Roommates: From all over the world and now one who is not of this world

In January we moved into a new apartment. But we knew that in six months David would be leaving to go back to the U.S. We would have to find another roommate. In the past few months we have had the world come through our door: Swiss, Kiwis, Australian, Venezuelan, Bolivian, Peruvian and Chilean/Mexican.At the end of October we were once again a few days away from having to pay for our three bedroom apartment between Israel and myself. Israel posted an advertisement on a website one evening. An hour later Guillermo calls us to set up an appointment to view the apartment and meet us. An hour after that he was sitting on our couch and we made a verbal agreement. Amazing, 2 hours from advertised to occupied.
Tonight we had the tremendous privilege of seeing Guillermo place his faith in Jesus Christ. He moved in almost exactly a month ago. We have had several good spiritual conversations. His marriage troubles brought him to the end of himself. As he came to the King in his need, he received repentance, the forgiveness of sins and new life.

Developing Multiple Generations of Leaders

The first weekend in November we simultaneously hosted our second Student Leadership Encounter and the first LeaderTreks workshop. Development and multiplication of students leadership is a critical step in communicating the gospel to every student. The fellowship and community we experienced as the proven leaders, emerging leaders and staff spent the weekend together were extraordinary.

The Encouentro de Liderazgo Estudiantil was a time of teaching and practical ministry training. The theme was “Sowing”. We were able to engage the scope of world evangelization and process as a team how to communicate the gospel on the university campus. This space is one of the key elements that we have been able to generate this school year.
One of our new staff, Israel, has been attending a training in Bolivia for a leadership development curriculum called LeaderTreks. The first workshop, “Fundamentals of Leadership” was attended by 9 students from four different universities. This is a great start for another program that will help us see students lives changed. It works well for both Christian and non-Chrsitian students.

The ability to generate multiple generations of leaders is important on the college campus where leadership necesarily changes every few years. Establishing the programs and culture of multiple generations is an important step for us as we consider the challenge of reaching the nearly 250,000 students in Chile.

Invasion and Progress

Once a month student leaders from different campuses are gathering to help establish the ministry on a campus that is not their own. Yesterday we had a great experience at Universidad de Ciencias Informaticas. Student leaders from 4 campuses showed up. The sense of teamwork among the student leaders in launching and building movements was stellar.

The primary goal of Invasion is to equip students in evangelism. While we are also publicizing the activities that we are doing to serve students the main focus of this time is to train students in the art of initiating gospel centered conversations. The benefits of doing this together are many. It allows our staff to model evangelism with student leaders. It creates an awareness of the scope of every campus and every student. It deepens the sense of teamwork among students. It creates momentum on the campus we visit. It fosters the sharing of ideas. It builds up the faith and courage of the staff and students. And it created the instance for at least 20 students to hear the good news and consider Jesus' offer of new life; abundant and eternal. In the future I believe that Invasion will become an instance where student leaders launch movements on new campuses.

There is still a lot of work to do, but many of the key elements of the ministry are beginning to take shape. As this second school year draws to a close, I am really grateful and a bit surprised at all that God has given us.
We have developed and refined several ministry tools that are helping us step into the lives of lost students: English clubs; a campus meeting format and content that is getting positive feedback from non-Christian students; the Effective Study Seminar that will help us reach freshmen and has caught the attention of school administration as a valuable service to the university; a fall retreat format that got positive feedback from non-Christian students who attended.
We have also refined and adapted our student leadership development. Raices is a community of personal and leadership development that is structured so that we can develop multiple generations of leadership. We have a yearly calendar of student leadership retreats, and have seen God bless these times. In January we will have our first national conference aimed specifically at developing Christian students for mission. In January we will also establish our national summer missions project which will cast vision for and train students in trans cultural missions.
We have seen God bless us in the development of key resources. One of the biggest challenges has been to form small groups where non-Christians can engage with Christians in life and seeking the truth. We are still working on this but have made significant progress in the past year. We have been blessed with the financial support from Chileans to advance needed initiatives. Right now we are in the process of getting a new evangelism tool into print. Our website is also a significant resource. http://www.vidaestudiantil.cl/

The progress we can see after two years here in Santiago has been the result of hard work and the grace of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1Co 15:10)

A Hard Winter

We arrived in Icalma, just a few kilometers from the boarder with Argentina at 11 a.m. It was sunny and warming up. As we left Temuco that morning around 6 a.m. it had been raining and as we climbed into the Andes it began to snow. The road was quite slippery last 20 kilometers before we reached the tunnel. On the other side of the sierra it had already stopped snowing and the road was clear. This was a good sign as we would soon leave the highway for dirt road winding along the side of the Bio-Bio river valley.

In Icalma the pastor and others from the community quickly gathered after our arrival. Visitors were a welcome site after a very difficult winter. The pastor told us, "In my 63 or 64 years I have never experienced a winter like this." Meteorological records indicate this was the most severe winter in over 80 years. The first snowfall came in February, which would compare to our month of August in the northern hemisphere. In some ways this was helpful because it sent a very clear message that a long hard winter was coming. The people were able to collect extra firewood and buy additional forage for their animals. But it often was not enough. In Quienquen, one of the few communites where there is no church, Ricrado told us, "We stored up double the normal amount of forage and concentrate. It was not enough." There is still several feet of snow covering the grazing areas in this narow valley.

The motive for this trip was to provide some basic provisions in the way of food and clothing to the people, and to continue to develop a partnership with local pastors. We were able to pass out bags of food containing, flour, rice, sugar, oil, yeast and mate to 60 families. We left clothing with the pastors to distribute to those in need. They were glad to hear that we would be back in the summer, helping with children's ministry and evangelism training. In all we visited 7 communities in the region.

Pato's CM2007 experience

Patricio, on the left with other Chilean students who went to CM2007, just got his degree from the Universidad de Santiago de Chile in Human Resources (Administracion de Personas). He is currently completing an internship required by the school. Before leaving for the US in June I sat down with Pato to help him establish a biblical perspective for determining his vocation and invited him to join us as campus staff. A month later Pato was on a plane to South Korea for CM2007. This was the first international student missions conference for Campus Crusade for Christ. I wanted to share with you his comments about the experience. They are tremendously encouraging to me as we trust God for movements everywhere, specifically that Vida Estudiantil would be used to increase involvement of Chileans in world evangelization.

“CM2007 in South Korea was an unforgettable experience because God put in my heart a passion for missions. I know that I am called to be on mission and share the gospel with others students in Chile and the world, and in reality we are all called to this. I came to understand this much better in Korea. Personally I would like to go to another part of the world where there is great need for Christ. I could see, because of my experience at CM2007, the great need for Christ in other countries is shocking. They lack people who are guiding others to Christ. Yet first I want to work to reach the students in my university, and if God permits to be a missionary in another part of the world. This is what I feel that the Lord is calling me to every day and it is what I want to do.” Patricio Maricán

Honor Thyself

Saturday I heard that Barry Bonds tied the home run record. When it was reported on TV, they gave equal time to Alex Rodriguez hitting his 500th. I opened the Sunday paper to the sports section and it did not even make the lead article. When there is so much sensationalism in the news, it struck me as strange that the media seemed to be playing down this achievement.
While in Colorado, a friend of mine said, "I have always thought of you as driven." I think he meant it in a good way. But God wanted to test me with it. I was getting burned out during the last semester in Chile. Unless I am led by the Lord I will mainly have my own strength to depend on. And that is not enough. And even worse the result would be me getting the honor for any accomplishments. Another friend of mine always tells me, "God is not so interested in what you do for Him, as He is in who you are and who you are becoming in Him." God simply wants to be the source of our strength and make us more like Christ. He wants us to live out of abundance for His glory, rather than live to get what we lack for our good.
What is interesting to me is that this is a universal value. Most everyone seems to know that what really counts is character, what is inside of a man. The lack of integrity of Barry Bonds and his "it is all about me" attitude are repulsive. They totally undermine his stellar achievements.

"God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." James 4

New Semester Soon Underway

The spring semester in Chile is about to start. I was able to chat on instant messenger with one of the guys I know from the USACH basketball team. He is already practicing and is back to class on Monday. The ministry staff in Chile had the national staff conference this past weekend. It was a good time to seek God together, strengthen relationships and establish focus for the rest of the year. There have been lots of changes. Nine short term missionaries completed their term in July and have returned home. We will have to work smarter with less people this spring.
One of the most encouraging things from the first semester is the commitment of student leaders from seven different campuses. God is raising up committed laborers who are trusting Him for spiritual movements everywhere.
The staff and students are currently making plans for the semester. There are many things we could do. Please ask God to help us follow His lead with great sensitivity.
"Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God." William Carey

U.S. Staff Conference

The national staff conference is held at Colorado State University every two years. Now that I am international campus staff I am not required to come. But I may still come occasionally because of the valuable interaction with our fantastic staff and the way God uses the time to refresh us in the singular vision for seeing spiritual movements everywhere.
During the first few days of the conference the staff for each ministry meet. I serve in the campus ministry, but there are dozens of different ministries that are part of Campus Crusade for Christ. One of my passions in ministry is to be a sender, to mobilize young men and women as missionaries. I have been seeing that we lack some expertise and resources to make our campus ministry more effective in this area. It was great to hear that they have assigned a new leader at the national level to address this issue. The vision, 100% sent, that every student who is involved with us is prepared to make their lives count for fulfilling the Great Commission after they graduate. I also felt like God was challenging me to think outside of Chile and try to help the campus ministry throughout South America create solutions to common problems or needs that we face in each country.
The second part of the conference is for all the staff. One of the ideas that was repeated was that of story, how our lives are a story that God is writing and how we can use story to tell the good news. I also really enjoyed seeing staff friends from around the country. The whole time helped increase my desire to trust God for supernatural things in my life and in Chile.

Mori Mattias

Kurt and Melissa Adams are in X-track with me right now. We have been working together in Chile since January 2006. They are fantastic people that I really admire. Yesterday Melissa went into labor and Mori Mattias was born around 9:30 p.m. July 2nd. They are thankful for a natural birth and a healthy little boy. We visited them today over in Greeley.

Golden Birthday

Having your birthday fall on a Saturday is a definite plus. I celebrated my 30th birthday last Saturday June 30th. I had not heard of this much before but apparently when the day and the year are the same that is called your golden birthday.
A highlight so far this summer has been the good times with the other staff. I had a great day with the other staff who are preparing to go overseas long term. We hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park for most of the day. And in the evening went out for dinner and a refreshing beverage. As one who enjoys a good beer I appreciate the many microbreweries and variety of beers here in Fort Collins.
30 is definitely a milestone. Someone asked me to share a highlight for every five years of life. As I scanned over my life I can appreciate both the big and the small things. And looking forward I am full of anticiaption that God has many more experiences, both unmistakably large and creatively subtle in store for me.

X-track

I have been in Colorado for three weeks. X-track is a 6 week course to prepare cross-cultural missionaries to live and minister in a foreign country long term. I am planning to live in Chile until 2010 or 2012. My desire is to help establish a ministry that raises up young men and women who will go to the world with this good news of abundant life in Christ. This training has been helpful in processing the experiences of my past year and a half in Chile. I have also enjoyed the fellowship and fun times with the other staff.

This past week we learned about language acquisition. The language learning method we learned is comprehensive, covering the process of learning a new language from beginning to advanced stages. I learned my first 20 words in Mandarin during our first meeting with a language helper. Xin Ching had been in the U.S. for less than a week. He helped me learn by listening; saying the words as I pointed to the object they referred to. My Spanish is pretty good. But I am excited to now have a plan and some methods to help me continue to improve when I get back to Chile. In a few years perhaps we will be training our first team of Chileans this method as they prepare to go to a country that does not speak Spanish.

This summer 4 Chilean students will be at CM2007, a global missions conference with 18,000 students from 105 countries. I am encouraged by this and hope that in a few years we will see not just a few students but a movement of students going and sending to the nations from Chile. The conference will expose our students and new national staff to the global campus movement and give them vision for their part in helping fulfill the Great Commission.

superNaturally

After the fall getaway we have continued to connect individually with students. Developing a community of students is important. On Sunday afternoon we invited all the men involved in Vida Estudiantil to come to the apartment. This space, which we will have about once a month, is just one more example of how things are slowly but steadily moving forward.
These guys lives will be transformed as they pursue truth together. One thing that is true of university students today is that if they do not feel like something is relevant and comfortable they are probably not going to come back. Commitment is not evaluated based on some objective truth, but rather on how they feel about the people and the experiences they have. This is just fine because Jesus is real, personal and is inviting us to live an abundant life. Commitment will come naturally as they have an authentic experience with their Maker. But it is a battle to help them move towards God in the midst of a society that invites them to be their own gods in so many ways.
On Sunday we invited them to get together once a month to build authentic friendships, consider what the Christian life is all about and pray for each other. We started by sharing with them how to experience the abundant life Jesus promised, the Spirit-filled life. Next month we will consider the signularity of Jesus Christ among so many other religous leaders or gods.

Leadership that Changes Lives

Isla Negra is a small city on the coast about an hour and a half from Santiago. It is best known for one of the homes of the Nobel prize winning Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda. Besides being a great poet Neruda was also involved in politics. He was a socialist who owned three luxurious homes. True servant leadership is really hard to find. And Latin America has had some (and currently has some) very poor leadership.

Mario Bloise, the Continental director, came from Argentina to serve our staff and students for the weekend. The content of the weekend was centered on being leaders that serve, bringing positive change for others. We had a great couple of days with the students. A high percentage of those who came were new students and non-Christians. Most of us were just acquaintances when we arrived, but we left having started new friendships. During the past couple weeks those relationships have continued to grow and we have had gospel centered conversations.

The students were challenged to develop their character and other leadership skills. Mario challenged them to establish clear convictions, to figure out what they are living for. He shared how following Jesus has transformed his life. I had the privilege of speaking to the new students at the close of the conference. By addressing several of the common presumptions that guide how we figure out our purpose in life I hoped to help us consider how we could live extraordinary lives of integrity... living to glorify God by enjoying Him as our greatest treasure, and helping others live this extraordinary life by faith.

Getting Started

It was the fourth time we met and the first time all four attended. Building commitment and community takes effort. I am so happy to see Diego, Mauricio, Patricio and Cristobal each forming a commitment to serve God together in reaching lost students in the university. Our first meeting we talked about how God could use us to start a spiritual movement in the university and I challenged them to develop a plan. At other times during the week we share our faith together. During the past few meeting we have talked about some of the vital aspects of our character; love, holiness, service and faithfulness. I am excited to see what happens as we help each other set clear objectives in our personal growth and effectiveness in mission. The mission of turning lost students into Christ-centered laborers is something that genuinely motivates these guys. It is hard to imagine all that can happen as God uses us to change lives in the university and outside of it! Please pray that God gives us great faith and grace to complete the goals that each one purposes each week.

Process

The start of the semester is over. Students are starting to experience the stress of the first round of exams. Last Thursday we finished the "Study Effectively" seminar. Alejandro spoke up at the end of the seminar, "thank you for all the affection and concern you have showed us by offering the seminar." The evening before Israel, one of our new Chilean staff, and I sat down with Alejandro to talk about a variety of questions he had about spirituality. He was curious about how we experience God in our lives.
Earlier in the semester we had a stand that allowed students to come to us. Several hundred stopped by and filled out a short survey. About 1/3 expressed interest in having an objective discussion of the Bible. That was encouraging. The vast majority of students also express a high desire to know God personally. But they usually don't have any idea how they would go about it and are hesitant to get involved in the things that might help them.
We also had an orientation event for freshmen, "How to Get Better Grades and Have More Fun". We faced many difficulties with this event, getting a time and place on the university campus, and being able to promote it like we had planned. We postponed it for two weeks. While I was hanging up another poster where they had been taken down two guys asked me what I was promoting. A few minutes later Rodrigo, Francisco and I were in a significant spiritual conversation.
I had to cut the conversation short to meet with my discipleship group. We scheduled a meeting, and a week later we talked at length about how we know what is good and true. Ask we talked through the typical answers (I if I feel good and it doesn't harm anyone else...etc) and examined if they were sufficient to help us deal with reality we eventually narrowed our focus. The gospel became our focus. We could agree that we are basically egocentric people and that many of the problems we face are caused by this heart problem. The law hasn't changed people. A personal relationship with a God who loves us perfectly is a unique and real solution. Rodrigo and Francisco are considering the gospel!
I am not completely sure that the strategies we used are the best ones, but as part of a process they are helping us connect with the campus as a whole and leading us into effective evangelism with students. The reality that about 1% of the students you invite will participate is a discouraging reality. My friend Pablo observed, "participation for me was to go to mass on occasion, that is what has defined participation culturally for centuries here in Chile."
I am also encouraged by how I have been able to re-connect with the many students that we got to know last year. As we invite them to things and are more direct in sharing our faith I am sure some will place their faith in Jesus. Today Christofer, a non-Christian student who went on summer project with us, had dinner with Israel and I. He got to consider the gospel one more time. While I would love to see things go more quickly (for example I believe we could see several spiritual generations before the end of the semester) I know that seeing a ministry become a movement is is about bold faith and patientce in the processes. Thanks for praying that God would start spiritual movements in Chile and for your prayer for our encouragement, perseverance as we face many barriers in the ministry here.

Shaken

Chile has experienced a series of earthquakes in the past day or so. This morning I woke up as a level 4 quake shook Santiago. That is the most significant earthquake that I have experienced. During my first months in Mexico back in 1999 there was a severe earthquake in Oaxaca. I was studying at the language school and didn't feel anything. In Santiago we feel tremors regularly.

Yesterday a 6.2 quake created significant damage and left 10 people missing in southern Chile.

Estudio Eficaz

One of the things we hear too frequently while talking to "freshmen" students is that this is their second year in the university but they are repeating many of the first years courses. The difference between high school and university study finds many unprepared. On top of that the number of distractions and temptations also multiply with the freedom that this stage of life offers. Today we hosted the first of four sessions of the Study Effectively Seminar. We had a good turn out and the students expressed an interest in the upcoming sessions. It is a lot of work, but serving students, loving them, helping them do well is a joy.
As we expand to more campuses in Santiago, strategies like this seminar will allow us to help student leaders cast the net broadly on campus, be visible and serve students needs.
Before speaking at the seminar today I spent a few hours with Mauricio. Yesterday was our first time going out to share our faith together. Today he was ready to talk to more of his peers. The platform of service to the student community encourages Mauricio to engage his peers in spiritual conversations. When people know that we care about what is important to them, they are much more willing to talk.

Three Phase

In Santiago we are trusting God to raise up student led movements on every campus. After one year we have a presence and student leaders on three campuses. While we could easily spend all our time trying to build up those ministries we don't want to build ministries, but rather be used of God to mobilize students.
During the next month we have a three phase process to identify and focus on three more campuses. The University of Chile and the Univseridad Catolica are the two most prestigious schools. The first phase is to visit 8 different campuses of those two universities. We will investigate the campuses and look for opportunities and key contacts on Friday. Phase two will be to explore another 8 campuses of private universities. We also will try identify where the 15 summer project students from the US can help launch movements in May and June. Phase three is to focus on 2 or 3 campuses where we see the best opportunity and contacts.
I am confident that we will find students who share our passion for seeing lost students become Christ-centered laborers. Through personal discipleship and our community of leadership development, Raices (from Psalm 1, roots) our team is being used by God to prepare students for living out the great commandment and great commission.

Weddings and Chinese Food

One year ago I was curious about the large corporate building across the street from my apartment. I asked a guy on the street what the company Endesa does? Pablo informed me that they were an energy company. It turned out we lived in the same building. A friendship was started and through the influence of several people Pablo eventually decided to follow Christ.

Friday my friend Christian and I met with the owner of a chain of Chinese restaurants for dinner. Chen is Chinese but has lived in Chile for 20 years. He is a friend of my former neighbour Pablo. I met Chen for the first time at a discotheque, celebrating Pablo's birthday. We shared with Chen about the ministry of Vida Estudiantil and invited him to invest with us in reaching college students. He was excited to hear about what we are doing. This Wednesday we will meet again at the national office of Vida Estudiantil.

When I arrived at church today I saw Pablo and Karen sitting towards the front dressed a little better than normal and I immediately knew... they were going to announce their engagement. Pablo and Karen had gone to Brazil for their summer vacation last week. And I suspected that he was going to propose. It is a joy to see Pablo continuing to grow in Christ and being blessed by God.

Freshmen Orientation

This week I have been getting together with the guys who were involved with Vida Estudiantil last semester. We have been in touch with most of them throughout the summer. It is fun to see what develops as we invite them to trust God to reach their peers. Students have a better feel many times for where to be, when and who to talk to than we do as outsiders. Yesterday we were on campus because when I met with Jorge, a sophomore, on Tuesday, and he told me about a freshmen orientation event for his faculty. So we showed up to see what it was like. After a formal meeting with all the freshmen there was a breakfast where the student government and other student representatives got to present themselves to the students. We asked for a couple minutes to present Vida Estudiantil and invite them to our first event, "How to Get Better Grades and Have More Fun". Jorge is still just getting involved with us, but he opened some doors and got to see how he can reach out to his peers.
Next Monday classes start, but it will be a relaxed week, with lots of parties and the typical freshmen hazing. There is lots of talk about new rules limiting what the upperclassmen can do to students. We will see how that turns out.
Since mid-December we have been trying to get a meeting with the student activites director. Juan Carlos, one of our chilean staff, and Patricio one of the students leaders at USACH, will finally get to sit down with him Wednesday the 12th. This will be an important time for establishing a relationship with the university and getting access to information, opportunties, funding and meeting space on campus.

Rolando

Back in October I ran into a guy from Peru as I was walking home from church. I shared the good news of God's love and forgiveness and tried to help him cope with his wife's unfaithfulness. It was a Spirit-led time. I gave him a Bible and wrote my email in the back. I thought I would hear from him. Well more than two months past and I was starting to think that maybe I would never hear from Rolando. But he finally wrote me, basically expressing how important that short meeting was for him. What an encouragement to know that the truth is bearing fruit in his life!!

Back In Town, Still Unpacking

After nearly two months on the road I am finally back at my home in Santiago. I moved out of my old apartment in downtown Santiago December 20th and flew to Nebraska that same day. After a few great days with family and friends I returned to Chile on January 6th. A day later we started a week long theological development class that all our staff in Chile. Instead of studying I spent the afternoons trying to find an apartment and sign a contract. We left for summer project on January 17th. On February 1st summer project ended and I met up with my parents who had arrived in Chile the day before. We spent a week in southern Chile. And that brings me to today. We got home at 1 a.m. and I threw my backpacks on my bed. I realized that I haven't even gotten my suitcases from January unpacked yet. It is really good to be home. I leave next Tuesday...