Off and Running!

Thank God for more staff workers in DC this year, because things are happening here! After some long, sweaty afternoons manning signup tables on the quad, giving free stuff to freshman and exploring their beliefs with photo surveys, we rounded the troops for our 2008 Kickoff, a cookout at our staff bachelor pad. Thanks to rain from Hurricane Hannah, one imploding/exploding grill, and 25 students from 6 campuses, 9 states, and 9 countries, needless to say, it was a memorable evening!

In my opinion, Friday’s biggest win was the wide spectrum of beliefs represented, and the relationships that have sprouted in spite of it. I think of Lee & JuWon, two sweet South Korean students with no faith background from American U. who nodded off during the content that night, but have since then developed a curiosity about the Bible and have been huddling around our staff every Monday to study the book of John.

I also think of Emily who Jayson and I met last year through a photo survey, who brought two roommates whose faith is nominal at best. Having met them before, I couldn’t help but wonder what they thought when one of our staff shared a bit of his hopes for the year in light of what Jesus has accomplished. Before the weekend was over, though, I had an inquiry from Emily on behalf of one friend requesting details for Sunday church, which they have attended and raved about for the past 3 weekends.

And I think of Wade one of our most willing leaders from last year, a sophomore this year at George Washington U., who just this past Wednesday, after a year of praying for revival on his campus, led DC Cru’s first totally student-initiated Bible study. Involved in the discussion about the identity of Jesus were seven students, some who would call themselves Christians, some who probably wouldn’t, including Emily’s roommate.

DC Turning a Corner…

For those of you who drive, you know the feeling of turning a corner — how going into the turn requires extra caution and harder braking, and how there is a point in the middle of the turn where something shifts and even though you can’t see the straight stretch quite yet, you can accelerate again. To make a long story shorter, one of our longstanding prayers and cautions has been that God would give us the humility to be team players in this city, even servants — ones who help diffuse what can often (legitimately) be the biggest turnoff to faith: arrogance, competition, and division among the body of Christ, including his ministers.

As the year begins, I see much evidence that God is honoring this prayer in spite of us – not only among our students (whose vast differences would give them ample excuse for mistrust), but among those leading them. As God has given us with some great friendships with other ministry staff and key people, please continue to pray with us that this would be a year that the reputation of Jesus Christ is elevated in this city far about our individual “flags”, that this would be a year that we see Him bridge differences and turn the corner!

As we get back to where God has called us for this period, there are constantly ideas and possibilities for what God could be calling us to in Pray that in the mean time we would follow Him closely and trust in His wisdom and love.

Grace & Peace,
Carrie & Jayson

Please pray for:

• Bowie State University — One of the primary schools on our “prayer radar,” a historically African-American campus where we’ve partnered with another group and prayed for opportunities to serve the frat scene. God has opened some interesting doors, pray that we would continue to see things happen there!
• Our staff team – While most of us know each other already, a “honeymoon” period would be unlikely. So far, so good – pray that we would continue to keep short accounts with God and each other, communicate well, work hard, play hard, and rest!

Download the original PDF here.

The Percentage Problem
In campus ministry, building successful student-led movements often boils down to finding the perfect storm of two things – 1.) a felt spiritual need and 2.) a capacity for leadership. Typically, this has panned out to be most prevalent in the middle-of-the-road schools – the Slippery Rock U.’s, the Penn States, the Virginia Techs, — and we have seen much success in these places. Less often striking this balance are the top 20% (often more self-sufficient and indifferent) and the bottom 20% (often more needy and transient). That’s why gaining momentum in a city ministry can be such an enigma – almost all of our schools fall within these top 20/bottom 20 brackets. Never mind trying to build community among students from such vastly different backgrounds and situations!

So to help gain momentum, our tiny team brought in a task force to increase our manpower by 900%: 60 students from further south willing to “fly north” for spring break. Hailing from Radford University in southern Virginia and the University of Georgia, these brave souls (some relatively new to faith themselves) hit the ground running, talking with students and doing service projects all around the city.

Winds of Change
In a brief overview of Bible imagery, the Wind rarely escapes its “Big Bad Wolf” typecast. Though spoken of often, it’s usually accompanied by words like “scorching, scattered, smote, and swept” in verses about vanity, chaos and destruction. I can only think of two occasions – Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus in John 3 and Pentecost in Acts 2 – where the Wind gets to play the good guy. But this month in DC, it got a star role with two of our visiting spring breakers.

Radford students were the first of our visitors to get out to Bowie State, initially to just cover it in prayer. There weren’t many folks to talk with that Friday, but for some reason, Haley had an unusually strong sense that the Lord’s presence was loud and clear, particularly when the breeze picked up. As it blew, she was struck with an odd sense of God’s love for that campus and the students there.

It wasn’t until Wednesday that Jessica from U. of Georgia would be at Bowie, joining with other Christians there to do some surveys about spiritual things. In the process, she connected with one particular girl and was praying with her before leaving that day. That night at our group sharing time, imagine Haley’s surprise when Jessica recounted that interaction, and how strongly she sensed God’s presence among them when, on an otherwise calm day, the wind picked up noticeably the entire time they were praying!

Things are stirring here in the city. By now, everyone is back home from various spring break ventures and the school year is winding down. But the spiritual atmosphere feels like the hour before a good summer rain, when the light changes quality and leaves upturn and get fidgety. Glimmers of the Holy Spirit’s work are blowing around, foreshadowing movement and change in dry places. Please continue to pray with us for the release of God’s healing, freeing power in DC!

Please Pray For

• The four new believers @ PGCC who came to faith through spring breakers, as well as the ongoing focus groups we mentioned last month.
• We have followed what we’ve perceived to be the Lord’s leading and are planning on staying with the DC Metro team another year, please pray for us as we work out all of the details that go into making this a reality.
• Good closure to the end of the year, even as we prepare for a summer of taking classes, raising funds, and planning for next year.

If you’d like to download the prayer letter, you can download the PDF here.

Today was a lot of fun, it was a lot of newness, too.

Bowie was a good time. Jacqueline and I got a chance to get to know some more students on campus. We hung out in the Game Room where they have pool tables, television with constant movies playing (the flick of the day was Jurassic Park 3), more than one Monopoly game going on at all times as well as a game or two of Connect Four. I met a student that Carrie had talked to last week while she was doing a visual survey with him. He was fun to meet, but it will definitely take some time and some built-up trust before he will be willing to hear the Gospel from me and respond to is positively. During our time there we had a chance to meet other students that came through and develop some new friendships including two girls that Jacqueline talked to for about an hour and a half.

Afterwards we went to Georgetown to visit with the group of Chinese students studying in the US. I loved this part of the night, some students who are believers and some who are not who are willing to learn about idioms (like, “That’s a horse of a different color.”) from us as well as take part in an English-language Bible study. Tonight we talked about Cain and Abel and the importance of bringing our best to God as well as the consequences of sin – that it always leads towards death. Also, it was amazing to see someone who was surprised and upset at the fact the God didn’t kill Cain outright because of His great mercy. It’s such a privilege to serve a God whose grace and mercy surprises and startles people!

Part of our night was also a $50 parking ticket, which I’m pretty sure I did not deserve, I’ll have to check out the signage there and either pay it or fight it… we’ll see.

Thank you all for your prayers, they were heard and answered today!

Today has us headed to 3 different campuses, two for each of us.

Carrie is headed to Prince George Community College to meet with the “Campus Crusaders for Christ” group that was student initiated there, we’re trying to help and resource them to reach their campus.

I am headed, with Jacqueline, to Bowie State University in Maryland. We’ll be meeting with some contacts that were gathered last time we were there, some of the student leaders from Bethel Campus Fellowship (the group we are partnering with) and doing some outreach and evangelism.

After all of that we’ll head to the Georgetown area to work with a group of Chinese students who need help in learning conversational English, some of whom are already believers. I’m excited to see some actual work at Georgetown!