More Fall Conference and Fall Retreat Prayers Needed!

Hello, friends!

As you’re reading this, Megan and I are getting ready for Fall Conference and Fall Retreat! Every year, InterVarsity students from all over Missouri gather together for a time of fun, community, and hopefully finding Jesus. This year, international students will have a special track dedicated especially to them, which is exciting for us (especially Megan). =0).

Friends, we need your prayers, now more than ever. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Fall Conference during my 10+ years on staff (and 4 years as a student), it’s that the Holy Spirit moves in really powerful ways during our time together but the Enemy does his best to make moves as well. I have seen students meet Jesus in a really powerful way at Fall Conference. I’ve also seen all sorts of crazy things happen that keep students from being fully engaged, from car problems, to illness, to spiritual oppression. We need as many people as possible interceding on our behalf, praying protection over the students (and staff) and asking the Spirit to move in really powerful ways.

Below is a link where you can sign up to pray for Fall Conference and Fall Retreat for an hour over the course of the weekend. My hope is that we’ll be able to have every spot filled and that the entire conference will be coated in prayer. If you have an hour to spare this weekend, would you please consider signing up for a spot?

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Sign up here to pray for us! 

Praying for Fall Conference and Fall Retreat...

Hello, friends!

Thank you so much for your partnership on our prayer intercessor teams for past conferences. It really makes so much of a difference for the students and for us as staff when you pray with us. We appreciate the insights that God gives you as you listen on our behalf - it helps us get fresh perspective and confirmation as to how God is at work.

Would you be willing to partner again with us this Sept. 29th to Oct. 1? We have an international fall retreat and a fall conference running simultaneously for students in Missouri, and we are praying for 25% of the students who come to be non-believers. We know that there will be much resistance from the Enemy, and are looking for a team of prayer partners who can commit to praying through at least one of the hours that we will be at the camp. Would you consider joining with us again? If so, you can enter your information here.

Feel free to invite anyone else you know who might also be interested in praying with us!

Also, if you'd like to gift a scholarship to a student to help pay for the costs of attending either of these great conferences, you can use this link here.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

The joys of not having to work...

Hello, friends!

I like to tell the staff I supervise that one of the really unique parts of our job is that we are actively trying to make ourselves obsolete. If we've done our jobs correctly, students are the ones taking ownership of the chapter and we serve more as support staff than the leaders of everything. In reality, this is much easier said than done but every now and then we get little glimpses of how that could actually look.

Hey Day is Columbia College's student activity fair. For 90 minutes, most of Columbia College's 850 residential students walk through the gym while literally dozens of organizations, student groups, banks, etc. give away free gear and try to drum up interest. With free food, music playing, and constant movement, it is beautiful chaos.

Columbia College's InterVarsity chapter is currently in "replant" mode, which means we are working on reestablishing ourselves as a student org and getting some structure going. We currently have 2 students actively involved so I figured that Hey Day would be a great way for us to reintroduce ourselves to the campus. However, with only 2 students, one of whom is a Freshman I just met a few weeks ago, I figured that I'd be doing most of the heavy lifting for Hey Day.

There's nothing quite as satisfying as being proved wrong for the kingdom. =0).

When I got there, I was the first one of our crew there and I didn't know if/when our students would arrive. Meg said she had a free hour and I figured it couldn't hurt to have a second person to table with me, especially someone who is a great gatherer like Megan. But, before she got there, our students showed up and then they got to work.

Friends, it was so much fun seeing these two students greeting their classmates, casting vision for InterVarsity, inviting them to our bible study, and getting contact information. They were absolutely crushing it. In fact, they were doing such a good job that by the time Meg arrived, she saw that everything was under control and left right away because she saw she wasn't needed. I actually got a little bored because before I could even say hi to any students, these two had already greeted them, invited them over to the table, and started talking. I'm never going to complain about that kind of boredom.

As you're reading this, we will have finished up our first CCIV bible study of the year. I don't know how many of the 25+ students we met will be there but I'm excited nonetheless to know that whoever comes will have come because of a student invitation.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Wayback Wednesday...

Hello, friends!

This is my 11th year with InterVarsity. During that time I've held a number of different roles and positions. My current role is Associate Area Director for Missouri and I'm also the Director of the Asian American Ministries Pilot Project. What that means is that I spend more of my time supervising staff than I do hanging out with students. Still, I'm not totally out of the game because I'm planting chapters and Lincoln University and Columbia College, as well as staffing the Nurses Christian Fellowship chapter at Mizzou. What this means is that on occasion, you get really long days like the one I had yesterday. Let's break it down, shall we?

6am - Get up to get ready for the day. This included a morning run for reasons that will become apparent later.
7:15am - Load up the car for the day.
7:30am - Meet with one of the staff I supervise to help her prep for a sermon she's preaching at her church on Sunday.
9am - Head to the local brewery to pick up the ROOT BEER keg for an event we're going to have on campus at Lincoln. (Gotta run in the morning to eat ice cream in the afternoon!)
9:30am - Go to the grocery story to get the dry ice and ice cream for the Lincoln event.
9:45am - Drive to Lincoln in Jefferson City, about 30 miles south of CoMO.
10:15am - Stop at a gas station to get a bag of ice because I forgot I need to keep the keg cold.
10:30am - Set up shop on campus, getting ready to give away root beer floats and do Gospel presentations,
10:50am - The first wave of students come and we start giving away floats and the Gospel.
12:30pm - We see the Lincoln kitchen staff start to set up by our spot because apparently there's a pep rally for Lincoln's first night game on Saturday.
1:15pm - We decide to pack up an hour early so as to not interfere with the pep rally.
2:00pm - I grab some lunch before bible study at 3.
2:50pm - I get stuck in traffic on my way back to campus.
3:15pm - I get to our bible study space and no one is there... whoops.
3:45pm - Pick up a few things for Megan and go to the grocery store to get more ice cream since we still have half a keg left.
5pm - Go home to see my wife and kids.
6pm - Pack up the car to deliver food that Meg cooked, as well as the keg and ice cream to ACF's first large group. I'll be staying to help out our intern who runs ACF.
6:45pm - Realize I forgot the projector and head home to grab it.
9pm - Large Group ends and cleanup begins.
9:30pm - Head to the local brewery to drop off the (now empty) keg.
10:00pm - Head to the grocery story (open 24 hours!) to return the unopened ice cream we didn't use.
10:30pm - Head home and get ready for bed.

Friends, I haven't thrown down a day like that in years. Literally, years. One the one hand, it was absolutely exhausting. On the other hand, it was fun to see that I've still got a few gallons left in the tank. I certainly won't be expecting to this every week but it was nice to know I still could. Sometimes the good LORD smiles on you and gives you an extra dose of energy. Thanks, Jesus.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Empowering Students...

Hello, friends!

Below are two photos. See if you can spot something significant:

Did you see students at Lincoln University engaging with the Gospel? That's significant, but not what I was going for.

Do you see lots of great conversations happening around how Jesus gives us hope in the midst of a broken world? Again, that's there too, but not what I'm after.

Do you see Black and White students being challenged to think about how to be bringers of justice, peace, and healing on their campus? That's definitely in there... but not quite what I want you to see.

I suppose, I should give you a hint. What do you NOT see? Or rather, WHO do you not see? If you answered, "Adam," you're absolutely right!

There's something beautiful about being able to take a photo of students doing evangelism because there are enough students doing evangelism that every student who comes by is covered. Think about that.

InterVarsity's vision is to see students and faculty transformed, campuses renewed, and world changers developed. I have a hard time believe that anything could better depict that vision than seeing students publicly telling their friends about Jesus on campus. I've been doing Proxe stations on the campus for Lincoln for about 2 years now. Usually, it's just me and a local pastor friend at it, week after week. I've had a number of great conversations, led some folk to Jesus, and generally been received positively on campus. Still, there's something so beautiful about NOT having to be the one to carry the burden, but to see students taking the lead.

Friends, this is why we do what we do. This is it right here. We want InterVarsity students to follow Jesus into mission on campus. We want them to be willing to be bold about their faith. We want them to be willing to take risks and to put themselves out there because the Gospel is worth it. The photos above are why we do what we do. Here's to a great semester of more.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Being a Mom in Ministry

Hello, friends!

Before we get to our special guest blogger, I wanted to make a note about the events of Charlottesville this past weekend.

White Supremacy, racism, and hate based on ethnicity suck. They suck hard. As a Christian, I cannot condemn the actions of those who were a part of the Unite the Right rally strongly enough. Their ideology is not of Jesus. It is of the devil and we as the Church need to make sure that we are actively fighting against these ideologies in our communities and even within our own walls. Through God's grace, I believe we can do it but it starts with a recognition that White Supremacy embeds itself in very subtle ways in society. We need to repent if we want to begin healing.

Now, on to the good stuff. My dear wife, Megan, asked if she could write a blog post about being a mom in ministry. Below are some of her thoughts. Enjoy!

Before I had Ezra, I never would have imagined that I would start working part-time. It was much to my surprise that after a few months back to work, I knew that I desired more time with Ezra. This was conflicting though because I love what I do for work! It was then that I began to think more about what it means to have a dual calling - to be a Mom and to be in ministry. Now after having my second child and coming off of maternity leave, I begin to ponder anew what this whole dual calling means.

I started thinking of this again as the end of my 12 week maternity leave drew near a little over two weeks ago.  I began to feel sad about going back to work and needed the Lord to speak to me. He said "It's ok to feel sad because I have called you to be a Mom. But, I have also called you to this ministry." In the past week and a half I have had to remind myself of this over and over again.

Here are some thoughts that have come to me as I begin to navigate again, being a Mom in ministry with two kids.

I have limits....
Who knew, right?!? There is just not enough of me to go around! Before kids I still had limits, but didn't acknowledge them or give space for them. I would put in 60 hours without blinking an eye. I now need to say no to things, not just for my own sanity, but for the wellbeing of my family. That is hard because ministry involves people. Saying no to people is hard and often misunderstood as not caring about them anymore.

I am not perfect....
As much as I want to be, I am not perfect. Often I feel like I am not giving enough to my kids, husband, students and staff. This is hard for me because I love serving God through ministering to staff and students and I love serving God through being with my family. I have made a lot of mistakes as I have navigated this season. As much as I can, I have tried to involve family in ministry. Students love it, and Ezra does too. But at the same time, it isn't always best for the conversation for me to be distracted by a very active toddler. Another area where I have failed a lot in the past two years is consistently connecting with Jesus. Early on with Ezra I knew things would have to change in my rhythm of connecting with the Lord. I used to spend an hour in the morning praying and reading scripture. That wasn't working with a baby so I had to learn how to connect with the Lord throughout the day when able. Some days I go the day without actively doing this. Other days I notice the Lord's presence in my interactions with the kids. These days especially with a toddler. He throws tantrums sometimes for not getting his way... how often do I do that with God? Those sorts of thing have helped me relate to God in a different way as a parent.

I need people....
I was on maternity leave with Ezra during the Fall which is our biggest season of outreach on campus. This was extremely difficult for me to trust God and others to grow the ministry on campus. It was a total faith builder for me to see that the Lord was at work in powerful ways WITHOUT me being present! That year we saw an increase of leadership in students.

In summary... God has no limits, He is perfect, He never fails. Being a Mom in ministry points me to my utter need and dependence upon God to move and draw both those that I serve as well as my family to himself.  I am grateful that I can include my kids in a lot of the ministry. They get to grow up with people from around the world and see us as we share God's love with others. What a gift!

Have an excellent day!

~Adam (and Megan)

Three Years Ago...

Hello, friends!

I remember it like it was yesterday. Megan and I were just about to go to bed and she was checking the news on her phone like she used to do. I was reading up on the Cardinals (they had lost to the Orioles 10-3 that day) when she turned to me and said, "There was a shooting in St. Louis."

My first reaction was, "OK. Those happen all the time," but before I could say a word, she continued. "It looks like there are protests." In an instant, everything was different.

A lot has happened, a lot has changed, and a lot has stayed the same since August 9, 2014, when Michael Brown was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson and his body was left on the street for 4.5 hours. The #BlackLivesMatter movement began with the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin but for me, it really started with Ferguson. During the protests, Police used the parking lot of the Target just a mile up the street from Meg and my first apartment as a staging ground. I lived in St. Louis. I love St. Louis. St. Louis was my first home away from home.

When Ferguson went down, a lot of things happened for me. I got in a lot of arguments, face to face, through email, and via social media, about things like systemic racism, White privilege, and social justice. I've made a whole host of mistakes and hurt a lot of people very close to me. I've had to repent many times for things that I learned later were culturally insensitive. I've been hurt and had to extend forgiveness. People have questioned my leadership, my commitment to the Gospel, and threatened to pull their support for the work that I do with InterVarsity.

But it hasn't been bad. I've also had amazing conversations with amazing people who have opened my eyes to a lot of things. I've developed my ethnic identity in an intentional way that I hadn't done before. I went to my first protest. I was able to minister to Black Students at Mizzou in a real tangible way. I've deepened my friendship with some folk in beautiful ways. I've seen changes around me too, in people, in structures, and in systems. I've been blessed to be able to help in implementing some of those changes. It's been a hard, beautiful thing.

One of the questions that I've been asked a lot in the past 3 years as I've gotten more and more involved in issues of race and justice is, "what does this have to do with the work I'm doing on campus?" The answer is that it has everything to do with the work that I'm doing on campus. Black students needs to know that Jesus sees them, even in the midst of injustice and pain. Asian and LatinX students need to know that Jesus is calling them to fight for justice and that this isn't a "black and white" issue. White students need to know that God created them with a culture, an ethnicity, and have put them in a place of privilege and power in the US at this time to affect real change in the world. International Students need to know that the same Jesus who can heal brokenness in the US can also heal brokenness in their home countries.

Things are progressing, I really believe that, but the work is not finished. The deaths of Sandra Bland, Freddy Gray, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, and other unarmed Black men and women since Ferguson are to be mourned and remembered. Unintentionally or not, many systems of power put in place in the US are disproportionately harming people of color. There are still conversations to be had. There are still changes to be made. There is still work to be done.

So, I'm going to keep at it. Whether it be for the next 3 years, the next 30 years, or until the day I breathe my last, I will continue to follow Jesus into the hard conversations, the mourning of lost life, and the empowerment of students. I've learned so much from men and women like Howie Meloch, Michelle Higgins, Jon Nelson, Chioma Chukwu, and my dear wife, Megan. I'll continue to learn from them and others, to repent, and to forgive. I'll continue to pursue the Gospel and continue to believe that social justice and racial reconciliation and integral parts and fruit of that pursuit. I will continue to pray and I will continue to engage. Won't you join me?

Have an excellent day!

~Adam