Thursday, June 26, 2025
Scout Camp!
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
The End of Another Ministry Year...
Hello, friends!
Well, we're here. It's the back half of June, which means we are almost to the official end of another ministry year. I started in 2007 as an intern, so I'm finishing up year 18 on staff with InterVarsity. This year certainly was unlike any other.
Honestly, the first semester started out pretty normally. I had staff to coach and I was coaching out student intern at Bellevue. We had most of our staff team in tact and things were moving along. It was looking like it would be a "normal" year. Getting Phoebe was a new thing and there was some family stuff (as there always is) but honestly, even looking back at previous blog posts, there was nothing that jumped out at me from the first semester.
The second semester was a different story. Looking back on the past few months, it's wild to think that all that got crammed into one semester. Here are a few "highlights."
- Staffing changes: Our Regional Director took a much needed Sabbatical, meaning that our staff team was going to be down one for the semester. Added to that, one of our Area directors decided to transfer to a different part of our National movement and two of our Regional Leadership Team members decided to transfer to New Zealand to continue doing college ministry. Thankfully, those transitions won't happen until next month but there was a LOT of shock to our systems as we processed all this.
- Ministry changes: In January, I took a group of students to Ambition, InterVarsity's national planting conference. It was a personally fulfilling time but it also jumpstarted the InterVarsity work in Nebraska. At Ambition, we saw a student come to faith and two new bible studies start an the two largest schools in our state. We also decided that the time was right to restart Nebraska's Fall Conference and began planning and preparation for that. I didn't expect to be doing this much campus ministry this semester, but here we are.
- Family changes: Jonah graduated from pre-school (and daycare) which was a big deal for us. Since we aren't doing any summer sports due to travel, we let Ezra pick up a second Spring sport (flag football), which meant we were VERY busy. Megan started a book club and we both resigned as elders at our church (we still go there though). This was added to Phoebe getting bigger and navigating that dog family life. It was a lot.
In spite of all the changes, God is still constant and God is still good. We're so thankful for the ways that God provided for us this year. The kids are healthy and are growing. Megan and I continue to grow our kids and our marriage as best we can. The ministry work is still fulfilling. 2024-2025 was unlike any previous ministry year that I can remember but we made it. Onward to 2025-2026!!!
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Thursday, June 12, 2025
St. Louis Trip!
Friday, May 30, 2025
Hooray for International Getaway!
Hello, friends!
I have said many times before that one of the best things that we do as a Region in InterVarsity is International Getaway. Every May, dozens of international and American students gather together to learn together, play together, eat together, and grow closer to Jesus together. It is always an amazing time and this year was no different.
This year, we had 100 students from 28 countries attend International Getaway, which is the highest number we'd ever had both in terms of attendees and countries. I'm certainly not an expert when it comes to world geography, but I consider myself decently knowledgeable when it comes to countries, so it was a great delight to me when Megan said that a student from Eswatini was attending and I had no idea where that was (it borders South Africa). I was also excited because we had 5 students from UNO, 2 students from Bellevue, and 2 volunteers from our church attending as well!
As usual, I wasn't actually staffing Getaway. My job was kid duty. We had our 3 kids, 3 other staff kids, and 3 kids from Getaway attendees. The youngest was 4 and I believe Ezra was the oldest at almost 10. Thankfully, the two staff who brought kids also brought a childcare helper, so between the 3 of us, we had everything covered pretty well.
We were in a new spot this year, which in some ways was good and in other ways was tough. Clearwater Cove is a Younglife Camp and is absolutely gorgeous. The scenery is great, the beds were somewhat comfortable (not always a given), and the food was decent! The kids especially enjoyed the big sports area where they could play basketball, pickleball, volleyball, ping pong, air hockey, soccer, foosball, and corn hole, amongst other things. Still, with a space being that big, it also meant that there was a LOT of walking. Also, unfortunately, we weren't allowed to camp on site, which meant we needed to go out to go fish. Also, it was a 7 hour drive from Omaha, so there's that.
Since I was with the kids the entire time, I'm not exactly sure of what happened during the content of Getaway but according to the students, it was really good (as always). There was small group bible study. There were testimonies. There was musical worship (the group from UNO actually led worship). The MC apparently did a really good job. The theme was Belonging. From what the Nebraska students told me, the theme hit really well.
One thing that I did get to see was the Cultural Showcase. This is when students get to show off something from their culture. Some do demonstrations. Others do songs and some do dances. It is always the highlight of Getaway and was a hit again this year.
Getaway was awesome, and I have the photos to prove it. =0).
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Thursday, May 15, 2025
Hooray for the Chinese Heritage Church!
- Connecting with people! I had asked CBCOC if anyone was going to be at the conference but they said no. Imagine my surprise then when I saw my old Senior Pastor there! Apparently, he was one of the original founders of the Collaborative back in the day. What a small world! On top of that, I was able to connect with a guy who CBCOC played in an old high school church basketball league and a guy who dated (and married!) one of my sister's friends from college (#GoBears!).
I was also able to be a resource. One of the first people I met was the Senior Pastor at one of the Chinese Churches in Kansas City. He came with his intern, who is hoping to reach out to Chinese international students in Kansas City. I had a great lunch with him, sharing about what I'd learned from watching Megan reach international students for so many years. I even was able to get him connected to the local IV staff.
The CHC isn't perfect. No church is. Still, I'm glad that it's a part of my history and I'm glad that I was able to reconnect to my CHC roots.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam