I’ve got two things for you today. First a brief PSA about how my blog works. The second, an earnest plea for intercession! Let’s get the boring part out of the way first!

I have switched my distribution tool for PBR notifications. I used to use AirDroid till it got to be too much work to keep it working (like the lawn mower you have to kick to keep running). Textedly is my new AirDroid. I used to love AirDroid because it was free and it worked. Since it’s neither now, I am using Textedly.

Textedly texts don’t come from my phone number, you’ll notice. That cleans up my phone’s text message inbox quite a bit. YET there are a couple of challenges. Your phone won’t recognize the number as coming from Tim. That also means that some users will opt out before they know it’s me sending the notification. Here are a few helpful tips:

855-976-5422 (Tim’s Textedly #)

PBRREADER (Tim’s Keyword)

1. Consider adding Tim’s Textedly number to your contacts and save it as PerryBoilerRoom(Tim Perry). Don’t call that number. That’s just so your phone recognizes it.
2. IF you text back to that number when you get a notification, just know that doesn’t go to my cell phone. I will check for replies after I send an update, but if you’re just trying to text me something, my cell number is better.
3. Textedly makes it really easy to opt out of getting notifications. You just have to text STOP and you’ll get taken off my list.
4. IF, you get taken off the list, I’ll send you a quick text from my cell phone to confirm it.
5. IF, you want to be put back ON the list, you just text UNSTOP to the Textedly number. When you get a reply you then have to send back my keyword to Textedly. My keyword is PBRREADER

Whew, thanks. Glad that is over! You are also free to email me if any of that is unclear. Hopefully you’ll not have to worry about it – you’ll keep getting a notification from me when I put something new on the blog (twice monthly max). Thanks!

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 6:12 NIV)

Paul assures us that the spiritual struggle we suspect is happening around us is NOT just a figment of our imagination. It’s a real struggle. An invisible struggle. A struggle with an actual evil source that is potent! If all that is the case, I’d like you to help me contend in the lives of some of my staff and students. We need God’s presence and power in our work. You can help release that. Here are a few specific people.

Kevin – our GFM staff member in Iowa City has just returned from a 6 month sabbatical where he was able to serve the Caribbean IFES through teaching, training and mentoring of staff and student leaders. He is needing to get the new year started at Univ. of Iowa. One of his very best friends Gary has just passed away. At his request, Kevin is going to be sharing some words about Gary at his funeral.

George – one of our staff at K-State found out over the summer that he has prostate cancer and needs treatments. George runs Bike-Night and Brunch & Bible every weekend with his volunteers. He reaches out to hundreds of International Students each year. Pray for successful medical treatments for George this year and pray for the ability to manage his ministry through his gifted volunteers.

Tom – a retired Biology professor at ISU is also on our GFM staff team. Tom is starting the new school year after a difficult season of life that culminated in the loss of his wife Denise last Spring. Tom is well connected with life-giving friendships and is experiencing renewed energy and focus for ministry. Pray for his effective work with faculty at Iowa State University. Pray for him to continue grieving well.

Nick – Switching gears a bit to our students. Nick is a Physics senior transitioning into grad school at Creighton. He’s new to GCF – a friend who is in Grad Christian Fellowship brought him to the last brunch of the summer. “Would you be willing to connect with Nick and help me know where he’s at spiritually?”

Jon – Just met with Jon yesterday and I left very excited about his program at Creighton and his interest in InterVarsity. He’s a PT-1 from a solid Christian home in the Hastings area. I spent some time getting to know his spiritual background and painting some vision for Jon’s involvement in GCF. With all new students, the spiritual battle just seems to be priorities and time management. Pray for students to make space to engage others. Professional school can become almost idolatrous in its demand on one’s time and energy.

Sruthi – a distance student in the Doctorate of Pharmacy program. She lives in Manhattan, Kansas where her husband is an associate professor in Agronomy. Her and Sandeep are Hindu. They have connected with churches and ministries near K-State and seem very open to talking about spiritual things.

Isabella – an OT 1 at Creighton, she is from a Coptic Christian background (her mother is Egyptian, her father Canadian). It was delightful to learn about her life and get a feel for her enthusiasm for her faith. She serves in a campus ministry through the religious life program at Creighton. She’s in a 2 plus 3 program, so she’s familiar with Creighton and Omaha. With all new students I give them a copy of Spiritual Friendship and ask them to think about finding a prayer partner for the year in their department or in the GCF fellowship.

Kyra – First year Physical Therapy, really mature student from a strong family. Kyra was involved in Navigators at Colorado State where she did her undergrad. She resonates with the Spiritual Friendship theme and would love to get more connected while in professional school. Pray for me as I help facilitate some discipleship partners among the new students. Our first monthly brunch is next week at our home. I’ll officially kick off our Spiritual Friendship strategy called Syntrek.

Evelyn – is a new Medical Student at Creighton. We haven’t had Med Students get involved yet with GCF. Another GFM staff member knows Evelyn and connected us when she heard she was going to be attending Creighton. Evelyn is coming to our home for lunch tomorrow! Pray for a great time of conversation and hospitality. Med school is such a demanding program we seldom meet students who have the time to get involved in our monthly brunch. Pray that Evelyn will have some margin and be able to join.

Brenden, Patrick, Katherine, Karis and Devin are all returning students at Creighton. Pray for our group to welcome new students. Pray for Devin this year as he will be working in Omaha and taking a break from his program and then re-entering next year.

Thank you so much for your prayers! I hope you have fun plans for Labor Day weekend!

The madness of a new academic year is beginning all over the country as you read this. Our staff are praying and planning, teaming-up with faculty and student leaders to increase our visibility on campus. Here in Omaha that means we’ll be guests at Creighton University’s student activity fair at the orientation for SPAHP. Two hundred and thirty eight new Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Pharmacy students have arrived for a week of orientation to their programs. A large fraction of those students will be here Omaha, but a significant number will be in distance programs in places like Arizona. A couple of students, myself and our faculty advisor will be at the InterVarsity table to meet new students. Pray for plentiful conversations and pray that we especially connect with Christians and spiritually open students.

SP4 Evangelism Plank

I currently serve the GFM South-Central region as a sort of cheerleader in Evangelism. SP4 is shorthand for our region’s strategic ministry plan, a four-year life-span development goal for Graduate Faculty Ministry in our 17 states. A working group I got to lead a couple years ago developed two tools we’re using to keep effective evangelism on staff members’ radar. I’m curious what your thoughts about these might be.

One tool is a simple evangelism thermometer – a basic “How important is this to me?” measurement. On a scale of 1 to 5, where would you rate yourself (without over-thinking it)? If you find yourself rarely engaging non-Christian friends in any form of spiritual conversation although you care about them, you might give yourself a 2! If you find yourself regularly helping non-Christians explore Jesus and comfortable with inviting their personal response to him, maybe you’re at a 4!

Here’s a second tool that might help you see why your temperature reading is what you think it is. It’s called the Passion and Skills 2 X 2. Skills are sooooo vital to help others explore faith, but skill isn’t the only factor. Passion, prayer, empathy, engaging the spiritual warfare of witnessing to others – is the obverse side of the coin. You can similarly have all the passion in the world, but your skills and experience might be pretty rusty or underdeveloped. Staff we give the assessment to are divided between being strong in passion and being strong in skills/experience. The assessment helps challenge ourselves to grow.

Evangelism Temperature and The Skills and Passion 2X2

Above is a link to both tools. Give them a look. Kick the tires. If you find it helpful let me know where you land – The Learner, The Lover, The Practicioner, or the Champion! Each year we have all our staff report the results of their self-assessment. We also give staff lots of ideas and support on how to grow their personal evangelism and their evangelistic leadership in their ministries. Pray for us here at the start of another year of ministry. Pray for boldness and warmth in our outreach. Pray for God to send us not only Christian students and faculty members, but open-minded non-Christian skeptics and seekers.

tim.perry@intervarsity.org