work ever circumstance of your life out for your good, and that we will spend the rest of eternity together.

I cannot wait. I have so much planned for you and I. You’re going to love it.

I have loved, do love, and will love you for the rest of eternity.

Your Father.

Living On Mission

I wanted to post and ask for prayer and support over my mission for the end of project.

With less than 3 weeks left, it could be easy to become comfortable, complacent, and apathetic. It could be easy to spend all my time on a "bucket list" rather than the Lord's will. It could also be easy to sit around and wish for all the "shoulda, woulda, coulda's".

I don't want to do that.

I would much rather witness the Lord do amazing things in our team and the community of Clearwater, things that may seem impossible at the moment. Whatever my role may be in the Lord's plan for the upcoming weeks, I want to be prepared and ready.

Romans 12:1 encourages us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices as an act of worship. This is my hope and plan!

I will be waking up in order to spend about an hour and a half with the Lord each morning. I will also be renewing my heart towards loving and serving others. I want to use my spare time (besides obvious periods of needed rest) to serve my teammates or bring the gospel to the community. I want to be using the last couple weeks to Glorify the Lord.

Its hard to say exactly what will happen. I do not know His will, but I will keep you all updated on what he does through me!

Thanks so much for all your prayer and support!

Accepting My New Identity

I am terrible at receiving gifts.

I don't know what to say. It makes me feel awkward. I want to say thanks, I really do. But I don't know how. To be honest, I sometimes wonder if I'm really thankful. It doesn't make sense to me. Why am I getting a gift?

I mean, birthday and Christmas gifts- that's expected. And when I earn it- like my Eagle Scout award, or awards, or scholarships- that makes sense to me. I earned it. I worked hard and I deserve what I get. 

However, this idea of a free gift, something given randomly or simply out of love, its hard for me to accept.

_________________________________________________________________________________

I think this particular trait has carried over into my spiritual life.

It has been a constant struggle in my walk to accept the gifts the Lord has given me in His grace. In my freshman year of college, I finally allowed Christ to forgive me for my past. This summer, I am finally accepting the new Identity he has given me in Christ.

You see, it just doesn't make sense to me. An identity is something I create. I am defined by what I am, what I do, and what I say. I create my identity. It is something I deserve or earn. 

However, the word says that our new identity is in Christ. As I have learned what that means, I have come to understand that we literally inherit all of Christ's righteousness. We are granted his perfect life, his perfect reputation, and his perfect love in the eyes of the Lord. 

This is where I hit a snag... I didn't earn that. I have not lived a perfect life. I am very far from righteous at times. It doesn't make sense for me to have the identity of Christ. It doesn't seem fair.

_________________________________________________________________________________\

But isn't that what makes Grace so beautiful. While I am broken and sinful and far from perfect, the Lord has given me an identity that is wholly and completely righteous. Is it fair? No. Grace and Mercy have never been fair.

That is the beauty of the gospel, that we are allowed this new identity because the Lord loved us enough to satisfy His justice on His son, rather than us. But His Son was more than just a man, but fully God as well. Because of this, He was able to conquer death and give us His identity. 

This has been something that the Lord has been teaching me a lot this summer. As I have grown in my understanding of my identity, it has affected my understanding of manhood, how I deal with sin, heart issues, and much more in my walk. 

Hopefully this has been easy to understand! Haha, I know sometimes a thought process really only works for the original thinker. Be praying for me as I continue to grow and minister in the Clearwater area!

Updating on the Ministry in Clearwater

Hey all,
Sorry this seems so long since my last post. The wifi here does not want to work with my computer, so I am having to write this on my phone.
These past couple weeks have been quite insane actually...
One big thing is that our staff are now gone! That's right. The ministry here is now all college students. Before the staff left, they gave each of us roles to fulfill and responsibilities to take over. I was asked to be a LifeGroup leader. This means that I lead a Bible studies each week, I meet with all 8 guys in my study to check up on them spiritually, and I help them arrange times when they can be sharing their faith and doing ministry in Clearwater. I must say, I'm pretty pumped. I definitely need lots of prayer, though.
I've been growing a lot personally in the last couple weeks as well. I have made huge jumps in my understanding of my identity in Christ. I have been growing in my ability to share my faith and love on nonbelievers through practice and chatting with the staff. I have grown a lot in understanding myself and my sin as well. In the next couple weeks, I think my focus of growth will be understanding and embodying biblical manhood. If you could be praying for this as well, that would be so encouraging.
One last thing to pray for- lately, even amidst all the awesome people here on project, I have felt really attacked with loneliness. If I'm being honest with myself, I do not feel like I am connecting with others well and I feel overwhelmed by petty conflict and drama. I could REALLY use prayer in this area.
Thanks everyone!
Oh and one more thing! Go check this out-
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DtTv12uxixDc%26feature%3Dplcp&feature=plcp&v=tTv12uxixDc&gl=US

Challenges that We Get to Face

If you have ever heard someone talk about a summer project, sometimes all you hear is the fairy tale version.

I was often skeptical of summer projects during the course of the last two years because of the lack of negative things I heard about them. Every person who ever spoke to me about their experience said: "it was the best summer of my life" "I made my best friends on project" "the Lord blessed me a ton." Honestly, it seemed that nothing bad could ever happen. I don't really remember hearing much in the way of conflict, challenges, trials, or failures.

Now, I'm not dogging on anyone who has ever told me about project. I get it. They wanted to encourage people to come, so naturally, they through out all the Pros. Nevertheless, in my mind, I had decided I wanted  to come back and be open and honest about all the hard things about project. I didn't want to experience a fake paradise, but instead a real-life situation.

I am blogging now to let you know that I am living that conflict, challenge, trial, and failure-filled part of project.

These past couple of weeks have really been hard to put into words, so I'll try my best. To put it bluntly, I haven't really had any of those "rosey, confirming, heart-melting, euphoric" experiences we so often strive for in our walks in faith. Instead, I have been witness again and again to my own brokeness getting in the way of the Lord's Will and Plan. I have had to deal with conflict, which no matter how you handle, is almost always messy. I am currently battling a cold that is taking my ability to concentrate, breathe, talk, and have humor. Lastly, I have been frustrated with my inability to figure myself out psychologically (something I'm usually fairly good at).

So yeah. It definitely been a hard few weeks. BUT! I have been fairly content through it all. Why? Honestly, because I know that despite my brokeness, sickness, and ignorance, the Lord's perfection, healing, and wisdom does not change! He has been teaching me throughout, as my heart draws to Him.

Now don't get me wrong, things haven't been THAT bad. I've still got all 10 fingers, both my eyes, and what's left of my ACLs.

Actually, there have been some pretty cool stuff going on down here!

In the past week, I have building some pretty sweet relationships with the guys I work with. There are a ton of cool guys there. I'm hoping to be able to hang with them after work. Also, yesterday we all went and helped serve in a homeless community in the area. We served dinner and ate with some of the people currently in the community. I got to meet this guy name Shad, a former wrestler who had recently come to begin a relationship with the Lord. He was a tight guy with a cool story of redemption and hope.

I'm going to update some prayers and praises on the other page. Check that out and go to the thrown for me. The prayers of a righteous man or woman are powerful and effective!

Has "In Christ" Become Cliche?

Well, it has for me.

One of the major questions I have been wrestling with over the last few months is "what does it mean for my identity to be 'in Christ'?" Perhaps I'm over thinking it. Perhaps I care enough to gain more than complacent understanding.

Since coming on project, I have been growing in this area with the Lord. Growth has come about through understanding myself and my ways of thinking. I have been identifying some of the lies I commonly believe about my identity. I have been lead to verses that speak about our new-found righteousness in Christ. My discipler and I have talked for quite a while together on the subject, particularly my identity as a man. I do not want to prematurely conclude on some of the lessons I have been learning, for I feel as though I have much of a ways to still travel. By the end of the summer, Lord willing, I will be able to post about this subject in a more in-depth manor.

For now, I wanted to talk a little bit more about the evangelism we do here on project. I had been getting a few questions about what exactly it is that we do.

Well, there are a number of strategies that we have used to engage the community. Before I mention them, I wanted to give everyone a firm foundation. You know missionaries who go to Africa and build an Christian orphanage, which leads to both the example and the preaching of the gospel? Well that's not what we do.

A good foundation perhaps is to go read Acts. You see how Paul simply walks into the market and begins preaching? That's a little more along our lines. Let me explain some of the differences first, though.

Firstly, we don't really just pick a random barrel and start preaching. Rather, most of our evangelism begins through normal conversation. The general way we share the gospel in Clearwater is by engaging people in conversation that is initiated by us students. There are a number of ways we do this, all focusing on allowing the people we meet to share their thoughts before we ever start talking.

1. Spiritual Surveys: Cru collects data each year through these quick spiritual surveys. We will take these out to the beach and engage people to see if they would be interested in taking it. We are trained to transition these surveys to an opportunity to share the gospel.

2. Soularium: This is similar to the surveys mentioned above, but we use picture cards to and ask people to pick cards that represent their answers. (A lot of people think this is kind of fun, whether or not they wanted to talk about the gospel afterwards).

3. Question Boards: Sometimes, we will take massive wooden boards out to the beach/pier with a simple question written on them. For instance, the board I worked with last weekend said "Who is God?" We then invite people to write their answer on the board. After they have finished, we try and engage them about their answer.

These are just a few of the methods we have used so far, and they have been awesome to experience! I have lost track of how many people have come to Christ since being down here.

Please continue to pray for my team and I. We are expecting God to do big things!

Faith within Discouragement

Hey all! Sorry it has been a while since I've really updated on anything. The wireless here hasn't been so hot, and we are kept pretty busy.

This past week has been pretty challenging. I swear I'm probably the first person from Purdue to say it- Summer Project can be hard! Most of us work during the day, where we are trying to be lights to our co-workers, then we come back and usually have some sort of meeting in the evening. Sometimes, we have to help get these meetings ready ourselves. Then there is making dinner and cleaning up afterwards, laundry, random work, and intentionally pursuing the other men and women on the project. It is really easy to wear yourself out here.

However, it has been so good. The Holy Spirit has really been battling bad attitudes and exhaustion within me this past week. With the Lord's help, I'll have the energy to do whatever needs to be done.

So, a couple updates on what I've gotten to do this week:

1. This past weekend, we ministered to people on the beach by playing a game we call Soularium. The way the game works is that we set up about 50 cards, each with a picture of something random (a elderly couple, a tree, a door). Then we ask passerby's questions about the cards. For instance, "which two of these cards best represent your life?" It gives people the ability to start thinking about their life in a whole new way. If people are willing, we also ask some questions about God and the ability to have a relationship with Him. This is our avenue into sharing the gospel with them.

During our time using soularium, it was easy for me to get pretty discouraged. You see, a lot of other groups were having great conversations and people were hearing the gospel. I, myself, was not. In a way, my heart was basically slumped because I wasn't happy with the way the Lord was using me. On top of that, the Lord has really put me in a interesting place at work. Most of the other male workers work the night shift, while I work the morning shift. This has been making it difficult to really work on my ministry at Surf Style. I'm not sure what the Lord's plan is, but I want to trust Him and be faithful!

2. Last night, I got to Emcee our weekly meeting. This meeting is designed to be a recharge for all of us on project. We usually play some sort of goofy game, worship, pray, hear teaching, and enjoy some socializing. Being able to lead it all was such a fun experience! I can't wait to do it again next week!

Thanks again for all your support and prayers! Pray that I am usable for the Lord in His work down in Clearwater!

Date Night with Jesus

Most of the time, I hate cleaning dishes with a sponge. First of all, you have to keep it (you can't just throw it away). Sponges usually get pretty close looking, and I hate squeezing them all over my hands. Nonetheless, I am in love with sponges right now.

Why you may ask? Well, right now I feel like a sponge. I feel like a sponge that's been covered in hot tap water and then squeezed until every once of gunk has been rinsed from me. I feel totally refreshed and filled with new water. 

Every week, each of us students get away from the rest of the team to have what I like to call "Date Night with Jesus." I'm currently finishing up my own time now. 

For the last 2 and 1/2 hours, I have been in this little jankety coffee and ice cream shop in prayer, the Word, mental process, and contemplation. I even journaled for the first time ever! The result has been totally awesome! I feel like I have just sat throw a long conversation with the Jesus, asking Him questions, pouring out my heart, and working along side Him. I was a little unsure at first how I would spend that much time in quiet time, but it was much easier than I could have ever imagined.

These last couple days have been really reaffirming for my heart. For whatever reason, I was really anxious this past weekend. I'm not sure exactly why, but it caused a lot of unrest.

I didn't have to work Monday, so I spent some of my day meeting with my discipler, Daniel Bass, a father of three and Cru Staff Member of North Carolina State University. I had gotten to share my testimony with Daniel and the men in my LifeGroup (bible study) so we first began by simply talking about that more. As we talked, we started to search for some of the heart issues of the sin in my life. (I've determined it wise not to go into too much detail here, but I would love to share more privately if you would like to ask more.) Daniel and I looked at some cool psychological models of how we determine (or create) false truths in our lives. It was such a great time of meeting and I feel really blessed to have this older Man of God leading me this summer.

Today was also my first day of work! Like I mentioned earlier, I am working at a surf shop called Surf Style. If you've ever been to Ron John's, it is very similar to that. I am the sales associate in the Souvenir department. Basically, I sell souvenirs and beach toys/equipment all day! I think I spent about 5 hours just sorting personalized keychains and shot glasses today. I'm hoping to keep things organized, giving me more time to create relationships with my co-workers and love-on customers well.

I've already began conocer some of my co-workers, but for privacy's sake won't put their names up on here on the blog. Could you be praying for them?

Also, some of the team members are still looking for jobs/ministries for the summer. Could you be praying for them? Both peace and patience as well as the providence of a job. 

Thank you so much for your support, again! The Lord's plan is beginning to unfold!

Suntans, Sharing, and Stingrays

Come tomorrow, I will have been down in Clearwater Beach for a whole week. I will say, this week has been quite intense.

In the past week, we have spent time getting to know the other team members on project. This has been a blast! My roommates are a great bunch of Biblical men, as are the other guys on project. I also love the adventure that a lot of these guys have in their hearts. One of the cool things about project is what is created when you stick a bunch of Lord-loving guys and girls together in a closely knit space. I'm excited to face challenges of the summer with this community.

As I mentioned in my last post, I managed to find work! I'm so pumped for my ministry at Surf Style. Could you be praying for me?

Also this week, we were able to begin our beach ministry in Clearwater. We began by simply walking the beaching, initiating conversation with people, and giving them the opportunity to talk about their spiritual journey. I had four really good conversations myself! One of was really cool, because the guy we talked to, Cameron, was interested in meeting up with us and playing some volleyball over the summer.

Want to hear a funny story? So, like I said, there is a group of the guys with a pretty adventurous streak. We decided one night to go out for a swim in the ocean. One thing that is cool about the beach in Clearwater is that the water stays fairly shallow for about 50 yards at parts. So, in the moonlight, seven of us had waded about 30 yards into the water when the leader of our pack caught a glimpse of a few round shapes in the water. While we were trying to figure out what exactly they were (probably stingrays) something off to our right jumped and splashed. Without saying a word, our pack of valiant men immediately raced back to shore, splash-running in a not-so-manly-way. It was pretty humorous at the time, and I'm sure the couple enjoying the stars enjoyed it too.

I'm pumped to begin work tomorrow. Check my prayer page for updates!

I have a Job/Ministry!

Hey everyone!

It is day three down here on the Island of Clearwater Beach. Things have been so cool down here! Yesterday, we spent a lot of times in our Life Groups, which are the small groups in which we will be meeting with our mentor for the first five weeks of summer. We did a lot of orientation and prep. I'm doing my best to learn names fast, but there are over 30 other students with me and a number of staff and their families. It can get challenging.

Want to hear an awesome praise to the Lord? On my first day of job searching, I have found work! A chain store called Surf Style (www.surf-style.com) has hired a good number of us from the project. Surf Style is a store that sells beach products, beach clothing, surfing gear, and skating gear.We will get to hear back in a few days on our assigned location, but there are three fairly close to our motel.

We studied today how we can often just see jobs, work, or even careers as money-makers. However, the Lord has destined so much more for us! Most of us are not full time missionaries or pastors, but we are all called to GO and make disciples. How can we do that? One of the most obvious places is our workplace. One of the big things we will be studying/practicing this summer is how we can be active Kingdom Workers in our workplaces.

Surf Style is an especially cool opportunity because they tend to hire quite a few international students. Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Central and South America are all represented at Surf Style locations! Working there is going to give me and the other project students an awesome opportunity to share the gospel with our co-workers. Could you be praying for divine appointments this summer?

Thank you again for wanting to keep up with me! It means a lot!

On the First Night

So I figured I couldn't go the first night without posting something to at least say we got here safe!

The place we are staying is a small motel, and the North Carolina people have already filled it with these hammock things called Enos (apparently they are big over there).

I plan on posting pictures of the trip as they come on a separate page of the blog. It will take a little bit longer to do, so check back in a few days.

I'm pumped to get to work and continue relationship building with the team. Be praying!

My Last Moments in Indy

Not going to lie. I barely slept last night, and when I did, my dreams were filled with a lot of random stuff- including my brother and I waging war on all red heads (sorry guys), these things that kept on turning from werewolves to angels, and myself parting the Gulf of Mexico. So, overall, a good night.

But for real! I can not explain how pumped I am to finally be here on this day! I applied to this trip back in October, November area, started this blog back in January, and now here we are! I'm getting ready to head out.

Thank you all for those of you who have supported me financially! Just watching the Lord use you to provide has been so cool. I have raised about $3400!  How cool is that? Everyone take a second to praise the Lord with  me!

The plane that Logan and I will be taking leaves Indianapolis at 1:40pm. We should be arriving to our new home in Clearwater about 4 or 5 pm this evening. If you could all be praying for safe travels, that would be a great encouragment!

I will probably try and avoid Facebook over the summer. Facebook has proven to be a huge time-waster in my life, so if you want to get in contact with me, give me a call or email! I should be posting on here at least once a week, probably more.

If you would be willing to pray for me throughout the summer, there is a page that I will use to update prayer requests and praises. Check it out!

Once again, I want to thank everyone who has supported me! I can't wait to see what the Lord does through your provision.

Who is Cru? : Send

Before I begin explaining more about Cru- A support update! I am currently $475 away from being fully supported! Thank you so much for everyone who has graciously joined my support team! Please be praying for the last amounts to come in before the 21st of May.

Now, the third point of Cru's montra -Win, Build, Send- is Send. Cru's heart is to send out disciples in the same way that Jesus sent out disciples in both Matthew 10 and 28. Cru trains believers to not only grow in their faith, but to also preach the gospel wherever they go.

For many, this point draws out contempt and a little animosity. You see, Cru is daring enough to promote what we call "intentional evangelism." No, intentional evangelism is not knocking on someone's door, asking if they've "heard the good news," and leaving them with some pamphlets about their unavoidable doom. Intentional evangelism simply means that in the process of forming relationships and loving-on others, there is an attempt to verbally share the gospel.

In my experiences with Cru, I have gotten to share the gospel while passing out food to families in poverty, talk about Jesus with students after taking one of our faith surveys, answer difficult questions with non-believing friends who accompany me to church, and evangelize to my friends in my dorm, classes, and student organizations.

What makes this different than other Christian orgs? What often turns people off to Cru's method of evangelism? Honestly, it's the "sharing the gospel" part. I can say that with confidence because I myself was not a huge fan of Cru's evangelistic style as a freshman.

Have you ever heard the saying, "Preach the gospel, and if neccessary, use words"? If not, it is an old saying attributed to St. Francis of Assisi (though no historical or legal evidence supports this attribution). In recent years, it has become the rallying cry of Christians in their approach to spreading the gospel in a world pretty pissed off with religious bigotry.

Why do people love this? Why was I willing to live and die by this saying?

Simple, it's easy.

It seems that the church has allowed itself to adone a gospel presentation that consists only of smiling 24/7, being very loving and kind, and doing a lot of good works. Now, many of these things are not bad in and of themselves. Paul himself wrote that "faith without works is dead" (James 2:26). Furthermore, it is true that one would have a difficult time sharing the gospel with friends if one's own life did not reflect that very gospel. However, this does not make living a good life an evangelistic strategy.

Here's why. Let's set the scene:

I am with some of my non-believer friends. We are at yet another fraternity party and once again they are slowly losing all self-inhibition sipping on that magic stuff and grinding up some lovley ladies. I, however, dressed in my hipster-esque, leather flip-flops, washed-out jeans, button-down shirt, and WWJD braclet, sit calmly at the side of the room, smiling politely and denying any offer of alcoholic beverage. Seeing this pattern in my life, my friends have always wondered what makes me different. They all suddenly deside to stop dancing, walk over to me, sit at my feet, and accept Christ.

What's wrong with this picture? I bet a life truly living out the gospel will be noticed. I bet it will make people think. We hit the snag, first, at the coexistant culture we currently dwell in. Remember, there is no universal truth anymore. The idea of our society is "what works for me may not work for him" or essentially "my idea of truth may not work for his idea of truth." Being different is no longer different anymore! (Sorry hipsters).

Secondly, the gospel has, essentially, four main points:
1. God is our creator and has a plan for our lives.
2. We have sinned and separated ourselves from Him and His plan.
3. Jesus died so that God's just nature could be satisfied and we could reenter a relationship with Him.
4. In order to do this, we must be willing to give control of and the rebellion in our lives over to God.

The problem with refusing to go past living a gospel-centered life is that there is NO WAY a person just watching you is ever going to understand these four points. They may see that Jesus gets you through hard times or that He has helped you become a better person, but how are they supposed to lead themselves down the path of thinking listed above? At some point, you have to open your mouth and say the J-Word!

Romans 10:17 - So, faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the Word of Christ.

To "Send" in Cru is the idea of sharing this message, intentionally and lovingly, with the people the Lord has placed in our lives. For some, this will mean traveling across the world. For others, this will mean sharing the gospel with their own families. Either way, Cru hopes to raise up workers for the Kingdom, disciples unafraid to proclaim the Word of God.

Who is Cru? : Build

In a little under three weeks I will be on my way to Clearwater! I still am in need of $1600 of support. If you would be willing to become a part of my financial team, give me a call at 317-727-4205 and I will be forever grateful! 

I realize that many people are not familiar with Cru or it's mission. Heck, I had never heard of it till I came to Purdue. Cru defines its mission with the words: Win, Build, Send.

I am going to skip Win and go straight to Build. (Sorry Type-A's).

One of the ways (my favorite way) that Cru promotes the building of men and women in the Lord is known as discipleship. It's kind of similar to what you are probably thinking. The relationship between Jesus and his disciples is one of our examples of how we disciple. More specifically, as a discipler, my job is to point the young men I mentor towards Christ.

Above are the three young men I disciple. The one on the left is Logan, the one on the right is Josh, and the one near the bottom is Jacob.

Each week, I meet with these three freshmen and talk about life, the Word, and the Gospel. I encourage them in their walks and steps of faith, but they also encourage me. Seriously, my heart feels like it is going to explode every time I see one of these men grow in their faith. I don't think anything I have ever done has brought me as much joy! Next year, they will be sophomores discipling their own froshies. I cannot wait to see how they lead other young men.

Discipleship, mentoring, big-brothering- whatever you want to call it. Cru has given me the opportunity to actively lead others in their faith, preparing them for a life lived for the Gospel alone. 

This has been my little tid-bit on Build! I hoped this help give you some insight on what Cru is all about!

Growing in Financial Faith

So today during my quiet time, I realized that I have been pretty poor about giving back the little finances the Lord has blessed with me.

Confession - I only pledged $50 to support Purdue Cru. I could afford way more than that.
Confession - I tithed last week with a pretty begrudging heart. I pretty much did it because I felt like I had to, not because I wanted to give back.

My point is, how can I be asking people to take a step of faith in supporting me to go on this Summer Project, when I myself have not had the best track-record with financial faith?

I mean, at the time I felt like I had a pretty good excuse. I myself am trusting the Lord to support me on this project, so I shouldn't have to give, right? I should just save all my money and use it for my own support JUST IN CASE. Man, do you see where the holes in my faith are in that thought process?

In Haggai, the people of the Lord were so caught up in building up their own homes that they neglected the Lord's temple for 16 years! Why? Was it a lack of faith in his providence? A lack of respect or fear? An arrogance or pride in themselves? Honestly, it was probably all of the above. If you read all of Haggai, you'll see that the Lord frustrates the peoples farming and production abilities because of where He has been put on the priority list.

If you read my last post, you know that I have been convicted of the lack of faith I have had in the Lord. Part of having faith right now in my life is trusting in His providence for support money.

Francis Chan once said in a sermon, in response to a well accepted message, "I'm really glad you guys were touched by my message. Now, what are you going to DO?" Part of our growth involves actually DOING something, not just coming to a greater understanding. I want to practice having faith financially.

So! I need you to keep me accountable! I have decided to give back the following things to the Lord, however that may look (I'm still looking for places to put the money).

1. 15% of my remaining paychecks from Purdue's Division of RecSports
2. 100% of the money I receive from selling back old textbooks.
3. 100% of the money I receive from selling my extra clothing.

I have come before the Lord and promised to give these blessings back to Him in the name of His glory. If you could help by keeping me accountable, that would be awesome!

Also, please continue to pray for people to join my financial team for Summer Project!

What is Prayer without Faith?

Over the last week, the Lord has struck me with conviction over my lack of faith in many areas of my life. I got the chance to share this at our weekly CRU meeting last Friday and I wanted to share it on the blog as well.

James 1:6-8 "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

After reading this verse, my heart sank. I have been praying for support to come in for project, but a huge chunk of me always doubted that it would. There are other areas of my life where this is true to. Areas of sin or areas of needs... so many places in my life where the Lord will not provide, simply because I am foolish enough to think that my life is too complicated and too challenging for the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE! Man, what an idiot I can be!

I want to let you know that the Lord has been strengthening my faith this past week. I am giving up those areas that once lacked faith and allowing Him to work his wisdom and glory. I hope this short testimony of mine is an encouragement to you as well! Have faith in the Lord! Pray with a heart that trusts Him to work big!

Support Update!

I am currently at $1565, which is about 47% of my total! Keep praying and if you have not yet decided to join my team in financially supporting my mission of spreading the gospel in Clearwater, I humbly ask you to consider!

Walk Humbly and Love Mercy!

Cody

BTWs- If you wanted to know what the coolest family photo looked like, look no further! These are my brothers and sisters in Christ in the Shreve Ministry at Purdue University. Be praying for their summers!

Support Raising and Ending the Semester

Today is my last day of regular classes in Sophomore year! Next week is known as dead week (professors are given the legal right to intellectually murder their students with anything and everything but a final) and then finals! It has been such a great semester.

Right now, I am reading through Proverbs and Phillipians simultaneously and it has been so good! Solomon is a boss (I think I want to name my kid after him... Solomon. Seriously how neat is that?) and Philliapians is all about cultivating a positive attitude. It has been so uplifting as well as practical.

Support is coming in and I want to thank everyone who has given! I have reached the $1000 mark, which is just about 30% of my support!

Please keep praying for me and my support! I'm remaining strong in the faith I have that the Lord will provide for me. Have faith as well!

Praying for Support and More about Clearwater

So far, I have been blessed with about $800 of my total support! I am so thankful! over to be over 20%! I will keep praying for support to come in, and you should too!

So, before signing up for this project, I was unsure of what Clearwater Beach was really like. To be honest, I even stopped and thought "Do they really need me to bring them Jesus?" The answer to that is an emphatic- YES!

(Wikipedia, do yo thing)

Clearwater is in the Tampa Bay area and has a population of about 107,000 people. It is a community of almost 80% white, and while a very beautiful area, over 15% of the population is below the poverty line. Nevertheless, there is most certainly a wealthy side to the area.

Most notably, Clearwater, Flordia is the homebase to the Church of Scientology.
http://scientology.fso.org/
About 10% of Clearwater's community considers themselves a part of the Church of Scientology. If quick summery of Scientology:

Many would consider Scientology a cult (though, as a sociologist, we have classified almost every religion as a cult as some point). However, Scientology rarely starts as a religion for most. Scientology is often used as a alternative-psych self-help lesson, which turns into a religion as members become more and more involved. Many secular psychologists and other scientific experts have noted the damaging effects these "counseling session" can have on their patients, however. Below is a BBC documentary about the church.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwPMHM3qC9w

One of the elements of my summer will be sharing the gospel in Clearwater. Undoubtedly, some of the people that I meet will be a part of this Church. Please be praying for these people and my ability to share the gospel while I'm down there!

Cody

Just an update!

Last week was spring break for me, so I was able to send out another round of letters! Still be praying for support to continue coming in!

So far, I have received $185! Thank you so much to everyone that has sponsored me so far and is already praying for me.

Another fun update: a friend of mine, Logan, is going to Clearwater with me! I met Logan this last December and am now discipling him (which basically means I am pointing him to Jesus as an older Brother in Christ).

I still have a few more support letters to send out. Hopefully, I will be able to finish those within the next week. With school, work, and student organizations, I wonder how I manage to find time for sleep.

I hope you will continue praying for me! Let me know how I can be praying for you!