I thought I would take some time to let you all know what I am going to be up to this summer. This post will be follewed with a similar post in the near future in which I will explain a few things a bit further.
This summer I am participating in a program at The Summit Church called The City Project. In this project, I will be exploring many facets of Christian ministry. I will be serving on 2 missions trips, taking a seminary class, living with fellow Christian brothers, being discipled by Summit pastors, helping out in the student ministry, interning at the Summit, and interning at a non-profit in the community.
For the missions trips, I will first be spending a week in New York City. We will be serving in Queens assisting a church planter in his mission to witness to the Muslim community in the area. I believe that this trip will really open my eyes to see the beauty of relational evangelism, and will certainly get me out of my comfort zone in witnessing to strangers with different beliefs. I am excited to break out of my shell and do something different with my walk in this experience. The other mission trip is a 2 and a half week long international trip. The three destination possibilities this year are Kenya; Belgrade, Serbia; and Taipei, Taiwan. After much conversation with Summit College staff, I believe that I will be headed to either Taiwan or Serbia. In Taiwain, the team will be in an extremely dense, urban area full of univiersities and university students. The team will be helping with programs for the college students as well as witnessing to the university community and building relationships. The Serbian team will be working with Muslim Roma Gypsies and their families, as well as living in a community with many broken people who desperately need the Gospel if Jesus in their lives (although, don't we all?). Either one of these opportunities sound like a fantastic choice for me, but obviously I am going to be slightly biased towards Taiwan as that team will be working with college students, which, as you know from my previous post, is what I want to do with my career.
As far as the internships in Durham go, I am not entirely sure of what I will be doing. I know that one of the community internships is an urban tennis clinic, which sounds like something that I would love to do. For my internship at the Summit, something in either pastoral or college ministry sounds like it would suit my preferences well. I am very excited about living in downtown Durham and getting to know the community as well as building relationships with other people on City Project. I think this will be fun as well as a learning and stretching experience.
The City Project starts on May 29th and concludes on July 27th. I will be in Durham a few days, then off to NYC for a week, then back in Durham for the 4 weeks of ministry and then off to my international destination! I really can't wait to start, but before I go there are some significant roadblocks I need to get over. The first of which is the support raising. I have to raise $4500 to be able to go on City Project. Yikes! They Lord is already stretching me and showing me that if I try to raise that money without His help, I won't be able to do it. He is also showing me that one of my biggest weaknesses is prayer. I know that a key aspect of support raising is prayer - both myself and others praying for this blessing. I have heard that over and over. Yet, my prayer life sucks. This is a great opportunity to learn to be disciplined in prayer, and to give God thanks for all He does for me, every day. I'll talk a little more about support raising in my next post, but here is a heads up on my summer plans!
Monday, February 27, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
My World Flipped Upside Down
It's been a while since my last post. About 5 months to be exact. A lot has happened in this time, and I wanted to use this blog post to tell you what has happened to me.
My life, for the last few years, has been very concentrated on preparing for success in my career. I am a finance and marketing major, and business really intrigues me. It is certainly something I am interested in, both then and now. However, the focus for me had been, "How can I position myself to make as much money as possible?" and, "How can I be successful - knowing the right people, driving the right car, having a 2 story house, 2.4 children, a beautiful wife (although that one has been inevitable for a while), kids that love me, etc?" I was extremely consumed with the "stuff" of the world and what I might be able to gain from it. The revolutionary change in my life has been that right now, none of that matters to me. None of it. I don't care what car I drive, I don't have to have a 2 story house, and I want as many kids as the Lord wants to give to me. I have found that I have a greater calling and a greater purpose. I am here not to collect stuff, and not to be satisfied with the world. I am here to serve my God and Savior Jesus Christ, and my purpose is to spread His Gospel to my friends, family, community, and the nations. What matters to me now are things of eternal consequence - that people will know the gospel and worship the Lord. What I have seen in my life is the American Dream literally turned upside down. All of what it encompasses just does not intrigue me anymore. What intrigues me about the future is being a godly, spiritual leader to my wife, raising children who know and honor the Lord, being the light of Christ to my family and to the world, and just humbly giving my life to the purposes of God. If I end up making some money in my life, great. If not, also great. I am to provide for my family and love and serve them. That doesn't mean going on 4 vacations a year or all of my kids having iPads (although that would be great beacuse iPads are really fun). I want to use my life for purposes greater than myself.
The other big change in my life is that although I love business and finance, I have decided that upon graduation I am going to prepare to enter the minsitry as a pastor. As of now, I am planning on going to Seminary after graduation, although I am open to anything that the Lord might bring my way (particularly a church plant, or getting started in a church right away). I love the idea of seminary - of getting trained and discipled to do ministry by godly people who have been doing it for way longer than me. I crave knowledge, particuarly Biblical and theological knowledge, and am looking forward to diving into that. I do not feel like my time in college studying business is being wasted. I think that financial and marketing knowledge are exteremly important in whatever field one goes into. I will be a more effective leader of my family with financial knowledge - particuarly in knowledge of saving and stewarding my money to further the purposes of the Lord. As of right now I am feeling very called to two particular areas: the city, and college students. I have a heart for bringing the gospel to cities - particularly tough areas of broken cities. We all desperately need it, but that is where I feel like the Lord wants me to bring it. I also really have a passion for college students. I love to connect people and for students my age to hear the gospel. I pray that the Lord will send me to the college ministry. This is such an important time in our lives, and in my experiences, many, many people find Christ and begin their faith in Him during their college years. I want to be a part of that and help lead these students to Christ. Who knows where that will take place, or even if it will take place. For now, I am volunteering in the college ministry at my church (the Summit) and doing what I can at this stage. I will be doing some more of that this summer, but that is for my next post :)
All of this is to say that the Lord has been so good to me. He has been so faithful, even when I haven't been. I have been up and down in my walk with Him, yet He has been so constant and so loving to me throughout. He has revealed so much to me about His purposes for my life, my career, and my relationships. I feel like my life has been revolutionized from the ground up. Everything looks different - what I do with my time, how I interact with my friends and family, and even how I spend time with Him. It is no longer out of obligation or feeling a need to - I want to. I couldn't imagine not spending time with the God who has delivered me out of death and into life. The God who sent His Son to die for me, wants a personal relationship with me.
That is something worth giving your time - and your life - for.
My life, for the last few years, has been very concentrated on preparing for success in my career. I am a finance and marketing major, and business really intrigues me. It is certainly something I am interested in, both then and now. However, the focus for me had been, "How can I position myself to make as much money as possible?" and, "How can I be successful - knowing the right people, driving the right car, having a 2 story house, 2.4 children, a beautiful wife (although that one has been inevitable for a while), kids that love me, etc?" I was extremely consumed with the "stuff" of the world and what I might be able to gain from it. The revolutionary change in my life has been that right now, none of that matters to me. None of it. I don't care what car I drive, I don't have to have a 2 story house, and I want as many kids as the Lord wants to give to me. I have found that I have a greater calling and a greater purpose. I am here not to collect stuff, and not to be satisfied with the world. I am here to serve my God and Savior Jesus Christ, and my purpose is to spread His Gospel to my friends, family, community, and the nations. What matters to me now are things of eternal consequence - that people will know the gospel and worship the Lord. What I have seen in my life is the American Dream literally turned upside down. All of what it encompasses just does not intrigue me anymore. What intrigues me about the future is being a godly, spiritual leader to my wife, raising children who know and honor the Lord, being the light of Christ to my family and to the world, and just humbly giving my life to the purposes of God. If I end up making some money in my life, great. If not, also great. I am to provide for my family and love and serve them. That doesn't mean going on 4 vacations a year or all of my kids having iPads (although that would be great beacuse iPads are really fun). I want to use my life for purposes greater than myself.
The other big change in my life is that although I love business and finance, I have decided that upon graduation I am going to prepare to enter the minsitry as a pastor. As of now, I am planning on going to Seminary after graduation, although I am open to anything that the Lord might bring my way (particularly a church plant, or getting started in a church right away). I love the idea of seminary - of getting trained and discipled to do ministry by godly people who have been doing it for way longer than me. I crave knowledge, particuarly Biblical and theological knowledge, and am looking forward to diving into that. I do not feel like my time in college studying business is being wasted. I think that financial and marketing knowledge are exteremly important in whatever field one goes into. I will be a more effective leader of my family with financial knowledge - particuarly in knowledge of saving and stewarding my money to further the purposes of the Lord. As of right now I am feeling very called to two particular areas: the city, and college students. I have a heart for bringing the gospel to cities - particularly tough areas of broken cities. We all desperately need it, but that is where I feel like the Lord wants me to bring it. I also really have a passion for college students. I love to connect people and for students my age to hear the gospel. I pray that the Lord will send me to the college ministry. This is such an important time in our lives, and in my experiences, many, many people find Christ and begin their faith in Him during their college years. I want to be a part of that and help lead these students to Christ. Who knows where that will take place, or even if it will take place. For now, I am volunteering in the college ministry at my church (the Summit) and doing what I can at this stage. I will be doing some more of that this summer, but that is for my next post :)
All of this is to say that the Lord has been so good to me. He has been so faithful, even when I haven't been. I have been up and down in my walk with Him, yet He has been so constant and so loving to me throughout. He has revealed so much to me about His purposes for my life, my career, and my relationships. I feel like my life has been revolutionized from the ground up. Everything looks different - what I do with my time, how I interact with my friends and family, and even how I spend time with Him. It is no longer out of obligation or feeling a need to - I want to. I couldn't imagine not spending time with the God who has delivered me out of death and into life. The God who sent His Son to die for me, wants a personal relationship with me.
That is something worth giving your time - and your life - for.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)