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.