As students prepare for the last week of classes and then finals, we at Challenge interview as many as we are able to meet with, set our plans for next year, and have a week of banquets and picnics.  Above are the freshmen who were able to attend our Spring Banquet.  This is an annual event that has grown in its tradition.  This year we had 89 students, parents, and alum present.  We use this event as a time to celebrate what God has done over the year and is doing as we send students out for the summer.  The Red Lion Restaurant always treats us very well also.

This year one of the freshmen shared how God had used Challenge to greatly impact his life.  He entered CU looking for a Christian group to be involved with, but really was looking forward to the college life - fun, drinking, etc.  One of our freshmen leaders met this guy and his roommate the first day and he plugged into Challenge while pursuing his more important pursuits.  Little did he know (I really like that phrase) that God was going to start working on his heart.  Before the fall semester was finished, he was on a different course and our winter conference stabilized that path.  He began having consistent quiet times, memorizing verses, and will be attending Project Impact this summer.

We also commissioned our Southeast Asia team.  For the 5th consecutive year we are sending a team for the summer to work with and support our former staff who lives with his family in SE Asia.  Our son Caleb will be on the team this year and we are thrilled with his direction.

So this wasn’t taking place at one of the more well known regional venues.  More like a backyard!  But a fun back yard.  March Madness for us meant a men’s weekend. However, hoops had to play a part, so this was how the time began.  It came to a crashing halt though when the rim wanted to come down and join the party.

Our men’s weekends are when we have an extra focus on being a godly man.  This particular time one of the coaches from the CU football team took the guys into the inner sanctum and then spoke about godliness and manhood.  It was pretty sweet.

Then the breaking of things continued.  The guys thought some football might be fun and so they played.  Well, it will be a good memory, but we are feeling the consequences.  Our worship leader/guitar player had surgery for a broken finger.  Josh, our son, is nursing a very tender (probably a minor fracture) back and has been out of commission for a while.

But the redemptive madness goes on…CU made the tournament!  So on the first night last week we were looking forward to a quiet night as a fam, students came over to watch the game - late.  Then Saturday night the same.  We are blessed to be a blessing and so these occassions are a chance to bless students - and we are glad to do so.  Changing the world through God-honoring relationships happens and progresses through just such times as this!

Our study has been taking us through the Immovable Core of the gospel story (a study written by the staff of Christian Challenge at the University of Nebraska).  It begins with God and His character and greatness and moves through man’s willful ignorance and viral rebellion.  Then God’s initiative in providing a system wherein a substitute could bear the penalty of man’s sin and putting a plan into action through Abraham and the nation of Israel. Then ultimately how Jesus was the promised Messiah who would bear the sin of us all.  And we still have 3 more sessions!

If you ever feel like praying for us, I want you to pray for these freshmen.  Some are believers who have been challenged and encouraged with growing in Christ.  They are not at the same place they were when first coming to CU.  Others are not believers, but are consistent in attending.

One of the guys in this latter group surprised us last week.  One aspect of the Core is a verse to memorize each week.  This last week, this guy was the only one of the freshmen to memorize it.  The one who is not even a follower of Jesus yet.  He told me the story and how he used some unforeseen extra time to learn it. Pray for him and two others who have not yet submitted to Christ, but are very close.

Here is what he memorized:

^{Romans 4: 20} Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

And to make it better the story goes that he had been doing laundry late at night.  When he finished he was exhausted and all he wanted to do was collapse in his bed.  As he got to his room his roommate started a late night food fight and spilled spicy ranch on his bed.  So in his exhaustion and frustration (maybe even anger), he went back to the laundry room to wash his sheets and that was when he decided to memorize the verse.  In a moment of stress he went to the Word.

Word.

The Colorado Crud that has been coursing through companions finally conquered our comfort.  When one is sick it is not so bad.  When 5 or 6 out of 8 are in various stages of Crud, its bad.

But the sun does rise again and spring follows winter.  Life slowly returns and mourning turns into dancing.  A shout of joy comes.

And so does catching up on a week’s worth of work left waiting!

Apprenticeship is serious business. Never downplay the importance of sermons, theological education, and deep Bible study. Just make sure you match all of these with doing life together, modeling a new way of being human, inviting people to come alongside of us and learn what it means to follow Jesus – not merely by what we tell them but also by how we live.

You can read it all here.

(no one was injured in the taking of this photograph)                                                                                                   ((click on for complete picture))

Friday night we held our annual Valentine’s banquet.  For Challenge men, this is an opportunity to honor the ladies by paying for, preparing, and serving a meal to them.  Its a chance for all to dress up a little more formally than normal.  Its an event to which we can invite new people and friends.  And its an occasion to promote and celebrate genuine love within a community.

³⁴ So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. ³⁵ Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”  John 13:34-35

And its a lot of fun.  This year included a mario kart love song, a skit by our freshmen (the best ever), a skit by the staff men that will remain a secret (unless dancing to Justin Bieber is ok for old men), and a presentation of wooden swords to the men by the women.

It is a little part of changing the world through God-honoring relationships (and we did have students from Japan and China there as well) and one of the ways to live out John 13.

I took a group of 5 students the weekend before last to the eastern Colorado town of Flagler (pop. 500).  We had a great time watching the basketball games (with the whole town) and spending time with some of the youth from one of the churches.  It was a great chance to form new relationships. The students loved it and enjoyed getting to know George Garner and his wife, Barb, and Pastor Bob Strauss.

And we will be taking a much larger group back for Spring Break.  We will be working on cleaning, organizing, and painting some buildings that are part of a lodge and conference center, as well as hosting events for high school students.  Our crew is really looking forward to it.

So what does what we do look like?  Well.  It looks fun and exciting and messy.  It looks like having our home open to welcome students whenever they want to drop by.  It looks like being prepared for an extra someone around for supper, or lunch (never breakfast really).  It looks like listening to them and getting to know their lives.

It looks like meeting with students on campus to look at Scripture together, talk to other people about Jesus together, work through life’s issues together, eat together, …

It looks like having our leaders in our home each Sunday night, freshmen (a lot lately) in our home on Monday night, weekly meeting on campus Wednesday night, Friday Night Thing on Friday night (imagine that), weekend retreats, movie nights, lots and lots of texting, …

It looks like listening to students talk about issues with parents and school and friends and money and anger and fear.  And then allowing the Spirit to help us walk through these things with them in a God’s way of wisdom that can bring clarity and healing and freedom and comfort.

It looks like spending Friday (like today) cooking for a Valentine’s banquet and getting our contributions finished before pulling 4 big lasagnas (that were dropped off the night before by our staff intern) out of the garage (extra refrigerator space in the winter) to bake in our oven.

It looks like loaning our big green van (a.k.a. the Swagger Wagon) to the youth group so they can transport kids to a downtown conference.

It looks like planning with Julee for the next session of pre-marriage counseling with a couple from our ministry.  And where it will fit in with all the other things.

It looks like spending time helping the high school wrestling team with leadership training (Habitudes) and  learning more wrestling moves.

It looks like giving our lives away for the sake of gospel ministry in others.

Blessed to be a blessing!

In our philosophy of ministry, evangelism and discipleship are inseparable.  To make disciples (knowing and learning from Jesus to live life like Him and so His life can be lived out through us) we have to first see people understand the Gospel and accept it.

One of the ways we are doing this is through gospel appointments - one on one meetings over lunch or coffee with friends or acquaintances in which we listen to their story, share ours, and explain the gospel.  So far this semester we have had 8 gospel appointments ( that I am aware of).

We also meet with students who know Jesus to help them know how to continue in relationship with Him, understand the Bible and how to apply it to life, how to practically pursue God-honoring relationships, grow in skills in helping someone else know Jesus, etc.  So helping students grow in knowledge (wisdom), skills, character, vision, and emotional health summarizes this area.

Next, What It Looks Like.

” Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.
Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. ”

2 Corinthians 4:1-2

Share life.

Our home is a vital part of our ministry.  Students meet here for bible study, to eat, movies, games, food, to hang out, snack, etc.  And also to watch our family and be a part of our family.  We want them to see how real life works around our place and teach them about how real life works.  And how we walk through real life with God.

This means our door is open.  This also means we can go through a lot of food.  And it is food well spent when we can share stories, have relationships that are more than superficial or event related, pray together, let students see what we are like at home, talk about how God is working and involved at present, answer questions, laugh.

This is discipleship beyond content and our hope is that it helps all be ready for living their entire lives in light of eternity and God’s purposes, helps many know God personally, helps some become healthy.  It means we are transparent and vulnerable and open for inspection and correction.  Changing the world through God-honoring relationships.

This also means our schedules look a little different.  Its not 9 to 5 and then home.  Our ministry is our life.  We don’t have many early morning meetings with students (at least at CU), we often tell students to lock up when they leave, we never know who may be around for supper, Our ministry is our life. Our life is our ministry.  In fact, many of the things students said they remember learning from us happened in the midst of mundane, unplanned times - not a planned meeting.  So every conversation and comment counts and maybe some of the most teachable moments are those we haven’t scheduled.

I will look at evangelism and discipleship in the next post of What We Do.