Hello, friends!
Just about 10 years ago, when I was but a wee Freshman at WashU (Go Bears!) I joined InterVarsity. At the time, InterVaristy @ WashU (Go Bears!) actually had 3 or 4 groups. There was InterVarsity/One Voice, the multi-ethnic chapters, ACF (Asian Christian Fellowship), Harambee (Black Campus Ministries), and I'm not sure if International Friends was a thing yet but it may have been. Each group reached out to a different part of the campus but we were all of one body and did different events together occasionally, like conferences.
It was at one of these conferences, Fall Conference 07 to be exact, where I had my life changed in a number of ways. I point to that conference as the moment when I changed from a believer in Christ to a follower of Jesus. It was also there that I first met my lifelong friends from Harambee, Thomas (T-Mo), Rachael (Rae Rae), and Lauren (Jad).
A few months later some friends and I had an idea to do some stuff between different campus ministries. Howie, the Harambee staff, suggested that I invite a student of his named Ashley Smith. I said, "sure, why not?" and a friendship was born.
It's entirely possible that my recollection of the story is not quite accurate but I think it is. The important thing is that for the past 10 years or so, "Miss" Ashley Smith (now Moore), has been a great friend and wonderful co-worker. We've been through battles together, usually on the same side, but sometimes not so much. We both went through the life of a college student trying to lead a chapter into mission. We did our InterVarsity internships together (along with T-Mo). We joined staff at the same time and enjoyed many a staff meeting together. We've seen tornados, both literal and figurative in our staff careers and somehow survived them all. I had the pleasure of being a part of her wedding (she married T-Mo), and was sad when she moved to Seattle. It's been a blast.
Miss Ashley ends her tenure with InterVarsity tomorrow. The past few years she'd been working on her seminary degree and praise Jesus, it's done! Now it's on to whatever adventure is next for her (and T-Mo!). Maybe it'll mean a move back to Missouri. Maybe it'll be across the river in Illinois. I don't know. What I do know is that I wanted to spend a few lines of internet sharing a few things that Miss Ashley has taught me over these past 10 years of friendship/co-workerness.
1) Miss Ashley taught me how to talk to people with feelings: Y'all may know that I'm not a very emotional person. I don't understand them well and usually have trouble engaging with emotions, especially in others. Friendship with Miss Ashley taught me not just that feelings are OK but that it's possible to engage and minster to folk with feelings without being great at having your own! Thanks, Miss Ashley.
2) Miss Ashley expanded my worldview: I have no idea what it's like to be Black in America. I know what it's like to be a minority, but that's not the same thing. Through the years, Miss Ashley and I have had so many conversations, some easier than others, about ethnic identity, racial reconciliation, and a number of other things that I just didn't understand before talking to her. I'm by no means at the end of my journey, but I'm further than I was before thanks to her. Thanks, Miss Ashley.
3) Miss Ashley was my friend: I'm not someone who has a lot of friends per se. I know a lot of people and have plenty of acquaintances. I feel comfortable meeting new people and don't have trouble talking to folk. But I'm not someone who really has a lot of friends. Miss Ashley is my friend. She puts up with my ridiculousness. She opens up to me and doesn't mind me doing the same. We don't talk as much as we used to but we still have our inside jokes and things of that nature. I know I can count on her and she can do the same for me. We make up after we fight. It's a good thing. Thanks, Miss Ashley.
So, onward to my dear friend "Miss" Ashley Moore. Whatever happens next for you, I'm still just a phone call away. =0).
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Service Above Self...
Hello, friends!
When I was in high school, I joined the Interact Service club. It's entirely possible that I joined it because my sister was the president (as was often the case) but either way, I joined. My Junior and Senior years of high school, I became President of Interact, which apparently meant that I was also invited to Rotary club meetings, since Rotary was the parent sponsor of Interact. I met a lot of really great people and my dentist was even a Rotarian, which was pretty fun. During my Senior year, when I was completing my Eagle Scout project, the Rotary club of Garden Grove sponsored the entire project.
Last year, as a way to meet more people in Columbia, I decided to join the Downtown Columbia Rotary Club. I'm not sure why it never occurred to me to look for a Rotary club out here but on a whim, while I was visiting Columbia College, I saw that there was a club meeting. I walked in, a nice Rotarian bought me lunch, and I've been going ever since.
Rotary, much like Lions, Kiwanis, Elks, Optimists, etc., is a community service organization that seeks to build community through serving the community. I could go into all the details of its history and such but I'll just say that it's motto is "Service Above Self." In many ways, it lines up perfectly with the work that I'm doing with InterVarsity. While not a faith based organization, Rotary aims to build stronger communities and change the world. They do it through service. We do it through the Gospel.
I'm writing about this now because the past few weeks I've had a chance to see a really fun colliding of two worlds, InterVarsity and Rotary. A few weeks ago, one of our Rotary members passed along a signup sheet asking for volunteers to help at Mizzou's International Student Orientation. They were going to be doing a Walmart fun for new students and the next day there was going to be a picnic in the park. Well, it just so happens that volunteering at the International Student Orientation is one of ICF's main outreaches during the first part of the year! I didn't make it to the Walmart run (Meg did) but Ezra and I joined Meg at the picnic and we were able to not only meet tons of students but also a few fellow Rotarians!
Another one of the great ideas that Meg had for ICF for this year English Club. This would be a chance for international students to practice their English with native English speakers, followed by optional dinner and Bible Study. When I announced it at the Rotary meeting, I was pleasantly encouraged by the number of Rotarians who were interested in being a part of the club!
So far, it's been a fun run as a Rotarian. I've seen blessings to the ministry, developed great friendships and networks, and even had the chance to do a little good in the community. For as long as we're in Columbia, I'm excited to continue to be a part of this great organization.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
When I was in high school, I joined the Interact Service club. It's entirely possible that I joined it because my sister was the president (as was often the case) but either way, I joined. My Junior and Senior years of high school, I became President of Interact, which apparently meant that I was also invited to Rotary club meetings, since Rotary was the parent sponsor of Interact. I met a lot of really great people and my dentist was even a Rotarian, which was pretty fun. During my Senior year, when I was completing my Eagle Scout project, the Rotary club of Garden Grove sponsored the entire project.
Last year, as a way to meet more people in Columbia, I decided to join the Downtown Columbia Rotary Club. I'm not sure why it never occurred to me to look for a Rotary club out here but on a whim, while I was visiting Columbia College, I saw that there was a club meeting. I walked in, a nice Rotarian bought me lunch, and I've been going ever since.
Rotary, much like Lions, Kiwanis, Elks, Optimists, etc., is a community service organization that seeks to build community through serving the community. I could go into all the details of its history and such but I'll just say that it's motto is "Service Above Self." In many ways, it lines up perfectly with the work that I'm doing with InterVarsity. While not a faith based organization, Rotary aims to build stronger communities and change the world. They do it through service. We do it through the Gospel.
I'm writing about this now because the past few weeks I've had a chance to see a really fun colliding of two worlds, InterVarsity and Rotary. A few weeks ago, one of our Rotary members passed along a signup sheet asking for volunteers to help at Mizzou's International Student Orientation. They were going to be doing a Walmart fun for new students and the next day there was going to be a picnic in the park. Well, it just so happens that volunteering at the International Student Orientation is one of ICF's main outreaches during the first part of the year! I didn't make it to the Walmart run (Meg did) but Ezra and I joined Meg at the picnic and we were able to not only meet tons of students but also a few fellow Rotarians!
Another one of the great ideas that Meg had for ICF for this year English Club. This would be a chance for international students to practice their English with native English speakers, followed by optional dinner and Bible Study. When I announced it at the Rotary meeting, I was pleasantly encouraged by the number of Rotarians who were interested in being a part of the club!
So far, it's been a fun run as a Rotarian. I've seen blessings to the ministry, developed great friendships and networks, and even had the chance to do a little good in the community. For as long as we're in Columbia, I'm excited to continue to be a part of this great organization.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Hooray for the Olympics!!!
Hello, friends!
Confession: Meg and I haven't been sleeping a ton the past week or so. We're getting up at around the same time but we're not getting to bed until close to midnight. It's been a bit of a struggle getting up in the morning but you won't hear us complaining... Why? BECAUSE IT'S OLYMPIC SEASON!!!
That's right, friends. Meg and I are total Olympics nuts. We love every part of it. It's competition at the highest level. There are heartwarming and inspiring stories from athletes from around the world. There's my boy Rowdy Gaines calling swimming races like his non-existent hair is on fire. The Olympics have it all! (Seriously, Rowdy is the best.)
One of the things that I love about the Olympics has been seeing the US not only dominate but dominate in such a multi-ethnic and diverse fashion. Simone Manuel became the first African-American woman to win Olympic gold for the US in the pool. Ibtihaj Muhammad won a bronze medal for the USA as the first USA olympian wearing a hijab. The US team has White folk, Black folk, Latin@'s, Asian Americans, and multi-racial folk all over the place, and that's just on the track team! It's so great to see that in the midst of a great amount of public racial tension in the US, we can all agree on one thing... The USA is a beast when it comes to athletics.
I've been trying to rack my brain all week about how I was going to turn this post into something deep or related to campus ministry but I've been having some trouble. See, sports/athletics/competition is the one area of life where I have consciously made a decision to not pray for God's favor. I don't pray for my teams to win. I pray against injury but not for dominance. It's my way of making sure that I don't get too deep into a funk if my teams lose. So, while I've been rooting for the USA, I haven't made these Olympics very spiritual.
However, there is one area where I've been praying during these Olympics and that's during the medal ceremonies. I don't remember how many years ago it was I heard a sermon about how we're supposed to pray for our elected officials. For whatever reason, that sermon hit home and I decided that I would try to make that a regular habit. However, I couldn't really figure out how to make that a regular rhythm that would make sense. I settled on the national anthem. I decided that whenever I heard the Star Spangled Banner, I would use that minute and a half or so to pray for our elected officials on the city, state, and federal level. During the Summer Olympics it's also always a presidential election year so I pray for all of our presidential candidates too. Just like with sports, I don't pray for any one candidate to win or lose (although I definitely have my opinions). I pray that every elected official, regardless of their policies or their faith background, will be guided by Jesus and know him better.
Who knows if it has any impact on a wide-scale level. I know it has impact on a personal level. Since the USA has been dominating so much, I've been watching a lot of medal ceremonies where the Star Spangled Banner is played, which means I've been spending a lot of time praying, which has been changing my heart towards some candidates and elected officials. That's not to say that my political views have changed but rather that I'm working on seeing the "other side" as less evil than before. =0).
So, friends, as we finish up these next few days in Rio, watching Bob Costas do his thing and the USA win a few more medals, please join me in praying for our elected officials. Don't pray for folk to win or lose but for God to move in our nation and through our leaders. Maybe we'll see some change as we root our guys and gals to victory.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Confession: Meg and I haven't been sleeping a ton the past week or so. We're getting up at around the same time but we're not getting to bed until close to midnight. It's been a bit of a struggle getting up in the morning but you won't hear us complaining... Why? BECAUSE IT'S OLYMPIC SEASON!!!
That's right, friends. Meg and I are total Olympics nuts. We love every part of it. It's competition at the highest level. There are heartwarming and inspiring stories from athletes from around the world. There's my boy Rowdy Gaines calling swimming races like his non-existent hair is on fire. The Olympics have it all! (Seriously, Rowdy is the best.)
One of the things that I love about the Olympics has been seeing the US not only dominate but dominate in such a multi-ethnic and diverse fashion. Simone Manuel became the first African-American woman to win Olympic gold for the US in the pool. Ibtihaj Muhammad won a bronze medal for the USA as the first USA olympian wearing a hijab. The US team has White folk, Black folk, Latin@'s, Asian Americans, and multi-racial folk all over the place, and that's just on the track team! It's so great to see that in the midst of a great amount of public racial tension in the US, we can all agree on one thing... The USA is a beast when it comes to athletics.
I've been trying to rack my brain all week about how I was going to turn this post into something deep or related to campus ministry but I've been having some trouble. See, sports/athletics/competition is the one area of life where I have consciously made a decision to not pray for God's favor. I don't pray for my teams to win. I pray against injury but not for dominance. It's my way of making sure that I don't get too deep into a funk if my teams lose. So, while I've been rooting for the USA, I haven't made these Olympics very spiritual.
However, there is one area where I've been praying during these Olympics and that's during the medal ceremonies. I don't remember how many years ago it was I heard a sermon about how we're supposed to pray for our elected officials. For whatever reason, that sermon hit home and I decided that I would try to make that a regular habit. However, I couldn't really figure out how to make that a regular rhythm that would make sense. I settled on the national anthem. I decided that whenever I heard the Star Spangled Banner, I would use that minute and a half or so to pray for our elected officials on the city, state, and federal level. During the Summer Olympics it's also always a presidential election year so I pray for all of our presidential candidates too. Just like with sports, I don't pray for any one candidate to win or lose (although I definitely have my opinions). I pray that every elected official, regardless of their policies or their faith background, will be guided by Jesus and know him better.
Who knows if it has any impact on a wide-scale level. I know it has impact on a personal level. Since the USA has been dominating so much, I've been watching a lot of medal ceremonies where the Star Spangled Banner is played, which means I've been spending a lot of time praying, which has been changing my heart towards some candidates and elected officials. That's not to say that my political views have changed but rather that I'm working on seeing the "other side" as less evil than before. =0).
So, friends, as we finish up these next few days in Rio, watching Bob Costas do his thing and the USA win a few more medals, please join me in praying for our elected officials. Don't pray for folk to win or lose but for God to move in our nation and through our leaders. Maybe we'll see some change as we root our guys and gals to victory.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
1000 Asks, 65 Asks, 2 Ears, and 1 Mouth...
Hello, friends!
Happy TUESDAY to you all. Here's hoping it's been a good one for you. I know that normally I post on Fridays instead of Tuesdays but I decided that I'd like to switch things up a little bit. Fridays can be kind of crazy with travel, conferences, and things like that. Tuesdays, on the other hand, are generally pretty stable. It's also a day when I'm usually stuck in front of a computer catching up on all the admin and such that I didn't do on my off day (Monday). So, it makes sense to add this to the mix of "things to do on a Tuesday."
This past weekend our Area Team (affectionately known as " Team MO Fast, MO Furious", or "MO Fast" for short). had it's first staff meeting of the year. We had some time of bible study and prayer together, got some great training on reaching Latin@ students, watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics together, played some team building games, and generally had a good time working on starting the year off right.
One of the big things from our time together was Will, our fearless leader, challenging the team to make 1000 asks as a unit this year in 3 categories; Ministry Partnership, Student Ownership, and Conference Attendance. For ministry partnership, this means asking more people to serve alongside us, give to our ministry, and pray for us regularly. For Student Ownership, it's about asking students to make decisions for Jesus, or asking Christian students to lead in some capacity. For Conference Attendance, we mean specifically for our different strategic ministry conferences that we have this year reaching international students, Black students, Latin@ students, Native students, and Asian American students.
A second big thing was from the 2 interns who I have been coaching in Ministry Partnership this summer. As a team, we decided that we wanted to make 65 asks to partnership before October 1. I'm pretty sure that if each of us makes 3 asks for the next 7 weeks, we'll just hit our goal. It was a goal they wanted to hit so that they could finish out our New Student Outreach season fully funded.
What was interesting about those two ask related goals was my reaction to both of them. Rather, it was how I noticed my reacting to both of them. If you know me, you know that I'm a very competitive person and that I'm a team player to the max. I also have what can only be described as a mildly unhealthy sense of responsibility when it comes to my teams. When you put those 3 characteristics together, what you get is someone of often takes a team goal and decides that the best way to make sure it's accomplished is to do a bulk of the heavy lifting.
I totally had to stop myself when I heard both those goals because my mind immediately started moving towards how much extra I could do to lessen the burden on the rest of the team. If MO Fast wants to do 1000 ask, I'll just do 200 of them so no one else has to work too hard. Our interns want to do 65 MPD asks in the next 7 weeks? Well, maybe I'll do 35 so they only need to do 15. It comes from a good place, wanting to help, but it's also not one of my healthiest qualities, especially if we miss our goal and I beat myself up for "not working hard enough."
Really, the key, as I've been learning, has been to listen to God as much as possible. I have to know when I'm making an ask, whether it be to a student, a ministry partner, or whomever, because I want to get the ask done or because Jesus is really leading me in that direction. There's an old saying that we have 2 ears and 1 mouth because we're supposed to listen twice as much as we speak. In this case, there is probably some truth to that.
So, dear friends, please be praying for our team as we prepare for all these great asks in the next few days, weeks, and months. Pray that God will be leading us to the right asks and that we'll have the boldness to take those risks. Pray that we will not be burdened by the goal but be encouraged and strengthened by knowing that we're a team.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Happy TUESDAY to you all. Here's hoping it's been a good one for you. I know that normally I post on Fridays instead of Tuesdays but I decided that I'd like to switch things up a little bit. Fridays can be kind of crazy with travel, conferences, and things like that. Tuesdays, on the other hand, are generally pretty stable. It's also a day when I'm usually stuck in front of a computer catching up on all the admin and such that I didn't do on my off day (Monday). So, it makes sense to add this to the mix of "things to do on a Tuesday."
This past weekend our Area Team (affectionately known as " Team MO Fast, MO Furious", or "MO Fast" for short). had it's first staff meeting of the year. We had some time of bible study and prayer together, got some great training on reaching Latin@ students, watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics together, played some team building games, and generally had a good time working on starting the year off right.
One of the big things from our time together was Will, our fearless leader, challenging the team to make 1000 asks as a unit this year in 3 categories; Ministry Partnership, Student Ownership, and Conference Attendance. For ministry partnership, this means asking more people to serve alongside us, give to our ministry, and pray for us regularly. For Student Ownership, it's about asking students to make decisions for Jesus, or asking Christian students to lead in some capacity. For Conference Attendance, we mean specifically for our different strategic ministry conferences that we have this year reaching international students, Black students, Latin@ students, Native students, and Asian American students.
A second big thing was from the 2 interns who I have been coaching in Ministry Partnership this summer. As a team, we decided that we wanted to make 65 asks to partnership before October 1. I'm pretty sure that if each of us makes 3 asks for the next 7 weeks, we'll just hit our goal. It was a goal they wanted to hit so that they could finish out our New Student Outreach season fully funded.
What was interesting about those two ask related goals was my reaction to both of them. Rather, it was how I noticed my reacting to both of them. If you know me, you know that I'm a very competitive person and that I'm a team player to the max. I also have what can only be described as a mildly unhealthy sense of responsibility when it comes to my teams. When you put those 3 characteristics together, what you get is someone of often takes a team goal and decides that the best way to make sure it's accomplished is to do a bulk of the heavy lifting.
I totally had to stop myself when I heard both those goals because my mind immediately started moving towards how much extra I could do to lessen the burden on the rest of the team. If MO Fast wants to do 1000 ask, I'll just do 200 of them so no one else has to work too hard. Our interns want to do 65 MPD asks in the next 7 weeks? Well, maybe I'll do 35 so they only need to do 15. It comes from a good place, wanting to help, but it's also not one of my healthiest qualities, especially if we miss our goal and I beat myself up for "not working hard enough."
Really, the key, as I've been learning, has been to listen to God as much as possible. I have to know when I'm making an ask, whether it be to a student, a ministry partner, or whomever, because I want to get the ask done or because Jesus is really leading me in that direction. There's an old saying that we have 2 ears and 1 mouth because we're supposed to listen twice as much as we speak. In this case, there is probably some truth to that.
So, dear friends, please be praying for our team as we prepare for all these great asks in the next few days, weeks, and months. Pray that God will be leading us to the right asks and that we'll have the boldness to take those risks. Pray that we will not be burdened by the goal but be encouraged and strengthened by knowing that we're a team.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
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