February 2011
21 posts
Monday Update - Storm's a Comin'
It’s a quick update today. God’s been really great to me this past week. I got a chance to meet a dozen new friends in the Gospel, some of whom are considering the call to help in this ministry in a financial way. It’s very exciting.
This coming week, there’s a snowpocalypse (or snowmageddon or whatever other end times and Biblical terms they can combine with...
January 2011
21 posts
¡Hoy Viernes! - The RyJo-urnal: Nom Nom Nom! Life. →
This is a guy that’s a senior in Illini Life; A friend that I’ve had the privilege to mentor and live with. Check out his thoughts below.
rymjo:
Do you ever get that feeling?
You know, that feeling when you get when find 20 dollars in your jacket?
When you’re watching the opening credits of your favorite TV show, and its a new episode.
When you see a full pot of coffee.
When...
Discipleship in the Local Church
I recently met with a new friend in the Gospel that really was struggling with her own time in her church. Obviously, I won’t tell you who and where, but it seems pretty obvious that this is a real scenario. Somebody has grown disgruntled with their church. She told me she was thinking about ‘church shopping,’ but was also torn on what God would have her do.
As I shared with her...
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The University of Illinois is: Diverse
The student population is from all over.
Here are the statistics from the Fall 2009 freshman class.
What this means for Illini Life is that we have an opportunity to share the Gospel with people from many places. There is a uniqueness to our mission field in the fact that instead of sending ourselves out to a place, the need for a good education sends people to us. We get a chance to share...
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Illini Life is: Apprenticeship
The second semester is in full swing at the U of I at this point. Classes have been dropped and added and the realities of homework are setting in. Within Illini Life, this is an exciting time. We have an opportunity to start to raise up new leaders.
Within many of our ministries, we have student leaders. Most have been doing their jobs for a semester or more at this point. Since we see ourselves...
Monday Update - Two Lessons Learned
I’ve written so much about sports and ministry, so I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that I have some thoughts from yesterday’s legendary Green Bay vs. Chicago NFC Championship game.
First: Congratulations to the Bears and their fans. It was a great season. You were consistently dogged on all year and still managed to get the NFC’s second seed and win the NFC North.
...
¡Hoy Sabado! - NFC Championship Preview →
Well, I’ve prepped all week for this. I’m a Packers fan in Illinois. It’ll be rough, but I’m excited. Check out this video from the NFL Network on the Packers website.
Enjoy the game tomorrow.
The Intentional Churches Conference
This past Saturday, I spent the day attending a conference for church leaders and members to discuss some ideas and principles about being intentional churches. The heart of this is to talk about how we can stop just ‘doing church’ and to see God move within our communities. I was so encouraged by this time.
I have been praying for God to offer me passion and vision. I was so...
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The University of Illinois is: Large
Coming from a home town with 7000-8000 residents, going to the University of Illinois was a shock. That was the size of my freshman class. Imagine everybody you know and everybody they know moving to a new place, and that not even being a 1/4 of the people there. That’s right. The U of I has a combined graduate and undergraduate population of 41,000 students. What makes this all the more...
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Illini Life is: Returning
The University of Illinois is starting for the Spring 2011 semester. This past weekend, students moved back into dorms and today they’ll pack classrooms in an effort to start a new adventure.
This evening, Illini Life will start up again with Home Fellowships. Connect Groups will resume on Wednesday and Thursday. Finally, on Saturday night, the first Saturday Night Grace of the semester...
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Monday Update - January Letter
Before anything ministry related, I have to say this.
Go Pack Go.
I’m super nervous about the coming NFC Championship game against the Bears. Living in Illinois, there’s plenty of anticipation on the other side of the ball. This is what sports do though. They give us a desire to fight for our passions and come together. The only danger is that friendships could be injured. Please...
Being the Helped
As a missionary, I very much so see myself as a helper. I get to help students talk through conflict, pain, their own histories, careers, crushes, and more. I love to help plan events (The Dawghaus is looking to host a Super Bowl party). My heart is to give to others.
So when I hurt my back last week, I was stuck in a position I do not feel comfortable in. Yea, the position of laying down a lot,...
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The University of Illinois is: Prestigious
Check out these rankings.
The U of I is one of the top public universities in the country and one of the top places to receive an education in the whole world. There are many young men and women on our campus that will be people of influence in the coming years. We get a chance to influence them, remind them of God, and call them to discipleship with Jesus Christ.
This presents some neat...
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Illini Life is: Students
This is a quick one, and probably pretty obvious, but Illini Life is about students. Our church body is around 2/3 - 3/4 college aged people.
These are folks that take classes for a living (at least to prepare for a living), have a fair amount of flexibility in their schedules, and are discovering who they are. In a culture that has extended adolescence to 25+ years of age, we are here to meet...
Monday Update - On My Back
Into the second full week of 2011, I can say that this year is definitely challenging. I spend the major chunk of my week in Clinton, IL right now. This is my hometown, and it’s where I have a significant support base. I’ve also built up some friendships while I’ve been in town (which is what support based ministry is really all about) and I’ve been playing soccer in my...
Watch¡Hoy Viernes! - This talk was shared with my by a friend this week. Totally worth a 20 minute listen in the background while you do the rest of your web work. It’s a talk about vulnerability in our society. Pretty poignant stuff.
When Wisdom and Passion Collide
Youth is reckless. Their passion causes them to desire crazy things, to dream big, and to shoot for the stars.
Age is careful. Their wisdom causes them to take pause, to think about things, and to not risk too much.
The youth of our society don’t respect the aged of our culture. The aged in our think the youth are irresponsible and unable to do things the way they used to. What if we...
Restless Contentment
I got a chance to visit with an intensely busy friend earlier this week and this question he posed me lead to a great conversation.
“How do you feel about contentment?”
As we talked, it seemed like we needed to be content in ourselves, in our relationship with Christ, and in what we do. This is held in tension with restlessness though. A restlessness for hurt, suffering,...
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The University of Illinois is: Public
When I decided to attend the University of Illinois in 2004, I willingly chose a public school over a private or a Christian school. My reasoning? The opportunities and the programs. The U of I is one of the best engineering schools in the country and offers more variety in coursework than many private schools.
Many times, Christian students in high school are encouraged to attend Christian...
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Illini Life is: Growing
In the Spring of 2007, Illini Life was struggling as a ministry. The number of new students that year was quite small. We were in the midst of some changes as well. In an effort to trust God, we followed His leading to change the model of how we do what we do. We moved our small group ministry out of the dorms into local homes and made them more of mentoring and discipleship communities, as...
Monday Update - 2011 Ahead
It’s the first weekday of 2011. It’s time to get back to work for many of you and myself. I was able to take some time to rest and relax with family and friends over the holidays of Christmas and New Years Eve. I am so thankful for the rest, but admittedly am very excited to return to the daily work of raising support.
As I think about the coming year, I look forward to a few of...