There is not much that will affect or change the worldview of your students as much as a mission trip. Having come off an incredible SENT conference this past weekend, I am reminded that we have to get students on mission. It is not too late to encourage them to take a trip somewhere. Yes, it’s April but they could still get somewhere even this summer. Challenge your students to go! It will do them and the ministry they come back to a world of good.

www.thetask.org

Prayer is not for Wimps

Prayer is such a vital foundation for our missional lives…  Spurgeon went as far as to say, “If any of you should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say that it is in one word – prayer.”    In Colossians 4:2 Paul exhorts us to devote ourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 

Sometimes it feels like we are not doing anything “but” praying… On the contrary, praying is a powerful weapon in our spiritual battle.  I love this quote in response to that thought:  “You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.” - A. J. Gordon  

There is a spiritual battle that takes place when Christians pray.  Unseen, but intensely crucial nevertheless. 

“Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den…Until you know that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for: Prayer is for the accomplishment of a wartime mission.” – John Piper

As we are preparing for our upcoming missions conference, SENT 2010, we have been on our knees asking God to mobilize His people.  May the Lord put a passion in the American church to be renewed and revived to live boldly and radically for the glory of Christ Jesus!  Here is an example of some of our prayer time together. 

You might use this in your personal life to pray for your family, ministry,  influence, the church, leaders, missionaries, etc.  This particular series of praying intentionally through scriptures was written by my friend, Mary Ann Bridgwater from Pray the Word Ministries.  May you draw near to God today & revel in the power of prayer.

 Praise & Thanksgiving

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent men You save me.  I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.  2 Samuel 22:2-4

The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.  The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is His name.  Exodus 15:2-3

See the prayer suggestions Tiffany included on her Blog

Look at these two stories about students working in Haiti.  One story highlights the work of a team of students from a Georgia BCM.   The other tells a little more about the IMB student project in Haiti this summer.   TEN state conventions have already signed up to bring students this summer.   This is great.   We still need more.  www.gohaiti.org   

http://www.imb.org/main/news/details.asp?StoryID=8536&LanguageID=1709

http://www.imb.org/main/news/details.asp?StoryID=8534&LanguageID=1709 

Mike Lopez
Director, imbStudents

Unless you have been on Mars or under a rock the last 4 months, you have seen too much of the Tiger Woods saga. He has filled the sports and tabloid headlines for months. It’s the story that just won’t go away. The thing that has really struck me listening to commentators in the sports world is the number of people who have just said. “I don’t care about his private life, I just want to see the best golfer in the world back out on the course.” It seems like there is this overwhelming sentiment that really Tiger may be a bad guy but what he needs to do is get back to playing golf. I am not here to debate if he took enough time off from the game or if he was sincere in his apologies. I am interested in the fact that in our culture the possibility of greatness clearly overwhelms character. It explains why celebrities get “do over” after “do over”. It’s why a star player could get in trouble at a bar and an average guy struggling to make the same team would be immediately cut. We just have this idea that greatness overcomes almost anything in our culture. (The other issue is money but that is a discussion for another day.)

            As ministers and leaders we can also get caught up in this idea of greatness just like the secular world. We can think that we are really gifted thus leading to ideas like “people are coming, we are growing, and it’s all because of me!” This may lead us to cut corners, make compromises, or even depend on our own abilities more than trust Christ. The problem is that these small shortcuts compound and lead to scandalous headlines and horrific situations. It’s the pastor that says “I can make this one compromise and it ends up in a heinous affair.” For us it is often more of a slow fade but even for Tiger I am sure that at first he took small steps that eventually led him down a path to destruction. Character always counts no matter if we are paying attention to it or not. Someone’s greatness cannot be detached from who they are as a person. God is looking at all of us not just our talents and gifts, not even if we are the best in the world at something. The difference may not be seen today, or even tomorrow but for sure in eternity being men and women of character counts. It would do our culture a bit of good to just draw the line sometimes and say even if you are the best in the world, character matters.  

Collegiate Leaders,

We wanted to provide those of you who missed the webinar with a link to this months talk that Trevor Atwood provided for us. Trevor dealt with the issue of vision and developing a ministry with vision. We believe he provided some great insights and thoughts for collegiate leaders. We have listed it on our box.net page. You can download it and watch and listen when you have time!

Give us some feedback so that we can know how better to help your ministry.

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 Don't forget to connect with us next month as Dave Owen will talk about How to build a robust Ecclesiology among Collegiates