Two weekends ago GFM Central Area staff enjoyed being together for a team retreat in St. Louis. I always forget how helpful it is to be live and together in person! One moment at the retreat captured that sense well. One of our teammates, Mark Hansard, has been on a sabbatical and hasn’t been at ANY staff gatherings since our retreat in April 2023. Mark’s been writing a book while on leave. Star-Trek and Scripture: The Final Frontier and Christian World View was the proposed title (but probably not the published title). At several points throughout the weekend Mark found a way to convey how good it was to be back with his people (the staff team). “I’ve felt so isolated and cut off from the rest of the world while working on this book. You can’t believe how good it feels to be face to face with the team again! I love being on this team!” No kidding! Direct quotes from Mark. And on top of that, it really was fun for the rest of us having Mark back!

So Saturday night we popped bags of Orville Redenbacher, had Mark show us a Star Trek episode and take us through one of the chapters of his book. IF you are super curious about things Trek-worldly, we watched Children of the Comet, season 1, epsode 2 of Strange New Worlds and we talked about predestination and free will! In fact the whole weekend was designed to have our team bring their best gifts and lead something. Tom and Chad (with Josh on viola) lead prayer and worship times modeled after their weekly faculty/student prayer gatherings at Iowa State. Ben and Jake led us in scripture around our theme: Growing Grapes and Tending Vineyards (John 15 and Mark 12). George brought us Wash-U faculty member John Hendrix as a Saturday afternoon guest. We enjoyed hearing his story, talking about his vision for faculty ministry and asking him questions.

Pray for our Vineyard Tending!

We spent about half a day on Saturday in scripture tearing up manuscripts with colored pencils and highlighters. As a team of more seasoned staff we take to even familiar scriptures with tireless joy (no I am not exaggerating). John 15 was very familiar. A deep dive served to tighten our grip on the very basics of spiritual formation. Building a rewarding life of ministry with students and faculty is NEVER less than being a well-nourished, self-feeding Christ follower who influences others to be the same way.

Our Mark 12 study took off from there. If we can grow grapes and lead others to do so, the next thing is making and tending vineyards. The Son of the Vineyard like no other parable takes us to the heart of Jesus’ religious conflict narratives. Jesus drew on the Song of the Vineyard from Isaiah 5 to not only retell Israel’s history, but also foreshadow his coming passion. The Pharisees and teachers of the law knew Jesus told this parable against them! The spiritual leaders of God’s people were the tenants the owner put in charge of his vineyard. When the owner sent his son to collect some of the produce, the tenants rejected him, killed him and cast him out of the vineyard thinking they’d now do what they wanted as if they were the owners!

What do our vineyards look like in GFM?

My job as an Area Director is to lead my team in campus ministry and serve them administratively to help them stay funded and supported. Mark 12 and Isaiah 5 have gotten me thinking and praying with more intensity. If we look at our fellowships as expressions of the kingdom of God on our campuses, how healthy, fruitful and thriving are they? It takes a lot of work to set up a vineyard. Just like it takes a lot of effort to build witnessing communities in our universities. The maddening thing about vineyards is that they can be so vulnerable to countless problems. Isaiah’s Vineyard Song is a very sad song! After so much planning, cultivating, watching, waiting and protecting, the vineyard of the Lord produced abundant crops of BAD TASTING GRAPES!

Pray for the work of InterVarsity GFM on campuses in my area. Pray for my team as they cultivate the life of the kingdom of Jesus in their communities. On many of our campuses our groups are small and struggling (if I could be very honest with you). Not discounting the value of the lives we are reaching, I sense we are reaching far fewer faculty and graduate students than we have potential for. Each year in April and May staff tabulate and evaluate the ministry year we’re now wrapping up. Pray for us to have our vision refreshed. Pray for us to look over our vineyards and spot the places were our work can be more effective and impactful. Pray for God to give us wisdom and patience as we network to find more Christians in graduate and professional programs. Ask God to connect us with more Christian faculty. Pray for our witness on campus which at the moment seems distracted and weak. Pray for my leadership and team-work with staff – that God would use me to encourage and sharpen staff, helping them focus their gifts and strengths for effective group building.

Thank you for your friendship and prayers! Thank you for praying for me and my team. Thank you for your financial support.

“I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it… ” Isaiah 5: 1-2